Mouse brain elastography changes with sleep/wake cycles, aging, and Alzheimer's disease.

Understanding the physiological processes in aging and how neurodegenerative disorders affect cognitive function is a high priority for advancing human health. One specific area of recently enabled research is the in vivo biomechanical state of the brain. This study utilized reverberant optical coherence elastography, a high-resolution elasticity imaging method, to investigate stiffness changes during the sleep/wake cycle, aging, and Alzheimer's disease in murine models. Four-dimensional scans of 44 wildtype mice, 13 mice with deletion of aquaporin-4 water channel, and 12 mice with Alzheimer-related pathology (APP/PS1) demonstrated that (1) cortical tissue became softer (on the order of a 10% decrease in shear wave speed) when young wildtype mice transitioned from wake to anesthetized, yet this effect was lost in aging and with mice overexpressing amyloid-ß or lacking the water channel AQP4. (2) Cortical stiffness increased with age in all mice lines, but wildtype mice exhibited the most prominent changes as a function of aging. The study provides novel insight into the brain's biomechanics, the constraints of fluid flow, and how the state of brain activity affects basic properties of cortical tissues.

Multiconfiguration afocal freeform telescopes.

An approach to designing multiconfiguration afocal telescopes is developed and demonstrated. Freeform surfaces are used to maximize the achievable diffraction-limited zoom ratio while staying in a compact volume for a two-position multiconfiguration afocal optical system. The limitations of these systems with three-mirror beam paths are discussed and subsequently overcome by introducing an additional degree of freedom. In a four-mirror beam path system, the goal of a 5x zoom ratio is achieved with a compensated exit pupil and diffraction-limited performance. A significant benefit in optical performance when using freeform surfaces is shown compared to more conventional surface types.

Fast Zernike fitting of freeform surfaces using the Gauss-Legendre quadrature.

Zernike polynomial orthogonality, an established mathematical principle, is leveraged with the Gauss-Legendre quadrature rule in a rapid novel approach to fitting data over a circular domain. This approach provides significantly faster fitting speeds, in the order of thousands of times, while maintaining comparable error rates achieved with conventional least-square fitting techniques. We demonstrate the technique for fitting mid-spatial-frequencies (MSF) prevalent in small-tool-manufacturing typical of aspheric and freeform optics that are poised to soon permeate a wide range of optical technologies.

Workflow for modeling of generalized mid-spatial frequency errors in optical systems.

We propose a workflow for modeling generalized mid-spatial frequency (MSF) errors in optical imaging systems. This workflow enables the classification of MSF distributions, filtering of bandlimited signatures, propagation of MSF errors to the exit pupil, and performance predictions that differentiate performance impacts due to the MSF distributions. We demonstrate the workflow by modeling the performance impacts of MSF errors for both transmissive and reflective imaging systems with near-diffraction-limited performance.

Framework for optimizing AR waveguide in-coupler architectures.

Waveguide displays have been shown to exhibit multiple interactions of light at the in-coupler diffractive surface, leading to light loss. Any losses at the in-coupler set a fundamental upper limit on the full-system efficiency. Furthermore, these losses vary spatially across the beam for each field, significantly decreasing the displayed image quality. We present a framework for alleviating the losses based on irradiance, efficiency, and MTF maps. We then derive and quantify the innate tradeoff between the in-coupling efficiency and the achievable modulation transfer function (MTF) characterizing image quality. Applying the framework, we show a new in-coupler architecture that mitigates the efficiency vs image quality tradeoff. In the example architecture, we demonstrate a computation speed that is 2,000 times faster than that of a commercial non-sequential ray tracer, enabling faster optimization and more thorough exploration of the parameter space. Results show that with this architecture, the in-coupling efficiency still meets the fundamental limit, while the MTF achieves the diffraction limit up to and including 30 cycles/deg, equivalent to 20/20 vision.

Estimating the irradiance of a perturbed surface under an extended source.

