The educational problem is that people in general seem to believe that photons rule the behaviour of light. That is a misconception. Photons show up in theoretical physics so as to fill the gap between Maxwellian electromagnetic waves and quantum-mechanics. The Maxwell world is not quantised, it does not consider the need for photons just yet. Electromagnetic waves can perfectly propagate without any photon whatsoever. It's when the waves are interacting with matter that photons pop up.
Like practically everything in science, the (inverse) phenomenon of a blocking circle creating a bright point at the center has a specific name - the Arago spot (Dominique-François-Jean Arago) which forms at the center of an Airy disk (George Airy) of surrounding diffraction rings (Le Marquis de Yves-Calon-Ayvelles du Diffràctión)😉.
Let's just name things, give them a description for what they're doing from an observers POV, and not understand a singe thing about them. Don't forget giving out awards and $ for making discoveries like this. Like looking at the bottom of your shoe and discovering that isn't gum you put in your mouth.
@@RobertSzasz i don't believe this is true, I've seen several coronagraphs with circular occluders. Pretty sure they just have to be designed with multiple baffles.
Funny how there are so many experiments that disprove that photons are particles. What phenomenon required them again? I thought it was for how gravity affects light, but I think that is now explained by the curving of time-space by a gravitational field.
Photons are required because we only observe electromagnetic energy transmitted in discrete packets of energy. Photons are what we call a stable, long-lasting excitation of the EM field, which always arrives in multiples of a fixed amount. If you try to model the same using small bursts of classical waves, you won't be able to recreate this quantization. Gravity is completely irrelevant here. Why do you think this experiment disproves that photons are particles?
That is an intriguing idea. There already are laser range finders, but I assume they work by timing the reflection? I wonder if a pinhole/darkspot system could be calibrated more finely, or if they've already been there and done that, and we are late to the party.
So if you had a pinhole with a knife edge that reflected no light (edge has to be thinner than one wavelength?), you would get no black spot in the beam?
This varying pattern of light and dark central fringe spots should also hold occur in the case of a single slit in the near field region. Just that instead of getting a circular shaped spot, it’s a straight line fringe we obtain.
I wouldn't say there isn't a photon. There are still photon/wave but they hit detector out of phase and don't produce output. That's why if you move further away you once again have photons. And it repeats until coherence is lost.
Crazy to think that the human eye has a blindspot characteristic of the observed wave interference. So, if a low intensity laser were to shine it directly into an eye and create this type of interference chances are it overlays the start of the optic nerve.
Why does interference not happen in more situations? Why does it have to be small slits, and small spots, and points and pinholes? Or does it happen, but the effect is neutralized?
would this work with a regular laser pointer? how nice and precise does the pinhole need to be? I assume if it's not really crisp and well defined it would be a rough edge and won't really have this effect?
This is a double-edged weapon! Placing an optical element when the interference is constructive can generate very high power densities that affect the optical elements.
If there is no photon there in no energy. Does anyone know What happened to the energy that existed just a few wavelengths before and exists again a few wavelengths after the convergence?
Wow! If light travels as a photon (aka 'particle') how does it destructively interfere? How can one 'bullet' cancel out another 'bullet' if they are traveling in same direction from the same source. I love how your 'How Big is a Photon' video showed that it doesn't travel as a photon; it travels as a wave and interacts as a photon!
Because they are not traveling in the same direction. He explained that the black spot is caused by light that reflects from the edge of the hole, and intersects in the middle of the beam. A bullet can't be out of phase, in the sense that a wave can be, but a particle could still presumably cause destructive interference at the intersection.
You are the only Physicist that I have come across that does not regurgitate nonsense. As a superfan, I am begging you to stick to the format of my screen. #MayTH-camShortsPerish
@@HuygensOptics Thanks for the comment! 😊 My first thought was: NO, pleeease, not him too… But I just forgot about curiosity and that you for sure want to try out how this anti-feature actually works. Joe Scott made and interesting experiment on shorts, btw 😉
@@HuygensOptics The "short" isn't *your* format because it doesn't allow you to be as precise as your regular videos. But it could be your format to inspire curiousity, which directs traffic to your channel. It's fascinating how many people appreciate your content, which I always thought a very niche subject.
