The Governors of the University of Calgary

Purpose

Very weak light, known as biophotons, are emitted spontaneously by living organisms, but the origin, wavelength emission spectrum and the mechanism for this emission have not been clearly identified, although energy metabolic processes seem to be involved. Moreover, neurons react to light stimuli, and biophotons can be conducted along neuronal fibres following chemical activation. Thus, it has been conjectured that biophotons are involved in neural communication. The objective of the Project is to use quantum technologies for single photon level imaging and detection to elucidate the properties of the biophotons in brain activity. The main challenge of imaging biophotons is their low intensity, which requires detectors displaying high sensitivity and very low noise levels. To resolve biophoton detection in biological samples, the Project team will use singlephoton imaging cameras, spanning the visible to shortwave infrared spectrum, coupled with spectral filters to achieve spatial and spectral resolution. These approaches will be benchmarked against superconducting nano-wire single-photon detectors.