Parallel processing of motion and colour information

When the two eyes are confronted with sufficiently different versions of the visual environment, one or the other eye dominates perception in alternation. A similar situation may be created in the laboratory by presenting images to the left and right eyes which differ in orientation or colour. Although perception is dominated by one eye during rivalry, there are a number of instances in which visual processes nevertheless continue to integrate information from the suppressed eye. For example the interocular transfer of the motion after-effect is undiminished when induced during binocular rivalry. Thus motion information processing may occur in parallel with the rivalry process. Here we describe a novel example in which the visual system simultaneously exhibits binocular rivalry and vision that integrates signals from both eyes. This apparent contradiction is resolved by postulating parallel visual processes devoted to the analyses of colour and motion information. Counterphased gratings are viewed dichoptically such that for one eye the grating is composed of alternating yellow and black stripes (luminance) while for the other it is composed of alternating red and green stripes (chrominance). When the gratings are fused, a moving grating is perceived. A consistent direction of motion can only be achieved if left and right monocular signals are integrated by the nervous system. Yet the apparent colour of the binocular percept alternates between red-green and yellow-black. These observations demonstrate the segregation of processing by the early motion system from that affording the perception of colour. Although, in this stimulus, colour information in itself can play no part in the cyclopean perception of motion direction, colour is carried along perceptually (filled in) by the moving pattern which is integrated from both eyes.     

不等距光栅及其对位移的放大作用

本文通过实验观察到光栅常数略有差异的两块光栅平行迭放时出现的纵向暗条纹及其对位移的放大作用。推导出暗条纹间距及放大倍数与光栅常数的关系式。原则上提出一种测量微小位移的可行方法。     

Effects of pattern shape on adaptation of dLGN cell

Pattern adaptation is one of the fundamental sensory processes in the visual system. In this study, we compared pattern adaptation induced by two types of sinusoidal drifting grating in dLGN cells of cat. The two types of grating have the same parameters (e.g. spatial frequency,temporal frequency and contrast) except their pattern shapes,one of which is normal grating and the other annular grating.The results suggested that the annular grating elicited stronger response and stronger pattern adaptation than the normal grating. This is consistent with the adaptation and aftereffect to the two types of drifting gratings seen in psychology and may reflect the subcortical neural mechanism underlying these psychological phenomena.     

Orientation-selective adaptation and tilt after-effect from invisible patterns

Exposure to visual patterns of high contrast (for example, gratings formed by alternating white and black bars) creates after-effects in perception. We become temporarily insensitive to faint test patterns that resemble the pre-exposed pattern (such as gratings of the same orientation), and we require more contrast to detect them. Moreover, if the test pattern is slightly tilted relative to the pre-exposed one, this tilt may be perceptually exaggerated: we experience a tilt after-effect. Here we show that these visual after-effects occur even if the pre-exposed grating is too fine to be perceptually resolved. After looking at a very fine grating, so high in spatial frequency that it was perceptually indistinguishable from a uniform field, observers required more contrast to detect a test grating presented at the same orientation than one presented at the orthogonal orientation. They also experienced a tilt after-effect that depended on the relation of the test pattern's tilt to the unseen orientation of the pre-exposed pattern. Because these after-effects are due to changes in orientation-sensitive mechanisms in visual cortex, our observations imply that extremely fine details, even those too fine to be seen, can penetrate the visual system as far as the cortex, where they are represented neurally without conscious awareness.     

Subtractive and divisive adaptation in the human visual system.

Sensory systems can adapt to the conditions imposed on them. In the visual system, adapting to a pattern increases the threshold of the ability to see that pattern, and reduces the perceived contrast of the pattern above threshold. Most neurons of the striate cortex reduce their responsiveness after being stimulated for some time by a high-contrast pattern. Such an effect may lie behind these psychophysical adaptation phenomena. These adaptation effects have been reported to be confined to patterns of similar orientation, which is understandable in that the visual neurons that adapt are only excited by a small range of orientations. Neurophysiological evidence suggests that neurons with different orientation preferences have inhibitory interconnections. It is therefore of interest to explore the possible effects of these connections on perception. Here we show that adapting to a horizontal pattern can reduce the perceived contrast of a vertical test pattern more than a horizontal test pattern. These 'cross-orientation' effects are modelled by a division-like process, whereas the more normal 'similar-orientation' effects are modelled by a subtractive process.     

A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque cortical area V2

Neurons responding selectively to different colours have been found in various cortical areas in macaque monkeys; however, little is known about whether and how the representation of colour is spatially organized in any cortical area. Cortical area V2 contains modules that respond preferentially to chromatic modulation, which are located in thin cytochrome oxidase stripes. Here we show that within and beyond these modules, gratings of different colours produce activations that peak at different locations. Optical recording of intrinsic signals revealed that the peak regions of the responses to different colours were spatially organized in the same order as colour stimuli are arranged in the DIN (German standard colour chart) colour system. Nearby regions represented colours of a similar hue. We found that the set of colour-specific regions formed 0.07-0.32-mm-wide and approximately 1.3-mm long bands that varied in shape from linear to nearly circular. Our finding suggests that thin stripes in V2 contain functional maps where the colour of a stimulus is represented by the location of its response activation peak.     

