Wave-particle duality quantum light theory

Hendry, J. (1980). The development of attitudes to the wave-particle duality of light and quantum theory, 1900-1920. Annals of Science, 37, 59-79. 

Planck, M. 1858-1947 Quantum theory of light and radiation wave/particle duality Mason (1961)... 

A paradox which stimulated the early development of the quantum theory concerned the indeterminate nature of light. Light usually behaves as a wave phenomenon but occasionally it betrays a particle-like aspect, a schizoid tendency known as the wave-particle duality. We consider first the wave aspect of light. 

The wave theory of light reached its climax with Hertz s contributions around 1888. Physics was now in a state of turmoil, tom apart by the wave-particle duality caused by the quantum theory. As a result, research in photo- and opto-related areas was divided into two streams quantum electrodynamics and molecular spectroscopy. 

The answers to the above questions, not all of which need he presented here, were formulated between 1925 and 1926, in the revolution of modern quantum theory, which shook the foundations of physics and philosophy. Remarkably, the central theme of quantum theory was the nature of light, and what came to be called the wave-particle duality. But other broader implications of the new theory existed, and the first inkling of this was given in 1924 by Louis de Broglie (Fig. 3.26) in his doctoral dissertation. He postulated that particles may also possess wavelike properties and that these wavelike properties would manifest themselves only in phenomena occurring on an atomic scale, as dictated by Planck s constant. He also postulated that the wavelength of these matter waves, for a given particle such as an electron or proton, would be inversely proportional to the particle s momentum p, which is a product of its mass m and speed... 

Although the quantum theory of 1925 resolved the age-old dilemma of light by unifying the entities of light and matter and by asserting that wave-particle duality applies to both, it failed to address the issue of another fundamental distinction between the two the photon is created out of nothing—in the flash of an atomic jump—while the electron is permanent. 

What experimental evidence supports the quantum theory of light Explain the wave-particle duality of all matter. For what size particles must one consider both the wave and the particle properties ... 

In 1903, Marie Curie, her husband and Henri Becquerel received the Nobel Prize in physics Marie won another Nobel prize (chemistry) in 1911. In 1900, Max Planck had postulated that light energy must be emitted and absorbed in discrete particles, called quanta. In Paris in 1924, Victor de Broglie concluded that if light could act as if it were a stream of particles, particles could have the properties of waves. Both quanta and waves are central to quantum physics. Quantum theory states that energy comes in discrete packets, called quanta, which travel in waves. The principle of wave-particle duality states that all subatomic particles can be considered as either waves or particles. Light is a stream of photon particles that travel in waves. 

A.D. Quantum mechanics jazzes up all of these theories of the atom by showing that just as traditional wave-like light could be considered a particle, traditional particle-like electrons could be considered like a wave. This wave-particle duality, one... 

In the early twenty-first century it is generally accepted that both the wave and the particle theories are correct in describing optical events. For some optical situations hght behaves as a wave and for others the particle theory is needed to explain the situation. Quantum physics tries to explain the wave-particle duality, and it is possible that future work will unify the wave and particle theories of light. 

Postulation and understanding of wave-particle duality was a controversial topic from the very beginning and is closely enmeshed with the origin and development of the photoelectric effect based on Einstein s hypothesis of light quanta and quantum theory. De Broglie (1924) in a seminal paper explored the reconciliation... 

Light behaves as both a wave and a particle. This duality has resulted in the division of optics into physical optics, which describes the wave properties of light geometric optics, which uses rays to model light behavior and quantum optics, which deals with the particle properties of light. Optics uses these theories to describe the behavior of light in the form of refraction, reflection, interference, polarization, and diffraction. 

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