Light as a particle and wave observed at the same time by EPFL.Images included.

[smokingman]

This is a great leap forward.Observing both properties of light at the same time.Hats off to the guys at EPFL(link to epfl EPFL | École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne ).
Decent article on the experiment and observations,it also happens to be one of my favorite news sites.Link to just the site http://www.ineffableisland.com/
Astounding First Ever Photograph Of Light as a Particle and a Wave ~ Ideas, Inventions And Innovations

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[Mr Evilwrench]

Um, please point out the particle aspect to me. I may currently be slightly insane. That all looks like wave stuff to me. I know about particle/wave duality and all, but that graphic just isn't saying "particle" to me.

 

[eldirector]

Even the article seems to stretch it for me. Then again, I'm not a physicist. Looks like they observed a standing wave and a particle-like interaction also in that standing wave?

 

[findingZzero]

I used to picture photons moving in waves.

 

[smokingman]

Um, please point out the particle aspect to me. I may currently be slightly insane. That all looks like wave stuff to me. I know about particle/wave duality and all, but that graphic just isn't saying "particle" to me.

You can clearly see the wave I think.The particle effect is the peaks and left to right troughs.In just a wave it would not have troughs in between what would otherwise be a standing wave.

 

[T.Lex]

From the linked article:

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....
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

I believe what we're looking at, basically, is one photon.

What did you expect? A droplet?

 

[hoosierdoc]

Other than pretty renderings of data points, what does this mean?

 

[smokingman]

Other than pretty renderings of data points, what does this mean?

Einstein was correct and it will have real world applications.

First ever photograph of light as a wave and a particle | Daily Mail Online

• Swiss researchers have used lasers and nanowires to capture the images
• Scientists have been attempting to image light in both states for decades
• Albert Einstein was first to describe light as being both a wave and particle
• The experiment could lead to new types of super fast 'quantum computers'
  

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

How can you have waves without troughs? That's part of what a wave is. It goes up, it goes down. I just don't see anything that says "particle" to me, not that I'm denying the particle nature of photons. How does a wave speeding up or slowing down imply that it has interacted with a particle? Maybe I'm just stoopider than I used to think I was. I'll just shut up and eat my salsa and chips. Don't mind me.

 

[D-Ric902]

How can you have waves without troughs? That's part of what a wave is. It goes up, it goes down. I just don't see anything that says "particle" to me, not that I'm denying the particle nature of photons. How does a wave speeding up or slowing down imply that it has interacted with a particle? Maybe I'm just stoopider than I used to think I was. I'll just shut up and eat my salsa and chips. Don't mind me.

Left to right diagonally upward.....wave (up and down)

left to right downward..... Particle (lateral peaks along the wave)

(as I understand it)

 

[D-Ric902]

What did you expect? A droplet?

great question

yes, a droplet called quanta

or "discreet packet" as I beleive Einstein called them

 

[T.Lex]

Building on what D-Ric said, I think there's another way to "explain" it (as much as anything in Quantumville can be "explained" rather than "described").

We think of a particle like a ball, a sphere. Yes, some are bumpier or elongated, but it is easier to think of it like a ball.

If you were to "map" a ball, you would have to create a seam from one "end" to the other and unfold it. But, even then, it wouldn't be quite right, because you couldn't unwrap it. With a tube, you could create a seam and unwrap it to look basically like a rectangle, with 2 endcaps.

But with a ball, you need another seam, or a some "slits" to represent the surface. This is "projecting" a spherical object onto a 2 dimensional plane. Dude named Mercator figured that out when trying to map the world while keeping relative distances the same.
Mercator projection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The concept is also useful in texture mapping in 3d models in computer animation:
Texture mapping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coming back to the OP, for me, it is easier to first think of the pic as a semi-3d projection of the particle. Let's say the red-violet axis is north-south. Take the east-west edges and wrap them around to make a tube, with the red at one end and the violet at the other. The red end will be more narrow and the violet end wider, like a funnel. Then, pinch the ends together, for a sorta-bell-shaped object.

The peaks/troughs of the wave are mapped onto the particle as ridges.

Anyway, I am not a practitioner of these dark arts, just a dabbler since the days of searching for the GUT of the 3 forces in the 80s. What I've written is just my own way of fitting the article into something that I can almost understand.

 

[D-Ric902]

 

[T.Lex]

Whoa.

I just noticed something else. Look at the flat projection "under" the wave. The trough in the middle looks like it goes "down" very much into the red spectrum. The red-shift occupies more troughs than anything "above" it.

For animals that "see" infra-red, it may not be so much that their eyes see "lower" in the spectrum than ours do, it is just that they see "deeper" into the spectrum that is visible. Interesting.

I had never seen anything that showed that kind of sub-wave within the spectrum.

Edit: or is the red-shift based on the "angle" that they are using to try to capture the image. If the measuring light is traveling [STRIKE]toward[/STRIKE] away from the measuring device, it might red-shift?

 

[smokingman]

Other than pretty renderings of data points, what does this mean?

Ah seem like ages and ages ago.Google is up to 73 qubit,IBM,53....
In short these computers are more powerful than a room full of supercomputers,less than 1 year old.2/14/2020
Less than 2 years,not to shabby.

https://www.ibm.com/quantum-computi...A0NyH1n5lXfBengj7hhoC9NAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I didn't remember this thread. I just scrolled back a little bit and I think I hurt my brain.