"Radium" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jun 17, 3:56 pm, "Mike Kaliski" wrote:

The same as the minimum number of data bits required to represent this
signal. The number of photons/data bits will vary depending on the
complexity, frequency and depth of modulation of the carrier wave.

I am talking about an analog carrier wave. In the analog realm, there
is no such thing as "bits".


Radium

If a single photon can represent a single discrete energy level, then at
some point you will have to translate your analogue signal into discrete
photons. A process similar to digitising an audio signal to produce a CD.
The number of photons will depend on the sampling rate chosen, the bandwidth
and depth of modulation of the original signal and the fidelity with which
you wish to reconstruct a representation of the original signal. 300,000
photons per second should do the trick, as that is the frequency of the
original signal and each photon can represent the amplitude of each half of
a single sine wave.

It is standard practice to sample at least double the frequency of whatever
you are trying to capture.

Mike G0ULI