That's the problem with the quantification of these things, it's mainly only useful for formulating problems and abstracting the solution. It's not a great idea for trying to actually understand intuitively what's taking place. Photons don't really exist it's just and abstraction of the continuity of a wave function into a quantifiable measure based upon a constant frame. When you teach people about photons and you imply that they're real instead of the abstraction that they are so that people can formulate a procedure of dissection, they neglect to recognize or clarify that reality doesn't necessarily work that way. A photon is basically a single wave cycle, but just like on the surface of the ocean you can't divide a single wave from the continuum of the whole except through some abstractive reflection, otherwise the moment you do in reality the wave function collapses and no longer exists.
if you could slowly expand the size of the pinhole would the central dark spot remain dark? At some point with a very large pinhole the dark spot becomes less dark, right? Thanks.
Yes, in this case it's destructive interference. If you take a different size hole you might see a bright spot right in the centre at the same distance.
There's photons there. They just out of phase -- but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Sort of like two ocean waves canceling each other out at a location while the energy continues thru that space for all waves. Black doesn't necessarily mean "Nothing There"
Ahh yes, but is the wave high or low density at the interference point ? It's is the opposite phase of photon density in the Higgs field so no photon means highest Higgs field wave density!. What is a photon ?? ;-)
You say “not a single photon” but the diagram shows EM lines crossing and interfering. Doesn’t that imply that there ARE photons at that point, but they are simply not viewable to us in that region of space?
Ok it looks the the author answers this on an earlier comment: Of course you are right, that is why the video description specifically refers to EM field, not photons. It was formulated this way to be a bit provoking. A photon is not an object but the manifestation of the field transferring energy. So not "seeing" photons refer to this process not taking place in an area of complete destructive interference.
@@HuygensOptics I see, like exciting the surface of a pond. I don't know if this relates to the double slit experiment, but I've been learning about Wolfram Physics recently, and he explains the phase interference as a photon being distant from its alternate histories of itself in 'branchial space', and that our brains/instruments can't compensate for that, since we must straddle all possible paths of history yet must also believe we exist in a single time-line. 🥴
Any chance of releasing the video as a non-shorts? The video, does not play for me. I can only see the tops of comments. Anytime I try to play the video it scrolls down to a different one......
I may be arguing semantics, but "there is not a photon..." at some location seems inaccurate. Your argument asserts maximal destructive interference from two or more sources. But, were one of those sources to move, the loci of maximal destructive interference would also translocate, yes? Then, what are we saying occurs a that loci? It rather seems that two or more EM fields are continuously active, but neutral in their net effect at that loci. If this condition is equivalent to what we heretofore would say is "dark space" (devoid of photons) how would we otherwise discern that any space is truly dark, rather than the loci of maximally destructive interference?
Of course you are right, that is why the video description specifically refers to EM field, not photons. It was formulated this way to be a bit provoking. A photon is not an object but the manifestation of the field transferring energy. So not "seeing" photons refer to this process not taking place in an area of complete destructive interference.
There is only one EM field - the waves cancel each other out, not the fields. It might sound like a nitpick, but the consequence is that there are no photons in that location. There is no excitation in the field, and therefore no photon.
That's a great point about dark space. The answer, of course, is that we can't discern it from maximally destructive interference. And that's fine. How would you go about designing an apparatus to discern them?
