M V Berry 2002 New J. Phys. 4 66 doi:10.1088/1367-2630/4/1/366
Coloured phase singularities
M V Berry
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For illumination with white light, the spectra near a typical isolated phase singularity (nodal point of the component wavelengths) can be described by a universal function of position, up to linear distortion and a weak dependence on the spectrum of the source. The appearance of the singularity when viewed by a human observer is predicted by transforming the spectrum to trichromatic variables and chromaticity coordinates, and then rendering the colours, scaled to constant luminosity, on a computer monitor. The pattern far from the singularity is a white that depends on the source temperature, and the centre of the pattern is flanked by intensely coloured `eyes', one orange and one blue, separated by red, and one of the eyes is surrounded by a bright white circle. Only a small range of possible colours appears near the singularity; in particular, there is no green.
- PACS
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42.25.Fx Diffraction and scattering
42.66.Lc Vision: light detection, adaptation, and discrimination
42.66.Ct Anatomy and optics of eye
42.66.Ne Color vision: color detection, adaptation, and discrimination
- Subjects
- Dates
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Issue 1 (September 2002)
Received 11 July 2002, in final form 2 August 2002
Published 5 September 2002
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Coloured phase singularities
M V Berry 2002 New J. Phys. 4 66
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