消像差光栅的波像差分析

波像差方法是M.Chrisp在研究超环面光栅的像差分析时提出的,采用像散面作为参考波阵面,发展了多元件系统波像差理论,是目前为止可以用来研究多元件系统像差分析的很好方法.在Chrisp波像差理论基础上,推导出二次曲面面型的变线距光栅的波像差表达式,讨论光栅面型和刻槽分布对成像特性的影响,最后介绍波像差方法在光学系统设计中的应用.     

基于表面等离子体激元的新型金属光栅波导的研究

对基于表面等离子体激元的五层金属光栅透射现象进行了分析研究。根据仿真得出的透射和发射谱线,分析得出五层金属光栅有良好的增透效果。研究中发现在1 550 nm通信波段附近,通过改变金属光栅的周期长度,可以对反射谱进行波长调谐,实现增透波长的选择。     

亚波长光栅的可见光共振特性研究

研究亚波长光栅的可见光共振特性. 分析了光栅共振的基本原理. 基于严格矢量衍射理论给出了不同光栅参量(如光栅周期、填充因数、光栅深度、光栅材料等)的优化设计图,定量得出了各参量控制光栅共振特性(共振波长和半峰全宽)的一般规律,共振波长与光栅周期成比例. 共振半峰全宽值主要依赖于光栅调制系数和波导光栅对导模的限制程度,填充因数和光栅深度也对其有一定的影响,为新型防伪光栅设备的开发提供了理论依据.     

基于差分结构的光纤光栅应变传感器温度补偿

针对基于差分结构的光纤应变传感器传统的温度补偿算法易产生测量误差的问题,本文将封装后的整个敏感结构一体化分析,通过实验标定得到光栅的温度敏感系数,简化了理论推导,并通过了应变实验测试。结果表明,进行温度补偿后,两光栅中心波长差与压强成线性变化,线性系数为0.7 pm/Pa,拟合度为0.999 5,能够有效抑制温度对波长的影响。     

透射式位相光栅矢量衍射特性的实验研究

实验研究了透射式全息位相光栅的矢量衍射特性,实验结果表明当光栅常数接近或小于入射波长时,等光强的P、S偏振光入射,其各级衍射光强明显不同.经分析得知这种偏振依赖是由两方面的因素引起:玻璃基底的影响和光栅本身的矢量衍射特性所致.用时域有限差分方法(FDTD)模拟了光与位相光栅的相互作用,结果表明光栅本身的偏振依赖是由矢量衍射中P、S偏振光在光栅中形成的相对位相延迟不同引起的.     

Long-lasting sensitization to a given colour after visual search

Visual attention enables an observer to select specific visual information for processing. In an ambiguous motion task in which a coloured grating can be perceived as moving in either of two opposite directions depending on the relative salience of two colours in the display, attending to one of the colours influences the direction in which the grating appears to move. Here, we use this secondary effect of attention in a motion task to measure the effect of attending to a specific colour in a search task. Observers performed a search task in which they searched for a target letter in a 4 x 4 coloured matrix. Each of the 16 squares within a matrix was assigned one of four colours, and observers knew that the target letter would appear on only one of these colours throughout the experiment. Observers performed the ambiguous motion task before and after the search task. Attending to a particular colour for a brief period in the search task profoundly influenced the perceived direction of motion. This effect lasted for up to one month and in some cases had to be reversed by practising searches for the complementary colour, indicating a much longer-persisting effect of attention than has been observed previously.     

Interocular rivalry revealed in the human cortical blind-spot representation

To understand conscious vision, scientists must elucidate how the brain selects specific visual signals for awareness. When different monocular patterns are presented to the two eyes, they rival for conscious expression such that only one monocular image is perceived at a time. Controversy surrounds whether this binocular rivalry reflects neural competition among pattern representations or monocular channels. Here we show that rivalry arises from interocular competition, using functional magnetic resonance imaging of activity in a monocular region of primary visual cortex corresponding to the blind spot. This cortical region greatly prefers stimulation of the ipsilateral eye to that of the blind-spot eye. Subjects reported their dominant percept while viewing rivalrous orthogonal gratings in the visual location corresponding to the blind spot and its surround. As predicted by interocular rivalry, the monocular blind-spot representation was activated when the ipsilateral grating became perceptually dominant and suppressed when the blind-spot grating became dominant. These responses were as large as those observed during actual alternations between the gratings, indicating that rivalry may be fully resolved in monocular visual cortex. Our findings provide the first physiological evidence, to our knowledge, that interocular competition mediates binocular rivalry, and indicate that V1 may be important in the selection and expression of conscious visual information.     