Not quite "not a single photon in sight" at the dark center. Reproduce the dual slit experiment at the surface of water. When your impending wave passes through the slits, it will create patterns of interferences. Some areas will stay level (destructive interference = cancelling each other), while other areas will constructively reinforce = double the amplitude positively and negatively. Looking at the destructive interference areas, you will observe no change in the water level. Is it because there is no water there? Nope. It's because the forces up and forces down cancel each other = no resultant motion. Photons are everywhere, including at the center of your laser. We can only detect photons when they are energized as a wave. But like water or air, they act as a dense (albeit massless) omnipresent medium. There is a common failure at connecting the dots with electromagnetic waves, their behavior and properties. 1) only photons are the exchange particles to anything that's electrical or magnetic in nature. If we have no energized photons hitting electrons, we have no current (induction and photoelectric effect). 2) How do photons move, or travel? Maxwell proposed a sine wave "wiggles" made of magnetic and electric waves, at right angles to each other, while Tesla said they were longitudinal. Either model gives a clue. How can we continuously see Vega at night? Not because discrete photons left Vega 45.5 years ago, and now Charlie photon finally enters you eye. NO! Charlie photon imparted its kinetic energy to Jane, who transmitted hers to Peter... What it means is that photons are everywhere around us and populate (not unlike air and H2O in oceans) the entire cosmos. 3. We detect electromagnetic waves (ranging from cosmic waves down to radio) as rhythmic ripples in the sea of photons. There is no "single photon" travelling like a baseball through space. It manifest itself always like a fluid. We detect air and water by applying pressure and feeling the backpressure (third law) but photons have no mass, so we rely on energized photons hitting a copper wire to impart a motion on electrons, best at right angle. This is a current, which is detected by instruments. 4. The dual slit experiment is in part faulty. Especially in its assumption that light is a particle and a wave (correct) but can be perceived selectively either/or. A single pulse through the slits will show a single impact on the screen, without interference bands, Conversely you can only see in the presence of interference bands, with a repeated pulse (which is a wave) . Thank you. The breakthrough you described in lasers is very interesting. Now that they know how to make a hollow laser tube, how soon will they come up with light sabers?
Interesting. So when these photons are not energised, I assume they're stationary in some particular reference frame... which one? Or are they "dragged" with reference frames? This theory appears ro have the same problems as the ether and the same reasons for not accurately describing the behaviour of light.
no its not possible. There are photons. But they are out of phase. Because if there is not a single photone inside , than it means destructive interference is braking law of energy conservation.
Actually the reason why there is alternating bright and dark central spots for a pinhole is because as distance is varied from the hole, a variable number of fresnel zones make it through. If the point is closeup to the hole then there will be a huge number of fresnel zones (in opposite phases that cancel each other out) that pass through. If the point is far away only a single fresnel zone will pass through.
Imagine taking an approximation of diffraction (fresnel zones) and believing that they're the fundamental way of describing the physics. You're an engineer, huh?
Just saying Thanks! Simple enough even for me to get an idea of what is happening. Now if you can Explain the Black Hole in my Wallet. Money goes in but dissapears! 😉
The waves are from the medium.. not from light..you know what? Dont bother with s response..are underetsnding of light is not compatible... ..my understanding is nothing like yours..light are not waves... ..the waves are the current flow or pressure ..isolated beams are structured and hava a laminar flow structure as a surface tention alot like water...or should i say exactly?
The educational problem is that people in general seem to believe that photons rule the behaviour of light. That is a misconception. Photons show up in theoretical physics so as to fill the gap between Maxwellian electromagnetic waves and quantum-mechanics. The Maxwell world is not quantised, it does not consider the need for photons just yet. Electromagnetic waves can perfectly propagate without any photon whatsoever. It's when the waves are interacting with matter that photons pop up.
Like practically everything in science, the (inverse) phenomenon of a blocking circle creating a bright point at the center has a specific name - the Arago spot (Dominique-François-Jean Arago) which forms at the center of an Airy disk (George Airy) of surrounding diffraction rings (Le Marquis de Yves-Calon-Ayvelles du Diffràctión)😉.
Let's just name things, give them a description for what they're doing from an observers POV, and not understand a singe thing about them.
Don't forget giving out awards and $ for making discoveries like this. Like looking at the bottom of your shoe and discovering that isn't gum you put in your mouth.
@@lifeunderthemic if you say so. 🙄
Came here to say this too. The spot of arago is cool af.
It's why exoplanet hunting telescopes can't use circular occluders
@@RobertSzasz i don't believe this is true, I've seen several coronagraphs with circular occluders. Pretty sure they just have to be designed with multiple baffles.
Perhaps you'll be interested in investigation into diffraction by polarizing aperture, or non-diffractive edges by total internal reflection.
For people that don't know yet, the light pattern is a actual image, not simulation.
You really need to make more videos.
Your content is gold!
Many thanks,
PS
oh no, a photonic black hole!
Funny how there are so many experiments that disprove that photons are particles. What phenomenon required them again? I thought it was for how gravity affects light, but I think that is now explained by the curving of time-space by a gravitational field.