This paper presents a method for evaluating the irradiance of a single freeform surface deviation under extended source illumination. The method takes advantage of a well-known concept, the pinhole image. First, the irradiance of the perturbed freeform surface under point source illumination is computed. Second, a pinhole image of the extended source is obtained by placing a small aperture (pinhole) on the freeform surface. Then, the extended source irradiance pattern change can be quickly calculated by convolving the pinhole image with the perturbed point source irradiance change. The method was experimentally verified, demonstrating the efficacy of the underlying concept. The proposed method alleviates the computational demands during extended source tolerancing, expediting the process.

Alignment, calibration, and validation of an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope for high-resolution human foveal imaging.

In prior art, advances in adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) technology have enabled cones in the human fovea to be resolved in healthy eyes with normal vision and low to moderate refractive errors, providing new insight into human foveal anatomy, visual perception, and retinal degenerative diseases. These high-resolution ophthalmoscopes require careful alignment of each optical subsystem to ensure diffraction-limited imaging performance, which is necessary for resolving the smallest foveal cones. This paper presents a systematic and rigorous methodology for building, aligning, calibrating, and testing an AOSLO designed for imaging the cone mosaic of the central fovea in humans with cellular resolution. This methodology uses a two-stage alignment procedure and thorough system testing to achieve diffraction-limited performance. Results from retinal imaging of healthy human subjects under 30 years of age with refractive errors of less than 3.5 diopters using either 680 nm or 840 nm light show that the system can resolve cones at the very center of the fovea, the region where the cones are smallest and most densely packed.

Exit pupil quality analysis and optimization in freeform afocal telescope systems.

Afocal telescopes are often used as foreoptics to existing imaging systems to allow for application flexibility. To properly combine an afocal telescope with an existing imaging system, the exit pupil of the afocal telescope and the entrance pupil of the imaging system must be coincident. Additionally, the exit pupil of the afocal telescope must be well-formed; that is, it must be the correct size and shape to mitigate pupil-matching challenges. This work introduces processes for designing freeform afocal telescopes with an emphasis on understanding how to analyze and control the exit pupil quality of such systems. The included 3-mirror design examples demonstrate the advantages of using freeform surfaces in afocal systems and quantify the tradeoffs required to improve the exit pupil quality.

Metagrating meets the geometry-based efficiency limit for AR waveguide in-couplers.

Recently, augmented reality (AR) displays have attracted considerable attention due to the highly immersive and realistic viewer experience they can provide. One key challenge of AR displays is the fundamental trade-off between the extent of the field-of-view (FOV) and the size of the eyebox, set by the conservation of etendue sets this trade-off. Exit-pupil expansion (EPE) is one possible solution to this problem. However, it comes at the cost of distributing light over a larger area, decreasing the overall system's brightness. In this work, we show that the geometry of the waveguide and the in-coupler sets a fundamental limit on how efficient the combiner can be for a given FOV. This limit can be used as a tool for waveguide designers to benchmark the in-coupling efficiency of their in-coupler gratings. We design a metasurface-based grating (metagrating) and a commonly used SRG as in-couplers using the derived limit to guide optimization. We then compare the diffractive efficiencies of the two types of in-couplers to the theoretical efficiency limit. For our chosen waveguide geometry, the metagrating's 28% efficiency surpasses the SRG's 20% efficiency and nearly matches the geometry-based limit of 29% due to the superior angular response control of metasurfaces compared to SRGs. This work provides new insight into the efficiency limit of waveguide-based combiners and paves a novel path toward implementing metasurfaces in efficient waveguide AR displays.

Sigma vector calculations in nodal aberration theory and experimental validation using a Cassegrain telescope.

Nodal Aberration Theory (NAT) was developed to explain the field dependency of aberration field centers in the image plane of nominally rotationally symmetric optical systems that have lost their symmetry through misalignments. A new insight into the theory led to calculating the sigma vectors, which locate the aberration field centers, using the angle between a real-ray trace of the optical axis ray (OAR) and the normal of the local surface where "local" refers to the object and image optical spaces of that surface. Here, we detail the sigma vector calculations for general optical systems and provide an experimental investigation of a misaligned system with a high-precision customized Cassegrain telescope. In the simulations, a Newtonian telescope, a Cassegrain telescope, and a three-mirror anastigmat telescope were misaligned intentionally in ray-tracing software. The sigma vectors were calculated analytically for the third-order aberrations of astigmatism and coma. Experimentally, the same perturbations were implemented for the Cassegrain telescope system, and the aberrations were quantified through interferometric measurements on a grid of field points in the image plane that verified the analytical derivation and simulations.

