Controversy among giants: Young's experiment and loss of fringe visibility at low photon-count levels

William T. Rhodes

doi:10.1117/12.895339

28 September 2011 Controversy among giants: Young's experiment and loss of fringe visibility at low photon-count levels

William T. Rhodes

Proceedings Volume 8121, The Nature of Light: What are Photons? IV; 812105 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.895339
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

An ideal beam splitter model for an absorber presented by Leonhardt in his book Measuring the Quantum State of Light (Cambridge University Press, 1997) has intriguing implications for the simple Young's fringe experiment in the photon-counting regime. Specifically, it suggests that different results will be obtained depending on whether the light forming the fringes is attenuated at the source or at the slits.

Citation Download Citation

William T. Rhodes "Controversy among giants: Young's experiment and loss of fringe visibility at low photon-count levels", Proc. SPIE 8121, The Nature of Light: What are Photons? IV, 812105 (28 September 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.895339

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available