You are looking at the first-ever photograph of light as both a particle and wave captured in 2015. But you need a source of light to take a photo, so how do you take a photo of light itself? Researchers figured out a clever way to do it. First, they fired laser light at a tiny metal wire. This trapped the waves of light on the wire. Then they fired a stream of electrons alongside the wire.

Research Paper — [ Ссылка ]

The light waves on the wire are made of particles called photons, so the electrons bounced off the photons, causing some electrons to speed up and some to slow down. The changes in speed show up as energy packets or quanta that can be visualized. They put the wire under an electron microscope and snapped a photo of it.

The top part of the image is the standing wave, while the bottom shows where the photons are located. This experiment demonstrated that we can film quantum mechanics and its paradoxical nature directly.

When light hits metal, for example, it ejects a stream of electrons. Einstein explained this back in 1905 by suggesting that light is also made of particles and that those particles of light smack into the metal electrons like billiard balls and send them flying. The insight eventually won him the Nobel Prize, but scientists were not happy about being forced to conclude that light can behave as both a wave and a particle.

It's been over 100 years and every experiment with light that any scientist has ever performed proves that light either behaves as a wave or that light behaves as a particle, but never both at the same time. No one has glimpsed both states simultaneously until this photograph.

Researchers said the imaging technique could help advance the development of quantum computers — ultrafast computers that take advantage of other strange properties of light particles.

Video Editor: Team 121 Creators
Narration: Sidhart Viyapu
Project Head: Rajkumar Shukla
Production: World Of Science Media

First-ever photograph of LIGHT As Both Particle And Wave

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