Brief
Description:
A system to overcome limitations in lateral resolution
found in popular wavefront sensors.
Applications:
This invention identifies the current Shack-Hartmann
type ocular wavefront sensors and proposes a design to combat the model’s
limited lateral resolution. The proposed invention is to measure the point
spread function of the eye by creating a tiny point source on the retina using
adaptive optics.
Advantages:
The ability to measure precisely the lower and higher
order wave aberrations using ocular wavefront sensing techniques has given
researchers the means to understand more accurately the optical quality of the
eye. The Shack-Hartmann type ocular wavefront sensors have been the most popular
in the field of ophthalmology and vision science. However, this type of sensor
poses two major concerns: it requires a lenslet array to sample wavefront which
limits its lateral resolution, and since each lenslet averages a distorted
wavefront within the lenslet, its highest measurable spatial frequency is
limited to the size of the lenslet. These limitations create serious issues in
some applications like tear film dynamics (dry eye) and the magnitude of scatter
(cataract), for in these applications it is important to measure very high
spatial frequency wavefronts to assess accurately optical qualities of the eye.
To resolve these issues, this invention is designed to measure the point spread
function of the eye by creating a tiny point source on the retina using adaptive
optics. Reliable measurements of the ocular wave aberration make it possible to
correct these aberrations to improve visual performance using advanced methods
such as adaptive optics, laser refractive surgery, and customized
optics.