Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Photoniques

Quantum is in the eye of the beholder

Gabriele Bizzarri, Assunta Di Vizio, Matteo Rosati, Ilaria Gianani, Marco Barbieri

Published Jan 1, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The evolving understanding of the limits of human visual perception has advanced the development of optical devices that not only correct visual defects but also help manage changes in certain eye structures. As modern optical technologies allow precise control of the quantum properties of light, recent endeavours have started testing the quantum capabilities of human eye perception, proving that they can detect single photons. This paves the way for the application of quantum metrology and cryptography to medical imaging, with potential increase in precision and security.

DOI
10.1051/photon/202513154

Related papers

Quantum Computing, Metrology, and Imaging

Hwang Lee, Pavel Lougovski, Jonathan P. Dowling

Information science is entering into a new era in which certain subtleties of quantum mechanics enables large enhancements in computational efficiency and communication security. Naturally, precise control of quantum systems required for the implementation of quantum information processing protocols implies potential breakthoughs in other sciences and technologies. We discuss recent developments in quantum control in optical systems and their applications in metrology and imaging.

arXiv:quant-ph/0506150•Civil War Book Review•Jun 17, 2005•2 citations

Quantum computing, metrology, and imaging (Invited Paper)

Hwang Lee, Pavel Lougovski, Jonathan P. Dowling

Information science is entering into a new era in which certain subtleties of quantum mechanics enables large enhancements in computational efficiency and communication security. Naturally, precise control of quantum systems required for the implementation of quantum information processing protocols implies potential breakthoughs in other sciences and technologies. We discuss recent developments in quantum control in optical systems and their applications in metrology and imaging.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•May 23, 2005•6 citations

Quantum Sensors, Computing, Metrology, and Imaging

Jonathan P. Dowling

Quantum states of light can be used to make measurements and produce images beyond classical limits. We review recent advances in producing such states of light using ideas from optical quantum computing.

•Jan 1, 2011•1 citation

Human Eye Sees a Single Quantum Particle... First Demonstration of Direct Detection of a Single Photon

inquantio

A study published in Nature Communications demonstrated for the first time that humans can consciously detect a single light particle by directing a single photon, controlled by quantum optical technology (SPDC), onto the cornea of human subjects. Breaking the conventional wisdom regarding the necessity of multiple photons for perception, the study showed that subjects directly perceived a single photon with a probability significantly above statistical chance. The study discovered a priming process where the probability of detecting a second single photon is significantly enhanced for several seconds after detecting an initial single photon, proving that the human visual neural network is a marvelous system capable of filtering information at the absolute quantum limit. [Quantum Biology Society] How fine a physical stimulus can human senses detect? In particular, whether our vision, through which we see the world, can perceive the most fundamental physical limit—a single particle of light (single photon)—has been a major subject of debate in the scientific community for over 70 years. While it was known that a single photoreceptor (rod cell) in the retina responds to individual photons , it was conventionally believed that to consciously perceive light, at least a few photons must arrive simultaneously to overcome noise. However, a phenomenal study has been published proving that the human eye and brain can break through this absolute quantum mechanical limit. The paper titled "Direct detection of a single photon by humans," published as an open-access article in the international journal Nature Communications, provides an answer to this fundamental question. A research team led by Professor Alipasha Vaziri and Jonathan N. Tinsley from the University of Vienna, the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Austria, and The Rockefeller University in the USA, successfully spearheaded this groundbreaking experiment. ■ A Single Shot of Light Created with Quantum Optical Technology To overcome the limitations of conventional light sources, the research team utilized a quantum optical technology called spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). Through this, they built a perfectly controlled heralded single-photon source and performed over 30,000 rigorous psychophysics-based experimental trials, shooting this single photon into the corneas of subjects inside a pitch-black dark chamber. ■ The Human Brain Performs Quantum Noise Canceling The results were astounding. The subjects accurately identified when a single photon was emitted with a probability significantly above statistical chance. Even though only a minuscule amount of quantum energy struck the retina, the human visual system and neural networks in the brain filtered this absolute minimum unit of information out of macroscopic noise and visually perceived it. ■ A Light Seen Once is Seen Better: The Priming Effect of the Visual System Even more interestingly, the researchers discovered that the probability of detecting a second single photon was temporarily and significantly enhanced within a time window of a few seconds immediately after a subject detected an initial single photon. The researchers analyzed this as a priming process where the presence of an earlier photon temporarily enhances the effective gain of the visual system. This study proves that a living organism's sensory organs are not merely chemical sensors but sophisticated biophysical systems that interact directly with the quantum world, the smallest unit in the natural world. This discovery provides a new understanding of the signal processing mechanisms of brain neural networks and is expected to open the door to entirely new research exploring human vision and the brain using quantum states of light. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12172

