Can I change the amplitude of light and if so, how?
So I want to know more about light and I need a little information on how to change the amplitude of light. If anyone could help me out here thank you.
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$\begingroup$ $Acos(kx - wt) \to (A+1)cos(kx-wt)$ easy $\endgroup$– user95137Commented Oct 6, 2017 at 21:13
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$\begingroup$ Hi and welcome to the Physics SE! Please note that you are expected to have thoroughly searched for an answer before asking your question. You can consider checking the advice on writing good questions. $\endgroup$– stafusaCommented Oct 6, 2017 at 21:23
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$\begingroup$ Do you mean intensity? $\endgroup$– HolgerFiedlerCommented Oct 7, 2017 at 7:10
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1 Answer
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You can.
Decreasing its value is really easy: just make it pass through a partially absorbing filter.
If you don't mind if it changes polarisation, a polariser can be really useful.
If you want to increase it, that's more complicated and you'd need some kind of amplifier, which works well with fitting wavelenghts, but not others.
But I'd just say: keep researching and be patient, learn new things following a logical order.
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$\begingroup$ The way I understand it is that light passes through polarizing filters as probabilistic quanta instead of the incorrect classical decrease in amplitude. How would this coincide with what you've described? Does the decrease in photons manifest themselves as an overall lower-amplitude wave? $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 14:05
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1$\begingroup$ If you think about "correctness" you'll never be satisfied. Quanta is probably another limiting case of another undiscovered theory. Physics doesn't talk about reality, but about MODELS of reality, and they work surprisingly well. It's even worse to use a too complex model for simpele things. Waves are a nice model for visible light. Anyways, a "quantum" explanation is that some photons are absorbed/reflected, and that causes a loss in the number of photons transmitted. That's why you've got less intensity after the filter, and so less amplitude. $\endgroup$– FGSUZCommented Oct 9, 2017 at 19:00