Accidental Portrait of a Single Photon

c0lo writes:

First image of the shape of a single photon revealed in light study

The first direct visualization of the shape of a photon has been created. These particles of light are impossible to photograph, but physicists at the University of Birmingham have now calculated their wave function to produce an accurate image of a photon as it's emitted.
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However, one thing photons can never capture images of is other photons. That's because they don't interact with each other in any way. But now, Birmingham physicists have created the next best thing: a mathematically accurate visualization of the shape of a photon.

"The visualization is an exact simulation of a photon as it is emitted by an atom sitting on the surface of a nanoparticle," co-author Ben Yuen told New Atlas. "The shape of the photon is deeply affected by the nanoparticle, making it thousands of times more likely that the photon is emitted, and even allowing it to be reabsorbed by the atom multiple times."
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... Instead, it's an intensity distribution - basically, a map of where you could expect to find the photon at a certain point in time. Brighter areas indicate a higher chance of the photon appearing there when its location is measured.

"The visualization is exactly that distribution of a photon a short time after it has been emitted," Yuen told us. "Because it's a quantum particle you cannot measure it in one go as the measurement destroys it. However, if you were to repeat the measurement of where a photon was detected many times, you would see exactly this distribution.

It's orangeish-green, with blue spikes, on a dark background

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