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Classical and quantum Malus' law

K. Wodkiewicz
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Abstract

The classical and the quantum Malus' Laws for light and spin are discussed. It is shown that for spin-1/2, the quantum Malus' Law is equivalent in form to the classical Malus' Law provided that the statistical average involves a quasi-distribution function that can become negative. A generalization of Malus' Law for arbitrary spin-s is obtained in the form of a Feynman path-integral representation for the Malus amplitude. The classical limit of the Malus amplitude for large s is discussed.

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K. Wodkiewicz. 1995-02-28. Classical and quantum Malus' law. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.51.2785

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