Light is well known to exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties, as imaged here in this 2015 photograph. What's less well appreciated is that matter particles also exhibit those wave-like ...

The fundamental particle of light is both ordinary and full of surprises. What physicists refer to as photons, other people might just call light. As quanta of light, photons are the smallest possible ...

Wave-particle duality is a fundamental fact of the Universe. But we don’t see many objects moving around as waves. This is why it hurts when a golf ball hits you on the head: you and the golf ball are ...

A groundbreaking experiment demonstrates yet again that light exists both as a wave and a particle in the quantum world—but we can’t see both at the same time. Reading time 3 minutes Albert Einstein ...

One of the discoveries that fundamentally distinguished the emerging field of quantum physics from classical physics was the ...

Here, a calcite crystal is struck with a laser operating at 445 nanometers, fluorescing and displaying properties of birefringence. Unlike the standard picture of light breaking into individual ...

"These single atoms are like the smallest slits you could possibly build." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. For over 100 years, ...

The double slit experiment reveals that observing light changes its behavior, making it act as both a wave and a particle.