Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32546523›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020

Direct discrimination of structured light by humans.

Dusan Sarenac, Connor Kapahi, Andrew E Silva, David G Cory, Ivar Taminiau, Benjamin Thompson, Dmitry A Pushin

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
0.1field-weighted citation impact, top 54% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Topological expansion of Boehm's brushes via structured light.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  3. Eye Dominance and Testing Order Effects in the Circularly-Oriented Macular Pigment Optical Density Measurements.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Dusan SarenacInstitute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada; dsarenac@uwaterloo.ca.
Connor KapahiInstitute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-6051-6859
Andrew E SilvaSchool of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada.
David G CoryInstitute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada.
Ivar TaminiauInstitute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada.
Benjamin ThompsonSchool of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-3902-2712
Dmitry A PushinInstitute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L3G1, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-4594-3403
University of Waterloo · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We predict and experimentally verify an entoptic phenomenon through which humans are able to perceive and discriminate optical spin-orbit states. Direct perception and discrimination of these particular states of light with polarization-coupled spatial modes is possible through the observation of distinct profiles induced by the interaction between polarization topologies and the radially symmetric dichroic elements that are centered on the foveola in the macula of the human eye. A psychophysical study was conducted where optical states with a superposition of right and left circular polarization coupled to two different orbital angular momentum (OAM) values ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) were directed onto the retina of participants. The number of azimuthal fringes that a human sees when viewing the spin-orbit states is shown to be equal to the number (N) of radial lines in the corresponding polarization profile of the beam, where [Formula: see text] The participants were able to correctly discriminate between two states carrying OAM [Formula: see text] and differentiated by [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], with an average success probability of 77.6% (average sensitivity [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]). These results enable methods of robustly characterizing the structure of the macula, probing retina signaling pathways, and conducting experiments with human detectors and optical states with nonseparable modes.

Indexed as

Ocular Physiological PhenomenaHumansLightPhotic StimulationQuantum TheoryRetinaVisual Perceptionhuman perceptionorbital angular momentumspin–orbit coupling

Identifiers

PMID32546523
PMCPMC7334531
OpenAlexW2979934266

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.