The Processes of Vision

8/21/2019 The Processes of Vision

1/14

TIle Processes of Vsi

Light l us o but opcal 1naes o ri o sartg of 01x

('i f vsaro d sl 1O!)

t s Jannes Keler ho rst m

re he eye o "mera ( rkene mer) i n imge in fo

cus on its rear sfe "ision is brough

aou y itures f he hing seen beingforme on he whie onve sufae ofhe rein, e wrote in 1604 A generaion lter Ren Desars ried o linhis rgmen y iret observtion Ina ole i a indo shuter e se he eyeof an ox, jus in the osiion i woulde d if the ox had been eering outLookig a th bak of he eye (hih head sraed o make it ransaren), hecould see small invered image of hesen ouside te windo

Sie he 17t enty he anlogy be

ween eye n cmer hs been elboe in nmerous exbooks s n on o funional ntomy e nalogyis no , ut it rries some unfortunate imlitions for he stdy of visionIt suggess ll oo reily that he ereiver is i he siion of Desres nis in looking hrogh e ck ofhis own rein t the itres th er tere e use the same word"imgeor oh the otil tte rownon the retin y n ojet nd the menl exeriene of seeing he objet It has

e ll too easy t tret tis inner mag as a coy of te outer oe, to hinkof eretul exerienes s imagesformed y the nervous system ting asan otial instrument of extraordinarilyingnious design Although his theoryounters insumountale diulties assoo s it is seriusly onsidered, it hasdomid hilosohy and syologyfor mny years

ot only eretion but also mmorys oft een exlained in erms of animge theory Hving looke he rei

al ie, he ereiver soselyles i y someo, s one migh u hog i n l Ler if he is

24

by

luky, he n ke i o agin in heform of a "mmory image nd look a i seon me The wiesre noionha some eole hve a "hotogrhic

memory rees his nalogy in riculary lierl way, bu in weakerform it is usully alied even o oriary rememering The analogy suggess ha he mehanism of visual memory is naturl exension o he menisms of vision Alhough here is someruh o his roosiion, as we shall seeelow, i is no becase boh ereio and memory are coying roessesRther it is eause nihr ereionn memory is a oying rocess

The fa is ht one does no see he

reinl image; one sees wih e ai ofhe reinl image The incoming atteof light rovies informaion ha henervous sysem is well adae o icku Tis informion is used by he ereiver o gie his movements, o aniiae events n to consruc e intealreresenaions of objets n of selle "consious exeriene These inernal reresenaions re no, however ll like he corresonding oical imges on he ack of he eye The retinalimges of seic objes are a he mer

y of every irelevan hange of osiion;their size, se nd locaion re hrlyonstnt for momen Neverheless,eretion is sully acurae: real ojes er rigid and stable and arriely loaed in hreedimensionalsae

The rs roblem in he study of visual ereion is herefore he disoveryof the simls ha roeries of heinoming oi array are informaive forvision? In e enire disribuion of ligover he rein and over a eriod of ime,

h deermines he way hings look?(Atually he ligh is disribued vro reinas bu he binoulrity of vi

sion hs no relevance o he vrialesonsiere here Alhough deh ereion is more urae wi wo eyes hanih on, i is no fundamenally dier

en The wor looks much he same withne eye le s i oes ih bo oen;ongenially monoulr eole avemore or less e me visal exerienss he res of us

. rs se we onsider he aerns of reeed ligh ha re

formed when real objs nd surfcesare illumine in he orinary way y

PERCETION OF SIZE reies heavi oncues provided b a textured surae hee

fve dis, i een aone, oud appear to ie

1968 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC


2/14

sunsine or lmplight. J. J Gibson ofCoell University, wo has contributemuch to o uerstning of prcepion, clls this inquiry "ecological op-ics. It is an optics in which pinsces, homogeneous els n the oth-er basic elements of classical opics rarely apper. Inste the worl we orinrily look at consists mostly of suces atvrious angles an in vrious relaions o

one another. This has sigicnt coe-quences for the visual input.

