Abstract

In 1987 Webb and co-workers introduced the Confocal Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (CSLO) [1]. This system is similar to the conventional SLO [2] except that a small aperture is positioned in front of the detector, conjugate to the focus of the illumination spot on the retina (confocal). Analogously to the SLO, the influence of scattered light from points other than the point of illumination is strongly reduced. Additionally an ideal confocal scanning laser microscope has lateral resolution 1.4 times better than a conventional microscope [3]. As the aperture blocks any light scattered from layers or points other than the point of illumination, the depth of focus is drastically decreased, permitting optical tomography.

© 1995 Optical Society of America