Intrinsic aberration coefficients for plane-symmetric optical systems consisting of spherical surfaces.

This paper presents the analytical form of the intrinsic aberration coefficients for spherical plane-symmetric optical systems expressed as a function of first-order system parameters and the paraxial chief and marginal ray angles and heights. The derived aberration coefficients are in the third and fourth groups with the multiplication of two or three vector products of pupil and field vectors.

Method for minimizing lens breathing with one moving group.

Lens breathing in movie cameras is the change in the overall content of a scene while bringing subjects located at different depths into focus. This paper presents a method for minimizing lens breathing or changing angular field-of-view while maintaining perspective by moving only one lens group. To maintain perspective, the stop is placed in a fixed position where no elements between the scene and the stop can move, thus fixing the entrance pupil in one location relative to the object fields. The result is perspective invariance while refocusing the lens. Using paraxial optics, we solve for the moving group's position to focus on every object position and eliminate breathing between the minimum and maximum object distances. We investigate the solution space for optical systems with two positive groups or a positive and a negative group (i.e., retrofocus and telephoto systems). We explain how to apply this paraxial solution to existing systems to minimize breathing. The results for two systems altered using this method are presented. Breathing improved by two orders of magnitude in both cases, and performance specifications were still met when compared to the initial systems.

Experimental investigation in nodal aberration theory (NAT): separation of astigmatic figure error from misalignments in a Cassegrain telescope.

We present simulations and experimental validations for separating astigmatic figure error from misalignments in Nodal Aberration Theory (NAT) with a high-precision Cassegrain telescope. Both the primary mirror figure error and the secondary mirror misalignments induce binodal astigmatism for the telescope systems. The separation of these two aberration factors plays a crucial role in the telescope alignment process. In this study, the figure error of the aspheric primary mirror of the Cassegrain telescope induced by the mirror mounts was measured interferometrically utilizing a computer-generated hologram (CGH). According to the primary mirror figure error, the astigmatic node locations in the image plane were simulated using real raytracing. The center of the nodes was located on the field center, and the nodes were placed symmetrically with respect to the field center in the image plane. The telescope's alignment was performed using the simulation results, and the node locations were measured on a grid of field points interferometrically. Thereafter, secondary mirror misalignments around the coma-free pivot point were introduced into the optical system, and the node's center was shifted from the field center in the image plane as predicted by NAT. The simulations and interferometric field measurements were performed and compared on a grid of field points for the misaligned state in the presence of primary mirror figure error. The experimental results confirm the predictions from NAT. Statistical analysis was also performed to confirm the accuracy and stability of the measurements.

Implementation of a null test for freeform optics using a high-definition spatial light modulator.

We report the implementation of an interferometric null test using a high-definition spatial light modulator (SLM) as a reconfigurable alternative to a computer-generated hologram. We detail the alignment process chain, including novel techniques using the SLM to project alignment fiducials on the test part. To validate the alignment protocol, we measure a mild off-axis conic with the SLM-based system and cross-validate with conventional interferometry within 30 nm root-mean-square (RMS) surface figure. Finally, we report the null test of a 65 mm clear aperture concave freeform with 91 µm peak-valley sag departure from the base sphere. The measured surface figure of the freeform is within 40 nm RMS compared to the measurement with a commercial metrology instrument.

100 years of Emil Wolf: introduction.

The groundbreaking research and ideas introduced by Emil Wolf continue to inspire researchers and motivate ongoing research in the wave properties of light. This special issue commemorates the legacy of Emil Wolf with research in physical optics, with specific focus on those areas where Wolf was active, such as optical coherence theory, inverse problems, singular optics, imaging, and polarization, and the intersection of these fields of study. Here we discuss the life of Emil Wolf and his influence on optical science and the optics community.

Roadmap for the unobscured three-mirror freeform design space.

