Using a groundbreaking new technique, researchers have unveiled the first detailed image of a photon — a single particle of light — ever t

The shape of light: Scientists reveal image of an individual photon for 1st time ever

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2024-11-30 05:00:02

Using a groundbreaking new technique, researchers have unveiled the first detailed image of a photon — a single particle of light — ever taken.

Researchers in Birmingham have created the first image of a photon, a lemon-shaped particle of light emitted from the surface of a nanoparticle. The theory that made this image possible, reported Nov. 14 in the journal Physical Review Letters, enables scientists to calculate and understand various properties of these quantum particles — which could open up a range of new possibilities across fields such as quantum computing, photovoltaic devices and artificial photosynthesis.

Light's quantum behavior is well established, with over 100 years of experiments showing it can exist in both wave and particle form. But our fundamental understanding of this quantum nature is much further behind, and we only have a limited grasp of how photons are created and emitted, or of how they change through space and time.

"We want to be able to understand these processes to leverage that quantum side," first author Ben Yuen, a research fellow at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., told Live Science in an email. "How do light and matter really interact at this level?"