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Frontiers in Optics

Remarks on the wave – particle duality

Jerzy F. Ciosek

Published Jan 1, 2006• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Problem of the wave – particle duality for photon has been analysed. The electron-waves of the screen in slit experiments were considered. The point spots were interpreted as pure wave effect of photon- and electron-waves reactions.
DOI
10.1364/fio.2006.jwd109

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The problem of wave-particle duality is considered within the framework of the algebraic approach. Contrary to the widespread belief, we demonstrate that wave-particle duality can be reconciled with the assumption that there exists some local physical reality determining the results of local measurements. A number of quantum experiments—double-slit electron scattering, Wheeler’s delayed choice experiment, the past of photons passed through the interferometer—are discussed using the concept of locality. A clear physical interpretation of these experiments that does not contradict classical concepts is provided.
The wave-particle duality of photons and electrons was thoroughly discussed at a conference held at the Solvay Institute in October 1927, where Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr were the most prominent participants. From the beginning Einstein manifested great hesitation in accepting the renunciation of causal description of physical phenomena introduced by quantum theory. He clearly demonstrated his basic attitude by discussing the example of an atomic object (electron or photon) impinging upon a screen with a single slit (see figure 4). To the left of the screen the object is supposed to have a precisely defined momentum p and hence it is represented as a plane, harmonic wave. When passing through the slit, the plane wave is scattered into a cylindrical wave with an opening angle determined by the wavelength and the slit aperture. Einstein’s problem consisted of the fact that as soon as the object is detected at some point A on a photographic plate placed to the right of the screen, the object-wavecannot be detected in any other part of space whatever, which is directly contradictory to any wave phenomenon in classical physics. But the object-wave cannot be detected in any other part of space whatever, which is directly contradictory to any wave phenomenon is classical physics. But the object-wave just cannot be a classical wave phenomenon because this would imply the possibility of knowing the dynamical state of the object far more precisely than is compatible with the indeterminacy relations.
The simplest but deepest questions of the philosophy of quantum mechanics are these: Are quantum systems waves, or are they particles? Are they both or are they neither? When light bounces an electron out of the surface of an alkali metal it behaves like a particle. Light carries momentum but also a punch. Just as there is no such thing as half a punch, so there is no such thing as half a quantum of light. On the other hand, the shadow formed on a screen by an object has soft edges, edges which get softer as the object is moved away from the screen. Light exhibits the phenomena of diffraction and interference and so is wavelike. This dual behaviour of light, and indeed of matter itself, is called wave-particle duality. The wave nature of a quantum system is reflected in wave mechanics which assigns a wave-function to the system. But the dual nature of light was noticed before Schrodinger developed the wave-mechanical formalism in 1926. In fact, it goes back at least as far as Einsteins explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905. Wave-particle duality is not something that arises within the quantum mechanical formalism. It is something which is expressed within it, and is something which is best discussed in terms of the paradoxes that quantum experiments force upon physics. In fact, the simplest and most immediately disturbing of the quantummechanical paradoxes arise out of wave-particle duality. We take the two-slit experiment and the delayed-choice experiment as examples.
Young’s double-slit experiment played a crucial role in establishing the wave nature of light. In this chapter, the shocking result that incident electrons yield a similar interference pattern as that formed by light waves is described. It is shown that the only way the experimental results could be explained is via a wave function description of electrons. It is also shown that, in the same experiment, the interference fringes disappear if the which-path information becomes available. This is the essence of wave–particle duality. The first of the Einstein–Bohr debates on wave-particle duality and Bohr’s principle of complementarity in the double-slit experiment is also discussed. Also presented are the counterintuitive notions of delayed choice and quantum eraser effects showing how the availability or erasure of information generated in the future can affect how the data in the present can be interpreted.
Abstract Young’s double-slit experiment played a crucial role in establishing the wave nature of light. In this chapter, the shocking result that incident electrons yield a similar interference pattern as that formed by light waves is described. It is shown that the only way the experimental results could be explained is via a wavefunction description of electrons. It is also shown that the interference fringes disappear if the which-path information becomes available. This is the essence of wave–particle duality. The first of the Einstein–Bohr debates on wave–particle duality and Bohr’s principle of complementarity in the double-slit experiment are also discussed. The counterintuitive notions of delayed choice and quantum eraser effects showing how the availability or erasure of information generated in the future can affect how the data in the present can be interpreted are presented. Quantum interference is responsible for novel phenomena like interaction-free measurement and counterfactual communication.