One of these consequences (the onlyone we shll xmine here) is to give thevisual el microstructure. Mos sur-faces hve some ki of texture such sthe grain in woo, the iniviul stlksof grss in a el or the weve in a fbric. Thes textures structure the lightrechig the eye in wy tha crriesvital infomion bout the lyou of environmental objects. In accorance withthe principles of perspective the texture

eements of more istan surfces rerepresen te cloer to oe nother on teretin thn the elements of surfces nerby. Thus the microstructue of rfcetht slants way from the observer isrepresente on the retin as a graietof ensitya graient tt crries infor-mtion bou he orienttion of the sr-fce.

Cosier ow n orinry scene in

which iscrete gures are superpos onexure surfces. The graien of incresing texture ensity on he retin,corresponing o increasing istncefrm the observer, gives a kin of "sclefor objec sizes. In the iea case whenthe texture units re ientical, two g-ures of the same real size will lways oc-clue the same number of texture units,regrless of how fr awy either one

may be. Tht is, he reltion between theretin texturesize n the imensionsof the object's retinal imge is invarian,in spite of changes of istnce. Tis re-ltion is poentilly vluable source ofnformation abou the real size of thobjectmore vluble tan the retinlimage of the object consiere lone.That imge, of course, chnges in imen-sion whenever he istace beween theobjec an the observer is alere.

Psychologists hve long been inereste in wht is calle "size consncy:

the fac tht the sizes of real objects remost lways perceive accurately inspite of the linear epeece of retinal-imge size on istance. It must not besuppose tht this phenomenon is flyexpline by the scaling of size with respec to exture elements. There re area mny other sources of relevnt information: binocular prallax, shifts fretinl position s the observer moves,

relive position in the visul el, linerperspecive n so on. I ws once traitiol o regr these sources of ifoma-tion s "cues secoary to he size ofthe object's own retial image. Tha is,they were thought to help he observer"correc the size of the retinal image inthe irection of ccurcy. Peraps this isnot ba escription of Descrtes's sit-ution as he looke the image on the

bck of the oxs eye: he may hve trieto "correct his perception of the size ofthe objects revele to him on the ox'sretin. Since oe oes not see one's nretin, however, nothing smilr nee beinvolve in ormal perceivig. Isteathe appren size of an object is etermine by informtion frm the entire in-comig light pttern, prticularl by cer-tin properties of the input that rmininvar with changes of te objecsloction.

The interreltion of textures, istnces relative retinal sizes is only onexmple of ecological optics. The example my be misleingly simple one,becuse it sumes a sttionary ee, aneye xe in space an stably orientein a particular irection. This is by nomens crcteristic of human vision.In norml se the eyes re rrely still forlong. Apr from small remors, their

in one plane and be of dierent sizes. Agaist his apparenly recedig surface, oweve they seem to ie i ve derent panes

Since each dsk masks the same amount of surface texture, thee s

a tendency to see them as beng equal sze. Ths ustation, theone at he bottom of the next two pages and the one on page 8are based on the wok of J J Gibson of Conel Unversy

2



3/14

LINE O H

OI NERE

SITE OF OPTICL IMGE s he retn whch ontans the termnatons of he optc

nere In the n retna depresson known as the oea the cone nere endngs are us-

tered Ther organaon and dese packng make possbe a hgh degree o sua acuty

most ommon movement s the fone ositon to anothe alled a "sde Sades usually tae less thn aentieth of a seond, ut they hensevel times eh seond in eadng anday e just as fequent hen a tueo an atul sene is eing inseedThs means that thee is ne einalimge evey fe hunded mlliseonds

Suh eye movements ae neessy e-ause the aea of lea vsion vailaleo the satonay eye is seveely ltedTo see this fo oneself it s only neessy to xate on a ont in some unfmlia itue o on n unead intedage Only a small egion aound thexon oint ll e lea Mos f heage is sen eiheally, hih meastht t s hzily visile at est Only ine fove, the small entl t f theeina, e he eeto ells aed loseenough togethe (nd oitely ganized) to me a high degee of visualauity ossile Ths s the eason onemus tun one's eyes (o hd) to loodietly t ojes in hh one is -iulaly nteested (Animals ith nn-foveted eyes, suh as the hose, do tnd this neessy) It is lso the easonhy the eye must mae sevel xatonson eh line in eading, and hy it ovesidely ove itues

