Peripheral response of the retina to polarized light.

The perception of polarized light by the human eye is facilitated with Savart's double-plate polarimeter. This device converts polarized light into interference fringes from which criteria for the polarization sensitivity of the retinal hemisphere may be derived. The rather preliminary tests in this report covered the entire visual field of the eye and led to the discovery of a nonuniform off-axis distribution of the retinal sensitivity to polarized white light. The results are reminiscent of similar effects in geometrical optics, where oblique light rays become slightly polarized upon the penetration of successive layers of translucent optical surfaces. Similar experiments with incident elliptically polarized rays suggest that the retina responds in the same nonuniform manner.