Textbook treatments of quantum electromagnetic interaction: pedagogical and conceptual problems

In this paper we review and discuss the approaches used, almost universally , in textbooks dealing with quantum mechanics, and particularly those focus ed on optoelectronics devices, to explain the atom-field interactions. For this purpose, a true understanding and careful use of the first-order pertu rbation theory are necessary. By providing two alternative full derivations of the absorption/emission processes when the radiation is in a coherent m ultimode state, we highlight a number of conceptual and didactical failures in the usual textbook presentations, and propose more suitable and convinc ing strategies to improve them.