Althugh it is easy to undesand hefuntion of saadi movements, t s dif-ult o imossile o eonile hemith n mge theoy of eeion Aslong as e hin of the eeive as homunulus loong at his etinal image,e mus exe his exeiene o e oneof almos onstan inteutin adhange Clealy hs is n he se;one sees the ge o the sene s holeihout ny en disontinuity in

2

se o tme Ms ele ae eitheune f hei o eye mvements have eneus notons aut theFa fo eing a y f the etnal islay, the vsual old s soeho -stcted on the asis of nfomation ta-en n dung mny deent xos

The sme onlusio fllos, ehasven moe omellngly, f e nsdethe moions f exenl jets athethn he moos of he eyes If the l-gy eeen eye nd ame ee vlid,the thing ne looed a ould have hold still lie a htoghe's model ide to e seen lealy The oosite istue: fa m osuing he shaes ndsal elations of hngs, moveengeeally laies the Cosde the visual olem esented y a distant aoshed eahe vane As long sthe weathe vane and he osve emin motionless, thee is no ay to tellhethe it is a sho o oieted gh ngles to he line f sight o a lng-e ao slanting toad (o aay fom)he seve Let egn t tun in heind, hoeve, and s tue shae anoentation ll ee visle immedtely The eson lies in the systemtdistotions of the etinl image odudy the oje ottion Suh dstotionsovide infomtion h the evoussystem an use On the ass of uidlyhnging etinal atten the eeiveomes o exeiene a gid ojet (Aninteesting set of ths exale is tatthe inu nfotn s mguus Thesame etnl hnges ould e oduedy eithe a lise o a ountelo-ise otation of the ethe vane As esul the eeive ay altenate eeen to eetual exeenes onef hih is illusoy)

Some yes go Hns Vllh an N O'Connell of Sathmoe llege shoed tht suh otnoduehnges n the inut ae ndeed use s soue of nfomatn in eeivngin at ths ind f fmatn seems oe a moe otent detemine of h esee thn the adtonally hsdues fo deth ae In thei exeimenhe sujet ahed the shdo of

e fom ast on a tnsluen seeHe ould no see the ojet tself Slong as the jet emained satnyhe sujet sa nly a odimensonlshado n a tdmensonal seen smight e exeted The fom as mount-ed in suh ay, hoeve, that t oulde sveled a and foth y a smlelet moto Vhen th moto stuned on, the tue theedensiolshae of te fo aeaed at one eventhough the only stimulatn eahng thesujet's eyes ame fom a dstoting

shado on a t seen Hee the netdeth eet, as t hs een alled, ov-de noula stesoi nfoatiot ontnued to ndite that ll thvement as tang lae n alne

In he et deh ee the on-stutve nte of eetion is tu-lly aent Wha one sees is some-ho omosite ased on nfomatoumulaed ve a eiod of ime Thesame is tue n eading o ny nstnehee eye movements ae nvolved: in-fomion fom as xations is used t-gethe h infomatio fom the es-en xtion to detemne h is seenBut if eetion is a emoally extend-ed at, some soage f nfoaton,some nd of memoy, ust e in-vlved in Ho shall e oneive fhis stoage? Ho is i oganized? Ho

OTRTIO OF AGE take plac

s the dstane between the ewe and th



4/14

lo does t last? What othe fuctosmght t seve?

W th questons le these, we vemoved beyond the poble ofspcfyng the vsual stmuus In dd-ton to dentfyng the souces of fo-maton fo vson, we wat to ow howthat nfomaton s ocessed In the longu, ehaps, questons about pocessesshod be answeed n neologcal

tems Howeve, no such answes can begve at esent The neuohysoogyof vson has ecenty ade geat stdes,but t s stll not eady to deal wth theonstuctve ocesses that ae centa topcepton We shal have to be contentwth a elatvey abstact account, oetht does ot specfy the neu ocus ofthe mpcated mechansms

