Vector potential quantization and the photon intrinsic electromagnetic properties towards nondestructive photon detection

International audienceWe employ here the enhancement of the vector potential amplitude quantization at a singlephoton state. The analysis of the general solution of the vector potential, obtained by resolvingMaxwell's equations, implies that the amplitude is proportional to the angular frequency. Thephoton vector potential function αkλ(r,t) can be written in the plane wave representationsatisfying the classical wave propagation equation, Schrödinger's equation for the energy withthe relativistic massless field Hamiltonian and a linear time-dependent equation for the vectorpotential amplitude operator. Thus, the vector potential αkλ(r,t) with the quantized amplitudemay play the role of a real wave function for the photon in a nonlocal representation that can besuitably normalized. We then deduce that the amplitudes of the electric and magnetic fields,respectively, of a single free photon are proportional to the square of the angular frequency. Thismight open perspectives for the development of nondestructive photon detection methods basedon the influence of the electric and/or magnetic fields of photons on the energy levels of atomsand molecules