Wave-particle duality of photons as addressed in science education
How can contemporary views guide it?
Abstract
Wave-particle duality (WPD) of photons is a recurrent topic in science education research in teaching and learning the quantum behaviour of light. In this commentary, we discuss how WPD has been approached in science teaching and science education literature, and how it leads to ontological challenges in searching for the real “nature of photons”. We suggest that WPD can serve as a starting point of teaching quantum physics if we want to use natural language in discussing experimental results (as Bohr intended it to be). That way WPD can also be approached as part of modern quantum optics as a natural language expression to communicate information acquired in experiments. Such an ap-proach includes a contemporary understanding of quantitative WPD as a means to speak about features of photons as quantum states, not as entity-like objects. Content is discussed at a level appropriate for physics teacher education.
