Scientists capture first ever image of light as both a particle and a wave

Scientists capture first ever image of light as both a particle and a wave

The team used an advanced electron microscope -- one of only two on the planet -- to create a quantum photograph that depicts light's dual nature for the first time.

Scientists have captured amazing images of light as both a particle and a wave, a first that illustrates the dual nature of light.

Until now, scientists had not been able to try an experiment that would document light as both a wave and a particle simultaneously, but a team of Swiss and American researchers were finally able to achieve that recently, according to a Discovery News report.

They used an advanced electron microscope that is one of only two on the planet at Switzerland’s EPFL labs, and they were able to create a quantum photograph of the light showcasing its dual nature.

To achieve the results, scientists fired a laser light at a microscopic metallic nanowire, which causes the light to travel as a wave along the wire. The waves then meet going in opposite directions, creating a “standing wave” that emits light as particles. The team was able to shoot a stream of electrons close to the nanowire that allowed it to capture the image, which shows both light in its particle form and in its wave form, according to the report.

Fabrizio Carbone of EPFL, the project’s lead researcher, said on the lab’s project page that the experiment is important because it demonstrates that scientists can film quantum mechanics and its paradoxical nature.

Light is essentially electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye. Albert Einstein proposed the idea of light quanta to explain that light is both a wave and a particle. Today, modern theory of quantum mechanics holds that light is in some sense both a particle and a wave, and in another sense neither a particle nor a wave.

Be social, please share!

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *