In 2025, a team at the University of Twente in the Netherlands made a fascinating discovery. They conducted an experiment that shed new light on quantum tunneling, specifically how photons, or light particles, behave.
The researchers observed photons tunneling between two waveguides. This phenomenon challenges certain deterministic interpretations of quantum mechanics. They found that photons with higher velocities traveled further before tunneling, providing empirical data that challenges deterministic models.
The experiment involved sending light pulses through one waveguide and observing how they leaked into a neighboring one. This allowed them to measure the speed of photons through their tunneling behavior. This groundbreaking research opens new avenues for understanding the fundamental nature of quantum phenomena and could reshape our understanding of the quantum world.