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The Interference of Light as Photon Pair Interaction Mediated by Matter under the Assumption of Alternative („classical”) Photon Paths in Multi-path Experiments
Version 1
: Received: 21 February 2024 / Approved: 22 February 2024 / Online: 22 February 2024 (07:49:58 CET)
How to cite:
Tiefenbrunner, W. The Interference of Light as Photon Pair Interaction Mediated by Matter under the Assumption of Alternative („classical”) Photon Paths in Multi-path Experiments. Preprints2024, 2024021275. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1275.v1
Tiefenbrunner, W. The Interference of Light as Photon Pair Interaction Mediated by Matter under the Assumption of Alternative („classical”) Photon Paths in Multi-path Experiments. Preprints 2024, 2024021275. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1275.v1
Tiefenbrunner, W. The Interference of Light as Photon Pair Interaction Mediated by Matter under the Assumption of Alternative („classical”) Photon Paths in Multi-path Experiments. Preprints2024, 2024021275. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1275.v1
APA Style
Tiefenbrunner, W. (2024). The Interference of Light as Photon Pair Interaction Mediated by Matter under the Assumption of Alternative („classical”) Photon Paths in Multi-path Experiments. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1275.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Tiefenbrunner, W. 2024 "The Interference of Light as Photon Pair Interaction Mediated by Matter under the Assumption of Alternative („classical”) Photon Paths in Multi-path Experiments" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.1275.v1
Abstract
Light can interfere like a wave in a multi-path experiment, but it also has particle properties when interacting with matter. In a closer look, the interference pattern is created by many individual detections ("clicks"), which do not all occur simultaneously. An established assumption is therefore that a single light particle is capable of interfering with itself by superimposing all possibilities to get from the source to the detector. This is in stark contrast to our experience with macroscopic objects, which always "decide" in favour of only one of the alternative paths.In 2010, Jin et al. (Ref. 15) described an event-based model which allowed the authors to show that an interference pattern consisting of clicks can arise in a multi-path experiment even if photons, like macroscopic objects, only follow one path. To do this, photons must be able to transmit the information about their travelling duration to the detector and the detector must have a basic memory. A threshold function uses the message of several light quanta to decide whether a single detection is initiated, which is not the evidence for a single photon. In this "proof of principle", the authors do not claim that the detector function is a realistic one.In the present paper, this detector is replaced by a material consisting of ionizable molecules whose interaction with light takes place according to a modified version of Einstein's radiation laws. Based on this, a photon pair interaction mediated by matter takes place, which in a multi-path experiment generates an interference pattern of clicks at the detector, even if an arbitrary amount of time elapses between the individual detections. In the present model an interference pattern with minima that have less than half the intensity of the maxima is the result of a peculiar behaviour of the detector: In this case, the entirety of its electrons must be described as a unit (a “field”) with many equidistant energy levels. The results of a simulation are presented which enable the model to be tested in experiments.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
