Reinterpretation of the Grangier experiment using a multiple-triggering single-photon model

Abstract

The classic Grangier et al. (1996) experiment is revisited to suggest an alternative model of a single photon. Photon-counting experiments using spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) show that not every single-photon incident on a detector triggers it, and that coincident triggering of detectors can occur during a single gate. The latter is usually interpreted as being caused by spurious photons entering the gate from different SPDC events. However, a pseudo-classical-type model is suggested which dispenses with these intruder photons. Here, a single-photon manifests as a transversely-iterated front of non-rotating screw threads. Each advancing thread has the potential to trigger a detector, and each allows the transfer of spin angular momentum (SAM). On exiting a beam splitter, a single-photon front can produce multiple triggering of detectors on different parts of the front with a probability of at most [Formula: see text] for the experiments presented.