Direct detection of a single photon by humans

Tinsley, Jonathan N.; Molodtsov, Maxim I.; Prevedel, Robert; Wartmann, David; Espigulé-Pons, Jofre; Lauwers, Mattias; Vaziri, Alipasha

doi:10.1038/ncomms12172

Cited by 152 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…[22] It has recently been shown that human eyes can sense single photons. [23] Videos of single particle interference show that the apparent wave nature only emerges when large numbers of photons create a quasicontinuous pattern characteristic of a classical wave. [24] [13] Our program replaces the classical interpretation of diffraction and interference with the idea that whenever light is allowed to take two alternative paths, then the phenomenon of interference occurs.…”

Section: Gravitational Wave Detectors and The Quantum Properties Of Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can a short intervention focused on gravitational waves and quantum physics improve students’ understanding and attitude?

et al. 2018

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The decline in students' interest in science and technology is a major concern in the western world. One approach to reversing this decline is to introduce modern physics concepts much earlier in the school curriculum. We have used the context of the recent discoveries of gravitational waves to test benefits of one-day interventions, in which students are introduced to the ongoing nature of scientific discovery, as well as the fundamental concepts of quantum physics and gravitation, which underpin these discoveries. Our innovative approach combines role-playing, model demonstrations, single photon interference and gravitational wave detection, plus simple experiments designed to emphasize the quantum interpretation of interference. We compare understanding and attitudes through pre and post testing on four age groups (school years 7, 8, 9 and 10), and compare results with those of longer interventions with Year 9. Results indicate that neither prior knowledge nor age are significant factors in student understanding of the core concepts of Einsteinian physics. However we find that the short interventions are insufficient to enable students to comprehend more derived concepts.

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Section: Gravitational Wave Detectors and The Quantum Properties Of Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can a short intervention focused on gravitational waves and quantum physics improve students’ understanding and attitude?

et al. 2018

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“…The human eye has a unique ability to adapt to a wide range of brightness levels ranging from a bright sunny day down to single photon levels [25,26]. Conventional sensors cannot simultaneously reliably capture very dark and very bright regions in many natural scenes.…”

Section: Extreme Dynamic Range Of Pf-spadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Flux Passive Imaging With Single-Photon Sensors

Ingle

Velten

Gupta

2019

2019 IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)

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Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are an emerging technology with a unique capability of capturing individual photons with high timing precision. SPADs are being used in several active imaging systems (e.g., fluorescence lifetime microscopy and LiDAR), albeit mostly limited to low photon flux settings. We propose passive free-running SPAD (PF-SPAD) imaging, an imaging modality that uses SPADs for capturing 2D intensity images with unprecedented dynamic range under ambient lighting, without any active light source.Our key observation is that the precise inter-photon timing measured by a SPAD can be used for estimating scene brightness under ambient lighting conditions, even for very bright scenes. We develop a theoretical model for PF-SPAD imaging, and derive a scene brightness estimator based on the average time of darkness between successive photons detected by a PF-SPAD pixel. Our key insight is that due to the stochastic nature of photon arrivals, this estimator does not suffer from a hard saturation limit. Coupled with high sensitivity at low flux, this enables a PF-SPAD pixel to measure a wide range of scene brightnesses, from very low to very high, thereby achieving extreme dynamic range. We demonstrate an improvement of over 2 orders of magnitude over conventional sensors by imaging scenes spanning a dynamic range of 10 6 : 1.

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“…For instance, photoreceptors in humans can detect single photons (Tinsley et al 2016), and hair cells can detect mere nanometers of displacement of their stereocilia (Martin & Hudspeth 1999). The research challenge for these fields is how the signal is distinguished among the noise in these ultrasensitive detectors.…”

Section: Criteria For a Magnetosensory Neuron And Receptormentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms for Magnetosensation

Clites¹,

Pierce²

2017

Annu. Rev. Neurosci.

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Diverse animals ranging from worms and insects to birds and turtles perf orm impressive journeys using the magnetic field of the earth as a cue. Although major cellular and molecular mechanisms for sensing mechanical and chemical cues have been elucidated over the past three decades, the mechanisms that animals use to sense magnetic fields remain largely mysterious. Here we survey progress on the search for magnetosensory neurons and magnetosensitive molecules important for animal behaviors. Emphasis is placed on magnetosensation in insects and birds, as well as on the magnetosensitive neuron pair AFD in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We also review conventional criteria used to define animal magnetoreceptors and suggest how approaches used to identify receptors for other sensory modalities may be adapted for magnetoreceptors. Finally, we discuss prospects for under-utilized and novel approaches to identify the elusive magnetoreceptors in animals.

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Direct detection of a single photon by humans

Cited by 152 publications

References 30 publications

Can a short intervention focused on gravitational waves and quantum physics improve students’ understanding and attitude?

Can a short intervention focused on gravitational waves and quantum physics improve students’ understanding and attitude?

High Flux Passive Imaging With Single-Photon Sensors

Identifying Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms for Magnetosensation

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