Human Retinal Photoreceptors: Electrodynamic Model of Optical Microfilters

This paper presents a numerical study of light interaction with the human retinal photoreceptor using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The photoreceptors, cells in the retina responsible for monochromatic vision and color discrimination, differ in shape and size. The cell type (rod or cone) and the variety among the cone cells (S, M, and L) condition their peak absorption wavelength (blue, green, or red). In our research, we observe the outer segment of the photoreceptor as a microsized optical filter by modeling its interaction with the light wave. Several aspects of wideband pulse propagation, such as field enhancement and filtering properties, have been investigated.