Ciro Santilli @cirosantilli  40

The first planet not known since antiquity.

Quite cool how it was discoverd by the perturbation of Uranus' orbit.

The knowledge that light is polarized precedes the knowledge of the existence of the photon, see polarization of light for the classical point of view.

The polarization state and how it can be decomposed into different modes can be well visualized with the Poincaré sphere.

One key idea about photon polarization is that it carries angular momentum. Therefore, when an electron changes orbitals in the Schrödinger equation solution for the hydrogen atom, the angular momentum (as well as energy) change is carried out by the polarization of the photon!

A more photon-specific version of the Bloch sphere.

In it, each of the six sides has a clear and simple to understand photon polarization state, either of:

The sphere clearly suggests for example that a rotational or diagonal polarizations are the combination of left/right with the correct phase. This is clearly explained at: Video "Quantum Mechanics 9b - Photon Spin and Schrodinger's Cat II by ViaScience (2013)".

Can be used to detect single photons.

Richard Feynman likes them, he describes the tube at Richard Feynman Quantum Electrodynamics Lecture at University of Auckland (1979) at one point.

It uses the photoelectric effect multiple times to produce a chain reaction. In particular, as mentioned at youtu.be/5V8VCFkAd0A?t=74 from Video 1. "Using a Photomultiplier to Detect single photons by Huygens Optics" this means that the device has a lowest sensitive light frequency, beyond which photons don't have enough energy to eject any electrons.

Here is a vendor showcasing their device. They claim in that video that a single photon is produced and detected:

Concrete device described at: Video "How to use an SiPM - Experiment Video by SensLTech (2018)".

One of the sequencers made by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

The device has had several updates since however, notably of the pore proteins which are present in the critical flow cell consumable.

Official documentation: nanoporetech.com/products/minion (archive)

The following images of the device and its peripherals were taken during the experiment: Section "How to use an Oxford Nanopore MinION to extract DNA from river water and determine which bacteria live in it".