Can a Human See a Single Photon?

Re:Can a Human See a Single Photon? by thesimonlee on Friday January 20, 2023 @02:18PM (#34458284)

Definitely. 20 years ago when homes were not littered with LEDs all over, I would wake in the night to total blackness. I could still find my way around the house just able to see based on what is I suppose a noise floor of ambient temperature. Go into the kitchen & behold the stove top emitting 'bright' white light, from I suppose a temperature of around 30degC /90F.

Obviously everything is a blackbody, but those photons surely can't be 'single' visible ones.

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Re:Can a Human See a Single Photon? by yetanotherloser on Friday January 20, 2023 @02:33PM (#34458508)

Gosh. I used to have pretty good night vision and recognise what you mean about "see based on the noise floor" - but I never had an experience like seeing the stovetop heat. Remarkable. I wonder how much variation there is between people? Unfortunately mine's faded with age so I don't think it's worth my trying to see if I can see that myself now...

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Re:Can a Human See a Single Photon? by Luc on Friday January 20, 2023 @03:15PM (#34459176)

Did you consider you were seeing (very low amounts of) visible light? Temperature had nothing to do with it.

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Re:Can a Human See a Single Photon? by eternauta3k on Sunday January 22, 2023 @01:28AM (#34474952)

Is it possible that your house was illuminated by ultrashort infrared laser pulses?

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1410162111

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