Athough seeng eques stoage offomaton, ths emoy caot bethought of as a sequence of supeposedetnal mages Sueosto woud gve

se ony to a sot of smea n whch aet s ost. No can we assume that theeceve ees caefu tac of hs eyemovements and thus s able to et eachnew etna mage n just the ght pacen elaton to the olde stoed ones Sucha agnent woud eque a much nemontong of eye moton than s actuallyavaabe. Moeove, the smla synthe-ss of nfomaon that s nvoved n thenetc deth eect coud not possbybe exaned that way It seems, thee-oe, that ecevng nvoves a emoy

at s not eesentatonal but schematc ung a sees of xatons the

eceve syntheszes a mode o schemaf the scee beoe hm, usng foma-ton fom each successve xato to adddeta o to extend the constucton Thsconstcted whole s what gudes hs

vet (cludg futhe eye oveents n may cases) ad t s what hecbes whe he s beg ntospectve. shot, t s wht he sees

Iteestgly enough, although theeoy nvolved vsual synthess can-not cosst spy of stoed etnal afte-mge, ecet expements ndcate thatstoage of ths d oes exst unde et ccumstances fte a omentayepoue (too shot fo eye movement)

tt s folowed by a blan eld thevewe peseves a coc age of theput patte fo sme facton of a sec-od Geoge Selng of the Be Telephoe Laoatoes has show that asgal gve dug ths postexposuepeod ca seve to dect a vewe's at-tento to any abtay pat of theed just as f t wee stl esent.

The dsplays used Selg's expe-ets cossted of seveal ows of let-testoo any to be eoted fom asgle glce. Nevetheless, subjects

wee abe to epot any Sigl row, ndcted by the postexosue sga, ath-e wel Such a sgal must come quck-ly ettes to whch the obseve does nottted befoe the bef coc memoyha fded e ost That s why the ob-seve caot epot the ente dsay:the co dsppeas befoe he can eadt a

Even ude these uusua condtons,then, peope dslay selectvty n these of the nfoato that eaches theye The selecto s made om matea

pesete a snge bef exosue, buoy because the expementa aangements pecluded a second gace. Noly seecton ad constucton takelace ove a sees of gances; no concmoy fo ndvdua "snashots casuvve. Ideed, the esentaton a

second stmulus gue shotly fte test n a befexposue exemt tedsto destoy the conc eplca The veemay see a fuson of the two gues, olythe second, o an apaent oton of thegues, deendng on the tepo dsatal elatons He does not see theseaatey.

So a we have consdeed two dso shottem memoy fo vsual -omaton: the conc eca of befnd solated stmulus, ad the cuua-tve schema of the vsble wod that sconstucted n the couse of odayeceton Both o these pocesseswhch may well be deet festatons of a sngle undelyg mechasnvolve the stoa of fomton ove apeod of tme Nethe of the, howeve, s what the aveage ma has mnd when he seas f emoy Evey-day expeence testes that vs -oaton can be stoed ove log e-

ods. Thngs seen yesteday ca be e-caled today o that matte they yconcevably be ecaled 20 yeas fomnow. Such ecal may tae any fos,but ehas the most teestng s thehenomenon caled vsua magey I acetan sense one ca see agan what oehas seen beoe. Ae these enta m-ages le otca ones? Ae they evvedcopes of eale stmuaton? Indeed,does t make any sense at al to spea of"seeng thngs that ae not pesent? nthee be vsua expeence when thee s

no stmulaton by ght?To deal wth these obles eectve-

y we must dstngush two ssues: st,the degee to whch the echansms nvoved n vsua memoy ae ke thosenvoved n vsua eceton and, second, the degee to whch the eceve

Dobject in view inceases The texte eements of a distnt sface

ae aso pojected cose togethe than sima emnts neaby

Ths a texted sface santing away fom the viewe is epsnt

ed opticay as a density gadient (see isri ex ge

2



5/14


6/14

This pures ed wit h

I a liged ro.As a developer, heat hs lot

to recommend it

It's cheapIt's dryAnd it's fast This picture ws

ot of the nisher in oe iue,fully develoed

And it was handled under normal room lights No dark roowas needed

The trick is in the coating ohe hotographic paper. This per is coated with a patented material that's sensitive to ultra

iole light It roduces a faintimage hen yo expose i

Hea trns the image into a per-

et, ig-quality prt. Paper se pper can be used or posi

s: ces square foot ve or etie copying.) Dizo-

Right w, Wrren is aing sensitized oset printig plates.this pper or lthographic proo- Zic oxide eletrostatic ppers