•Jul 13, 2026•0 citations

Hamiltonian model of quantum retina processing

Su‐Shing Chen

In human eyes, retina cells have shown complicated, sophisticated structures, and thus capability of carrying out certain basic visual functions. In computer vision, a spherical model has been proposed to demonstrate that certain basic visual functions can be performed at the sensor/photoreceptor level for target recognition, mobile robotic control, and other applications. This paper will establish that low level computer vision in this spherical model exhibits a Hamiltonian model of quantum computation. This results will be important to the understanding of human vision as well as the development of intelligent visual sensor chips and devices in electronics and optics.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Nov 11, 1996•1 citation

Seeing single photons

Rebecca M. Holmes

The decades-old question of whether humans can see individual photons is on the brink of being answered thanks to advances in quantum optics. A positive result would let us use human observers as “detectors” to explore quantum effects such as entanglement, as Rebecca Holmes explains

Physics World•Dec 1, 2016•4 citations
The evolving understanding of the limits of human visual perception has advanced the development of optical devices that not only correct visual defects but also help manage changes in certain eye structures. As modern optical technologies allow precise control of the quantum properties of light, recent endeavours have started testing the quantum capabilities of human eye perception, proving that they can detect single photons. This paves the way for the application of quantum metrology and cryptography to medical imaging, with potential increase in precision and security.
A study published in Nature Communications demonstrated for the first time that humans can consciously detect a single light particle by directing a single photon, controlled by quantum optical technology (SPDC), onto the cornea of human subjects. Breaking the conventional wisdom regarding the necessity of multiple photons for perception, the study showed that subjects directly perceived a single photon with a probability significantly above statistical chance. The study discovered a priming process where the probability of detecting a second single photon is significantly enhanced for several seconds after detecting an initial single photon, proving that the human visual neural network is a marvelous system capable of filtering information at the absolute quantum limit. [Quantum Biology Society] How fine a physical stimulus can human senses detect? In particular, whether our vision, through which we see the world, can perceive the most fundamental physical limit—a single particle of light (single photon)—has been a major subject of debate in the scientific community for over 70 years. While it was known that a single photoreceptor (rod cell) in the retina responds to individual photons , it was conventionally believed that to consciously perceive light, at least a few photons must arrive simultaneously to overcome noise. However, a phenomenal study has been published proving that the human eye and brain can break through this absolute quantum mechanical limit. The paper titled "Direct detection of a single photon by humans," published as an open-access article in the international journal Nature Communications, provides an answer to this fundamental question. A research team led by Professor Alipasha Vaziri and Jonathan N. Tinsley from the University of Vienna, the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Austria, and The Rockefeller University in the USA, successfully spearheaded this groundbreaking experiment. ■ A Single Shot of Light Created with Quantum Optical Technology To overcome the limitations of conventional light sources, the research team utilized a quantum optical technology called spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). Through this, they built a perfectly controlled heralded single-photon source and performed over 30,000 rigorous psychophysics-based experimental trials, shooting this single photon into the corneas of subjects inside a pitch-black dark chamber. ■ The Human Brain Performs Quantum Noise Canceling The results were astounding. The subjects accurately identified when a single photon was emitted with a probability significantly above statistical chance. Even though only a minuscule amount of quantum energy struck the retina, the human visual system and neural networks in the brain filtered this absolute minimum unit of information out of macroscopic noise and visually perceived it. ■ A Light Seen Once is Seen Better: The Priming Effect of the Visual System Even more interestingly, the researchers discovered that the probability of detecting a second single photon was temporarily and significantly enhanced within a time window of a few seconds immediately after a subject detected an initial single photon. The researchers analyzed this as a priming process where the presence of an earlier photon temporarily enhances the effective gain of the visual system. This study proves that a living organism's sensory organs are not merely chemical sensors but sophisticated biophysical systems that interact directly with the quantum world, the smallest unit in the natural world. This discovery provides a new understanding of the signal processing mechanisms of brain neural networks and is expected to open the door to entirely new research exploring human vision and the brain using quantum states of light. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12172
In human eyes, retina cells have shown complicated, sophisticated structures, and thus capability of carrying out certain basic visual functions. In computer vision, a spherical model has been proposed to demonstrate that certain basic visual functions can be performed at the sensor/photoreceptor level for target recognition, mobile robotic control, and other applications. This paper will establish that low level computer vision in this spherical model exhibits a Hamiltonian model of quantum computation. This results will be important to the understanding of human vision as well as the development of intelligent visual sensor chips and devices in electronics and optics.