No wavefront sensor adaptive optics system for compensation of primary aberrations by software analysis of a point source image. 1. Methods

Adaptive optics (AO) has been recently used for the development of ophthalmic devices. Its main objective has been to obtain high-resolution images for diagnostic purposes or to estimate high-order eye aberrations. The core of every AO system is an optical device that is able to modify the wavefront shape of the light entering the system; if you know the shape of the incoming wavefront, it is possible to correct the aberrations introduced in the optical path from the source to the image. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility, although in a simulated system, of estimating and correcting an aberrated wavefront shape by means of an iterative gradient-descent-like software procedure, acting on a point source image, without expensive wavefront sensors or the burdensome computation of the point-spread-function (PSF) of the optical system. In such a way, it is possible to obtain a speed and repeatability advantage over classical stochastic algorithms. A hierarchy in the aberrations is introduced, in order to reduce the dimensionality of the state space to be searched. The proposed algorithm is tested on a simple optical system that has been simulated with ray-tracing software, with randomly generated aberrations, and compared with a recently proposed algorithm for wavefront sensorless adaptive optics.     

Requirements for discrete actuator and segmented wavefront correctors for aberration compensation in two large populations of human eyes

Numerous types of wavefront correctors have been employed in adaptive optics (AO) systems for correcting the ocular wavefront aberration. While all have improved image quality, none have yielded diffraction-limited imaging for large pupils (>/=6 mm), where the aberrations are most severe and the benefit of AO the greatest. To this end, we modeled the performance of discrete actuator, segmented piston-only, and segmented piston/tip/tilt wavefront correctors in conjunction with wavefront aberrations measured on normal human eyes in two large populations. The wavefront error was found to be as large as 53 microm, depending heavily on the pupil diameter (2-7.5 mm) and the particular refractive state. The required actuator number for diffraction-limited imaging was determined for three pupil sizes (4.5, 6, and 7.5 mm), three second-order aberration states, and four imaging wavelengths (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 microm). The number across the pupil varied from only a few actuators in the discrete case to greater than 100 for the piston-only corrector. The results presented will help guide the development of wavefront correctors for the next generation of ophthalmic instrumentation.     

Testing of Lagrange multiplier damped least-squares control algorithm for woofer-tweeter adaptive optics

A Lagrange multiplier-based damped least-squares control algorithm for woofer-tweeter (W-T) dual deformable-mirror (DM) adaptive optics (AO) is tested with a breadboard system. We show that the algorithm can complementarily command the two DMs to correct wavefront aberrations within a single optimization process: the woofer DM correcting the high-stroke, low-order aberrations, and the tweeter DM correcting the low-stroke, high-order aberrations. The optimal damping factor for a DM is found to be the median of the eigenvalue spectrum of the influence matrix of that DM. Wavefront control accuracy is maximized with the optimized control parameters. For the breadboard system, the residual wavefront error can be controlled to the precision of 0.03 μm in root mean square. The W-T dual-DM AO has applications in both ophthalmology and astronomy.     

An ex vivo rat eye model to aid development of high-resolution retina imaging devices for rodents

High resolution in vivo retinal imaging in rodents is becoming increasingly important in eye research. Development of suitable imaging devices currently requires many lengthy animal procedures. We present an ex vivo rat model eye with fluorescently labelled retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and nerve fibre bundles that reduces the need for animal procedures while preserving key properties of the living rat eye. Optical aberrations and scattering of four model eyes and eight live rat eyes were quantified using a Shack–Hartmann sensor. Fluorescent images from RGCs were obtained using a prototype scanning laser ophthalmoscope. The wavefront aberration root mean square value without defocus did not significantly differ between model and living eyes. Higher order aberrations were slightly higher but RGC image quality was comparable to published in vivo work. Overall, the model allows a large reduction in number and duration of animal procedures required to develop new in vivo retinal imaging devices.     

