Photon polarization measurements without the quantum Zeno effect

We consider a photon beam incident on a stack of polarizers as an example o f a von Neumann projective measurement, theoretically leading to the quantu m Zeno effect. The Maxwell theory (which is equivalent to the single-photon Schrodinger equation) describes measured polarization phenomena, but witho ut recourse to the notion of a projective measurement. (C) 2000 American As sociation of Physics Teachers.