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Updated: May 22, 2026

A Photonic System for Generating Unconditional Polarization-Entangled Photons Based on Multiple Quantum Interference
Published on: September 5, 2019
Uncertainty relation for photons
Iwo Bialynicki-Birula1, Zofia Bialynicka-Birula
1Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland. birula@cft.edu.pl
Abstract:
The uncertainty relation for the photons in three dimensions that overcomes the difficulties caused by the nonexistence of the photon position operator is derived in quantum electrodynamics. The photon energy density plays the role of the probability density in configuration space. It is shown that the measure of the spatial extension based on the energy distribution in space leads to an inequality that is a natural counterpart of the standard Heisenberg relation. The equation satisfied by the photon wave function in momentum space which saturates the uncertainty relations has the form of the Schrödinger equation in coordinate space in the presence of electric and magnetic charges.
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