Compact multimodal adaptive-optics spectral-domain optical coherence tomography instrument for retinal imaging

We have developed a compact, multimodal instrument for simultaneous acquisition of en face quasi-confocal fundus images and adaptive-optics (AO) spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) cross-sectional images. The optical system including all AO and SDOCT components occupies a 60x60 cm breadboard that can be readily transported for clinical applications. The AO component combines a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor and a microelectromechanical systems-based deformable mirror to sense and correct ocular aberrations at 15 Hz with a maximum stroke of 4 microm. A broadband superluminescent diode source provides 4 mum depth resolution for SDOCT imaging. In human volunteer testing, we observed up to an 8 dB increase in OCT signal and a corresponding lateral resolution of <10 microm as a result of AO correction.     

高级像差对人眼成像质量和视觉的影响

定量地研究高级像差对人眼成像质量和视觉的影响对人眼像差矫正具有重要的实验和临床意义.利用Hartmann-Shack波前传感器人眼像差仪测量了正常人眼6mm瞳孔的波前像差,由波前像差计算出人眼光学系统的光学调制传递函数MTF和Strehl比率,并由MTF和视网膜空间像调制度AIM曲线计算出人眼视锐度和对比敏感度函数CSF.根据MTF和Strehl比率分析了高级像差对人眼成像质量的影响,根据视锐度和对比敏感度函数CSF分析了高级波像差对视觉的影响.研究表明Zernik前6级像差对人眼成像质量和视觉的影响是不可忽略的,更高级的像差对人眼成像质量和视觉的影响较小,甚至可以忽略.对Zemik前6级像差进行矫正,可以得到相当好的视觉.     

Improving retinal image resolution with iterative weighted shift-and-add

High-resolution retinal imaging requires dilating the pupil, and therefore exposing more aberrations that blur the image. We developed an image processing technique that takes advantage of the natural movement of the eye to average out some of the high-order aberrations and to oversample the retina. This method was implemented on a long sequence of retinal images of subjects with normal vision. We were able to resolve the structures of the size of single cells in the living human retina. The improvement of resolution is independent of the acquisition method, as long as the image is not warped during scanning. Consequently, even better results can be expected by implementing this technique on higher-resolution images.     

自适应光学系统中变形镜和波前传感器共轭位置要求的分析

通过对几何光学和物理光学模型的数值计算,分析了自适应光学系统中小像差畸变波前在空间自由传播时自身的变化情况,进而给出了系统中对变形镜和波前探测器与被校正瞳面之间共轭位置关系的要求和允许范围.结果表明,波前自由传播时的变化程度决定于像差自身的类型和大小、光束的口径以及传播的距离,大口径小像差波前近距离传播时波前变化误差很小.一般来说,变形镜和波前传感器偏离被校正瞳面共轭位置距离满足菲涅尔数大于1000时,对系统校正效果的影响可以忽略.实际应用中,应该根据校正对象的特征来具体计算波前误差随传播距离的变化,从而设计波前传感器和变形镜的位置,以及选择使用4F光学系统.本文的分析可以为自适应光学系统的整体光路设计提供一定理论参考.     

自适应光学人眼像差调控及其应用

自适应光学技术能够对波前像差进行实时测量及调控。1997年,该技术被首次成功地应用于活体人眼像差的调控,并获得了接近衍射极限的高分辨力视网膜视细胞图像和传统低阶像差矫正无法达到的“超视力”。随后自适应光学技术在眼科学研究中得到迅速发展。就研究内容来看,该领域主要包括视网膜高分辨力成像和人眼像差操控与视功能研究两大方向。美国Rochester大学Williams教授和加利福利亚大学Roorda教授于2011年分别对视网膜高分辨力成像和人眼像差操控与视功能研究方向的研究作了非常全面的综述。1997年,光电所在国内率先开展人眼自适应光学技术及其应用研究,本文在简单介绍人眼自适应光学系统原理的基础上,报道了光电所在该领域近五年的主要研究进展。

     

Misalignment aberrations calibration in testing of high-numerical-aperture spherical surfaces

The calibration of misalignment aberrations is a key issue in the testing of high-numerical-aperture spherical surfaces, and it is hard to separate the high-order aberrations introduced by misalignment from the measured data. The traditional calibration method is still applicable in the case of only wavefront tilt, but no longer effective in the existence of defocus. A calibration technique based on the wavefront difference is proposed to calibrate the misalignment aberrations in the presence of wavefront defocus, and it can be carried out without foreknowledge of the spherical surface under test. With the wavefront difference method, the calibration needs two separate measurements to separate the high-order aberrations. Both the computer simulation and experiments with the ZYGO interferometer have been carried out to validate the proposed calibration technique, with the accuracies better than 0.0005λ RMS and 0.0010λ RMS achieved, respectively. The proposed calibration method provides a feasible way to lower the requirement on the adjustment in the measurement, while retaining good accuracy.     

