The birth of a photon

Karl Otto Greulich

doi:10.1117/12.892275

28 September 2011 The birth of a photon

Karl Otto Greulich

Proceedings Volume 8121, The Nature of Light: What are Photons? IV; 81210T (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.892275
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Quantum mechanics does neither give information on details of the emission of a photon from a single atom or molecule nor on the physical size of a photon. Experiments to get answers to such questions have, at least in principle, become possible only recently with the advent of single molecule photon sources. If diffraction of light at wavelength sized apertures is already a property of individual photons, some clear statements on emisission can be made: The energy of an individual photon, which at the start of the process is concentrated in an Angstrom sized atom or molecule, is diluted to micrometer dimensions, i.e. by many orders of magnitude. Since single photons can still be detected at least 18 m after their emission, the dilution must be terminated at some point. A photon model presented in an accompanying paper suggests a size for a photon of λ / 2π and explains what does stop and revert the expansion process, thus starting an oscillation.

Citation Download Citation

Karl Otto Greulich "The birth of a photon", Proc. SPIE 8121, The Nature of Light: What are Photons? IV, 81210T (28 September 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.892275

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