. Prers expose the paper or oice copers, geopysl re-

ru sreened lithographic ordig, and oter ppctos

egves to show customers how Warren hs a way wth aper prig job will look d lgt. 's very pssbe we

Fotoproof (the me of he pa- oud sed some ligh on your

per) is the rst producio-line problems

product in Warren's pat If your company is interestedented1264System. n light-sensitvematerals,

There will be other warren we'd like t hear fm you.1264products. S. D Warren Comany,

Other Warren light a Dvon of Sctt Paperesve products: Or Company, Dept SP, Oliver St

gic eeroaic paper. The Boton, Massachusetts

2



7/14

ABOS VIS PT ca arse from a aoay eahe vae The eaher

vae hee ee oreos s sho as ou e see from ae (top) a

se ve botom. f he vae egs o roae s rea egh ecome aae

KNTC DEPTH EFFCT shos ho movemet ca eo peree ojs hhreemesoa sape The shao of a e re form shwn l tom in fur dfferent orentatos ooks as a as he scree on hch s cast so og s the fom re

ms saoary Whe s sveed ack ad forh he chgg shado s see as a

g roag oject h he aroprae hreemesoay he reo of roao

emas amguous as he ase of he eaher vae he usao a op of he page

21

eto hve ofte dsregrded dres htsms, osderg the htory d ths rreevat to ormseeg However, ths s dt ost t defed ether ogy or ery Logy shr dsttnetee ereto d hatood be esy eogh f eretosere oes of the ret mage; hl

tos old the e experees thtdo 10 oy that mge t se erepto does more th mrror the stms (d se hatos ofte orporte stms formato), thsdsto s ot ert Moreover, mbe of reet dgs seem to ot very se reatos betwee theesses of seeg ad of magg

perhas the ost exeted o thesedgs hs eerged ro stdes o

see d drems The dremg phse

of see, whh ors seer tmes ehght, s regry omped byrsts of rd eye movemets I sever stdes Wlm C. Demet d hsobortors hve wkeed exermet sbjets medtey fter a perodof eye oto d sked them to reortter jstreedg drem Later theeyemovemet reords were opredth trsrpt of the dream reort tsee f y reto etwee the two od deteted Of orse ths ws ot osse eery se Ideed we bery se tht my o the ey moveets of seep hve o vs sge; smar motos or the seeof ebo bbes, deortate ats dogetay bd adts) Nevertheessthere s areby more orresodee etwee the two kds o reordt od be ttrbted to hae Therle betwee the eye movemets ote dremer d the otet of thedrem was sometmes strk oese ve dstt wrd deetos othe eyes were reorded jst before thesjet woke d reorted drem ofbg ve stes!

Aother reet e o reserh hsso mted eye movemets theproesses of vs memory. Rh Norm Hber d hs oworkers at YeUersty reoeed the stdy o edetgery, whh for a geerato hdreed tohe by syhoogareserh A edet mage s magtve rodto tht seems to be xtea to the vewer ad to hav ot ereved se; t has a artorb to tht of g er

eved objets; t a be exame b thik," who my reort etas thate dd ot ot the org resntt of the stms Most Eidikr



8/14

The bst auomoil

dvrinv w?

t's an unsoicited estimonl h Rovr -wrtten by the rter, ditor an spcy thredrs of OAD TEST mgze-d t tnt

egt pges og.What's ROAD TES magazine?

