Takahiro ANDO
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Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Bio Photon
"Trip to the elementary particle"
Roppongi Art Night 2013
Roppongi Hills, Tokyo
Description of work
Body tissues and cells radiate extremely faint light that is invisible to the human eye. This is the biophoton. So this my work, using photomultiplier tubes(*1) that are also equipped in Super-Kamiokande, detects biophotons that plant seeds emit in the course of germination. Next, these uncounted numbers of sensed photons (particles of light) are visualized and projected on a domed screen via projectors in real time.
*1 photomultiplier tubes
The photomultiplier tube is an ultra-sensitive detector that enables to detect every single photon, the elementary particle of light. Since light appears as photons in the ultra-weak optical range, it becomes possible to count the number.
The mechanism of the device is as follows:
Taking advantage of photoelectric effect that, if a photon strikes against a photoelectric surface, the metal entry window of the device, a photoelectron is emitted from it, a photomultiplier tube multiplies this released photoelectron and output those multiplied as pulses from the anode. Then, these output pulses are counted.