Klein Paradox for Optical Scattering from Excited Targets

Abstract

The well known Klein paradox for the relativistic Dirac wave equation consists in the computation of possible ``negative probabilities'' induced by certain potentials in some regimes of energy. The paradox may be resolved employing the notion of electron-positron pair production in which the number of electrons present in a process can increase. The Klein paradox also exists in Maxwell's equations viewed as the wave equation for photons. In a medium containing ``inverted energy populations'' of excited atoms, e.g. in a LASER medium, one may again compute possible ``negative probabilities''. The resolution of the electromagnetic Klein paradox is that when the atoms decay, the final state may contain more photons then were contained the initial state. The optical theorem total cross section for scattering photons from excited state atoms may then be computed as negative within a frequency band with matter induced amplification.