可调谐48 nm弯致应变光纤光栅

为了满足光纤通信和光纤传感对大范围波长调谐的迫切需要,该文对弯致应变光纤光栅波长调谐的公式进行了推导,给出了解析表达式,并研制了弯致应变光纤光栅波长调谐的实验装置,实现了高达48nm的波长调谐范围。在波长调谐过程中,3dB带宽展宽约为0.1nm;在误差允许范围内,波长调谐的实验值与解析表达式得出的理论曲线相吻合。     

Fabrication of high quality UV-written fiber bragg gratings

Conclusion In conclusion, we have reported that 98.5 % peak power reflectivity fiber Bragg gratings were fabricated in the core of B/Ge co-doped optical fiber using 248 nm KrF excimer laser pulses to irradiate a phase mask. The fiber gratings fabricated by the method described above have negligible sideband and good wavelength selectivity. They can find applications in WDM optical fiber transmission systems, fiber grating external cavity semiconductor lasers, and rearearth-doped fiber lasers. But more efforts are needed to further improve the transmission spectra of the gratings, because the ripple in the short wavelength side is harmful to their use in WDM systems.     

光栅衍射的仿真实验研究

采用Labview图形化编程模拟光栅衍射光谱,可以非常方便地调节光栅常数、入射光波长、总缝数、单缝宽度、入射方向等参数,观察到衍射光强分布的相应变化,展示光栅光谱的全貌,便于分析衍射光栅的特点。这种方法作为辅助教学手段,有助于学生更加深刻地理解光栅衍射的特征和规律,提高教学质量。     

倍频光栅的莫尔条纹研究

用傅里叶频谱分析方法研究了横向莫尔条纹中一个光栅倍频时莫尔条纹的变化，论证了倍频光栅形成的莫尔条纹方向与等周期两RoncK光栅形成的莫尔条纹方向相同，其周期与两小周期光栅的莫尔条纹周期相同，其对比度随倍率的增加而减小的特点，呈现莫尔条纹效应的主要是等栅距光栅和二倍频光栅，介绍了产生倍频光栅的一些方法，如采用滤波的方法，消去光栅的0级衍射波，形成倍频光栅；采用球面波照明光栅，形成倍频的光栅的自成像等，举例说明了其应用，这些应用表明二倍频光栅莫尔条纹可使结构紧凑，测量简单，或使分辨率提高一倍。     

非均匀应变条件下的光纤光栅反射谱

从理论上推导了在非均匀应力场作用下光纤光栅的反射谱响应函数,并以发光二极管为例,对反射谱响应进行了数值计算.最后,对非均匀应力场作用下反射光谱的变化做出了解释.     

Photonic engineering. Aphrodite's iridescence

The most intense colours displayed in nature result from either multilayer reflectors or linear diffraction gratings. Here we investigate the spectacular iridescence of a spine (notoseta) from the sea mouse Aphrodita sp. (Polychaeta: Aphroditidae). The spine normally appears to be deep red in colour, but when light is incident perpendicular to the axis of the spine, different colours are seen as stripes running parallel to the axis of the spine; over a range of smaller incident angles, the complete visible spectrum is reflected with a reflectivity of 100% to the human eye. The simple structure responsible for this effect is a remarkable example of photonic engineering by a living organism.     

The perception of moving plaids reveals two motion-processing stages

When viewed through a small aperture, the perceived motion exhibited by a long moving line or grating is ambiguous. This situation prevails because even a perfect machine could only detect motion perpendicular to a moving contour, so motion parallel to a contour is undetectable. The human visual system views the world through an aperture array--the neural receptive fields. Therefore a moving object is viewed through many small apertures and the motion within many of those apertures is ambiguous. This ambiguity may be resolved by monitoring the motion of a distinctive feature, such as a line-end or corner, and attributing to the larger object the motion of the feature. Alternatively, Adelson and Movshon have suggested that moving images are processed in two stages, that is, they are first decomposed into one-dimensional components which are later recombined to generate perceived object motion. For a moving plaid, defined as the sum of two drifting gratings, these alternative models generate different predictions concerning the resolution of the plaid's motion ambiguity. A feature monitor would respond to the motion of the intersections between gratings, whereas the two-stage motion processor would first decompose the plaid into its constituent gratings and subsequently recombine them to generate the perception of a moving plaid. Using speed discrimination to distinguish between the two models, I find that discrimination thresholds reflect the speed of a plaid's component gratings, rather than the speed of the plaid itself. This result supports the two-stage model. Although speed discrimination is limited by component processing, observers cannot directly access component speed. The only perceptually accessible velocity signal is generated by the second-stage pattern processing.