Abstract

According to this explanation, the SCE I is based on a chromatic shift of the diffraction order triplet in the multilayer phase grating of the outer nuclear layer of the retina toward blue. This means that, on chromatic adaptation of the eye to perpendicularly incident light, the blue color channel loses brightness and the red gains relatively, which manifests itself as an SCE II red shift. In addition to the SCEs for white test lights and a constant or variable pupillary opening, the wavelength-specific decreases and increases in brightness (SCE I) and the red shift or reversal hue shift toward blue (SCE II), as occur for monochromatic test stimuli against a trichromatic background, become understandable. The two SCEs prove to be combined effects in three chromatic retinal chip diffraction orders. They can no longer be interpreted independently as separate effects at L, M, and S cones (interpreted as waveguides). The 3D grating optical explanation of the Purkinje shift and the SCEs also provides information on the interaction of three variables (the pupillary diameter, the third grating spacing in the retinal chip, and the α₀β₀δ₀ angle relative position of light cones to the 3D grating) during bright/dark and chromatic adaptation of the eye, i.e., the interaction of stimulus-related variables, which are all relevant in front of the photoreceptor plane.

© 1992 Optical Society of America