2-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING OF ULTRAWEAK PHOTON-EMISSION FROM GERMINATING SOYBEAN SEEDLINGS WITH A HIGHLY SENSITIVE CCD CAMERA

A novel application of a highly sensitive charge-coupled device (CCD) camera for imaging of spontaneous ultraweak photon emission from livin g organisms (biophoton emission) is described, The performance of the CCD camera for low-level light imaging is theoretically compared to a conventionally used two-dimensional photon counting tube, and we deduc e that in the wavelength region above 700 nm and for measurement perio ds over 2000 s, the CCD camera is advantageous over the two-dimensiona l photon counting tube, Experimental results on the two-dimensional bi ophoton imagery of germinating soybean seedlings also suggest that the wide-range spectral sensitivity of the CCD camera is effective for lo w-level light imaging from living organisms that have a predominant em ission spectrum in the red and near-IR wavelength region.