Abstract

In vision research and in some clinical tests and instruments, the effective pupil size may be controlled by the use of artificial pupils. The artificial pupils may be real (such as a pinhole aperture placed in the spectacle plane) or they may be virtual (such as a small exit pupil of a Keplerian telescope or an image of a small source as is used in Maxwellian view systems). The purpose of artificial pupil systems may be to increase the depth of focus, to channel light around opacities or irregularities in the media, to maintain constant retinal illuminance or in some Maxwellian view systems it may be to provide a large uniformly-illuminated field of high luminance. If artificial pupil systems are used to present spatial resolution tasks to the observer, then critical differences between the alternative artificial pupil systems should be be recognized. Here we compare retinal image qualities obtained with real artificial pupils and with virtual artificial pupils in a Maxwellian viewing system.

© 1992 Optical Society of America