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arXiv:1711.04680 · Journal of Optics

Quantum-mechanical description of optical beams

Iwo Bialynicki-Birula, Zofia Bialynicka-Birula

Published Nov 7, 2017• 32 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract The quantum mechanics of photons is derived from the theory of representations of the Poincaré group developed by Wigner. This theory places helicity as the most fundamental property; angular momentum and polarization are secondary characteristics. The properties of light beams are shown to be fully determined by the quantum states of the photons. Beam polarization is explained as the freedom to chose an arbitrary combination of the helicity states. The quantum mechanics of photons enables one to give a precise meaning to the concept of wave−particle duality.

DOI
10.1088/2040-8986/aa98b6

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Abstract The quantum mechanics of photons is derived from the theory of representations of the Poincaré group developed by Wigner. This theory places helicity as the most fundamental property; angular momentum and polarization are secondary characteristics. The properties of light beams are shown to be fully determined by the quantum states of the photons. Beam polarization is explained as the freedom to chose an arbitrary combination of the helicity states. The quantum mechanics of photons enables one to give a precise meaning to the concept of wave−particle duality.
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More than a century ago, pioneeringworks carried out by Poynting (1909) and other physicists have provided the evidence of the validity of Marxwell equations for an electromagnetic field, showing how a beam of light carries energy and momentum, both in the linear and angular components. In particular the angular momentum of light, related to the generator of rotations in quantum mechanics, has been typically associated with its polarization, and more specifically with its circular polarization components. An optical beam traveling in the positive direction of the z axis that is circularly polarized, carries a z-component angular momentum content σ = ±h per photon, which is positive if the circular polarization is left-handed and negative if it is right-handed. This angular momentum content is not just a formal property, but a very concrete one that can have significant mechanical effects as for example an observable induced rotation by absorption to amaterial particle Beth (1936); Friese et al. (1998)
This concluding chapter explains that the modern theory of light falls within the field of quantum mechanics. At first glance, quantum mechanics does not seem that strange—its name is based on the fact that light comes in units and that electrons have discrete energy states. It also includes the uncertainty principle, which states that one cannot know certain pairs of physical properties with perfect precision. Moreover, quantum mechanics involves the wave-particle duality of photons. The chapter then explores two of the most unusual aspects of quantum mechanics: two-slit interference and quantum entanglement. Both violate the most fundamental notions about how the world works.
The previous chapter surveyed part of the rich variety of physical phenomena that can be understood using the ideas of quantum physics. Now that we are beginning the task of looking more deeply into the subject we shall find it useful to concentrate on examples that are comparatively simple to understand but which still illustrate the fundamental principles and highlight the basic conceptual problems. Some years ago most writers discussing such topics would probably have turned to the example of a ‘particle’ passing through a two-slit apparatus (as in Figure 1.2), whose wave properties are revealed in the interference pattern. Much of the discussion would have been in terms of wave–particle duality and the problems involved in position and momentum measurements, as in the discussion of the uncertainty principle in the last chapter. However, there are essentially an infinite number of places where the particle can be and an infinite number of possible values of its momentum, and this complicates the discussion considerably. We can illustrate all the points of principle we want to discuss by considering situations where a measurement has only a small number of possible outcomes. One such quantity relating to the physics of light beams and photons is known as polarisation . In the next section we discuss it in the context of the classical wave theory of light, and the rest of the chapter extends the concept to situations where the photon nature of light is important.
The previous chapter surveyed part of the rich variety of physical phenomena that can be understood using the ideas of quantum physics. Now that we are beginning the task of looking more deeply into the subject we shall find it useful to concentrate on examples that are comparatively simple to understand but which still illustrate the fundamental principles and highlight the basic conceptual problems. Some years ago most writers discussing such topics would probably have turned to the example of a ‘particle’ passing through a two-slit apparatus (as in Figure 1.2), whose wave properties are revealed in the interference pattern. Much of the discussion would have been in terms of wave–particle duality and the problems involved in position and momentum measurements, as in the discussion of the uncertainty principle in the last chapter. However, there are essentially an infinite number of places where the particle can be and an infinite number of possible values of its momentum, and this complicates the discussion considerably. We can illustrate all the points of principle we want to discuss by considering situations where a measurement has only a small number of possible outcomes. One such quantity relating to the physics of light beams and photons is known as polarisation . In the next section we discuss it in the context of the classical wave theory of light, and the rest of the chapter extends the concept to situations where the photon nature of light is important.