Single helium/neon laser photons
(630 nanometers, 1.97 evolts)
- Single 630 nanometer photon acting as a wave.
Turn the lights down low to see an animation of a single 630 nanometer photon trapped in a 2520 nanometer cavity, 2.5 micrometers wide or 4 wavelenghts wide. The grid is marked at 1/2 wavelength intervals. The single photon expands and contracts at a predictable rate that matches its wavelength.
- Two 630 nanometer photons
Trapped in a 2520 nanometer cavity, 2.5 micrometers wide or 4 wavelengths wide. The second photon is released 0.1 femtoseconds after the first and travels at the same speed of light, just behind the first. Both photons expand and contract, the location of maximum and minimum size is called the "phase" of the wave. These two photons are "in-phase", ie. coherent.
- Three "Helium/Neon" laser photons
Three photons generated at the same spot with a 0.1 femtosecond delay. This results in the first photon being 0.1 femtoseconds ahead of the second photon and the third photon being at the end. They have a high probablity of being reflected at the end points since they are in the "maximum size" state. Photons have a high degree of interacting with an electron when they are tiny. Photons also have a high chance of causing a "stimulated emission" of another photon when they are tiny. This effect causes the new photons generated to be "in-phase" with the existing photons.
- Ten 630 nanometer photons released over 1.0 femtoseconds
The release of 10 photons fills a 1/2 wavelength piece of space. The first photon will have expanded and contracted and is 1/2 a wavelength away from where it started when the 10th photon is released. Each photon as it travels, periodically goes from its "normal-particle" state to its "anti-particle" state over one wavelength, represented here as the transition from black to white.
- Burst of photons
Animation of a 4.0 femtosecond burst of 630 nanometer photons (photons from a common helium/neon laser) trapped in a cavity that is 4 wavelengths wide. You can see re-enforcement of the wave when the back part of the wave catches the front edge on reflection from the sides of the cavity. These photons would be called coherent.