Do circularly polarized photons have more energy than linearly polarized photons?
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Abstract— A single photon is well known to have spin S = ,
which would correspond to circular polarization, and all quantum transitions with photon absorption or emission correspond to S = ± . However, it is also widely believed that a single photon may be linearly polarized, which would correspond to a state with S = 0. Indeed, linearly polarized single photons are central to most quantum entanglement experiments. On the contrary, it has recently been suggested (based on a realistic spin- quantized wave picture of quantum states) that a linearly polarized photon state must be a superposition of a pair of circularly polarized photons, each with S = ± . This question cannot be resolved using a conventional photon detector, which generally cannot distinguish one photon from two simultaneous photons. However, it can be addressed using a superconducting microcalorimeter detector with sub-eV energy resolution and high quantum efficiency (QE). A careful experiment demon- strating this photon pairing could place in question some of the paradoxical central foundations of modern quantum theory, including quantum entanglement and nonlocality.
Index Terms—Calorimetry, Cryogenic Electron yogenic Electronics, Optical polarization, Photodetectors, Photonics, Quantum mechanics, Quantum entanglement, Superconducting photodetectors.
I. PHOTONS AND POLARIZATION
wave may be constructed as a vector superposition of two or more CP photons of opposite helicities, one cannot have a single LP photon. This is in contrast to the orthodox theory, in which a single photon may be prepared to have any polarization, including LP.
Experiments using LP single photons are ubiquitous in fundamental quantum optics [4], and it is universally believed that LP single photons have been routinely observed. However, we point out that most conventional photon detectors for visible light are event detectors that do not measure the absorbed energy [5,6,7]. Therefore, they cannot distinguish the absorption of a single photon from two simultaneous photons. In contrast, certain modern superconducting photon detectors are essentially microcalorimeters that measure the energy associated with a given absorption event [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. To our knowledge, a careful energy-resolving experiment on purported LP single photons has not been reported. We suggest that such an experiment is necessary to confirm the existence of LP single photons. Furthermore, if it could be shown that all LP “single photons” are really photon pairs, then this would place into question the interpretation of an entire body of modern quantum experiments involving
A classical TEM wavepacket is well known to carry energy and momentum distributed through its volume. One can define an energy density E and momentum density P from the
A photon is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, with entanglement, nonlocality, and Bell’s inequalities.
energy E = although there are still questions as to its proper physical representation [1,2]. According to the orthodox Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, a photon is either a point particle or a distributed wave, depending on the type of measurement. However, we would However, we would like to point out some implications of an unorthodox locally realistic wave picture of a photon [3], including a surprising prediction that can be tested experimentally using a superconducting photon detector. The focus here is on the polarization of a single photon. In particular, we will argue that a single photon must be a circularly polarized (CP) wave packet with distributed angular momentum totaling S = ± (see Fig. 1). Its spin is definite even if it has not been measured. In contrast, while a linearly polarized (LP) EM
which would correspond to circular polarization, and all quantum transitions with photon absorption or emission correspond to S = ± . However, it is also widely believed that a single photon may be linearly polarized, which would correspond to a state with S = 0. Indeed, linearly polarized single photons are central to most quantum entanglement experiments. On the contrary, it has recently been suggested (based on a realistic spin- quantized wave picture of quantum states) that a linearly polarized photon state must be a superposition of a pair of circularly polarized photons, each with S = ± . This question cannot be resolved using a conventional photon detector, which generally cannot distinguish one photon from two simultaneous photons. However, it can be addressed using a superconducting microcalorimeter detector with sub-eV energy resolution and high quantum efficiency (QE). A careful experiment demon- strating this photon pairing could place in question some of the paradoxical central foundations of modern quantum theory, including quantum entanglement and nonlocality.
Index Terms—Calorimetry, Cryogenic Electron yogenic Electronics, Optical polarization, Photodetectors, Photonics, Quantum mechanics, Quantum entanglement, Superconducting photodetectors.
I. PHOTONS AND POLARIZATION
wave may be constructed as a vector superposition of two or more CP photons of opposite helicities, one cannot have a single LP photon. This is in contrast to the orthodox theory, in which a single photon may be prepared to have any polarization, including LP.
Experiments using LP single photons are ubiquitous in fundamental quantum optics [4], and it is universally believed that LP single photons have been routinely observed. However, we point out that most conventional photon detectors for visible light are event detectors that do not measure the absorbed energy [5,6,7]. Therefore, they cannot distinguish the absorption of a single photon from two simultaneous photons. In contrast, certain modern superconducting photon detectors are essentially microcalorimeters that measure the energy associated with a given absorption event [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. To our knowledge, a careful energy-resolving experiment on purported LP single photons has not been reported. We suggest that such an experiment is necessary to confirm the existence of LP single photons. Furthermore, if it could be shown that all LP “single photons” are really photon pairs, then this would place into question the interpretation of an entire body of modern quantum experiments involving
A classical TEM wavepacket is well known to carry energy and momentum distributed through its volume. One can define an energy density E and momentum density P from the
A photon is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, with entanglement, nonlocality, and Bell’s inequalities.
energy E = although there are still questions as to its proper physical representation [1,2]. According to the orthodox Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, a photon is either a point particle or a distributed wave, depending on the type of measurement. However, we would However, we would like to point out some implications of an unorthodox locally realistic wave picture of a photon [3], including a surprising prediction that can be tested experimentally using a superconducting photon detector. The focus here is on the polarization of a single photon. In particular, we will argue that a single photon must be a circularly polarized (CP) wave packet with distributed angular momentum totaling S = ± (see Fig. 1). Its spin is definite even if it has not been measured. In contrast, while a linearly polarized (LP) EM
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