Single Photon Interference

extreme_machinations

I Read This In A Michael Crichton Book ,and I Want Someone To Confirm This :
If A Single Photon Is Used In A Young's Interfreence Experiment Would It A Still Yeild An Interference Pattern ?

jtbell

By the way, it would have been better to post your question in the Quantum Physics forum. Don't be surprised if one of the moderators moves this thread there.

With a single photon, you'll get just a single spot on the screen or detector, and won't be able to see an interference pattern. However, the probability that the photon arrives at various locations on the screen follows the interference pattern, so if you then send more photons, one after the other, the interference pattern will build up, point by point. Here's an example from an actual experiment:

http://ophelia.princeton.edu/~page/single_photon.html

extreme_machinations

But Crichton Claims That Along With A Photon From A Our Universe Ther'd Be Another One From A Parallel Universe Which 'd Interfere With It To Produce The Pattern , I Sense That Its Got Something To Do With Multiple Dimensions And String Theory .

ZapperZ

I'm sorry, but please pay attention to your SOURCE! It's a fiction! He has no obligation to make this ideas physically sound!

I know you're trying to get clarification of the stuff he's using in his book, but you must also, on your part, be REALISTIC in asking such questions and putting THIS MUCH emphasis and credibility of the "physics" done from such sources.

BTW, is there a way for you to STOP typing the way you are doing now? I know it can be done because I HAVE seen your posting without this annoying capitalization.

Zz.

El Hombre Invisible