PHOTON NUMBER CAUSED BY A CLASSICAL TRANSMITTER,
Abstract
Any pulse of radiation, such as a laser flash or a radar blip, contains a certain number of photons. Given the information on the entire field distribution at any particular time of any particular observer, one can calculate the photon number from a formula given by L. Landau and R. Peierls. Their formula can be deduced from the spectrum of the field: By proceeding covariantly in the definition of a spectrum and in its construction out of the field intensities, one is naturally led to an invariant total spectral weight such that the energy and momentum of the pulse are obtained. In a classical radiation process the field can be traced back exactly, without uncertainty, to its sources, that is to the currents flowing in the transmitter, or to the movements of all the charges during transmission. Expressions for the photon number in terms of the history of the transmitter current distribution, or in terms of the orbits of the elementary charge carriers during transmission, are calculated in this paper. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0697367
Entities
People
- O. Buneman
Organizations
- Stanford University