Two axes of the human eye and inversion of the retinal layers: the basis for the interpretation of the retina as a phase-grating-optical, cellular 3D chip

Norbert Lauinger

doi:10.1117/12.188928

10 October 1994 Two axes of the human eye and inversion of the retinal layers: the basis for the interpretation of the retina as a phase-grating-optical cellular 3D chip

Norbert Lauinger

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 2353, Intelligent Robots and Computer Vision XIII: Algorithms and Computer Vision; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.188928
Event: Photonics for Industrial Applications, 1994, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

The question of why the human eye has two axes, a photopic visual axis and an eye axis, is just as justified as the one of why the fovea is not on the eye axis, but instead is on the visual axis. An optical engineer would have omitted the second axis and placed the fovea on the eye axis. The answer to the question of why the design of the real eye differs from the logic of the engineer is found in its prenatal development. The biaxial design was the only possible consequence of the decision to invert the retinal layers. Accordingly, this is of considerable importance. It in turn forms the basis of the interpretation of the retinal nuclear layers as a cellular 3D phase grating, and can provide a diffraction-optical interpretation of adaptive effects (Purkinje shift), aperture phenomena (Stiles-Crawford effects I and II) in photopic vision, and visual acuity data in photopic and scotopic vision.

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Norbert Lauinger "Two axes of the human eye and inversion of the retinal layers: the basis for the interpretation of the retina as a phase-grating-optical cellular 3D chip", Proc. SPIE 2353, Intelligent Robots and Computer Vision XIII: Algorithms and Computer Vision, (10 October 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.188928

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