Abstract

Optical designers usually compute ray tracing and spot diagrams to predict theoretically the performance and image quality of an optical system. Sivak and Kreuzer [1] implemented an elegant physical ray tracing method for excised lenses, using laser pencils, although their technique could not be implemened in vivo. Until recently, we have been using a double pass method to measure the modulation transfer function of the living eye [2]. Last year, based on that method, we presented a substantially modified technique that we called one and a half pass method [3]. The illuminating beam consists of a narrow Gaussian pencil so that the image formed on the retina is a diffraction-limited Gaussian. This allows us to measure the phase transfer function, and then estimate the retinal point spread function. Here we show a new modification of this method that allows a direct and objective measurement of geometrical ray aberrations in the living eye.

© 1996 Optical Society of America