OA ES s gzi tat goes to xtrmegths to b ojec. t oe ot cc y atoo adrtg et t ccig gr of bod pot. t s a o a of ecits to tt atoo rter th reg o js n oiio

Ask the man who owns one.ts etors rson that oe cr tak from tot prodction of thosds s not ecessrly rerettof th bree tt te ost deg test cotpct t eerec of dy s r teed

ero. So OD TES ht o t of n OrsSry h ke r crowig reders to comet h qeor o h good d badots of h cr thy dr e rt r o

The mos apreciated automoble.Coeg o th rt Ower Sry ROAD TSsy this: "th wt of eece s orheming.orts h ee recee o o ss tn 6 dertks n o of crs oth oestc nd morted e tog oer is ot oe of t to nort so mor ry for er coted onor thn y ort ecet Vokswgen O prstRoer oners, 6% (t gest gre) stt rmy

t tir xt ony choc ll gi b Rrn t sca f ke d dsk t bnc t sor in or aor ta ther s mtri to e

amans dra or itim. o er omog nononers bt tos coierig ports or

They to ur horn.t ot prs o g o M i Froter o t gz tot eote to zgig etog t rts of t oer cg htory o o it got t W od be ht te s w w eery ord her.

For , t rticl t e "oergerghy t ero Mk r Good? Or t o tte "Fro Drer Stofort d oeec Bo eo or"h Mcc Looks t or gt

od Lst for EerAs sp f ot odet fos Wt w c o soetig better oer o yo o coy o tegzi. Ask yor or er cl t or zooc, or m o t coo. Yo cooe.

Lnd Motor ororo of North Arc y Pl, eck, e Jersey 666

h bst toob derieet er rtteIdd! Il b th jg of tt

N M

_

DDRESS

_

_

21



9/14


10/14

B h h wkh

Systems for extremely precise lengh measuremen wereell-known to opical laboratory workers beore he nro

ducon o lasers, or even o elecroncs. However oda'eed or insananeous splacement measurement in hemachine shop, oen o an accracy beer han oe microncalls or ar more han smple adapaion o a laboraorymetho or workshop use When Dr de Lang an hs groupat he Phlips Research Laboraores approache hsroblem, hey knew hat a siable measurig evice woulhave o be simple, easly mouned on machine ools anabove all nsensiive o gance errors dus an scrachesAlhough in essence Dr de Lag and Dr Ferguson basedtheir ork on kn own optical echniques (albe rom iverseelds) their combinaon o hose technques n a pracicaldesign gave resuls harly surpasse by much more receaser inererometersOptical grangs are requel apple o splacementmeasuremen A small (hough not exremel small)graing pero o 8 microns was chosen, so ha raceams o orders + and could e use isead o hemore usual ransmied beam emploe in moir mehosThis choce o raco orers dierng b wo auomacall dvides sep lengh by a aco o to The granghich s connece mechancall o the mog machinecomponen, s a phase graing o the reeco pecomposed o rectangular cross-secton grooves eche n ameal lm on a glass sbsrate an aerwars copleelysealed in glass I combnes hgh opcal ecec whcovenence snce i onl requires access o one se o hcomponen or work peceThe gra s age s own plane b a sphercal mrroran correco les, gvig aoher reuc ehal he sep legh Ths meho elaes he nee or sricparallel guace a also ncreases he eph el quarz slab o suable orenan a cess serein the opcal sse gves a appare relave age sh

o onesxeenh o a grang pero r he erpencular polarisaons in whch he lgh can be spl hus hewo phoo eecors prouce elecric sgnals hch varh splacemen as he sne an cosne respecvel oone-quarer he grang pero By couig ol heero pons i these sne wave ouputs he ecvepeiod is dvded by a acor o our; precsely eneddigital seps o micron are hereore measured wihoutny analogue inerpolaio AC sgals are oaine romthe phoo eecrs, even wih he ssem a res biraing he sphercal mrror snusoiall wh a piezo

elecrc trasucer The elecrons _requre o d zeropoins in he sgnal ouu an provide suable coun

