The Firefly Interferometer: A Calibrated Test of Whether Bioluminescent Light Can Reduce Matter-Wave Interference in a Sealed System

The Firefly Interferometer is an independent hypothetical research proposal and quantitative experimental framework for testing whether calibrated bioluminescent light can alter matter-wave interference in a sealed two-compartment system. After a matter wave is coherently split, photons emitted by one or more bioluminescent organisms are transported from a separate dark atmospheric compartment into a defined interaction region. The admitted photons cross both separated matter-wave paths after the splitter and before the detector, then terminate in an optical dump outside the particle trajectories. The external detector measures fringe visibility, phase and total transmission. The proposal distinguishes between a null response, conventional optical coupling reproduced by a physically matched artificial source, and a blinded exploratory residual associated with the biological source. It specifies optical-throughput accounting, incident photon-dose calibration, uncertainty propagation, control conditions, randomisation, blinding, falsification criteria and a direct free-electron Thomson-scattering benchmark. The framework also distinguishes sub-wavelength and resolved path-separation regimes through the ratio Δx/λ, and treats temporal overlap between stochastic bioluminescent emission and matter-wave transit as an explicit calibration variable. Alternative platforms—including resonant atoms, optical cavities, waveguides, photonic-crystal structures and engineered transducers—are considered where direct visible-photon/free-electron coupling is too weak. This record is a research proposal for public discussion and technical review. No biological or matter-wave interferometry experiment is reported, no empirical result is claimed, and the manuscript has not been peer reviewed. An associated computational sandbox for modelling photon transport, matter-wave coherence and detector outcomes is under development. It is intended for release as a separate software record and will subsequently be linked to this publication. AI assistance disclosure: OpenAI ChatGPT was used to assist with manuscript drafting, structural editing, equation formatting, and some figure preparation. The originating concept, experimental premises, research direction and final editorial decisions are those of Matthew Riley. The author reviewed the final manuscript and accepts responsibility for the deposited content.