In rotationally symmetric lens design, there are rule-of-thumb boundaries on field-of-view and aperture for well-known design forms that provide valuable information to the designer prior to starting a design. In the design space of unobscured three-mirror imagers, freeform optics have been shown to provide a significant benefit over conventional surface shapes, but the degree to which they improve the performance for any given combination of field-of-view, entrance pupil diameter, and F-number remains unknown. Thus, designers of these systems are not afforded any pre-design information to inform their specification decisions. Here, we designed over 200 systems to establish a first-of-its-kind roadmap of specification ranges over which an unobscured three-mirror imager using freeform surfaces can achieve diffraction-limited performance in the visible spectrum. The scalability of the findings to the infrared regions of the spectrum is also addressed.

Connecting tolerancing of freeform surface deformation in illumination optics with the Laplacian magic mirror.

This paper presents a methodology for illumination optics tolerancing. Specifically, we investigate tolerancing deformation of a single freeform surface under a point source illumination. Through investigation, we recognized and report here three surface-deformation characteristics that build tolerancing intuitions. First, we show that positive and negative irradiance changes occur together as a consequence of flux conservation. Then, we demonstrate a linear relationship between the steepness of the surface perturbation and the magnitude of the irradiance change. Lastly, we show that the Laplacian magic mirror concept (M. V. Berry [Eur. J. Phys.27, 109 (2006)10.1088/0143-0807/27/1/012]) can be expanded to surface deformation tolerancing. Utilizing these surface deformation characteristics, we propose a fast and predictable tolerancing method for a sequential illumination optic.

Experimental investigation of binodal astigmatism in nodal aberration theory (NAT) with a Cassegrain telescope system.

We present simulations and an experimental investigation of binodal astigmatism in nodal aberration theory (NAT) for a customized, high-precision Cassegrain telescope system. The telescope system utilizes a five-axis, piezo-actuated flexural mechanism to introduce secondary mirror misalignments and generate aberrations intentionally. The induced aberrations are measured interferometrically and quantified for a grid of field points on the telescope system's image plane. For this purpose, a coma-free pivot point of the secondary mirror was simulated for isolating the binodal astigmatism field response. The separation of the nodes is proportional to the introduced misalignments. A simulation of Fringe Zernike coma and binodal astigmatism was generated using a real ray trace model of the optical system and analyzed to compare to the experimental results. A statistical analysis of the measurements was performed to show the experimental results' accuracy and stability. The experimental results were consistent with the simulations, hence experimentally validating NAT for binodal astigmatism for the first time.

Freeform hyperspectral imager design in a CubeSat format.

A freeform pushbroom hyperspectral imager design was investigated as a combination of a freeform reflective triplet imager and a freeform reflective triplet spectrometer used in double-pass. The design operates at about F/2 with a 15-degree cross-track field-of-view and a 30 mm entrance pupil diameter. The design process led to achieving a small volume of less than 2 liters that fits comfortably within a 3U CubeSat geometry, exemplifying the compactness of this hyperspectral imager. We report the freeform sag departures and maximum slopes of the freeform surfaces, as well as the manufacturing tolerances together with an evaluation of the system stray light, all of which highlight the feasibility of a design in this class to be manufactured. This design uniquely positions itself on the landscape of compact hyperspectral imagers.

Verification of cascade optical coherence tomography for freeform optics form metrology.

Freeform optical components enable dramatic advances for optical systems in both performance and packaging. Surface form metrology of manufactured freeform optics remains a challenge and an active area of research. Towards addressing this challenge, we previously reported on a novel architecture, cascade optical coherence tomography (C-OCT), which was validated for its ability of high-precision sag measurement at a given point. Here, we demonstrate freeform surface measurements, enabled by the development of a custom optical-relay-based scanning mechanism and a unique high-speed rotation mechanism. Experimental results on a flat mirror demonstrate an RMS flatness of 14 nm (∼λ/44 at the He-Ne wavelength). Measurement on a freeform mirror is achieved with an RMS residual of 69 nm (∼λ/9). The system-level investigations and validation provide the groundwork for advancing C-OCT as a viable freeform metrology technique.