However, the subfields of quantum mechanics dealing with matter-light interaction were principally regarded as research into matter rather than into light hence one rather spoke of atom physics and quantum electronics in 1960. The understanding of the interaction between light and matter following these developments was crucial for the development of quantum mechanics as a whole.
Niels Bohr showed that the hypothesis of optical radiation being quantized corresponded to his theory of the quantized energy levels of atoms, and the spectrum of discharge emission from hydrogen in particular. The photoelectric effect was further evidence of this quantization as explained by Albert Einstein in a 1905 paper, a discovery for which he was to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921. The first major development leading to that understanding was the correct modeling of the blackbody radiation spectrum by Max Planck in 1899 under the hypothesis of light being emitted in discrete units of energy. Quantum optics studies the nature and effects of light as quantized photons. Light propagating in a restricted volume of space has its energy and momentum quantized according to an integer number of particles known as photons.
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