OBJETIVO: Sensores de aberrações ópticas de simetria cartesiana são aceitos pela maioria da comunidade científica como um padrão (como o sensor de Hartmann-Shack (HS)) nos ramos da óptica e da oftalmologia. Neste trabalho foram desenvolvidos e testados três tipos de sensores com simetrias e/ou configurações diferentes e foram feitas comparações entre o sensor de Castro (SC) e o sensor HS na sua forma cilíndrica e cartesiana. MÉTODOS: Todos os sensores foram projetados e desenvolvidos em nosso laboratório no Instituto de Física de São Carlos - USP. O primeiro sensor é um sensor HS convencional, ou seja, no formato cartesiano; o segundo é um sensor HS cilíndrico e o terceiro é o SC. Para cada sensor foram realizados tanto cálculos teóricos como medidas práticas em um olho mecânico. O olho mecânico foi ajustado com 10 diferentes tipos de aberrações de desfocalização, de -5D a +5D, em passos de 1D. RESULTADOS: A precisão dos sensores foi analisada utilizando-se dois diferentes métodos: primeiramente um método totalmente teórico, gerando aberrações com diferentes coeficientes de Zernike e verificando qual a precisão de cada sensor ao calcular estes parâmetros a partir apenas das derivadas nas direções cartesianas e cilíndricas; segundo, foram realizadas medidas em um olho mecânico calibrado com estas mesmas aberrações. O resultados para o sensor HS cilíndrico, cartesiano e SC foram, respectivamente: erro quadrático médio para valores esfero-cilíndricos quando comparados com o auto-refrator para os três sensores foram 0,18D, 0,22D e 0,35D para esfera, 0,14D, 0,24D e 0,17D para cilindro, 34,36°, 35,16° e 26,36° para eixo; o erro quadrático médio para valores esfero-cilíndricos quando comparados a valores teóricos para os três sensores foram 0,11D, 0,29D e 0,46D para esfera, 0,15D, 0,28D e 0,17D para cilindro, 19,71°, 25,56° e 18,56° para eixo. CONCLUSÃO: Nossa conclusão principal é que os três tipos de sensores forneceram resultados semelhantes, no entanto há algumas diferenças. Os SC e HS de simetria cilíndrica permitem encontrar o eixo óptico com muito mais facilidade.

PURPOSE: There is a general acceptance among the scientific community of Cartesian symmetry wavefront sensors (such as the Hartmann-Shack (HS) sensor) as a standard in the field of optics and vision science. In this study it is shown that sensors of different symmetries and/or configurations should also be tested and analyzed in order to quantify and compare their effectiveness when applied to visual optics. Three types of wave-aberration sensors were developed and tested here. Each sensor has a very different configuration and/or symmetry (dodecagonal (DOD), cylindrical (CYL) and conventional Hartmann-Shack (HS)). METHODS: All sensors were designed and developed in the Physics Department of the Universidade de São Paulo - São Carlos. Each sensor was mounted on a laboratory optical bench used in a previous study. A commercial mechanical eye was used as control. This mechanical eye has a rotating mechanism that allows the retinal plane to be positioned at different axial distances. Ten different defocus aberrations were generated: 5 cases of myopia from -1D to -5D and 5 cases of hyperopia, from +1D to +5D, in steps of 1D following the scale printed on the mechanical eye. For each wavefront sensor a specific image-processing and fitting algorithm was implemented. For all three cases, the wavefront information was fit using the first 36 VSIA standard Zernike polynomials. Results for the mechanical eye were also compared to the absolute Zernike surface generated from coefficients associated with the theoretical sphere-cylinder aberration value. RESULTS: Precision was analyzed using two different methods: first, a theoretical approach was used by generating synthetic Zernike coefficients from the known sphere-cylinder aberrations, simply by applying sphere-cylinder equations in the backward direction. Then comparisons were made of these coefficients with the ones obtained in practice. Results for DOD, HS and CYL sensors were, respectively, as follows: mean of root mean square (RMSE) for all aberrations, when theoretical Zernike coefficients were used as control, was 0.22, 0.66 and 0.26 microns; RMSE of sphere-cylinder values when compared to autorefractor measurements was 0.18D, 0.22D and 0.35D for sphere, 0.14D, 0.24D and 0.17D for cylinder, 34.36°, 35.16° and 26.36° for axis; RMSE of sphere-cylinder values when theoretical values were used as control was 0.11D, 0.29D and 0.46D for sphere, 0.15D, 0.28D and 0.17D for cylinder, 19.71°, 25.56° and 18.56° for axis. CONCLUSION: The main conclusion is that the symmetry of an optical sensor is not an important consideration when measuring typical eye aberrations such as defocus (myopic and hyperopic), but there are differences. In this sense, the polar symmetry sensors render results that are equivalent to the traditional Cartesian Hartmann-Shack sensor, but furnish an easier method for determining the optical center.

