| Popis: |
Vision is usually assumed to be sensitive to the light intensity and spectrum but not to its spectral phase. However, experiments performed on retinal proteins in solution showed that the first step of vision consists in an ultrafast photo-isomerization of the retinal moiety that can be coherently controlled by shaping the phase of femtosecond laser pulses, especially in the multi-photon interaction regime. The link between these experiments in solution and the complex biological process allowing vision is not trivial, and has not been demonstrated. In order to unify the two points of view, I used a system to measure the electrical signals emitted by retina, which was probed using several femtosecond beams. The experimental part was carried out partly ex-vivo (i.e., on extracted retinas), and partly in-vivo (i.e., on anesthetized mice). |
