The first ever photograph of light as both a particle and wave.
(http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2015/1-thefirstever.jpg)
Light behaves both as a particle and as a wave. Since the days of Einstein, scientists have been trying to directly observe both of these aspects of light at the same time. Now, scientists at EPFL have succeeded in capturing the first-ever snapshot of this dual behavior.
Quantum mechanics tells us that light can behave simultaneously as a particle or a wave. However, there has never been an experiment able to capture both natures of light at the same time; the closest we have come is seeing either wave or particle, but always at different times. Taking a radically different experimental approach, EPFL scientists have now been able to take the first ever snapshot of light behaving both as a wave and as a particle. The breakthrough work is published in Nature Communications.
When UV light hits a metal surface, it causes an emission of electrons. Albert Einstein explained this "photoelectric" effect by proposing that light – thought to only be a wave – is also a stream of particles. Even though a variety of experiments have successfully observed both the particle- and wave-like behaviors of light, they have never been able to observe both at the same time.
A research team led by Fabrizio Carbone at EPFL has now carried out an experiment with a clever twist: using electrons to image light. The researchers have captured, for the first time ever, a single snapshot of light behaving simultaneously as both a wave and a stream of particles particle.
The experiment is set up like this: A pulse of laser light is fired at a tiny metallic nanowire. The laser adds energy to the charged particles in the nanowire, causing them to vibrate. Light travels along this tiny wire in two possible directions, like cars on a highway. When waves traveling in opposite directions meet each other they form a new wave that looks like it is standing in place. Here, this standing wave becomes the source of light for the experiment, radiating around the nanowire.
This is where the experiment's trick comes in: The scientists shot a stream of electrons close to the nanowire, using them to image the standing wave of light. As the electrons interacted with the confined light on the nanowire, they either sped up or slowed down. Using the ultrafast microscope to image the position where this change in speed occurred, Carbone's team could now visualize the standing wave, which acts as a fingerprint of the wave-nature of light.
(http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2015/2-thefirstever.jpg)
While this phenomenon shows the wave-like nature of light, it simultaneously demonstrated its particle aspect as well. As the electrons pass close to the standing wave of light, they "hit" the light's particles, the photons. As mentioned above, this affects their speed, making them move faster or slower. This change in speed appears as an exchange of energy "packets" (quanta) between electrons and photons. The very occurrence of these energy packets shows that the light on the nanowire behaves as a particle.
"This experiment demonstrates that, for the first time ever, we can film quantum mechanics – and its paradoxical nature – directly," says Fabrizio Carbone. In addition, the importance of this pioneering work can extend beyond fundamental science and to future technologies. As Carbone explains: "Being able to image and control quantum phenomena at the nanometer scale like this opens up a new route towards quantum computing."
(http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2015/3-thefirstever.jpg)
http://phys.org/news/2015-03-particle.html
isn't this what A51 and 1967 and those guys are doing with the ufo stuff?
sorry if I didn't credit all the right names
I am not as yet sure, I suspect some of it could be related in one way or another..just the fact that the article deals with light...I may await to see if they reply, or Maybe I should put a link to the UFO thread incase their team miss this post..
I THINK that the main thing with the Imaging team is the software that they use, but its also dealing with various things to do with Light I would suspect..
Quote from: space otter on March 02, 2015, 05:55:15 PM
isn't this what A51 and 1967 and those guys are doing with the ufo stuff?
sorry if I didn't credit all the right names
I don't see any particles. Just peaks on the waves, sort of like standing waves. Particles are discreet; these seem to follow a continuum.
So, I didn't understand what they told us in science class many years ago and I still don't. And I don't think Quantum Physicists really get it either.
Welcome Repeater..with your 1st post.
I am no expert, but I can see you may have a point.
Its one of those difficult topics to define and we have seen changes in the so called experts views on how they interpret it to be. Its not always that obvious to those who try to understand what they try to describe.
Light maybe one of those very difficult never ending things to try and define..BUT I think its an fascinating subject as I am sure most here do who have an interest in Science / Physics..
That is not an image of a particle.
QuoteParticle:
a minute portion, piece, fragment, or amount; a tiny or very small bit:
a particle of dust; not a particle of supporting evidence.
2.
Physics.
one of the extremely small constituents of matter, as an atom or nucleus.
an elementary particle, quark, or gluon.
a body in which the internal motion is negligible.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/particle
I don't see one there.
(I will make this post here, and if there is a technical forum board for it, then please move.)
This is a rather non-technical piece about a hugely technical thought originally presented by
Albert Einstein concerning the composition of light. And, according to what this article portends, this discovery may "open up a new route towards quantum computing".
TECHNOLOGIST ONLINE MAR 2, 2015
Since the days of Einstein, scientists have been trying to directly observe how light behaves both as a particle and a wave at the same time. Now, the first-ever snapshot of this dual nature has been captured, potentially opening up a new route towards quantum computing.
But no experiment has ever been able to capture both of these 'split personalities' of light at the same time. The closest researchers of quantum mechanics have come is seeing either wave or particle, but always at different times.
Now, researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and Trinity College and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US have done an experiment with a clever twist: using electrons to image light. The team is the first to capture a single snapshot of light behaving simultaneously as both a wave and a stream of particles particle. The breakthrough work, spearheaded by Fabrizio Carbone at EPFL, was published today in the journal Nature Communications.
More: this article - http://www.technologist.eu/the-first-photo-of-light-as-both-particle-and-wave/
Nature Communications - Full text detailed technical report: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150302/ncomms7407/full/ncomms7407.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlaVHxUSiNk