why does a photon zigzag thru window and still come out pretty much the same way?
Li Chen
Friday, 07 March 2008 20:28 UTC
anyone can explain that to me? thx~~~~
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Replies
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Im not sure what you mean by zig-zig. The photon doesnt zig-zag around so as to avoid the atoms of the window. The photon propagates thro the window via a polariton – the photon is absorbed as an excitation which will continue to propagate until it annhilates to a photon and so on until it reaches the end of the window. Is that clear?
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