Photons are required because we only observe electromagnetic energy transmitted in discrete packets of energy. Photons are what we call a stable, long-lasting excitation of the EM field, which always arrives in multiples of a fixed amount. If you try to model the same using small bursts of classical waves, you won't be able to recreate this quantization. Gravity is completely irrelevant here.
Why do you think this experiment disproves that photons are particles?
@@hexane360When classical wave fail, some non-classical waves might succeed.
Destructive interference is the word I'm looking for
That's just like how the brightest part of a shadow is the center. Any shadow. The center is brighter than some area between that and the edge.
This is awesome!!! I love the short format, hope you get a larger reach!
Mm, this short is underrated, here we have potencial for DIY length mesuring device
That is an intriguing idea. There already are laser range finders, but I assume they work by timing the reflection? I wonder if a pinhole/darkspot system could be calibrated more finely, or if they've already been there and done that, and we are late to the party.
So if you had a pinhole with a knife edge that reflected no light (edge has to be thinner than one wavelength?), you would get no black spot in the beam?
This varying pattern of light and dark central fringe spots should also hold occur in the case of a single slit in the near field region. Just that instead of getting a circular shaped spot, it’s a straight line fringe we obtain.
I wouldn't say there isn't a photon. There are still photon/wave but they hit detector out of phase and don't produce output.
That's why if you move further away you once again have photons.
And it repeats until coherence is lost.
I love all these weird optical diffraction demos.
Crazy to think that the human eye has a blindspot characteristic of the observed wave interference. So, if a low intensity laser were to shine it directly into an eye and create this type of interference chances are it overlays the start of the optic nerve.
You wouldn't even notice a difference in intensity.
Why does interference not happen in more situations? Why does it have to be small slits, and small spots, and points and pinholes? Or does it happen, but the effect is neutralized?
It's related to wavelength. You can observe interference by larger objects if you use microwave.
@@hamdaniyusuf_dani My point being, is there never interference, or is it just low probability of interference?
You get a different picture if you use a whole of 0.5mm. In this case you get frozen flashes. Have to test with different distance again
would this work with a regular laser pointer? how nice and precise does the pinhole need to be? I assume if it's not really crisp and well defined it would be a rough edge and won't really have this effect?
I imagine pretty precise, like on the the order of magnitude of a wavelength of the light, or less.
This is a double-edged weapon! Placing an optical element when the interference is constructive can generate very high power densities that affect the optical elements.
If there is no photon there in no energy.
Does anyone know What happened to the energy that existed just a few wavelengths before and exists again a few wavelengths after the convergence?
Wow! If light travels as a photon (aka 'particle') how does it destructively interfere? How can one 'bullet' cancel out another 'bullet' if they are traveling in same direction from the same source. I love how your 'How Big is a Photon' video showed that it doesn't travel as a photon; it travels as a wave and interacts as a photon!
Because they are not traveling in the same direction. He explained that the black spot is caused by light that reflects from the edge of the hole, and intersects in the middle of the beam. A bullet can't be out of phase, in the sense that a wave can be, but a particle could still presumably cause destructive interference at the intersection.
You are the only Physicist that I have come across that does not regurgitate nonsense.
As a superfan, I am begging you to stick to the format of my screen.
#MayTH-camShortsPerish
Thanks for your comment. I just wanted to see how "Shorts" work exactly. I'm not sure shorts work for me...
@@HuygensOptics Of course, of course. I am only dreaming.
Yes! 🤗
@@HuygensOptics Thanks for the comment! 😊
My first thought was: NO, pleeease, not him too…
But I just forgot about curiosity and that you for sure want to try out how this anti-feature actually works. Joe Scott made and interesting experiment on shorts, btw 😉
@@HuygensOptics The "short" isn't *your* format because it doesn't allow you to be as precise as your regular videos.
But it could be your format to inspire curiousity, which directs traffic to your channel.
It's fascinating how many people appreciate your content, which I always thought a very niche subject.
If the waves cancel out where does the energy go?
That's the problem with the quantification of these things, it's mainly only useful for formulating problems and abstracting the solution. It's not a great idea for trying to actually understand intuitively what's taking place. Photons don't really exist it's just and abstraction of the continuity of a wave function into a quantifiable measure based upon a constant frame. When you teach people about photons and you imply that they're real instead of the abstraction that they are so that people can formulate a procedure of dissection, they neglect to recognize or clarify that reality doesn't necessarily work that way. A photon is basically a single wave cycle, but just like on the surface of the ocean you can't divide a single wave from the continuum of the whole except through some abstractive reflection, otherwise the moment you do in reality the wave function collapses and no longer exists.
