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Exploiting the dual nature of light

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Hank Hogan

In August, at the Drug Discovery & Development of Innovative Therapeutics conference in Boston, Kelly J. Cassutt, an applications scientist at Hamamatsu Corp. in Bridgewater, N.J., showcased light as an agonist. But in acting as an agent that binds to – and therefore alters the activity of – a receptor, light reveals its dual nature as a particle and a wave. “To activate the receptor, light behaves as a photon or particle. To activate the receptor, light must be at the correct wavelength, or acting as a wave,” he explained. Although light’s duality may be an old idea, exploiting it...Read full article

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    Published: October 2008
    Glossary
    light
    Electromagnetic radiation detectable by the eye, ranging in wavelength from about 400 to 750 nm. In photonic applications light can be considered to cover the nonvisible portion of the spectrum which includes the ultraviolet and the infrared.
    photon
    A quantum of electromagnetic energy of a single mode; i.e., a single wavelength, direction and polarization. As a unit of energy, each photon equals hn, h being Planck's constant and n, the frequency of the propagating electromagnetic wave. The momentum of the photon in the direction of propagation is hn/c, c being the speed of light.
    BiophotonicsenergylightparticlephotonreceptorResearch & TechnologySensors & Detectors

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