an recton inoraon are smple enough even or heopics-orieae phscs!Meanwhle, here as a nee or accurate isplaceentmeasuremen over longer saces han are praccableh a graing inereromeer Dr de ag was alsoengaged, ogether wh Mr G Bouwhus, on unamealresearch ino he polarsaon properes o he gas laserThs wrk suggese he use o hese properies as he basso a new sysem whch woul be suiable or worg oerlonger sances an have much geaer exl nmachie moung uch a ssem dspensng wh aorm o grating, oul give o sc ale lneari probles; hesplaceme sensor woul be small and smple neeg nophyscal conneco h he rest o the sse save heligh beam isel.The e Lang/Bouhus laser inreromeer has a galesoluion o 88 mcrons The ssem comprses wounis; a "as ee arrangemen o a mrror a a lenshch s moune on he movng worpece or machnecmponen and he laser un isel conanng all heecessary opcs an elecrcsThe bea m rom a c sorpc He-Ne sngle-oe lasers spli ito wo crcularl polarsed componens o eringrequenc by placng he laser a gauss axal magecel The measuremen sse eecivel ranslaesmechancal displacemen ino a phase change n one o hewo beam componens whch s lnearly proporonal path legh Ths phase change s reane n a bea sgnalprouced when he wo beams ierere on a phooeectorThe phase o his AC signal, reerre o he oupu o heeerence phoo deecor a he same requenc, ca hee processe easl b gal elecrocs The laser peraig requenc is stablise o o e part i b copargthe relave intensi o he wo beam cponens an

arrangng conrol o eecive laser length a pezoelecrc element supplemee b hermal expansonInereromeers o bh hese pes are alrea a workwh Phlps, conrollg precsio mache ools makgmasks or inegraed circu proucon and he lke corse, the la ser inererometer ca also b e use apprprael eno uh o conrol produco o he grang eple in he erlier moel!Further information on these systems may be had from MG Bouwhuis Philps Research Laboratories, Eindhoventhe Netherlands

ese boratores of the Philips group of ompanes sentss ork together in any elds f sene A mong these are : Aou s-l Crenis Informon Proessin echanis, Nuclear Physs Pereton Sol d State Telecommunat ons and ele sion.

O ach a a f maag h aa mp ga:

trust in PH I L I P s wol d -w e

21



11/14


12/14

Whatmateril

d a w ui n theseringheat

-?

A a /M .

Rocket engi nes roar to l ife. Lift off Seari ng

flames spew from exhausts as ful l thrust

is developed . Tempe ratures soar to

and higher in the rocket chambers Theholding arms let go and the spacecraft

is on its way

But not if the asbestos'phenol ic reinforced

plastics used in the thrust vector control

nozzle assembly d idn t su rvive the sea r ing

flames and the soaring temperature

Components of this remarkable materia l

have been volved in virtual ly every rocket

ad missi le program since the f irst US

launching It is formulated to ablate at a

control led rae, while holdig its strengt

cha racterist ics even at seari g heats Ad

as it does a s low burn, it bui lds up a protective a rmor of ch ar t hat acts as a dde d

i ns u l a t i o n

M us e s co mb i na t i o ns o f a s be s to s , r b

ber s intered metals specia l ized plastics

and other atural and man made materia ls

to create excitng composites that solve

problems i many f ields

How ca RMs composite capabi l ity help

y o u? A s k us

Specializing ncratve composis

Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.Passa .. 55



13/14 1968 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC


14/14

o scitific problms

Snce the energy quantum of g ht-t h ep o t o n - a l n g w i t h t he l c r n i s m t h e s u b a i c a i c l s w i c e e n r a e d , d e t ec t d a n d a l i e t a t u a l l y f l l o w s t h a R C A E l c o Connts i s deely i nvlved t l i t T h i s i s a r t i c u l a l y t r u e fl h i n i t s n o n i n c a n d s c n t f s a n dt h e a p p l i c a i n s u c h l i g t u s f l o r k b y e a n s o a w i d e v a i y f d i es.

