WHY IS THE PROPAGATION VELOCITY OF A PHOTON IN A TRANSPARENT MEDIUM REDUCED

Authors
DEGROOTH BG
Citation
Bg. Degrooth, WHY IS THE PROPAGATION VELOCITY OF A PHOTON IN A TRANSPARENT MEDIUM REDUCED, American journal of physics, 65(12), 1997, pp. 1156-1164
Citations number
15
Journal title
American journal of physics → ACNP
ISSN journal
00029505
Volume
65
Issue
12
Year of publication
1997
Pages
1156 - 1164
Database
ISI
SICI code
0002-9505(1997)65:12<1156:WITPVO>2.0.ZU;2-L
Abstract
A path integral formalism is used to describe the propagation of photo ns through a transparent medium. It is shown that the reduced phase ve locity of light can be understood quantitatively by taking into accoun t the contribution of all the possible classical paths the photon coul d have taken in order to reach a detector. These paths include all the multiple scattering processes by the atoms in the medium. (C) 1997 Am erican Association of Physics Teachers.