Stochastic light concentration from 3D to 2D reveals ultraweak chemi- and bioluminescence

Ibtissame Khaoua,Guillaume Graciani,Andrey Kim,François Amblard

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-88091-0

Abstract

For countless applications in science and technology, light must be concentrated, and concentration is classically achieved with reflective and refractive elements. However, there is so far no efficient way, with a 2D detector, to detect photons produced inside an extended volume with a broad or isotropic angular distribution. Here, with theory and experiment, we propose to stochastically transform and concentrate a volume into a smaller surface, using a high-albedo Ulbricht cavity and a small exit orifice through cavity walls. A 3D gas of photons produced inside the cavity is transformed with a 50% number efficiency into a 2D Lambertian emitting orifice with maximal radiance and a much smaller size. With high-albedo quartz-powder cavity walls (rho =99.94%), the orifice area is 1/(1-rho )approx 1600 times smaller than the walls’ area. When coupled to a detectivity-optimized photon-counter (mathcal{D}=0.015,{text{photon}}^{-1},{text{s}}^{1/2}text{ cm}) the detection limit is 110;{text{photon}};{text{s}}^{ - 1} ;{text{L}}^{ - 1}. Thanks to this unprecedented sensitivity, we could detect the luminescence produced by the non-catalytic disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide in pure water, which has not been observed so far. We could also detect the ultraweak bioluminescence produced by yeast cells at the onset of their growth. Our work opens new perspectives for studying ultraweak luminescence, and the concept of stochastic 3D/2D conjugation should help design novel light detection methods for large samples or diluted emitters.

Highlights

For countless applications in science and technology, light must be concentrated, and concentration is classically achieved with reflective and refractive elements
All passive solutions to these problems generally rely on the optimal combination of reflective and refractive elements that deterministically carry the light from the source to the target, with tentatively minimal losses caused by absorption, scattering, or aperture limitations
We demonstrate that the disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide, which is one of the most important reactive oxygen species (ROS), does produce ultraweak light in pure water, i.e., in non-catalytic conditions

Summary

Introduction

For countless applications in science and technology, light must be concentrated, and concentration is classically achieved with reflective and refractive elements. All passive solutions to these problems generally rely on the optimal combination of reflective and refractive elements that deterministically carry the light from the source to the target, with tentatively minimal losses caused by absorption, scattering, or aperture limitations. In this context, a fundamental law of geometrical optics, namely the conservation of the “optical étendue”, states that the optical radiance cannot increase between the source and the target. The 3D source is transformed into a 2D emitting surface by placing it inside an Ulbricht c avity[4] with a small exit port and strongly scattering walls that provide a high Lambertian reflectivity. Called integrating spheres or cavities, have been used for the radiometry of non-homogeneous or non-isotropic light sources, Scientific Reports | (2021) 11:10050

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