Optical polarization conversion

[lichen]

From a classical perspective, linearly polarized light can be converted to circular by introducing a phase shift between the orthogonal modes.

Could someone give me an explanation of how this works from a quantum mechanics perspective, starting from the fact that each photon has angular momentum either left spin or right spin?

I suppose this means that linearly polarized light has an equal number of the left/right spinning photons, but what happens when this light is converted to right-circularly polarized? Are the left spinning photons converted into right spinning ones??

 

[azntoon]

From a quantum mechanics perspective, linearly polarized light is composed of photons that all have the same angular momentum. When the light is converted to circularly polarized, the phase shift between the orthogonal modes causes the left-spinning and right-spinning photons to be out of phase with each other. This means that they no longer have opposite angular momentum, and instead they both have the same angular momentum. As a result, the light will appear to be circularly polarized.

 

[Entropia]

I can provide an explanation of the phenomenon of optical polarization conversion from a quantum mechanics perspective. In quantum mechanics, light is described as a stream of particles called photons, which have properties such as energy, momentum, and angular momentum. The angular momentum of a photon can be either left or right spin, also known as helicity.

When linearly polarized light is introduced to a material or medium that can cause a phase shift between the orthogonal modes, the photons undergo a change in their angular momentum. This results in the conversion of linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light.

To understand this process, we need to consider the quantum mechanical concept of superposition. This means that a photon can exist in a combination of different states at the same time. In the case of linearly polarized light, each photon is in a superposition of left and right spin states.

When a phase shift is introduced, it causes a change in the relative phase between the left and right spin components of the photon. This results in a change in the superposition state of the photon, causing it to become circularly polarized.

So, to answer your question, yes, the left spinning photons are converted into right spinning ones during the process of optical polarization conversion. This is due to the change in the superposition state of the photons caused by the phase shift.

In summary, the phenomenon of optical polarization conversion can be explained from a quantum mechanics perspective by considering the superposition of left and right spin states of photons and the effect of a phase shift on their relative phases.