photon

A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless particles that can only move at one speed, the speed of light measured in a vacuum. The photon belongs to the class of boson particles.

AI overview

A photon is the smallest unit of light and other electromagnetic radiation, and it's the particle that carries the electromagnetic force. Photons have no mass and always travel at the speed of light, making them fundamental to how we see the world and how electromagnetic forces work.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Particle.name: Photon
Particle.composition: Elementary particle
Particle.statistics: Bose–Einstein statistics
Particle.group: Gauge boson
Particle.interaction: Electromagnetic, gravity
Particle.theorized: Albert Einstein (1905) The name "photon" is generally attributed to Gilbert N. Lewis (1926)
Particle.mean_lifetime: Stable
Particle.electric_charge: 0
Particle.color_charge: No
Particle.spin: 1 ħ
Particle.num_spin_states: +1 ħ,  −1 ħ
Particle.parity: −1
Particle.c_parity: −1
Particle.condensed_symmetries: I(J PC) = 0, 1 (1−−)

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

326,409 papers

Multi-Photon Microscopy.ReviewCurrent protocols · 2023Sanderson JDOI: 10.1002/cpz1.634
Photon upmanship: why multiphoton imaging is more than a gimmick.ReviewNeuron · 1997Denk W, Svoboda KDOI: 10.1016/s0896-6273(00)81237-4
Two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy.ReviewAnnual review of biomedical engineering · 2000So PT, Dong CY, Masters BR et al.DOI: 10.1146/annurev.bioeng.2.1.399
Two-photon excitation fluorescence bioassays.ReviewAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2008Hänninen P, Soukka J, Soini JTDOI: 10.1196/annals.1430.040
Advances in adaptive optics-based two-photon fluorescence microscopy for brain imaging.ReviewLasers in medical science · 2020Sahu P, Mazumder NDOI: 10.1007/s10103-019-02908-z
Multi-photon imaging.Current protocols in cytometry · 2010Padmanabhan K, Andrews SE, Fitzpatrick JADOI: 10.1002/0471142956.cy0209s54
Nanostructured materials for photon detection.ReviewNature nanotechnology · 2010Konstantatos G, Sargent EHDOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.78
Twin-photon confocal microscopy.Optics express · 2010Simon DS, Sergienko AVDOI: 10.1364/OE.18.022147

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Mass: 0.000000000000000000001
Image: Refraction of daylight through a prism.jpg

Show 10 more facts

Monte Carlo Particle Number: 22
spin quantum number: 1
Commons category: Photon
electric charge: 0
mean lifetime: 1
charge conjugation quantum number: -1
parity quantum number: -1
half-life: 1
Stack Exchange tag: physics.stackexchange.com/tags/photons
time of discovery or invention: 1923-00-00

Sources (9)

via Wikidata · CC0

~43 min read

Article

23 sections

Contents

Physical properties
Energy and momentum
Polarization and spin angular momentum
Antiparticle annihilation
Experimental checks on photon mass
Historical development
Nomenclature
Wave–particle duality and uncertainty principles
Bose–Einstein model of a photon gas
Stimulated and spontaneous emission
Quantum field theory
Quantization of the electromagnetic field
As a gauge boson
Hadronic properties
Contributions to the mass of a system
In matter
Technological applications
Quantum optics and computation
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

As with other elementary particles, photons are best explained by quantum mechanics and exhibit wave–particle duality, their behavior featuring properties of both waves and particles. The modern photon concept originated during the first two decades of the 20th century with the work of Albert Einstein, who built upon the research of Max Planck. While Planck was trying to explain how matter and electromagnetic radiation could be in thermal equilibrium with one another, he proposed that the energy stored within a material object should be regarded as composed of an integer number of discrete, equal-sized parts. To explain the photoelectric effect, Einstein introduced the idea that light itself is made of discrete units of energy. In 1926, Gilbert N. Lewis popularized the term photon for these energy units. Subsequently, many other experiments validated Einstein's approach.