Imaging the quantum world using the phase of electron waves

Electrons are always detected as particles, but can also show wave properties. This apparently incompatible nature of electrons that quantum mechanics predicts can now be experimentally demonstrated. In addition, the wave properties of electrons can be utilized to directly observe quantum phenomena which have begun to appear at many places in nanoscopic regions. Examples include the observation of quantized vortices in superconductors by using bright electron beams we developed.