tech
What happens when you try to chop a photon in half?
A mirror that moves mid-photon could release a shower of new photons.
TL;DR
- Photons are typically indivisible particles of light, but they also lack a specific location, existing as extended objects.
- An experiment is proposed where a mirror is removed while a photon is reflecting, potentially dividing the photon.
- This division is a nonlinear process that requires specific conditions, such as a changing medium or high-intensity light.
- Removing the mirror mid-reflection creates sharp transitions in the electromagnetic field, requiring a broader frequency spectrum than the original photon possessed.
- The photon is hypothesized to enter a superposition state of both reflected and transmitted light, and the division could generate multiple new photons, leading to a rainbow effect.
- Performing this experiment requires specialized equipment, including single-photon sources and materials that can switch reflectivity extremely rapidly, like semiconductors activated by ultrafast lasers.
- Evidence for similar phenomena exists in the shortening of ultrashort pulses, where reflected pulses gain more frequencies, implying new photon generation.