Dark current is the constant response exhibited by a receptor of radiation during periods when it is not actively being exposed to light. It may refer to:
- Dark current (biochemistry) : The depolarizing current, carried by Na+ ions, that flows into a photoreceptor cell when unstimulated.
- Dark current (physics): The relatively small electric current that flows through a photosensitive device when no photons are entering the device.
- Dark current (chemistry) : The constant response produced by a spectrochemical receptor, in the absence of radiation.
Famous quotes containing the words dark and/or current:
“Why are a lady’s thighs always cool? That is, said the monk, due to three causes for which a place is always naturally cool: primo, because water runs all the way down it; secondo, because it is in a shady, dark and obscure place, where the sun never shines; and thirdly, because it is continually fanned by the winds from the breezy hole.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“You are the current of the frozen stream,
Shadow invisible, ambushed and vigilant flame.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)