Direct discrimination of structured light by humans.

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.

Generation and detection of spin-orbit coupled neutron beams.

Spin-orbit coupling of light has come to the fore in nanooptics and plasmonics, and is a key ingredient of topological photonics and chiral quantum optics. We demonstrate a basic tool for incorporating analogous effects into neutron optics: the generation and detection of neutron beams with coupled spin and orbital angular momentum. The 3He neutron spin filters are used in conjunction with specifically oriented triangular coils to prepare neutron beams with lattices of spin-orbit correlations, as demonstrated by their spin-dependent intensity profiles. These correlations can be tailored to particular applications, such as neutron studies of topological materials.

Structured light enhanced entoptic stimuli for vision science applications.

The dichroic macular pigment in the Henle fiber layer in the fovea enables humans to perceive entoptic phenomena when viewing polarized blue light. In the standard case of linearly polarized stimuli, a faint bowtie-like pattern known as the Haidinger's brush appears in the central point of fixation. As the shape and clarity of the perceived signal is directly related to the health of the macula, Haidinger's brush has been used as a diagnostic marker in studies of early stage macular degeneration and central field visual dysfunction. However, due to the weak nature of the perceived signal the perception of the Haidinger's brush has not been integrated with modern clinical methods. Recent attempts have been made to increase the strength of the perceived signal by employing structured light with spatially varying polarization profiles. Here we review the advancements with the structured light stimuli and describe the current challenges and future prospects.

Experimental realization of neutron helical waves.

Methods of preparation and analysis of structured waves of light, electrons, and atoms have been advancing rapidly. Despite the proven power of neutrons for material characterization and studies of fundamental physics, neutron science has not been able to fully integrate these techniques because of small transverse coherence lengths, the relatively poor resolution of spatial detectors, and low fluence rates. Here, we demonstrate methods that are practical with the existing technologies and show the experimental achievement of neutron helical wavefronts that carry well-defined orbital angular momentum values. We discuss possible applications and extensions to spin-orbit correlations and material characterization techniques.