In article <3C408458.962543F1@scifi-fantasy.com>,
 Tim Cook <tim### [at] scifi-fantasycom> wrote:

> Question: Are POV photons waves, or particles? (or neither) ;)

Particles. Simulating the wave nature would require huge amounts of 
processing power...


> I predict the following possible outcomes of this render:
> 1) the white screen will not be illuminated at all
> 2) the white screen will have an interference pattern on it
> 3) the white screen will have two lines with fuzzy edges
> 4) the white screen will have two lines with sharp edges

Depending on the width of the first slit and distance of the light, 
either 1 or something like 3, with the fuzzyness depending on the number 
of photons you used.


> Another question: is polarisation possible in POV?

No.
POV-Ray is not designed for physically correct simulation of optical 
effects, it took a long time just for dispersion and photon mapping to 
be added. Effects like diffraction are often difficult to implement, 
very slow to compute, and would contribute little or nothing to the 
majority of scenes.

-- 
 -- 
Christopher James Huff <chr### [at] maccom>

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