I Can a single photon be reflected by a mirror?

AI Thread Summary
A single photon can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted when it encounters a mirror, with outcomes determined by probabilistic quantum mechanics. If a photon is absorbed, it ceases to exist, as photons cannot be subdivided. The behavior of a beam of light, composed of many photons, mirrors this probabilistic nature, with some photons being reflected and others absorbed. The likelihood of reflection for a single photon corresponds to the mirror's classical reflectivity percentage. Ultimately, the interaction of a single photon with a mirror highlights the complexities of quantum behavior.
Ebi Rogha
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I understand mirrors absorb a small energy portion of the light and reflect most of it. What happens if we shoot a single photon to a mirror? Would it be reflected?
If the answer is Yes, then I would ask, if the mirror absorbs a portion of the energy of the photon, so the photon should simply stop existing because we cannot have a smaller package of light than a photon.

If the answer is No, then I would ask why a beam of light (which is made of a big number of photons) behaves differently.
 
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Ebi Rogha said:
Summary:: I understand mirrors absorb a small energy portion of the light and reflect most of it. What happens if we shoot a single photon to a mirror? Would it be reflected?
If you shoot single photons to a mirror: Statistically, some will be reflected, some will be transmitted through the mirror medium and some will be absorbed by the mirror medium.
 
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Ebi Rogha said:
Summary:: I understand mirrors absorb a small energy portion of the light and reflect most of it. What happens if we shoot a single photon to a mirror? Would it be reflected?

If the answer is Yes, then I would ask, if the mirror absorbs a portion of the energy of the photon, so the photon should simply stop existing because we cannot have a smaller package of light than a photon.

If the answer is No, then I would ask why a beam of light (which is made of a big number of photons) behaves differently.
A single photon is reflected or absorbed according to certain probabilities (as with everything in QM). In a beam of photons, some are reflected and some are absorbed.
 
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Ebi Rogha said:
What happens if we shoot a single photon to a mirror? Would it be reflected?
Maybe. There is a chance that it would and a chance that it wouldn’t. That chance (not coincidentally) is equal to the percentage of light that is reflected classically.
 
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