ADAPTIVE OPTICAL APPARATUS AND IMAGING APPARATUS HAVING THE SAME

• US 20110102740A1
• Filed: 10/19/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Hirose, Futoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,376,547 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/206
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/107 for determining the shape or measuring the curvature of the cornea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/1225 using coherent radiation

Abstract

An adaptive optical apparatus includes a wavelength separation unit configured to separate a beam emitted from a light source into a plurality of wavelength band beams, a plurality of light modulation units configured to modulate the respective plurality of wavelength band beams, a wavelength combining unit configured to combine the beams modulated by the plurality of light modulation units into a beam, and an illumination unit configured to illuminate a measured object with the beam output from the wavelength combining unit.

Claims

1. An adaptive optical apparatus comprising:

a wavelength separation unit configured to separate a beam emitted from a light source into a plurality of wavelength band beams;

a plurality of light modulation units configured to modulate the respective plurality of wavelength band beams;

a wavelength combining unit configured to combine the beams modulated by the plurality of light modulation units into a beam; and

an illumination unit configured to illuminate a measured object with the beam output from the wavelength combining unit.

2. The adaptive optical apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an aberration measuring unit configured to measure aberration of the measured object for each of the plurality of wavelength band beams,

wherein the plurality of light modulation units includes:

a first light modulation unit configured to modulate, based on a measuring result provided by the aberration measuring unit, a first beam of the plurality of wavelength band beams at a position optically conjugate to the aberration measuring unit; and

a second light modulation unit located in optically parallel with the first light modulation unit and configured to modulate a second beam, different in wavelength band from the first beam, of the plurality of wavelength band beams at a position optically conjugate to the aberration measuring unit.

3. The adaptive optical apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the measured object includes a subject'"'"'s eye,

wherein the aberration occurs at an anterior ocular segment of the subject'"'"'s eye, and

wherein the plurality of light modulation units are located at positions optically conjugate to the anterior ocular segment.

4. The adaptive optical apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a beam used for measuring the aberration by the aberration measuring unit and a beam used for acquiring an image of the measured object are beams emitted from respective different light sources.

5. The adaptive optical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wavelength combining unit is configured to separate, into a plurality of wavelength band beams, a return beam from the measured object illuminated by the illumination unit,

wherein the plurality of light modulation units is configured to modulate the respective plurality of wavelength band beams, and

wherein the wavelength separation unit is configured to combine the beams modulated by the plurality of light modulation units into a beam.

6. An imaging apparatus comprising:

the adaptive optical apparatus according to claim 1; and

an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image of the measured object based on a return beam from the measured object illuminated by the illumination unit.

7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the adaptive optical apparatus further comprises a separation unit configured to separate the beam from the light source into a beam to be incident on the wavelength separation unit and a reference beam, and

wherein the image acquisition unit is configured to acquire a tomographic image of the measured object based on interference light caused by interference between the return beam from the measured object illuminated by the illumination unit and the reference beam.

8. An adaptive optical method comprising:

separating a beam emitted from a light source into a plurality of wavelength band beams;

modulating the respective plurality of wavelength band beams;

combining the modulated beams into a beam; and

illuminating a measured object with the combined beam.