• Question: Is it possible for two photons to overlap and join their energy to structure a one photon of higher frequency?

    Asked by waveicle to Adam, Sheila on 25 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sheila Kanani

      Sheila Kanani answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      Yeah I think so. A photon can be considered as the vibrational energy with a certain frequency and thus the photons with the same frequency can interact with each other by overlapping to achieve maximal magnitude of vibration. Billions of the same “coloured” photons can overlap the same way and form a single photo possessing a gigantic amount of energy. This is called a photon cannon.

    • Photo: Adam Tuff

      Adam Tuff answered on 25 Mar 2011:

      Interesting…we know they combine to form particles – for example two gamma rays can come together to form a positron and an electron. We also know that two beams can collide and scatter, although the likelyhood is fairly small. From that I would suggest that if they do, it would be a vanishingly small likelyhood.

Comments

  • Photo: freddie

    freddie commented on :

    If two photons of the same wavelength interfere, their ampludes add together (if it’s constructive interference) or cancel out (destructive). However the frequencies wouldn’t change. Think about Young’s Double Slit experiment. (Though that’s actually one photon interefering with itself!)