What is the definition of matter waves?
Hi nishi By “matter waves” I’m going to assume you’re talking about de Broglie waves. Louis de Broglie first suggested that the particle-like behaviour of light suggested by the photo-electric effect coupled with relativistic energy might imply that on small scales matter could behave like a wave. He worked out that an electron would have a characteristic wavelength L(lambda) given by: L = h/p where h is Planck’s constant and p is the electron momentum. In the non relativistic (ie slow speed) limit this is approximately equal to: L = h/mv for m the mass of the electron and v its speed. As a consequence, modern quantum physicists regard quantum objects as able to demonstrate both particle-like and also wave-like behaviour. This means that quantum light (photons) can behave like a particle or like a wave, and so can (for example) an electron. The archetypal demonstration of this is the double-slit experiment which you’d typically perform as an undergrad student in physics. Single quantum