And they won't even do that if you send them one at a time. That's the part that still bends me
... I love how determined particle physics is to bend my brain open...!
if you could slowly expand the size of the pinhole would the central dark spot remain dark? At some point with a very large pinhole the dark spot becomes less dark, right? Thanks.
Yes, in this case it's destructive interference. If you take a different size hole you might see a bright spot right in the centre at the same distance.
I never knew light could be in phase or out of phase like electricity can.
There's photons there. They just out of phase -- but that doesn't mean they aren't there.
Sort of like two ocean waves canceling each other out at a location while the energy continues thru that space for all waves.
Black doesn't necessarily mean "Nothing There"
Oh wow, I thought I knew intuitively what was going on here and I was wrong. Thanks for the video.
I'm curious. What did you think was happening?
Not a photon in sight. Just ppl living in the moment
Ahh yes, but is the wave high or low density at the interference point ?
It's is the opposite phase of photon density in the Higgs field so no photon means highest Higgs field wave density!.
What is a photon ??
;-)
love it ~ or as you may have pointed out in the past, it's just very very low energy although temporally - ahh damn it.
Isn't it the Arago or Poisson dark spot?
I suppose it is the complementary screen also known as the Babinet principle. Arago or Poisson spot is bright.
Similar principe, different experiment.
(Never heard of the "Poisson dark spot", I guess someone could have named it that)
You say “not a single photon” but the diagram shows EM lines crossing and interfering. Doesn’t that imply that there ARE photons at that point, but they are simply not viewable to us in that region of space?
Ok it looks the the author answers this on an earlier comment:
Of course you are right, that is why the video description specifically refers to EM field, not photons. It was formulated this way to be a bit provoking. A photon is not an object but the manifestation of the field transferring energy. So not "seeing" photons refer to this process not taking place in an area of complete destructive interference.
Surely someone's gonna say " thats what blackholes are" astronomical blackholes
Hold up. When two photons destructively intefere, do they still exist?
Photons are the energy quanta we put into the field or extract from it. The amplitude of the EM field itself isn't quantized.
@@HuygensOptics I see, like exciting the surface of a pond. I don't know if this relates to the double slit experiment, but I've been learning about Wolfram Physics recently, and he explains the phase interference as a photon being distant from its alternate histories of itself in 'branchial space', and that our brains/instruments can't compensate for that, since we must straddle all possible paths of history yet must also believe we exist in a single time-line. 🥴
Any chance of releasing the video as a non-shorts?
The video, does not play for me. I can only see the tops of comments. Anytime I try to play the video it scrolls down to a different one......
Yes, I think if you go to the channel > videos it's just the most recent one. Alternatively you can go to the optics playlist and play it.
@@HuygensOptics aaah, I didn't know that! The most recent video redirects to the non-functional shorts page. The playlist works. Thank you
I may be arguing semantics, but "there is not a photon..." at some location seems inaccurate. Your argument asserts maximal destructive interference from two or more sources. But, were one of those sources to move, the loci of maximal destructive interference would also translocate, yes? Then, what are we saying occurs a that loci? It rather seems that two or more EM fields are continuously active, but neutral in their net effect at that loci. If this condition is equivalent to what we heretofore would say is "dark space" (devoid of photons) how would we otherwise discern that any space is truly dark, rather than the loci of maximally destructive interference?
Of course you are right, that is why the video description specifically refers to EM field, not photons. It was formulated this way to be a bit provoking. A photon is not an object but the manifestation of the field transferring energy. So not "seeing" photons refer to this process not taking place in an area of complete destructive interference.
There is only one EM field - the waves cancel each other out, not the fields. It might sound like a nitpick, but the consequence is that there are no photons in that location. There is no excitation in the field, and therefore no photon.
That's a great point about dark space. The answer, of course, is that we can't discern it from maximally destructive interference. And that's fine. How would you go about designing an apparatus to discern them?
The darkness is not canceled out its the surface tension of light stepped up to a higher energy state.
