Photon position measure

Journal Article · Thu Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.82.012117· OSTI ID:21440468

Hawton, Margaret ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 5E1 (Canada)

The positive operator valued measure (POVM) for a photon counting array detector is derived and found to equal photon flux density integrated over pixel area and measurement time. Since photon flux density equals number density multiplied by the speed of light, this justifies theoretically the observation that a photon counting array provides a coarse-grained measurement of photon position. The POVM obtained here can be written as a set of projectors onto a basis of localized states, consistent with the description of photon position in a recent quantum imaging proposal [Tsang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 253601 (2009)]. The wave function that describes a photon counting experiment is the projection of the photon state vector onto this localized basis. Collapse is to the electromagnetic vacuum and not to a localized state, thus violating the textbook rules of quantum mechanics but compatible with the theory of generalized observables and the nonlocalizability of an incoming photon.

• OSTI ID: 21440468
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 82; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BOSONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FLUX DENSITY
FUNCTIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS
MEASURING METHODS
MECHANICS
PHOTONS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
QUANTUM OPERATORS
QUANTUM STATES
RADIATIONS
TENSORS
UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
VECTORS
VISIBLE RADIATION
WAVE FUNCTIONS