双压电片变形镜的人眼像差拟合能力分析

针对三种不同空间分辨率的双压电片变形镜(Bimorph DM),采用仿真实验分析其对3~35项Zernike静态像差和实际人眼(包括疾病人眼)像差的拟合能力。实验表明,Bimorph变形镜特别适用于校正低阶像差,拟合误差小于0.15,随着空间分辨率的增加,Bimorph变形镜对Zernike像差和人眼像差的拟合能力总体表现为增强的趋势,其中,35单元的Bimorph变形镜的像差拟合能力最优,对前20项Zernike像差的拟合误差稍优于传统分立式压电变形镜。通过对Bimorph变形镜像差拟合能力的实验分析,为人眼视网膜高分辨率系统的Bimorph变形镜选型提供了分析方法,也为进一步提升Bimorph变形镜的像差校正能力奠定了研究基础。     

Image degradation due to surface scatter in the presence of aberrations

Image analysis in the presence of surface scatter due to residual optical fabrication errors is often perceived to be complicated, nonintuitive, and achieved only by computationally intensive nonsequential ray tracing with commercial optical analysis codes such as ASAP, Zemax, Code V, TracePro, or FRED. However, we show that surface scatter can be treated very similarly to conventional wavefront aberrations. For multielement imaging systems degraded by both surface scatter and aberrations, the composite point spread function is obtained in explicit analytic form in terms of convolutions of the geometrical point spread function and scaled bidirectional scattering distribution functions of the individual surfaces of the imaging system. The approximations and assumptions in this formulation are discussed, and the result is compared to the irradiance distribution obtained using commercial software for the case of a two-mirror telescope operating at an extreme ultraviolet wavelength. The two results are virtually identical.     

Myopic Deconvolution of Adaptive Optics Images by use of Object and Point-Spread Function Power Spectra: Comment

It is suggested here that the lack of total image correction that is typical in adaptive optics (AO) imaging can be attributed in part to blur derived from small-angle scatter of light by aerosols, known also as the adjacency effect, especially as it is a well-established fact that such atmospheric blur is dominant in satellite imagery and the shape of the modulation transfer function after AO correction is strikingly similar to the unique shape of the aerosol modulation transfer function. Further investigation of AO systems to confirm this would aid in and improve image restoration.     

Adaptive optics for peripheral vision

Understanding peripheral optical errors and their impact on vision is important for various applications, e.g. research on myopia development and optical correction of patients with central visual field loss. In this study, we investigated whether correction of higher order aberrations with adaptive optics (AO) improve resolution beyond what is achieved with best peripheral refractive correction. A laboratory AO system was constructed for correcting peripheral aberrations. The peripheral low contrast grating resolution acuity in the 20° nasal visual field of the right eye was evaluated for 12 subjects using three types of correction: refractive correction of sphere and cylinder, static closed loop AO correction and continuous closed loop AO correction. Running AO in continuous closed loop improved acuity compared to refractive correction for most subjects (maximum benefit 0.15?logMAR). The visual improvement from aberration correction was highly correlated with the subject's initial amount of higher order aberrations (p?=?0.001, R ^2?=?0.72). There was, however, no acuity improvement from static AO correction. In conclusion, correction of peripheral higher order aberrations can improve low contrast resolution, provided refractive errors are corrected and the system runs in continuous closed loop.     

Adaptive optics-optical coherence tomography: optimizing visualization of microscopic retinal structures in three dimensions

Adaptive optics-optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) permits improved imaging of microscopic retinal structures by combining the high lateral resolution of AO with the high axial resolution of OCT, resulting in the narrowest three-dimensional (3D) point-spread function (PSF) of all in vivo retinal imaging techniques. Owing to the high volumetric resolution of AO-OCT systems, it is now possible, for the first time, to acquire images of 3D cellular structures in the living retina. Thus, with AO-OCT, those retinal structures that are not visible with AO or OCT alone (e.g., bundles of retinal nerve fiber layers, 3D mosaic of photoreceptors, 3D structure of microvasculature, and detailed structure of retinal disruptions) can be visualized. Our current AO-OCT instrumentation uses spectrometer-based Fourier-domain OCT technology and two-deformable-mirror-based AO wavefront correction. We describe image processing methods that help to remove motion artifacts observed in volumetric data, followed by innovative data visualization techniques [including two-dimensional (2D) and 3D representations]. Finally, examples of microscopic retinal structures that are acquired with the University of California Davis AO-OCT system are presented.     

