Dual-conjugate adaptive optics instrument for wide-field retinal imaging

• To date only conventional single-conjugate adaptive optics (SCAO) systems are used to correct ocular aberrations. A major shortcoming of SCAO is the severely restricted corrected field of view. This can be solved with multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO), a solution that is costly and gives bulky instruments. Another problem, especially in the study of the human eye, is unwanted light from parasitic source reflections and light from unwanted object regions. We present a dual-conjugate adaptive optics (DCAO) demonstrator that will enable wide field high resolution imaging of the human retina in vivo, implementing five retinal guide stars, two OKO micromachined membrane deformable mirrors; a 15 mm 37 channel pupil conjugate mirror, and a 40 mm 79 channel mirror conjugated to a plane in the vitreous body approximately 3 mm in front of the retina. The AO system runs with a closed-loop measurement wavelength of 835 nm. It incorporates an array of collimator lenses to spatially filter the light from all guide stars using only one adjustable iris, and a single camera to image the Hartmann patterns of multiple reference sources. Optical simulations in Zemax indicate an increase of the retinal isoplanatic patch from a radius of 0.5 degrees using SCAO to approximately 3.5 degrees or more using DCAO. The advantage of this is a clinically useful imaging area that is approximately 50 times the size of an SCAO system. This is corroborated by measurements on a model eye while performing SCAO, ground layer adaptive optics (GLAO), and DCAO correction.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Oftalmologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Ophthalmology (hsv//eng)

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