METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE SUBJECTIVE DETERMINATION OF ABERRATIONS OF HIGHER ORDER

• US 20080137035A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Inventors: Dick, Manfred, Maeusezahl, Holger, Schroeder, Eckhard
• Granted Patent: US 7,517,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/227
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/028 for testing visual acuity; for determination of refraction, e.g. phoropters

Abstract

A device for the subjective determination of aberrations of higher orders Xi in an optical system, in particular in an eye includes at least one observation channel into which defined plates can be introduced, the individual plates having optically active structures which correspond to a defined Zernike polynomial and to a defined amplitude, at least one order Xi of the Zernike polynomial being greater than two.

Claims

1. A device for a subjective determination of aberrations of higher orders in an optical system, the device comprising:

at least one observation channel; and

a plurality of individual phase-plates configured to be introduced into the observation channel, each phase-plate having optically active structures corresponding to a defined Zernike polynomial and to a defined amplitude of the defined Zernike polynomial, the defined Zernike polynomial having an order higher than two.

2. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the optical system includes an eye.

3. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein a set of the plurality of individual phase-plates define a phase-plate set, the phase-plate set configured to compensate aberrations corresponding to the defined Zernike polynomial.

4. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein phase-plates in the phase-plate set are sorted and combined in a classified manner, so that the individual phase-plates are arranged according to their amplitudes.

5. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of individual phase plates are adapted to correct a conventionally recorded wavefront aberration.

6. The device as recited in claim 5, wherein the phase-plate set includes a subset of the set of individual phase-plates, each of the individual phase-plates in the subset corresponding to a different defined amplitude for the defined Zernike polynomial.

7. The device as recited in claim 5, wherein the phase-plate set is disposed on a circular disc.

8. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is a phoropter.

9. The device as recited in claim 1, further comprising a target apparatus for the optical system.

10. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the phase-plates are made of glass or plastic.

11. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is configured to determine a visual acuity.

12. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is configured to optimize a resolution of an optical instrument.

13. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is configured to correct a beam profile of a beam source.

14. The device as recited in claim 13, wherein the beam source is a laser diode.

15. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is configured to individually correct a vision defect when using optical instruments.

16. A method for the subjective determination of an aberration of a special higher order X in an optical system, comprising:

in a first step, introducing a first phase-plate into an observation channel of the optical system, the phase-plate having optically active structures corresponding to a defined Zernike polynomial having an order X and to a defined amplitude of the defined Zernike polynomial, the order X being higher than 2;

in a second step, subjectively assessing a current wave deformation of the order X; and

in a third step repeating the first step with a second phase-plate of different amplitude correction of the defined Zernike polynomial and repeating the second step of the subjective determination so as to select one of the first and second phase-plates that subjectively best compensates the aberration of the special higher order X.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the optical system includes an eye.

21. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising recording the wavefront aberration conventionally and correcting by means of phase-plates.

18. A method for the subjective determination of aberrations of special higher orders X1 to Xn in an optical system, comprising:

in a first step, introducing a first phase-plate into an observation channel of the optical system, the phase-plate having optically active structures corresponding to a defined Zernike polynomial having an order X1 and to a defined amplitude of the defined Zernike polynomial, the order X1 being higher than 2;

in a second step, subjectively assessing a current wave deformation of the order X1; and

in a third step repeating the first step with a second phase-plate of different amplitude correction of the defined Zernike polynomial and repeating the second step of the subjective determination so as to select one of the first and second phase-plates that subjectively best compensates the aberration of the special higher order X1

in a fourth step, successively repeating the first and second steps for each defined Zernike polynomial having an order Xn, wherein Xn is higher than X1.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the optical system includes an eye.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising recording the wavefront aberration conventionally and correcting by means of phase-plates.

22. A phoropter comprising:

at least one phase-plate configured to compensate aberrations on the basis of a Zernike polynomial having a higher order than spherical and cylindrical.