Marlan Orvil Scully (born August 3, 1939) is an American physicist best known for his work in theoretical quantum optics.
[2] He has authored over 700 scientific articles, as well as standard textbooks such as Laser Physics (with W. Lamb and M. Sargent) and “Quantum Optics” (with M. S.
In 1980, he took a joint position between the Max Planck Institute für Quantenoptik and the University of New Mexico as distinguished professor.
Most recently, Scully and coworkers have shown that the laser master equation analysis also provides a good quantitative description of fluctuations in the Bose–Einstein condensate.
For example, Scully and colleagues were the first to make lasers oscillate without population inversion and have extended the coherent Raman spectroscopy techniques to detect anthrax type endospores.
[16] His wife Judith Bailey Scully and he have three sons: James, an American Airline captain; Robert, a writer and Caterpillar diesel mechanic; and Steven, an electrical engineer with Dallas Semiconductor.
The book is directed toward the layperson as well as the professional physicist and examines the connection between Maxwell's demon and the role of the observer and quantum eraser.