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arXiv:0709.1550

A particle mechanism for the index of refraction

M. Urban

Published Sep 11, 2007• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose to go away from the electromagnetic wave description of light and to explain through a purely corpuscular and neutral approach, the phenomenon of the slowing down of light in a transparent medium. The quantum predictions and ours are compared against experimental refractive indices. In our framework the optical Kerr phenomenon finds a very natural interpretation and its numerical values are obtained easily

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.0709.1550

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We propose to go away from the electromagnetic wave description of light and to explain through a purely corpuscular and neutral approach, the phenomenon of the slowing down of light in a transparent medium. The quantum predictions and ours are compared against experimental refractive indices. In our framework the optical Kerr phenomenon finds a very natural interpretation and its numerical values are obtained easily
We are used to describe the detection of light in terms of particles and its propagation from the source to the detection, by waves. For instance, the slowing down of light in a transparent medium is always explained within the electromagnetic wave framework. We propose to approach that phenomenon through a purely corpuscular description. We find expression for the refractive indices which differ slightly from the usual Maxwell wave approach. We thus compare these expressions against experimental refractive indices and we show that both reproduce well the data. We show also how this corpuscular framework gives a very natural interpretation to the self focusing Kerr effect. Finally an experimental expectation of fluctuation of the speed of light is presented.
In quantum optics, it is well known that Electromagnetically Induced Transparency can make light slowed down, even to zero. It also is an important field in nowadays research in quantum optics. This article develops a new way to study the phenomenon by classical electrodynamics. It solves the important problem by classical way instead of quantum way. Moreover, it fits the results they have got in the recent experiments. At the beginning, we get the refractive index by classical electrodynamics, then we get the relation between atomic polarizability and light frequency. At last, we could get the relation between refractive index and wave velocity. And the data from theoretical deduce are the same as them in the recent experiments. 
The long history of the dispute among physicists as to whether matter is composed of particles or waves is reviewed. A turning point came at the dawn of the 20th century in the form of the de Broglie momentum-wavelength and Bohr/Planck energy frequency relations. It was on this basis that Schrödinger developed a quantum mechanical differential equation whose solution came to be known as a wave function. The Born Interpretation of these functions holds that their absolute square constitutes a probability distribution which has been used successfully to make predictions of the properties of the system under discussion. It is pointed out that the phenomenon of light refraction played a key role in the development of both Newton’s corpuscular theory of light and the competing theory of Huygens which looks upon light as consisting exclusively of waves. It is shown that Newton’s failure to predict the decrease in the speed of light as it passes from air into water was not because of his belief in the particle composition of light, but rather because he not did anticipate that the mass of a photon changes upon entering a medium of higher index of refraction n. By assuming that the energy E of light is equal pc/n, where p is the momentum of the photons and c is the speed of light in free space, it is shown that the experimental dependence of the speed the light on its wavelength as it passes through a transparent medium is derived successfully through the use of Hamilton’s Canonical Equations and Newton’s Second Law of Kinetics. It is suggested that the relationship between particles and waves can be understood by noting that the localized properties of matter exhibit themselves in experiments such as the photoelectric effect where attention can be concentrated on the behavior of a single particle. The corresponding wave properties occur when large numbers of particles are observed under exactly similar circumstances, as for example in electron diffraction. ...........
A critical review of experimental studies of the so-called 'slow light' arising due to anomalously high steepness of the refractive index dispersion under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency or coherent population oscillations is presented. It is shown that a considerable amount of experimental evidence for observation of the 'slow light' is not related to the low group velocity of light and can be easily interpreted in terms of a standard model of interaction of light with a saturable absorber.
A critical review of experimental studies of the so-called 'slow light' arising due to anomalously high steepness of the refractive index dispersion under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency or coherent population oscillations is presented. It is shown that a considerable amount of experimental evidence for observation of the 'slow light' is not related to the low group velocity of light and can be easily interpreted in terms of a standard model of interaction of light with a saturable absorber.
Modern attempts to understand light go back to Newton who considered light to be particles, the so called corpuscular theory, and the other school of Huygens, Young and others. Huygens and Young viewpoint emphasised the wave property. This difference of opinions persisted for close to two centuries till Maxwell theory solidly established light as a wave phenomenon associated with Electromagnetism. A serious schism so to speak was introduced into the theory of light with the understanding of "Light gas", the so called Black Body radiation. Einstein's photon hypothesis and Bose's successful derivation of the Planck spectrum put the corpuscular theory back in place, while classical description continues to be used as well. One may then wonder if this being a classical limit may have to be corrected when dealing with quantum phenomena. To most people's surprise, the classical description was in fact a subset of the full quantum description, and the classical states of light could be shown to be subsumed within the fully quantum description without having to take the limit of Planck's constant h going to zero. This was the resolution provided by E. C. G. Sudarshan's Diagonal representation as the most general formalism for dealing with light.