As a layman in modern physics, I struggle to understand the shape and size of a photon as a wave. As far as I understand, e.g double slit experiment would implicate that the size of a single photon wave would be clearly macroscopic in nature. Is there any text available that would discuss this without a need of Ph.D in physics?
So I think one conceptual issue that makes this so hard to understand is that we tend to imagine a physical reality where light is a wave or a stream of particles. However, that is absolutely wrong. Both the wave and the particle concept are mental models we have constructed to explain light as a phenomenon and to calculate things. And in their respective realms, they work exceptionally well.
However, where things start to get complicated is when the models give different results. However, this doesn't mean something is wrong, it just means the mental model we use to make sense of nature is stretched beyond where it's applicable.
So to preface, light is neither a stream of particles or some sort of wave like the ones on the surface of water. Light is the excitation of the electromagnetic field and is described by a quantum field theory called the standard model. So. photons are 0-dimensional (so no size) excitations of this field and they interact with matter like our eyes, surfaces, sensors in an experiment and produce physical effects.
