Destructive interference and energy

[24forChromium]

Where do the energy go in a pair of photons that are annihilating each other exactly? What happens when they collide with something that absorbs photons like an electron? (I think electron can absorb the e. in a photon to jump into a higher level) Would this light wave become undetectable like destructively interfering sound?

I was thinking in the context of a laser beam, suppose light waves of various frequencies are sent, the beam may be less "powerful" because of interference, or so I heard.

 

[Nugatory]

Destructive interference creates areas of zero light intensity (the dark regions in a classical interference patterns), but there are also areas of constructive interference (the bright regions in the pattern) where the intensity is greater than it would otherwise be. The two effects balance so the total energy is conserved.

None of this has anything to do with photons, which don't annihilate each other when the interfere.

 

[Dale]

where do the energy go in a pair of photons that are annihilating each other exactly?

The only way for that to happen is for them to produce a pair of particles (one is the anti-particle of the other). The photon energy goes into the mass of the pair.

This is extremely unlikely and requires very high energy photons. It is not related to interference of visible light.

 

[lightarrow]

The photon energy goes into the mass of the pair.

Said in this way could seem that "the photons energy disappear and is transformed in something else", which is false. The energy stay the same. Better to say that 2 particles transform in other 2 particles.

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lightarrow