U1 8

Polarization of Light – Probability distribution of transmission and reflection

Slide 5 von 8

Probability distribution of transmission and reflection

How does the transmission probability of the single photon depend on its polarization?

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If we measure the behaviour of a single photon at the polarising beam splitter, we obtain as answer either transmission or reflection.

Only when performing many individual measurements, the probability distribution for reflection and transmission in dependence on the angle alpha can be deduced.

For that purpose, we sort the white and black fields at each given angle. As a result, we obtain the probability distribution for transmission – “White” – and reflection – “Black” for all angles. Note that the probability distribution for “transmission” is proportional to the intensity distribution.

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