Thought Expirement: Light In a Mirrored box

  • Thread starter Thread starter SilverFlashII
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Box Light
AI Thread Summary
A theoretically perfect mirrored box can contain a single photon without absorption, leading to interesting implications for light behavior. Photons can stack within this confined space, creating a discrete spectrum of allowed energies akin to a laser. Each allowed frequency permits an arbitrary number of photons, suggesting that the box can hold multiple photons at different energy levels. The concept raises questions about the nature of light and its interaction with confined spaces. This thought experiment highlights the complexities of quantum mechanics and photon behavior in idealized conditions.
SilverFlashII
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
A theoretically perfect mirror with no gaps cracks, (no absorbing surfaces), so small that only a single photon could tightly fit inside

Is it stopped? If so let's get our scales ;)
 
Science news on Phys.org
so small that only a single photon could tightly fit inside
Photons can "stack" without any problems. Your box would have a discrete spectrum of allowed energies (corresponding to standing waves in the box), similar to a laser. For each allowed frequency, you can have an arbitrary amount of photons inside.
 
Thread 'A quartet of epi-illumination methods'
Well, it took almost 20 years (!!!), but I finally obtained a set of epi-phase microscope objectives (Zeiss). The principles of epi-phase contrast is nearly identical to transillumination phase contrast, but the phase ring is a 1/8 wave retarder rather than a 1/4 wave retarder (because with epi-illumination, the light passes through the ring twice). This method was popular only for a very short period of time before epi-DIC (differential interference contrast) became widely available. So...
I am currently undertaking a research internship where I am modelling the heating of silicon wafers with a 515 nm femtosecond laser. In order to increase the absorption of the laser into the oxide layer on top of the wafer it was suggested we use gold nanoparticles. I was tasked with modelling the optical properties of a 5nm gold nanoparticle, in particular the absorption cross section, using COMSOL Multiphysics. My model seems to be getting correct values for the absorption coefficient and...
Back
Top