The use of autorefractors using the image-size principle in determining on-axis and off-axis refraction. Part 1: Analysis of optical principles of autorefractors.

PURPOSE: To study the optical principles and properties of autorefractors that use the image-size principle in which the size of the reimaged retinal image determines refraction. METHODS: The retinal illumination and reimaging of the retinal image were described, as were variations in the basic system. Imaging was determined for systems in which the light source is either diverging or converging as it passes into the eye. Equations were determined to describe the dependence of refraction on the heights and angles of incoming and outgoing beams, and refraction error was determined when eye position was not correct. RESULTS: The fundamental refraction equation is DE=±(α+θ)/h1 where DE is refraction, h1 is the beam height entering the eye, and θ and α are the angles of the incoming and outgoing beams, respectively. The negative sign outside the brackets applies if the beam focuses before entering the eye, while the positive sign applies if the beam focuses after entering the eye. When light is diverging as it reaches the anterior eye, hyperopia produces greater retinal image sizes than myopia. The opposite is the case when light is converging as it reaches the anterior eye. The effect of incorrect ocular longitudinal position on the measured refraction was determined; this produced errors identical to those for vertex errors with ophthalmic lenses. CONCLUSION: For image-size principle autorefractors, simple equations describe the dependence of measured refraction on the height and angle of the instrument beam as it enters the eye and the angle of the light, reflected back from the retina, after it exits the eye. Further work will investigate the validity of such instruments for determining peripheral refraction.

The use of autorefractors using the image-size principle in determining on-axis and off-axis refraction. Part 2: Theoretical study of peripheral refraction with the Grand Seiko AutoRef/Keratometer WAM-5500.

PURPOSE: To determine, through simulations, the likely validity of Grand-Seiko autorefractors with annular targets in peripheral refraction. METHODS: Using a physical model eye, the distance inside the eye to which the Grand Seiko AutoRef/Keratometer WAM-5500 beam was converging and the effective size of its outer diameter at the cornea were determined. Grand-Seiko refraction was calculated from Rx  = (θ + α)/h1 , where θ is the angle of the ingoing radiation beam, h1 is the height of the beam at the anterior cornea and α is the angle of the beam emerging from the eye following reflection at the retina. Two eye models were used: a Navarro schematic eye and a Navarro schematic eye with a contact lens having a highly positive aspheric front surface. RESULTS: The instrument beam was determined to be converging towards the eye to a distance of 24.4 mm behind the corneal vertex, with a 2.46 mm effective size outer diameter of the beam at the anterior cornea. The Grand-Seiko refractions provided accurate estimates of peripheral refraction for the model eyes. The results were closer to Zernike refractions than to Zernike paraxial refraction. Spherical aberration influenced refraction by up to 0.5 D, and peripheral coma had limited influence. CONCLUSION: Grand-Seiko autorefractors in current use, and having a circular annulus with an ingoing effective outer diameter at the front of the eye of about 2.4 mm, are likely to give valid peripheral refractions.

Digital holographic microscope for human eye retinal structures recording in vivo.

We introduce the digital holographic microscope for recording in vivo human eye retinal structures. Current eye imaging technologies cannot provide images with resolutions better than 1 µm within depths of a few hundred micrometers. This can be improved with digital holography, in which a hologram of the eye captured with digital camera contains information about structures over the full depth of the eye. This information can be reconstructed either optically or numerically. Our hologram recording scheme utilizes working principles of the off-axis digital holographic microscope, designed for reflective micro-object investigation. The eye cornea and lens form the microscope objective. We can record in vivo digital holograms of the human eye retina with resolution after reconstruction of at least 1.3 micrometer.

Comparison of diffraction patterns exposed by pulsed and CW lasers on positive-tone photoresist.

Two different grating formation geometries for recording onto the positive-tone photoresist with pulsed laser and continuous-wave sources are analyzed and compared. Diffraction efficiency measurements and atomic force microscopy (AFM) examination have been performed in order to investigate the optical and topographical properties of the recorded structures. Gratings patterned by a continuous-wave laser and by a pulsed laser working in the single pulse and multipulse regimes showed different surface roughness and optical properties. The possible reasons for surface roughness and effective exposure differences between gratings created with pulsed and continuous-wave laser radiations are discussed. The processing schemes for diffractive structures patterned by pulsed laser onto positive-tone photoresist for commercial hologram production are analyzed and presented in this work.