Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

AFRREV IJAH An International Journal of Arts and Humanities

Two Crucial Experiments on the Nature of Light: Beyond the Bounds of Wave-Particle Duality

Christian C. Emedolu, Cardinal Ihejirika, Basil Sunday Nnamdi

Published Apr 28, 2020• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The wave-particle duality of light has been hanging over the clouds of science as an insuperable mystery. Debates have gone on for centuries as to which of the two aspects of light best represents the natural property of light. On the one hand, the particle theory of light camp made its own submissions a long time ago with many experimental demonstrations to confirm its position. On the other hand, the wave theory of light camp did organize or face some experiments to corroborate its own position. But then, a middle ground interpretation was shoveled-in by Niels Bohr during the second decade of the 20th Century. For him, the two aspects of light are complementary and Louis de Broglie popularized it, despite the halting beginnings of the complementarity Thesis. A double-slit experiment was, however, organized to show that light has these dual aspects. The central thesis of this paper is that though light exhibits these dual aspects, it is fundamentally a wave. The paper adopts the historiographical approach in navigating this lingering issue of the nature of light in the history of science.

DOI
10.4314/ijah.v9i1.13

Related papers

Wave Signal Theory on the Nature of Particle

Carmen N. Wrede, Gunter J. Koch, Michael Skiera

Over one century ago the double slit experiment presented science with a mystique riddle. The Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) not only confirmed Young’s opinion that light has a wave character, but also described a fifth state of matter in which matter transforms into a wave. But the double slit has a profound secret. It reveals the illusion of wave-particle duality by taking a closer look at the behavior of particles send through the double-slit apparatus. It turns out that the wavefunction rather describes the mutual play between particles and their own electromagnetic fields. This paper will not only question wave-particle dualism and quantum physics, but also the validity of a handful of physical theories.

•Mar 1, 2017•0 citations

Wheeler's Delayed Choice Experiment

Allyson L. O’Brien

Wave-particle duality of light has dumbfounded physical scientists for centuries. Sir Isaac Newton contended that light was made up of individual particles while Hooke (who was utterly despised by Newton) wrote on the wave-like properties of light.[6] In 1801, Thomas Young’s double slit experiment demonstrated wavelike properties of light. In 1905, Einstein revisited the theory of light acting as a particle to resolve conflicts between the wave theory of light and certain experimental results such as the photoelectric effect.[11] Experiments confirming particle-like properties of light were not realized until later in the 20th century. In 1981, Grangier, Roger and Aspect published a paper titled Experimental Evidence for a Photon Anticorrelation Effect on a Beam Splitter: A New Light on Single-Photon Interferences. This paper reported on one of the first successful anticoincidence experiments which measured the particle-like behavior of light. The paper also reported on an experiment that used the same source and detection scheme as the anticoincidence experiment, which measured interference. Grangier, Roger and Aspect eloquently depicted the conundrum of the waveparticle duality of light. To what extent does this this complementary nature of light exist? How does light know when to display wave-like or particle-like properties? One popular answer to this was that light can ‘sense’ what the experiment is attempting to measure. Based on the initial ‘feel,’ light would decide whether or not it will display wave-like or particle-like behavior before entering the experiment. This hypothesis is aptly named the conspiracy theory.[2]

•Jan 1, 2010•4 citations

What is light?

Have you ever tried to define light? If so, your definition is probably related to vision, the ability to see things. The Merriam-Webster English dictionary defines light as “something that makes vision possible”. However, the definition of the “nature of light” is a complex term already discussed by philosophers of Ancient Greece. In the 17th century, the debate on the matter focused on whether light was a particle or a wave, based on the different properties of light that had been gradually discovered over time. Isaac Newton (1642−1727) was a defender of the corpuscular theory of light, which considered light to be formed by particles, i.e., small pieces of matter, like dust or grains of sand. He was the author of Opticks (1706), the front cover of which appears in Fig. 1.1. Christian Huygens (1629–1695), on the other hand, supported the theory that light is a wave. These are two completely different definitions of the same physical concept. A range of experiments were developed to attempt to clarify this dilemma, but it was only until 1900 when Max Planck (1858-1947) introduced the basis of a theory that would go on to revolutionize scientific thinking, marking the beginning of modern physics: quantum theory. Developed during the 20th century thanks to advances made by scientists such as Niels Bohr, Born, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Pauli, Dirac, Einstein or de Broglie, quantum theory clarified that light is neither a particle nor a wave, but that it has a dual nature: it behaves like a wave as it spreads but like a particle in its interactions with matter. In this book, we will specify where necessary whether light behaves as a particle or as a wave, although in most cases we refer to rays of light, which always represent the direction of propagation of light.