Neste projeto estamos desenvolvendo instrumento para medidas das aberrações de frente de onda do olho humano usando um sensor Hartmann-Shack. Uma fonte de luz laser é direcionada ao olho e sua reflexão difusa na retina gera frente de onda aproximadamente esférica dentro do olho. Esta frente de onda atravessa os diferentes componentes do olho (humor vítreo, lente, humor aquoso e córnea) trazendo informações sobre as aberrações ópticas causadas por estes componentes. No meio externo ao olho existe sistema óptico formado por uma matriz de microlentes e uma câmera CCD. A frente de onda incide nesta matriz e forma um padrão aproximadamente matricial de "spots" no plano do CCD. Algoritmos de processamento de imagens são utilizados para detectar os centróides de cada "spot" e esta informação é utilizada para deduzir a forma da frente de onda usando métodos de aproximação por mínimos quadrados e polinômios de Zernike. Descrevemos aqui detalhes da primeira fase deste projeto, em que foi realizada a construção da primeira geração de instrumentos protótipos e testes preliminares em olho artificial, calibrado com diferentes ametropias, i. e., miopia, hipermetropia e astigmatismo.

In this project we are developing an instrument for measuring the wave-front aberrations of the human eye using the Hartmann-Shack sensor. A laser source is directed towards the eye and its diffuse reflection at the retina generates an approximately spherical wave-front inside the eye. This wave-front travels through the different components of the eye (vitreous humor, lens, aqueous humor, and cornea) and then leaves the eye carrying information about the aberrations caused by these components. Outside the eye there is an optical system composed of an array of microlenses and a CCD camera. The wave-front hits the microlens array and forms a pattern of spots at the CCD plane. Image processing algorithms detect the center of mass of each spot and this information is used to calculate the exact wave-front surface using least squares approximation by Zernike polynomials. We describe here the details of the first phase of this project, i. e., the construction of the first generation of prototype instruments and preliminary results for an artificial eye calibrated with different ametropias, i. e., myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism.

The human eye, as our biological vision instrument, contains intrinsic optical defects, referred to as optical aberrations or ametropia. The immediate consequence of such aberrations is poor quality of images formed at the retina. With the advent of more precise pulsed lasers for eye surgery, the development of instrumentation to determine precisely the higher order aberrations of the eye became a crucial chalange. Current instruments available commercially (refractometers) measure only the lower optical aberrations of the eye, i. e., myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. In the present work we have developed a high resolution refractometer based on the Hartmann-Shack (HS) wave-front sensor. The HS sensor was originally developed for aberration measurements in general optical systems, and is of wide-spread usage in adaptive optics applications such as astronomical telescopes. Preliminary results for a mechanical eye are presented here and the RMSE in dioptric power (D) and cylinder axis (in degrees) were as follows: 0.04D for sphere and cylinder and 4(0) for axis. It is known that refractometers have typical errors of 0.12D diopters for sphere and cylinder and 5(0) for axis. These preliminary results indicate that the HS sensor may be applied successfully on in vivo eyes and that, in the near future, this technology may be available in most eye hospitals and clinics throughout the world, therefore bringing benefits to the general population.