title: Diattenuation and polarization preservation of retinal nerve fiber layer reflectance.
abstract: The diattenuation spectrum of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) reflectance has been predicted to depend strongly on the relative refractive index (m) of light-scattering cylinders. To constrain the values of m, diattenuation of the RNFL reflectance of isolated rat retina was measured with a multispectral imaging micropolarimeter. The RNFL reflection has very weak intrinsic diattenuation at all wavelengths (400-830 nm), which rejects all values of m > or = 1.03. Degree of polarization (DOP) for reflection from the RNFL was also measured. DOP was close to unity at all wavelengths, which indicates that the RNFL is a polarization-preserving reflector.
authors.affiliation: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, PO Box 016880, Miami, Florida 33101-6880, USA.
authors.forename: Xiang-Run
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Knighton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051381:Rats; D012160:Retina / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation