Wave-Particle Duality of Light Proven Visually - More Direct Photon Manipulation! - Polidicks

[IMG]http://www.iflscience.com/sites/www.iflscience.com/files/styles/ifls_large/public/blog/[nid]/lightparticlewave.jpg[/IMG] (Energy distribution of the distributed/removed photons from the standing wave) [QUOTE]It is well known that light is capable of acting like a particle as well as a wave. However, these have always been viewed as completely separate forms, not embodying both at once. Quantum mechanics states that light should have both attributes simultaneously, but that phenomenon has never been imaged directly until now. A team of researchers has finally been able to photograph the quantum wave-particle duality of light,and they have described the work in an open access paper published in [URL="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150302/ncomms7407/full/ncomms7407.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr"][I]Nature Communications[/I][/URL]. This will help researchers better understand the fundamental nature of light, and could even help assist the development of quantum computing and a number of other technologies. The researchers created a standing wave of light after blasting a metal wire with UV light. They then shot electrons at the wave, trying to disturb individual photons. When the two particles interacted, the change in energy made the photon slow down or speed up, depending on how the connection occurred. The interaction was able to be seen with a high-powered microscope. Because the wave is really a succession of distinct particles, the researchers were able to view the standing wave, and the photons that were disturbed were still seen as individuals.. Thus, witnessing light’s wave-particle duality became possible for the first time. Once the photons were disturbed, the researchers were then able to image the quantum change in energy, as can be seen above. “This experiment demonstrates that, for the first time ever, we can film quantum mechanics – and its paradoxical nature – directly,” senior author Fabrizio Carbone from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland said in a [URL="http://actu.epfl.ch/news/the-first-ever-photograph-of-light-as-both-a-parti/"]press release[/URL]. “Being able to image and control quantum phenomena at the nanometer scale like this opens up a new route towards quantum computing.”[/QUOTE] Cool stuff if we can manipulate photons more individually and more directly.

Well then, certainly a leap forward for the future of quantum computing.

I have to learn the basics of quantum physics as part of my curriculum and that shit is so counterintuitive that I don't even know what I'm doing half of the time. I can't even fathom the complexity involved in obtaining such results. That they managed to come up with practical applications like these is impressive.

[IMG]http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110710105945/half-life/en/images/1/19/Hard_light_surface.jpg[/IMG] The future

[QUOTE=andololol;47247007][IMG]http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110710105945/half-life/en/images/1/19/Hard_light_surface.jpg[/IMG] The future[/QUOTE] If it consumes less energy then a 1600 W vacuum cleaner, then maybe...

snip I'm dumb

[QUOTE=_Axel;47246782]I have to learn the basics of quantum physics as part of my curriculum and that shit is so counterintuitive that I don't even know what I'm doing half of the time. I can't even fathom the complexity involved in obtaining such results like. That they managed to come up with practical applications like these is impressive.[/QUOTE] How's this dumb?

[QUOTE=SIRIUS;47247321]How's this dumb?[/QUOTE] People see the first rating on a post and jump onto the bandwagon. That, and mentioning the word dumb, gets you flooded in boxes.

My brain still hurts when I try to figure out how it is that light, which is a [I]particle[/I] that can push a solar sail, still cancels itself out like a sound wave when put into an interference pattern.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;47247794]My brain still hurts when I try to figure out how it is that light, which is a [I]particle[/I] that can push a solar sail, still cancels itself out like a sound wave when put into an interference pattern.[/QUOTE] The universe is fucking buggy as shit

Well, here's to already knowing at least 20 minutes of my class tomorrow will be about this.