Separation of the reflection by the inner limiting membrane.

A ray incident upon the inner limiting membrane is specularly reflected, whereas the other retinal structures reflect light diffusely into large solid angles. Thus by moving a small diaphragm inside the exit pupil, it is possible to separate the component of the reflected light which originates at the inner limiting membrane. To check that this light added to the aerial image is not caused by the specular reflection from an anterior surface (cornea or lens), interference fringes were projected onto the retina, and their modulation depth was measured in the plane conjugate with the retina: since the inner limiting membrane and the anterior media were the sources of modulated and unmodulated aerial images respectively, their contributions could be separately measured.