Light is a crucial phenomenon for human observers to acquire and share visual impressions of objects in the world around us.
This observation results from the interference of manifestations of photons within our eyes. A human observer can see objects because we can combine a huge number of these interferences into an impression of what we identify and can memorize as a specific object. We can exchange impressions on objects with fellow observers and mutually conclude on the characteristics of an object under observation.
The study within the framework of the Dutch Paradigm will consider the basic properties of a photon’s manifestations. Because visible light is a central element in this work, it frequently refers to the fundamental physics of visible light. The origin and interference characteristics of visible light are part of new ideas and models, as in the Dutch Paradigm.
What is important to emphasize in this section is:
- Light has both particle and wave characteristics
- The particle characteristic implies that light can show its existence as a quant of energy. A beam of light is a stream of photons, and if the wave of this beam has the frequency f, then each photon has a free quant of energy equal to Δhf available for interference with other particles.
- The wave characteristic shows wave interference
- Light as a wave is an electromagnetic phenomenon
- Light spans a frequency band that ranges from long radio waves up to gamma rays
- Light as we know it travels in a straight line
- Light is propagating, traveling at the speed of light c
This duality showed up in Thomas Young’s double-slit experiment.
Massive amounts of research are available for each subject, but the very nature of light itself is still unclear. Nevertheless, we have shown that we are very ingenious in exploiting the properties of light for practical applications.
Whenever required, this notion of light will be extended to discuss information relevant to elucidate the new paradigm.