Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A companion paper Beetle and Jongewaard de Boer (The paraxial approximation in quantum optics I: henochromatic modes of a scalar field. J Mod Opt. 2025) has argued that the best way to associate single-particle quantum states of a scalar field to the modes of a narrowly collimated beam of classical radiation modelled in the paraxial approximation uses the ‘henochromatic’ states previously introduced by Sudarshan et al. (Paraxial-wave optics and relativistic front description. II. The vector theory. Phys Rev A. 1983;28:2921–2932. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.28.2921, Paraxial-wave optics and relativistic front description. I. The scalar theory. Phys Rev A. 1983;28:2933–2942. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.28.2921). This paper extends that result to Maxwell fields, again emphasizing the central role of unitarity in defining the association. The principal new technical element in the present discussion has to do with the intertwining of polarization and spatial degrees of freedom in the resulting single-photon states.
Source: Journal of Modern Optics
Institution: Florida Atlantic University
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7133926066