Caroline Gueye

PHOTONICS

 

To create this installation, I met Mrs. Paloma Domingo, an astrophysicist and one of Spain’s eight most influential scientists. Thanks to her, I was able to meet Professor Sanchez-Pena and visit his photonics laboratory. From this visit, I created this installation. 

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Photonics is the science and technology of light. It applies to many areas of everyday life: smartphones, optical fiber communication, screen, lighting (LED), photovoltaics, lasers, but also in the medical or defense sectors. The science initially dedicated to photons was optics. In the 21st century, we talk more and more often about photonics, the science that manipulates photons. 

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In order to create my installation, I thought about the transition from optics to photonics, or how to manipulate and concentrate light in space time. I relied on Maxwell's equations, describing the wave nature of light (or other electromagnetic fields), taking into account the fact that light is both a wave and a particle. The photon is a particle that has no mass, and light is made up of photons.

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In the installation I created an optical effect built with mirrors and reflection of light to create an impression of deep tunnel. I remind that light is made of photons. The whole installation is made of a reflecting material to make light (photons) a main actor in the process.

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In addition, when walking inside this installation, you feel a strange aspect on the floor. In fact, I put a specific plastic material that makes sounds when walking on it. These sounds remind of Geiger-Muller counter sounds used in radio-protection to count ionizing radiation. (Geiger counters are widely used to detect gamma radiation and X-rays, collectively called photons.)

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