A wide-angle gradient index optical model of the crystalline lens and eye of the octopus.

Cephalopods and fish have had no common ancestor since the Cambrian, and their eyes are a classic example of convergent evolution. The octopus has no cornea, and immerson renders the trout cornea optically ineffective. As a result, the nearly spherical lens is responsible for all refraction in these eyes.

Chromatic and monochromatic optical resolution in the rainbow trout.

The modulation transfer function due to measured longitudinal chromatic aberration was calculated for the otherwise unaberrated eye of the adult rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) under daylight conditions assuming light absorption by single retinal cone pigments, and by photopic mechanisms involving interaction between cones. The adult trout eye, with its large immobile pupil, is limited by chromatic aberration to resolution much lower than the diffraction limit, consistent with the low acuity reported for fish. This low resolution can be considered a design trade-off cost of a bright image.

Image formation by the crystalline lens and eye of the rainbow trout.

The image of a distant unresolved point (point image or PI) and modulation transfer function (MTF) of the eye and lens of the trout were recorded with high spatial (0.3 micron) and dynamic (4096 grey levels) resolution for various entrance aperture sizes and focal positions in monochromatic light, and in broadband light simulating sunlight absorbed by a retinal cone pigment. The PI is irregular, with streaks, wisps and speckle, as a result of lens structural irregularity and diffraction of light scattered within the lens and cornea.

A wide-angle gradient index optical model of the crystalline lens and eye of the rainbow trout.

Trout lens external shape and internal refractive index gradient structure were measured and used to construct an optical lens model that predicts by ray tracing the average longitudinal spherical and chromatic aberration, focal length and image quality. The nearly spherical shape of the lens was measured from photographs, and the internal refractive gradient structure was measured directly with a special Pulfrich areal refractometer. Longitudinal spherical aberration and back focal length were measured using a simplified Hartmann test using laser beams and a Schlieren test which additionally made refractive index gradient fine structure visible and detected scattering, axial symmetry and structural irregularity.

Aquatic vision and the modulation transfer properties of unlighted and diffusely lighted natural waters.

The modulation transfer function (MTF) of well-mixed unlighted and diffusely lighted samples of clear natural waters for path lengths up to 4 m was measured. The measuring conditions simulated the situation for horizontal aquatic vision. In unlighted water, the MTF decreased relatively slowly with increasing path length and spatial frequency up to 150 c/deg.

The optics of the spherical fish lens.

The optical design of the fish eye is particularly simple because immersion renders the cornea optically ineffective and the lens is nearly spherical in shape. Measurements have shown that an approximately parabolic gradient of refractive index exists within the lens. If full internal and external spherical symmetry of the lens applies, the geometrical-optical behaviour of the lens is then a function only of the refractive index of the surrounding medium, that of the lens core and cortex, and of the form of the index gradient.

The refractive structure and optical properties of the isolated crystalline lens of the cat.

Direct measurements of the shape and internal refractive index distribution of the isolated cat lens were used to construct individual optical models of the lenses from the left eyes of five cats. The right eyes were used in a companion study of the optics of the cat eye. The lens refractive index spatial distribution and dispersion were measured with a specially designed Pulfrich areal refractometer.

Optical quality of the eye of the cane toad Bufo marinus.

The wide-angle optical quality of the cane toad eye was measured using a single-pass intraocular optical fibre microprobe, a double-pass projection method and high magnification ophthalmoscopy to photograph individual photoreceptors. The cane toad eye is a wide angle optical device with a horizontal field of nearly 200 deg and a large relative aperture (ca f/1). Its image quality, which is poor compared to diffraction-limited performance, decreases relatively little towards the periphery.

Visibility of photoreceptors in the intact living cane toad eye.

Photoreceptors are invisible under the usual conditions of viewing the fundus; light reflected from other structures obscures them. Individual photoreceptors are shown to be visible in the intact living eye of the cane toad when viewed with intense oblique illumination from one side. The photoreceptors act like optical waveguides in channelling light from the sclera to the observer.

Physical forces involved in pseudophacodonesis and iridodonesis.

Studies of high-speed motion pictures of the eyes of patients after extracapsular (EC) and intracapsular (IC) cataract extraction show that pseudophacodonesis and iridodonesis are the result of oscillations of the fluids in the anterior segment of the eye. These oscillations, initiated by movement of the eye, result in shearing forces on the corneal endothelium which may result in damage. Similar motion of the vitreous causes shearing forces which may damage the retina.

Anomalous disperison of rhodopsin in rod outer segments of the frog.

Linear-retardation spectra of single frog-rod outer segments were measured by use of a microspectrophotometer equipped with polarizing optics. The recorded transmitted-flux variation was reduced to a rhodopsin anomalous-dispersion spectrum by use of the Jones calculus. This anomalous dispersion is compared with theoretical predictions.