Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne were able to photograph light acting as both a wave and a particle at the same time.
According to Quantum mechanics, light can act as both a wave and particle. But until now, observing such a duality in real time has been near impossible.
Scientists enabled the multifaceted photo by blasting a laser at a nanowire. The energy caused electrons on the nanowire to vibrate and begin marching across the wire, some moving in opposite directions. When the crossing electrons meet, they form a new light wave that radiates around the wire -- a standing wave of light.
To photograph the phenomenon, researchers fired a band of electrons at the wave. The electron microscope instrument was able to measure how the fire electrons interacted with the radiation and recreate an image of the static wave.
Not only did the new technique capture the essence of the light wave, the interaction between the individual electrons and the standing wave revealed the specific nature of the wave's individual photons -- thus capturing light's particle and wave-like characteristics simultaneously.
"This experiment demonstrates that, for the first time ever, we can film quantum mechanics -- and its paradoxical nature -- directly," researcher Fabrizio Carbone said in a statement. "Being able to image and control quantum phenomena at the nanometer scale like this opens up a new route toward quantum computing."
The new research was published this week in the journal Nature Communications.