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SNIP
Let me rephrase his question to show a puzzling situation. Suppose we haveSNIP
two parallel laser beams whose temporary coherence is nearly PERFECT. The
first beam travels along the x axis passing a beam splitter positioned at
45 degrees. The second beam, after being reflected from a mirror, and from
the beam splitter, is superimposed on the first one. The phase relation
between the beams is controlled by a retarding glass plate (thickness
between zero to lambda/4) to make sure they are out of phase. The beams are
polarized in the same plane and an additional layer of glass is provided (to
compensate a glass plate of the splitter, as in Michelson's interferometer).
In principle, this arrangement would create two electromagnetic waves which
are out of phase everywhere after the beam splitter. It would be a very long
"antinode" (no energy there). Actually there would be two such antinodes,
one pointing to the right and one pointing down.
The beam splitter is controlled by nature and energy must be conserved. How
can this be satisfied? ...