What is the Connection Between Excited Atoms and Diffraction?

[T.Roc]

Zz

I was thinking of a single hydrogen atom being excited 1 level past ground state, producing 1 monochromatic photon. (I realize the difficulty here, hence "IF" in the question.)

I wonder what the relationship, if any, with this aproach, would the wavelength and the slit width have on the diffraction, if any.

TRoc

 

[ZapperZ]

Zz

I was thinking of a single hydrogen atom being excited 1 level past ground state, producing 1 monochromatic photon. (I realize the difficulty here, hence "IF" in the question.)

I wonder what the relationship, if any, with this aproach, would the wavelength and the slit width have on the diffraction, if any.

TRoc

And I will have to repeat my puzzlement from before. Why would you want to do this? Why aren't you satisfied with using, for example, a simple He-Ne laser?

You do know, of course, that a SINGLE transition producing a SINGLE photon, will not produce a diffraction pattern on anything. A diffraction pattern (and interference pattern) only occurs after a gazillion photons hit a detector or a screen.

Zz.

 

[Antiphon]

Zz

I was thinking of a single hydrogen atom being excited 1 level past ground state, producing 1 monochromatic photon. (I realize the difficulty here, hence "IF" in the question.)

I wonder what the relationship, if any, with this aproach, would the wavelength and the slit width have on the diffraction, if any.

TRoc

I understand T.Roc's pain. He hasn't yet figured out that a single quantum
behaves exactly the same way as the many others coming from a HeNe laser.

The single Photon interferes with ITSELF and diffraction is inevitable.
Maxwell's equations correctly describe the photon's diffraction through the slits
and QM per se is not necessary to analyze the diffraction.