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Advanced Engineering Quantum Mechanics
CHEM 200

Jointly Offered with: Faculty of Arts & Sciences as QSE 200, Faculty of Arts & Sciences as ENG-SCI 200

Course Information

Description

The focus of this course is on the basic principles involved in the control of quantum systems and assumes knowledge of undergraduate quantum mechanics. Schrödinger, Heisenberg and interaction representations. Eigenvalue and time dependent problems, wave packets, coherent states. Harmonic oscillators. Quantization of the EM field. Tunneling; periodic potentials; Bloch’s theorem. Perturbation theory. WKB approximation. Transfer matrix methods. Variational methods. Rotation generators and angular momentum. Magnetic moment and spin; Stern Gerlach experiment. Spin states, Pauli matrices. Pauli equation. Dynamics of spins in a static and a transverse time dependent magnetic field; dynamics in a rotating frame; Rabi oscillations. Coherent dynamics of two-level atoms. Rotating-wave and dipole approximations. Mixed states and density matrix. T1 and T2 relaxation times. Bloch equations. Identical particles: Bosons and Fermions. Slater determinant. Entanglement; singlet and triplet states. Hydrogen molecule. Clebsch-Gordan coefficients. Exchange energy. Elements of quantum information (qubits, no-cloning theorem, teleportation, quantum circuits).

Course Notes

This course is also offered as QSE 200 and ENG-SCI 200. Students may only take one of QSE200, ENG-SCI 200, Chem 200 for credit Related Discussion Sections: Th 4:30 PM - 5:45 PM TBA

School Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Course Component Lecture
Subject Chemistry
Grading Basis FAS Letter Graded
Exam/Final Deadline Dec. 18, 2026
General Education N/A
Quantitative Reasoning with Data N/A
Divisional Distribution Science & Engineering & Applied Science
Course Level Primarily for Graduate Students