Optical fiber properties of individual human cones

Abstract

The tuning properties of the ensemble of cone photoreceptors is due to the tuning properties of individual cones convolved with the disarray in pointing direction between the cones. We used direct imaging with the Rochester adaptive optics ophthalmoscope to directly image these properties in individual cones in living human eyes. We found that cone disarray is very small, accounting for less than 1% of the breadth of the tuning function of an ensemble of cones. The implication is that the optical fiber properties of an ensemble of cones mimic the tuning properties of a single cone.