Photon-based and classical descriptions in nanophotonics: a review

David L. Andrews

doi:10.1117/1.JNP.8.081599

17 March 2014 Photon-based and classical descriptions in nanophotonics: a review

David L. Andrews

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Journal of Nanophotonics, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 081599 (March 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.8.081599

Abstract

The centrality of the photon concept in modern physics is strongly evident in wide spheres of photonics and nanophotonics. Despite the resilience and persistence of earlier classical representations, there are numerous optical features and phenomena that only truly photon-based descriptions of theory can properly address. It is crucial to cast theory in terms of observables, and in this respect the quantum theory of light engages most directly and pragmatically with experiment. No other theory adequately reconciles the discreteness in energy of optical quanta, with their characteristic quantum mechanical delocalization in space. Examples of the distinctiveness of a photonic representation are to be found in nonclassical optical correlations; intensity fluctuations and phase; polarization, spin, and information content; measures of optical chirality; near-field interactions; and plasmonics. Increasingly, links between these fundamental properties and features are proving significant in the context of nanoscale interactions. Yet, even as new technologies are being built on the framework of modern photonics, a number of difficult questions surrounding the nature of the photon still remain. Both in its flourishing applications and in matters of fundamental entity, the photon is still a subject very much at the heart of current research.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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David L. Andrews "Photon-based and classical descriptions in nanophotonics: a review," Journal of Nanophotonics 8(1), 081599 (17 March 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.8.081599

Published: 17 March 2014

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