Abstract

Surfaces of interest in vision research are often nearly spherical. A useful descriptor for such surfaces is one which allows comparison to a sphere or to other simple surfaces. Zernike polynomials¹ provide such a descriptor. We show here ways in which this complete set of functions may be used to describe the wavefront necessary for perfect correction of refractive error and the retina, and with modification, the cornea.

© 1992 Optical Society of America