Photon wavelength quantization?

espen180
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Are photon wavelengths quantizised? If so, what are their possible wavelengths? Do their possible wavelengths also depend on the system they are in?
 
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espen180 said:
Are photon wavelengths quantizised? If so, what are their possible wavelengths? Do their possible wavelengths also depend on the system they are in?

No, they are not. The "wavelength" of a photon (which btw is a slightly ambigous measure) is not quantized. The usual "classical" relation between frequency and wavelength (lamba=c/f) applies even to single photons; quantum mechanics only adds the relation W=hf for the energy of a single photon.
 
Wavelength of a free radiation is not restricted. However, stationary waves in optical resonators have wavelengths quantised. Consider stationary wave in long metal resonator of the length l. It can have only such a wavelength, for which the condition

<br /> l = n \frac{\lambda}{2}<br />

is satisfied for some whole integer n.
 

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