Light is made of photons, and our night vision is limited by the ability of our visual system to detect these photons. In some ways, our eyes approach the fundamental physical limit for light detection, being able to detect light flashes of less than a dozen photons.

This video is copyright (c) 2021 by Kerry Kim. No part of this video may be used without my prior written permission, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Animations were made in Maya and Blender by Kerry Kim.

0:00 Introduction
0:37 Photoreceptors and photons
1:52 Experiment
3:22 Rhodopsin
3:59 Signal to noise
6:00 Limitations
6:55 Conclusion


References:
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Baylor DA, Lamb TD, Yau KW. The membrane current of single rod outer segments. J Physiol. 1979 Mar;288:589611.
Rieke F, Baylor DA. Singlephoton detection by rod cells of the retina. Rev Mod Phys. 1998 Jul 70(3):10271036.