Imaging modal content of cone photoreceptors using adaptive optics optical coherence tomography

It has been long established that photoreceptors capture light based on the principles of optical waveguiding. Yet after decades of experimental and theoretical investigations considerable uncertainty remains, even for the most basic prediction as to whether photoreceptors support more than a single waveguide mode. To test for modal behavior in human cone photoreceptors, we took advantage of adaptive-optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT, λc=785 nm) to noninvasively image in three dimensions the reflectance profiles generated in the inner and outer segments (IS, OS) of cones. Mode content was examined over a range of cone diameters by imaging cones from 0.6° to 10° retinal eccentricity (n = 1802). Fundamental to the method was extraction of reflections at the cone IS/OS junction and cone outer segment tip (COST). Modal content properties of size, circularity and orientation were quantified using second moment analysis. Analysis of the cone reflections indicates waveguide properties of cone IS and OS depend on segment diameter. Cone IS was found to support a single mode near the fovea (≤3°) and multiple modes further away (<4°). In contrast, no evidence of multiple modes was found in the cone OSs. The IS/OS and COST reflections share a common optical aperture, are most circular near the fovea, and show no orientation preference.

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