Creating darkness using light how cool is that
Not quite "not a single photon in sight" at the dark center. Reproduce the dual slit experiment at the surface of water. When your impending wave passes through the slits, it will create patterns of interferences. Some areas will stay level (destructive interference = cancelling each other), while other areas will constructively reinforce = double the amplitude positively and negatively. Looking at the destructive interference areas, you will observe no change in the water level. Is it because there is no water there? Nope. It's because the forces up and forces down cancel each other = no resultant motion. Photons are everywhere, including at the center of your laser. We can only detect photons when they are energized as a wave. But like water or air, they act as a dense (albeit massless) omnipresent medium. There is a common failure at connecting the dots with electromagnetic waves, their behavior and properties.
1) only photons are the exchange particles to anything that's electrical or magnetic in nature. If we have no energized photons hitting electrons, we have no current (induction and photoelectric effect).
2) How do photons move, or travel? Maxwell proposed a sine wave "wiggles" made of magnetic and electric waves, at right angles to each other, while Tesla said they were longitudinal. Either model gives a clue. How can we continuously see Vega at night? Not because discrete photons left Vega 45.5 years ago, and now Charlie photon finally enters you eye. NO! Charlie photon imparted its kinetic energy to Jane, who transmitted hers to Peter... What it means is that photons are everywhere around us and populate (not unlike air and H2O in oceans) the entire cosmos.
3. We detect electromagnetic waves (ranging from cosmic waves down to radio) as rhythmic ripples in the sea of photons. There is no "single photon" travelling like a baseball through space. It manifest itself always like a fluid. We detect air and water by applying pressure and feeling the backpressure (third law) but photons have no mass, so we rely on energized photons hitting a copper wire to impart a motion on electrons, best at right angle. This is a current, which is detected by instruments.
4. The dual slit experiment is in part faulty. Especially in its assumption that light is a particle and a wave (correct) but can be perceived selectively either/or. A single pulse through the slits will show a single impact on the screen, without interference bands, Conversely you can only see in the presence of interference bands, with a repeated pulse (which is a wave) . Thank you. The breakthrough you described in lasers is very interesting. Now that they know how to make a hollow laser tube, how soon will they come up with light sabers?
Interesting. So when these photons are not energised, I assume they're stationary in some particular reference frame... which one? Or are they "dragged" with reference frames? This theory appears ro have the same problems as the ether and the same reasons for not accurately describing the behaviour of light.
Like a tornado or hurricane :)
no its not possible. There are photons. But they are out of phase.
Because if there is not a single photone inside , than it means destructive interference is braking law of energy conservation.
I like the way Your Mind Works 👏 Now I want more...I want all the Knowledge You keep ✌️🌹😁🔱
So this is kinda like anti phasing I guess
not a single photon ? what about shot noise ? :P
Hmmmm
"There is not a single photon in sight, because of this wave phenomena" , probably isn't a very robust description of the dark spot.
😉
this is reverse Poisson Bright Spot😂
wait? laser are not parallel photons?
What do you mean? Like photons without waves? No amplitude? No frequency? Like a row of bullets?
@@das_it_mane no. All photons going to the same direction. As it is a laser! Is not suppose all goes straight?
@@flyguille Pay attention to the video. There is a pinhole in the way.
Actually the reason why there is alternating bright and dark central spots for a pinhole is because as distance is varied from the hole, a variable number of fresnel zones make it through. If the point is closeup to the hole then there will be a huge number of fresnel zones (in opposite phases that cancel each other out) that pass through. If the point is far away only a single fresnel zone will pass through.
Imagine taking an approximation of diffraction (fresnel zones) and believing that they're the fundamental way of describing the physics. You're an engineer, huh?
no fauxtons,.. huh
Just saying Thanks! Simple enough even for me to get an idea of what is happening.
Now if you can Explain the Black Hole in my Wallet. Money goes in but dissapears! 😉
The waves are from the medium.. not from light..you know what? Dont bother with s response..are underetsnding of light is not compatible... ..my understanding is nothing like yours..light are not waves... ..the waves are the current flow or pressure ..isolated beams are structured and hava a laminar flow structure as a surface tention alot like water...or should i say exactly?
Lol, not a single one😮