- #1
pbudz
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Hi, I'm new here and have been thinking about the double slit experiment (with one photon at a time).
As I understand it, you fire one photon, it goes through both slits, interferes with itself and hits a point on the detector according to probabilities that correspond to what you would expect with classic wave theory.
Assuming I've got this right, my questions are:
Do you always detect one photon for each one that you fire? Or do some go missing?
What if you put a second detector in front of the plate between the two slits? This way a photon could go through the slits but it could also hit the second detector.
If this second detector detects a photon presumably it cannot then be detected by the detector behind the plate. Does that mean that the act of adding the second detector would reduce the number of photons detected with the original detector behind the plate?
As I understand it, you fire one photon, it goes through both slits, interferes with itself and hits a point on the detector according to probabilities that correspond to what you would expect with classic wave theory.
Assuming I've got this right, my questions are:
Do you always detect one photon for each one that you fire? Or do some go missing?
What if you put a second detector in front of the plate between the two slits? This way a photon could go through the slits but it could also hit the second detector.
If this second detector detects a photon presumably it cannot then be detected by the detector behind the plate. Does that mean that the act of adding the second detector would reduce the number of photons detected with the original detector behind the plate?