Electrodynamics of visible-light interactions with the vertebrate retinal rod

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Abstract
We report the initial investigation of the electrodynamics of visible-light interaction with the outer segment of the vertebrate retinal rod based on detailed, first-principles computational electromagnetics modeling. The computational method employs a direct time integration of Maxwell’s equations in a two-dimensional space grid for both transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric vector-field modes. Detailed maps of the optical standing wave within the retinal rod are given for three illumination wavelengths: 714, 505, and 475 nm. The standing-wave data are Fourier analyzed to obtain spatial frequency spectra. Except for isolated peaks, the spatial frequency spectra are essentially independent of the illumination wavelength.