SPIE eBooks•May 6, 2021•0 citations

Second-Order Duality of Light and its Nonclassical Complementarity

Rikizo Ikuta

A single photon exhibits wave-particle duality in the Young's double-slit interferometer. The duality character-ized by an interference visibility$V$as the wave-like property and a which-path information$D$as the particle-like property has tradeoff relation$D^{2}+V^{2}\leq 1$known as complementarity [1]–[3]. There are a lot of studies about the complementary nature of photons from various viewpoints such as delayed-choice experiments, theoretical works related to the uncertainty principle, and so on. More recently, studies have expanded the concept of the wave-particle duality to higher-order interferometric scenarios, in which the input light includes two or more pho-tons [4], [5]. Despite having a long history, all previous studies have been related to phase correlation of optical states, which reason would be why the main focus in the first place is the investigation of the mysterious quantum nature of a photon, including the superposition principle.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 26, 2023•0 citations

Duality of Light and Matter

Z. Ficek

Arguments about particles or waves gave way to a recognized need for both particles and waves in the description of radiation. The confusion over particle versus wave properties was resolved by Louis de Broglie. He postulated that since light has a dual wave–particle nature, matter also has this nature. The idea was to perform a diffraction experiment with electrons. An interference pattern was demonstrated not only with electrons, but also with many kinds of material particles like protons and neutrons. However, any attempt to observe an interference pattern with neutral atoms was found difficult by the fact that atoms carried no charge as electrons do and could not penetrate through condensate matter like neutrons. The de Broglie wavelength of an electron in the smallest orbit turns out to be exactly equal to the circumference of the orbit predicted by Bohr. The interpretation of the interference phenomenon becomes more subtle when the light beams are replaced by individual photons or particles.

•Mar 3, 2017•0 citations

Wave-Particle Duality

Reinhold A. Bertlmann, Nicolai Friis

Abstract This chapter examines some crucial experiments and basic principles of quantum mechanics that have strongly influenced the development of quantum theory in its modern form: starting from Planck’s law of black-body radiation and its derivation using the quantization of energy; Einstein’s photon hypothesis for the puzzle presented by the photoelectric effect and its test via the Millikan experiment; the Compton effect; Bohr’s theses for the structure of the hydrogen atom and the complementarity of waves and particles i.e., the wave-particle duality, culminating in de Broglie’s ideas for matter waves and their confirmation in the Davisson-Germer experiment for electron diffraction from a crystal; Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle for position and momentum as well as for energy an time; the famous double-slit experiment and Born’s probability interpretation, and finally the provocative thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat

•Sep 7, 2023•0 citations
The wave-particle duality of light has been hanging over the clouds of science as an insuperable mystery. Debates have gone on for centuries as to which of the two aspects of light best represents the natural property of light. On the one hand, the particle theory of light camp made its own submissions a long time ago with many experimental demonstrations to confirm its position. On the other hand, the wave theory of light camp did organize or face some experiments to corroborate its own position. But then, a middle ground interpretation was shoveled-in by Niels Bohr during the second decade of the 20th Century. For him, the two aspects of light are complementary and Louis de Broglie popularized it, despite the halting beginnings of the complementarity Thesis. A double-slit experiment was, however, organized to show that light has these dual aspects. The central thesis of this paper is that though light exhibits these dual aspects, it is fundamentally a wave. The paper adopts the historiographical approach in navigating this lingering issue of the nature of light in the history of science.
Over one century ago the double slit experiment presented science with a mystique riddle. The Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) not only confirmed Young’s opinion that light has a wave character, but also described a fifth state of matter in which matter transforms into a wave. But the double slit has a profound secret. It reveals the illusion of wave-particle duality by taking a closer look at the behavior of particles send through the double-slit apparatus. It turns out that the wavefunction rather describes the mutual play between particles and their own electromagnetic fields. This paper will not only question wave-particle dualism and quantum physics, but also the validity of a handful of physical theories.
Wave-particle duality of light has dumbfounded physical scientists for centuries. Sir Isaac Newton contended that light was made up of individual particles while Hooke (who was utterly despised by Newton) wrote on the wave-like properties of light.[6] In 1801, Thomas Young’s double slit experiment demonstrated wavelike properties of light. In 1905, Einstein revisited the theory of light acting as a particle to resolve conflicts between the wave theory of light and certain experimental results such as the photoelectric effect.[11] Experiments confirming particle-like properties of light were not realized until later in the 20th century. In 1981, Grangier, Roger and Aspect published a paper titled Experimental Evidence for a Photon Anticorrelation Effect on a Beam Splitter: A New Light on Single-Photon Interferences. This paper reported on one of the first successful anticoincidence experiments which measured the particle-like behavior of light. The paper also reported on an experiment that used the same source and detection scheme as the anticoincidence experiment, which measured interference. Grangier, Roger and Aspect eloquently depicted the conundrum of the waveparticle duality of light. To what extent does this this complementary nature of light exist? How does light know when to display wave-like or particle-like properties? One popular answer to this was that light can ‘sense’ what the experiment is attempting to measure. Based on the initial ‘feel,’ light would decide whether or not it will display wave-like or particle-like behavior before entering the experiment. This hypothesis is aptly named the conspiracy theory.[2]
Have you ever tried to define light? If so, your definition is probably related to vision, the ability to see things. The Merriam-Webster English dictionary defines light as “something that makes vision possible”. However, the definition of the “nature of light” is a complex term already discussed by philosophers of Ancient Greece. In the 17th century, the debate on the matter focused on whether light was a particle or a wave, based on the different properties of light that had been gradually discovered over time. Isaac Newton (1642−1727) was a defender of the corpuscular theory of light, which considered light to be formed by particles, i.e., small pieces of matter, like dust or grains of sand. He was the author of Opticks (1706), the front cover of which appears in Fig. 1.1. Christian Huygens (1629–1695), on the other hand, supported the theory that light is a wave. These are two completely different definitions of the same physical concept. A range of experiments were developed to attempt to clarify this dilemma, but it was only until 1900 when Max Planck (1858-1947) introduced the basis of a theory that would go on to revolutionize scientific thinking, marking the beginning of modern physics: quantum theory. Developed during the 20th century thanks to advances made by scientists such as Niels Bohr, Born, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Pauli, Dirac, Einstein or de Broglie, quantum theory clarified that light is neither a particle nor a wave, but that it has a dual nature: it behaves like a wave as it spreads but like a particle in its interactions with matter. In this book, we will specify where necessary whether light behaves as a particle or as a wave, although in most cases we refer to rays of light, which always represent the direction of propagation of light.
A single photon exhibits wave-particle duality in the Young's double-slit interferometer. The duality character-ized by an interference visibilityVVVas the wave-like property and a which-path informationDDDas the particle-like property has tradeoff relationD2+V2≤1D^{2}+V^{2}\leq 1D2+V2≤1known as complementarity [1]–[3]. There are a lot of studies about the complementary nature of photons from various viewpoints such as delayed-choice experiments, theoretical works related to the uncertainty principle, and so on. More recently, studies have expanded the concept of the wave-particle duality to higher-order interferometric scenarios, in which the input light includes two or more pho-tons [4], [5]. Despite having a long history, all previous studies have been related to phase correlation of optical states, which reason would be why the main focus in the first place is the investigation of the mysterious quantum nature of a photon, including the superposition principle.
Arguments about particles or waves gave way to a recognized need for both particles and waves in the description of radiation. The confusion over particle versus wave properties was resolved by Louis de Broglie. He postulated that since light has a dual wave–particle nature, matter also has this nature. The idea was to perform a diffraction experiment with electrons. An interference pattern was demonstrated not only with electrons, but also with many kinds of material particles like protons and neutrons. However, any attempt to observe an interference pattern with neutral atoms was found difficult by the fact that atoms carried no charge as electrons do and could not penetrate through condensate matter like neutrons. The de Broglie wavelength of an electron in the smallest orbit turns out to be exactly equal to the circumference of the orbit predicted by Bohr. The interpretation of the interference phenomenon becomes more subtle when the light beams are replaced by individual photons or particles.
Abstract This chapter examines some crucial experiments and basic principles of quantum mechanics that have strongly influenced the development of quantum theory in its modern form: starting from Planck’s law of black-body radiation and its derivation using the quantization of energy; Einstein’s photon hypothesis for the puzzle presented by the photoelectric effect and its test via the Millikan experiment; the Compton effect; Bohr’s theses for the structure of the hydrogen atom and the complementarity of waves and particles i.e., the wave-particle duality, culminating in de Broglie’s ideas for matter waves and their confirmation in the Davisson-Germer experiment for electron diffraction from a crystal; Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle for position and momentum as well as for energy an time; the famous double-slit experiment and Born’s probability interpretation, and finally the provocative thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat