Harvesting Light
Paul Evans
Artwork for ‘Waves‘ (Issue 22)
The Science
'Harvesting Light' is a VR journey following photons – the particles that arise from the quantisation of light waves – from their origins in the sun, passing through the earth’s atmosphere and culminating in the activation of a new kind of solar cell. This 'fantastic voyage' begins as they are born from the fusion of atoms resulting from intense heat and pressure within the heart of the sun. This voyage is viewed from the nanoscopic perspective of the photons – smallest possible packages of electromagnetic energy – as they act as both particles and waves during their 93 million mile journey to Earth. Eventually the photons encounter a solar cell equipped with a “photon multiplier” – a newly developed material in which a sequence of quantum processes splits the photon into two new photons, each with half the energy of the original. This increases the efficiency with which the energy of the light is harvested in the solar cell.
The Medium
Harvesting Light was conceived and created by the artist Paul Evans as a commission for The UK Festival of the Mind 2020, based on research undertaken at the University of Sheffield Department of Physics. It exists as a 180 degree VR film (dimensions variable) and as fly-through on YouTube.
The Artist
Paul Evans is an Artist based at Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield, UK. Themes in his work include Art, Science and the concept of Human Heritage in its broadest sense. He uses a variety of creative strategies including film, VR and board game design to offer routes into these topics.
Since 2006 he has devised and led innovative creative public engagement projects in collaboration with UK institutions including: University of Aberdeen, Cardiff University, University of Lincoln, Manchester University and The University of Sheffield, Wellcome and BBC.
Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license