(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Our everyday life is flooded with photons, the quantum building blocks of light. For cutting-edge technology, from quantum computing to deep-tissue imaging, detecting every single photon counts.

“Photons carry information,” says Kristen Parzuchowski, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “Whenever a photon comes into your measurement system, you need to be able to detect it.”

Photons can transmit data in quantum networks or across deep-space communication links. Catching and analyzing photons enables scientists to build biomedical images and search the universe for dark matter.

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