All Questions
11
questions
25
votes
9
answers
6k
views
Why does light travel in a straight line if the uncertainty principle is true?
I've asked this on different websites and never gotten an answer that a layperson can understand. Most people just say that light does not have a trajectory and then they do some hand waving. If light ...
- 361
2
votes
3
answers
424
views
Quantization of electromagnetic field [closed]
Every quantum optics book starts with quantization of electromagnetic field. Why?
My understanding:
The quantized electric field consist of photon and it helps to derive some properties of photon.
Is ...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
473
views
Is photon a wavepacket of electromagnetic field?
Photon is a "particle of light". Light is just a propagating EM field. Therefore photon is (at least intuitively) a localized EM field (i.e. wavepacket).
In quantum optics, the Hamiltonian ...
- 207
2
votes
1
answer
248
views
Does amplitude modulation change a photon's frequency or the number of photons?
In the following, we assume that the polarization is aligned such that the scalar treatment of the electric field is justified.
Furthermore, we limit the discussion to a fixed coordinate $x=0$ to drop ...
- 543
0
votes
1
answer
70
views
Can a photons wavelength be independent of its associated temporal wavefunction?
Typically a traveling photon is described as being in a superposition of frequency modes $\hat{E} = \int g(\omega) a^\dagger_\omega d\omega + h.c. $ where often the $g(\omega)$ is some kind of pulse. ...
- 2,193
3
votes
2
answers
775
views
Cavity optomechanics Hamiltonian
In cavity optomechanics the radiation pressure exerted by light moves a mirror in a cavity. Because of that the resonance frequency of the cavity changes due to change in length of the cavity (cavity ...
12
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why doesn't there exist a wave function for a photon whereas it exists for an electron?
A photon is an excitation or a particle created in the electromagnetic field whereas an electron is an excitation or a particle created in the "electron" field, according to second-quantization.
...
13
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Can people create single photon in the laboratory?
Can a single photon be created in the laboratory? How do people make sure that they have really created a single photon?
- 11.8k
7
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What is the spatial extent of single photon?
By the uncertainty principle particles cannot be specified in space and momentum simultaneously in the copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.
If photons are moving with c in every posible ...
- 1,047
5
votes
1
answer
416
views
Single photon pulse and its electromagnet field
I describe the temporal distribution of a single photon pulse in an interferometer experiment in vacuum via the Gaussian function $\psi$:
$$
\psi(t) = \tfrac{1}{(2\pi\sigma^2)^{1/4}} \text e^{-\frac{t^...
- 1,403
7
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How do individual photons make up an EM wave?
I'm trying to understand the connection between the wave model and the particle model for light.
It's understood that the energy of a photon is given by E=hf, but from my understanding of fourier ...
- 2,697