Application of eigenmode in the adaptive optics system based on a micromachined membrane deformable mirror

The construction process and characteristics of a deformable mirror eigenmode are introduced. The eigenmode of a 37-element micromachined membrane deformable mirror (MMDM) from OKO, Ltd. is analyzed. The Gaussian-Seidel low-order aberrations are fitted with eigenmodes as basic functions. An experimental adaptive optics (AO) system is constructed with the MMDM as the wavefront corrector, a deformable mirror eigenmode as the wavefront control algorithm, and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor as the wavefront detector. The experimental results demonstrate that the deformable mirror eigenmode can act as the wavefront control algorithm for the AO system based on the MMDM.     

System design considerations to improve isoplanatism for adaptive optics retinal imaging

Adaptive optics (AO) retinal images are limited by anisoplanatism; wavefront shape varies across the field of view such that only a limited area can achieve diffraction-limited image quality at one time. We explored three alternative AO modalities designed to reduce this effect, drawn from work in astronomy. Optical design analysis and computer modeling was undertaken to predict the benefit of each modality for various schematic eyes and various complexities of the imaging system. Off-axis performance was found to be limited by system parameters and not by the eye itself, due to the inherent off-axis characteristics of the eye's gradient index lens. This rendered the alternative AO modalities ineffectual compared with conventional AO but did suggest several methods by which anisoplanatism may be reduced by altering the design of conventional AO systems. Several of these design possibilities were explored with further modeling. The best-performing method involved the replacement of system lenses with gradient index versions inspired by the human eye lens. Mirror-based relay optics also demonstrated good off-axis performance, but their advantage was lost in regions of the system suffering from uncorrected higher-order aberration. Incorporating "off-the-plane" beam deviations ameliorated this loss substantially. In this work we also show, to our knowledge for the first time, that the ideal location of a single AO corrector need not lie in the pupil plane.     

Optimal pupil size in the human eye for axial resolution

A computer model that incorporates the monochromatic aberrations of the eye is used to determine the optimal pupil size for axial and lateral resolution as it applies to retinal imaging instruments such as the confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope. The optimal pupil size for axial resolution, based on the aberrations of 15 subjects, is 4.30 mm +/- 1.19 mm standard deviation (sd), which is larger than that for lateral resolution [2.46 mm +/- 0.66 mm (sd)]. When small confocal pinholes are used, the maximum detected light is obtained with a pupil size of 4.90 mm +/- 1.04 mm sd. It is recommended to use larger pupil sizes in imaging applications where axial resolution is desired.     

Experimental study of an off-axis three mirror anastigmatic system with wavefront coding technology

Wavefront coding (WFC) is a kind of computational imaging technique that controls defocus and defocus related aberrations of optical systems by introducing a specially designed phase distribution to the pupil function. This technology has been applied in many imaging systems to improve performance and/or reduce cost. The application of WFC technology in an off-axis three mirror anastigmatic (TMA) system has been proposed, and the design and optimization of optics, the restoration of degraded images, and the manufacturing of wavefront coded elements have been researched in our previous work. In this paper, we describe the alignment, the imaging experiment, and the image restoration of the off-axis TMA system with WFC technology. The ideal wavefront map is set to be the system error of the interferometer to simplify the assembly, and the coefficients of certain Zernike polynomials are monitored to verify the result in the alignment process. A pinhole of 20 μm diameter and the third plate of WT1005-62 resolution patterns are selected as the targets in the imaging experiment. The comparison of the tail lengths of point spread functions is represented to show the invariance of the image quality in the extended depth of focus. The structure similarity is applied to estimate the relationship among the captured images with varying defocus. We conclude that the experiment results agree with the earlier theoretical analysis.