On Numerical Modeling of the Young’s Experiment with Two Sources of Single-Photon Spherical Coordinate Wave Functions

Abstract

Within the framework of the quantum mechanics of a photon, constructed by the authors in previous works, using the Maple environment, a numerical modeling was carried out of two-photon interference arising in the scheme of Young’s experiment from two one-photon sources emitting simultaneously photons, the propagation of which is described by “spherical” diverging wave functions in the coordinate representation—the wave packets normalized to the total unit probability, which are a superpositions of six-component generalized eigenfunctions of the energy, momentum, and helicity operators, with a Gaussian isotropic distribution in photon momenta. In general, the curve graphically displaying the results obtained demonstrates a pronounced two-photon interference with characteristic maxima and minima and agrees well with an independently constructed curve modeled in a “quasi-classical” approach in terms of classical electrodynamics. It is concluded that the results obtained allow, in the future, using more powerful means of numerical analysis and calculations, to set the tasks of describing one- and two-photon phenomena observed in modern experiments, such as quantum cryptography and quantum computing, within the framework of the concept of photons as localized carriers of quantum information, using the wave function of a photon or a system of photons, including in an entangled state.