Particle, meet wave: Optical qubit technique squeezes photons to bridge discrete and continuous quantum regimes

(Phys.org) --While quantum states are typically referred to as particles or waves, this is not actually the case. Rather, quantum states have complementary discrete particlelike and continuous wavelike properties that emerge based on the experimental or observational context. In other words, when used to describe quantum states the terms particle and wave are convenient but inaccurate metaphors. This is an important consideration in quantum computing, where photons are used as units of quantum i...