For several decades, physicists have known that light can be described simultaneously as a wave and a particle. This fascinating 'duality' of light is due to the classical and quantum nature of electromagnetic excitations, the processes through which electromagnetic fields are produced.
So far, in all experiments in which light interacts with free electrons, it has been described as a wave. Researchers at Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, however, have recently gathered the first experimental evidence revealing the quantum nature of the interaction between photons and free electrons. Their findings, published in Science, could have important implications for future research investigating photons and their interaction with free electrons.
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