Quantum Mechanics for Scientists and Engineers

Many textbooks, in general, suffer in readability due to the author assuming the reader thinks just as he or she does, or knows a sufficient amount of information prior to reading. David Miller is one of those authors that is just the opposite: he never assumes you know anything that isn't in his book (other than that you know how to read and do basic math). In addition, Miller has the unique ability to relate complex and complicated concepts to common examples. You will find that reading through this text is much smoother than with other textbooks. There are also solutions to certain problems and viewgraphs available for free online.The topics in the book cover the basic quantum mechanical scenarios, such as simple 1D/3D potentials, operators, the uncertainty principle (taught in two ways...Griffiths provides a third), matrix formalism, Dirac notation, angular momentum, spin, and the Hydrogen atom. In addition, more advanced topics, such as perturbation theory (time independent and dependent), the density matrix, and approximation techniques. Miller also relates much of the material to photonics topics, such as absorption, Fermi's Golden Rule, non-linear effects, refractive index, and much more. As an EE professor, he also covers some band theory of crystalline solids.I feel that this book is extremely complete and will be extremely useful for anyone wanting to learn Quantum Mechanics. I've also used Griffiths and Singh, which are also excellent texts. I feel that Griffiths accompanies this text very well (so having both is more than complete). I have yet to find an error in the text, and this is most likely because Miller wrote this originally as a course reader that was published through Stanford. The course reader has been used by other professors and hundreds of student prior to publishing. This means that your learning won't be plagued or interrupted with errors, or with the need to purchase a new edition.

This is a textbook like no other: Clear. Honest. Eloquent. Thorough. Typo-free. Readable.Reading Quantum Mechanics for Scientists and Engineers feels like nothing more than a friendly chat with Dave Miller about the nature of the universe. This year, as an undergrad EE major at Stanford, I took the quantum mechanics course from which this book emerged, using the book as a primary textbook and reference. You can pick up this book with nothing but a basic linear algebra background--the simple math relevant to QM is reviewed in the appendix--and immediately dive in, learning from cover to cover without ever feeling lost in the vast world of QM. A fantastic teacher and writer, Prof. Miller devotes particular attention to practical methods for using quantum mechanics in engineering (e.g., transfer matrix, perturbation theories, various approximation methods). That said, he never fails to explore and explain the theoretical and philosophical aspects of QM, giving a satisfyingly honest sense of certainty to an inherently uncertain field.Without a clear guide, learning (and using) quantum mechanics can be a frightening endeavor for students and experienced researchers alike. With this book in hand, you'll quickly find that David Miller is the right man for the job.

I took undergraduate level quantum chemistry in 1992. I did reasonably well in the class. I learned about the Schrodinger Equation, operators, expectation values, normalization etc. We focused on the Hydrogen atom "orbitals", the Pauli Exclusion principle, and applications to chemical bonding and spectroscopy through simple rigid rotator and simple harmonic oscillator models. However, we did not learn a lot of the physics related aspects. I bought this book to go along with an on-line Quantum Mechanics class that is oriented more towards physics and solid states physics applications. We have reviewed some of the things I learned in Quantum Chemistry long ago, and I have learned Dirac notation, the Bloch model for electrons in a solid, Quantization of the EM field, creation/annhilation operators, and Boson/Fermion interactions. The book has a balanced and reasonable tone. Miller is at times a little sarcastic, and a little humorous, but mostly just straight forward and to the point. He takes breaks in the flow of the technical development to explain things and add commentary that confesses the limitations of a given argument and/or method. He generally repeats key point. The is a useful effect textbook. The summaries at the end of each chamber are very valuable. Areas where the book is a bit weak: 1) it uses no color, the graphics very simple and not very appealing and striking and 2) the notation get hard to follow. Miller needs to re-inforce what each variable means and each subscript and superscript. I have seen this problem in many books. The authors are so overjoyed to use compact notation, that the new guys learning the notation do not come up to speed fast enough. Overall, I like the book, and I am glad I purchased it.