4 ms·
They made a detector that can convert one photon into more than one electron (about 1.3 electrons per photon on average). Note that this is not energy efficienc
by nybble41 6y ago
They made a detector that can convert one photon into more than one electron (about 1.3 electrons per photon on average). Note that this is not energy efficiency as in the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics; they haven't created a system that generates more energy out than it receives. The electrons have lower energy than the original photons. This "efficiency" is purely about the number of particles involved.
More electrons per photon means more accurate detection of low amounts of light and also lower power requirements for light sensors in general. That would include, for example, the cells that make up a digital camera's sensor grid. Economics permitting, this could lead to better low-light performance or more efficient optical equipment (e.g. fiber optic transceivers).
- sreekotay 6y agoTHANKS! This one stuck/made sense :)
- pier25 6y agoWould this also help with solar panels?
- Ductapemaster 6y agoIs it also a relative improvement of the energy conversion into electricity vs. into heat? Intuitively the photons energy will be partially converted into both (conservation of energy) and this efficiency improvement seems like it would skew that ratio into favor of electricity generation.
- nybble41 6y ago> Is it also a relative improvement of the energy conversion into electricity vs. into heat? I would think so, since the reason the efficiency was less than 100% before was that some of the electrons were being recaptured rather than emitted from the detector. On the other hand, the article didn't say anything about the amount of energy captured. It could be that more of the photon's energy is converted into heat, with the remainder being spread across more electrons.
- Ductapemaster 6y agoAh, that's a good point. I wasn't thinking about the relative energies of the electrons themselves.