1

The second way shown releases energy as one photon:So, my question deals with this excited electron.The first way shown releases energy as two photons:

So, my question deals with the excited electron shown above. (1st diagram) This electron can return to its ground state by either of two ways. One of the ways involves the emission of 2 photons. (2nd diagram) And the other way involves the emission of only 1 photon. (3rd diagram)

The total energy of the 2 photons shown in the 2nd diagram is the same as the total energy of the 1 photon shown in the 3rd diagram. So, my question is: would the first 2 photons together produce a colour that is the same as the colour of the 3rd photon (assuming the 2 photons from the 2nd diagram travel in the same direction) ? If not, then why not, and how different would the mixture of colours from the first 2 photons be from the colour of the last photon?

Chryron
  • 562
  • They would not be the same color Photons and they would not necessarily be emitted in the same direction – Bill Alsept Apr 17 '16 at 15:35
  • 2
    Color is a sensation; a feature of the human visual system. It is linked to the physical properties of the incident light (frequency in wave terms or energy in photon terms), but there is not a one-to-one correspondence between them. Or rather there is a nice one-to-one correspondence between the perceived color and frequency for a monochromatic source, but poly-chromatic sources have surprises up their sleeves. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Apr 17 '16 at 15:42
  • So, is it impossible to predict the color of polychromatic sources? – Chryron Apr 17 '16 at 16:31
  • see the article on color perception http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/62197 also see my answer here http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/135405/why-do-we-perceive-a-colour/135412#135412 – anna v Apr 17 '16 at 17:17
  • I think the OP is asking if two photons can combine together and produce a third photon with their combined energy. You should look into non-linear optics. It's the basis of how the green laser pointer works. – Aron Apr 17 '16 at 18:55
  • theoretically if two very high energy sources, x-rays or gamma rays that differed in wavelength equal to a visible light wavelength and they were able to interact, they could act as a carrier waves for a visible wavelength. I don't know if this has ever been seen though. – Peter R Apr 17 '16 at 19:06

0 Answers0