Fo exale, sch l i ght scs ass l i d s a o t i c a l l a e s ( i g h t l i f i c a i n b y i u a t d i s s i n f a d i a n) and th oeower fu l nb gaslasr s ae anufactud at RCA f i l i t a r y , i n d u s t r i a l s c i n t i f i c a n d c e r c i a l u s e s h e f u l l r a n g f R C Al a s e r d e v i c e s i n c d e s w a v l g s r o a s s h r t a s x03 A t x 1 0 3 A spanni ng the e lc r agn i c sc f r l t r a v i o l e t to n a r i n f r a d a ss h o wn i n Fig

F i g. l

Most such rdiaios far xcd ab i l i ty the y t d ct and i s asgi vn r i se dv t by RCAf a wi d va i y f dvi cs wi c i sn w a v a i l a b t d s i g n r s a d a fac s of i ns r u n a i n f sc i nc,i n d s y a n d f r i l i a y a d c r c i a l a l i c a i n s R C A E l c r i c C n s ffs e ctn ub i ag i ns i f i r s wh i ch can r duc a l i gti n ns i f i ca i n f as gr a as 0 ' r r e S c h e l e c t r n u b s n f w i c hi s s w n i n Fg i n d i a g r a a i c c r ss sc i n as wel l as gr ai ca ly acn r i bu i ng t b h i l i ay and di c a l d v e l n s a n d a b i g i g n wdi si s as y w yar e h l i ng sc i n i s s uav l th yster i s the un i ver se

Because the entio f " l i g h t f r any events i s sht dat i , anote "ai ly o RCAade devi cesh a s b e e n d v l d t d c t h s e b r t . K n o w n a s " h o t o u l t i l i e s

h e s e d v i c s f i n d a l i c a i n i n i n s t e n t a i n u s e d i n b i l g i c a l e s a r c g e l g i c a l x l r a i n n u c l a i n v s i gat i ons as r ny ad scscyr exal

F g :

THIRDPOTOCATHOE

RC day i s act i ve ly ngagd i n afactu f ca dr a bs f a y " l i g s s a d d i s a y s a g d v c s c a a b f " f r e z i g i a g sfr ay i s Dvi cs sc as t c s a d s a c s a y d i nc j u c i w i I i g h a d q i V i d i c s i a g i c n s ,and SOCON caa bs f n r a i a d c l s d c i c i l v i s i nc a a s a d a i c u i s a ei n c l d d i " f a i f R C A i g s s i i v d v i c s C d i s i g a i n a s c w f i d s a s c i c s - a i a s i c c a g c i s s i l i a i a t a i a av g sad lya n c d a i c a i s f i g f c i v a i c s c i c a d c s i cl i q i d c y s a l d i s l a s F s ss f a R C A d vi c s c l y av a i a b f r " l i g a i c a i s

T dvelp is wide e f i g gn a i i n s i f i c a i s a g a d d i s ay dvi cs RCA ca s n a f l a r a f s c i a i s s i n n u s s c i n i f i cd i s c i l i n s w i i n i t s d i v i s i s c l d e

h s e w h o s c i a l i z e i n g l a s s v a c u " t c h n l g y a n e l e c t r n i c s , a sw e l l a s c h an a l e n g i n e s a i d i n g i nt h e d e ve l e o t h e o s t ef f i c i e n tstuc r es or r ocessi ng l i ght

Thn e a ci s s r q i r d dv sr s ays rfie th and aly a angef devics A l f tse l a RCAE c n i c C n e s a r i e r s e di n he dv lnt f cone s r o r w ' s q i s s c a s s i d s ate anels f d i s ay f i ags a a u t i n t l n g d s i d " i c fr TV ecei vr r h e

Y o i n r g a rd s s f y l i g h tap l i at otha RCA can b y r bestsor ce o i nfr a i n and dvi cs Frc o t e r r a d u ; i d i c a e c i cs i n r adar and i n r a i lv i s i n a d i n a n y a i c a i i v l v i n gt h e g e n e a i d e c i n a n d a l i f i c a i n f a d i a n r g y f l a vilet t nar infraed and fr a h n r w t l i g t as br i ght as s R C A E l c i c C s i s a d ywi c g e sci f i c dv i c s - a d c n i c s f i n gl i g wr

F r w i y r s c i f i c b s o r f d a i s a b a y f c

d c i n s f i g c ss i n g rl i g ga i ng dvi cs ad by RCw i RC A E c i c C n s C c i a l E g i i g c i n 9C,H a i s n N 070

i g 3

Ren

Documents

The Processes of Vision