English

Operator for Describing Polarization States of a Photon

Quantum Physics 2009-10-31 v2

Abstract

Based on the quantized electromagnetic field described by the Riemann-Silberstein complex vector FF, we construct the eigenvector set of % F, which makes up an orthonormal and complete representation. In terms of % F we then introduce a new operator which can describe the relative ratio of the left-handed and right-handed polarization states of a polarized photon .In FsF^{\prime}s eigenvector basis the operator manifestly exhibits a behaviour which is similar to a phase difference between two orientations of polarization of a light beam in classical optics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9901015,
  title  = {Operator for Describing Polarization States of a Photon},
  author = {Hong-Yi Fan and Q. Y. Liu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9901015},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

This version (5 pages) will be published in the European Physical Journal D

R2 v1 2026-07-22T20:05:19.534Z