Quantum correlating measurements of human-body delayed luminescence and preliminary experimental results

Abstract

Biological delayed luminescence (DL) refers to the emission of photons of 200-800 nm after an organism is exposed to a beam of light. At present, DL research is mostly conducted on plants and cells. Most human research uses low-temperature photomultiplier tubes (PMT) with poor performance. This paper introduces a newly developed dual-channel, coincident counting DL acquisition system, as well as preliminary experimental results with acupuncture meridians and acupoints in humans. The system employs two low-noise SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) modules to achieve not only a time resolution as low as 1 μs , but also a spatio-temporal correlation relation between two simultaneous measurements. Using a laser excitation of 400 nm and 532 nm , we measured the DL emission for different parts of the human body and found that the corresponding DL curves follow the hyperbolic law of I = I 0 ( 1 + t τ ) − γ . The emission curves are sensitive to many factors including the current health state of the participants. We hypothesize that DL emission is a quantum process involving a variety of functional biomolecules in the human body, and that various DL curve parameters could reflect information about human health and disease. We predict that quantitative analysis, based on accurately measured DL emission, will provide a powerful new tool for monitoring human health in the future.