Re: On the uncertainty principle for photons. An experimental counter example??
- From: "Rich L." <ralivingston@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:11:17 +0000 (UTC)
On Oct 17, 12:41 pm, kvblake <kvblake2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From QM follows that the position of a photon can not be determined
better than L (de Broglie wavelength).
Suppose one creates a wave in the meter range - say L=2m. Could the
photons in this wave go through a tube of radius 1 cm?
If one registers a click of a photon counter placed inside the tube -
would this be a counterexample of QM - e.g. the position of the photon
determeined better than de Broglie's wavelength???
I think the misunderstanding is that QM does not say that the energy
of a photon cannot be captured in a volume much smaller than its
wavelength, but that the exact path that the photon travels between
source and detection cannot be measured more precisely than this. As
other replys have pointed out, the energy in a radio frequency photon
can originate from a volume with dimensions orders of magnitude
smaller than the wavelength, and when the photon is detected the
location of detection can be determined with much greater precision as
well. It is the location of the "photon" in between these two events
that is uncertain.
Rich L.
.
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