Background reduction apparatuses and methods of ocular surface interferometry (OSI) employing polarization for imaging, processing, and/or displaying an ocular tear film
First Claim
1. A method of imaging an ocular tear film, comprising:
- directing multi-wavelength light including unpolarized light having a first intensity in an illumination path to illuminate a region of interest (ROI) of an ocular tear film thereby producing a specularly reflected light in a first polarization plane, the specularly reflected light containing optical wave interference from the ROI of the ocular tear film while avoiding projecting the multi-wavelength light directly into a pupil of an eye;
polarizing the unpolarized light to cause a background signal comprised of unpolarized light returned from the ROI of the ocular tear film to have a second intensity less than the first intensity;
capturing at least one image of the optical wave interference of specularly reflected light and the background signal from the ROI of the ocular tear film; and
receiving the at least one image containing the optical wave interference of specularly reflected light and the background signal while the multi-wavelength light including the unpolarized light is being polarized.
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Abstract
Background reduction apparatuses and methods of Ocular Surface Interferometry (OSI) employing polarization are disclosed for measuring a tear film layer thickness (TFLT) of the ocular tear film, including lipid layer thickness (LLT) and/or aqueous layer thickness (ALT) and can be used to evaluate and potentially diagnosis dry eye syndrome (DES). In certain disclosed embodiments, a multi-wavelength light source can be controlled to illuminate the ocular tear film. Light emitted from the multi-wavelength light source undergoes optical wave interference interactions in the tear film. An imaging device can be focused on the lipid layer of the tear film to capture optical wave interference interactions of specularly reflected light from the tear film combined with a background signal(s) in at least one image. The at least one image can be processed and analyzed to measure a tear film layer thickness (TFLT), including lipid layer thickness (LLT) and/or aqueous layer thickness (ALT).
160 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of imaging an ocular tear film, comprising:
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directing multi-wavelength light including unpolarized light having a first intensity in an illumination path to illuminate a region of interest (ROI) of an ocular tear film thereby producing a specularly reflected light in a first polarization plane, the specularly reflected light containing optical wave interference from the ROI of the ocular tear film while avoiding projecting the multi-wavelength light directly into a pupil of an eye; polarizing the unpolarized light to cause a background signal comprised of unpolarized light returned from the ROI of the ocular tear film to have a second intensity less than the first intensity; capturing at least one image of the optical wave interference of specularly reflected light and the background signal from the ROI of the ocular tear film; and receiving the at least one image containing the optical wave interference of specularly reflected light and the background signal while the multi-wavelength light including the unpolarized light is being polarized. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of imaging an ocular tear film, comprising:
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directing a light including unpolarized light having a first intensity in an illumination path to illuminate a region of interest (ROI) of an ocular tear film thereby producing a specularly reflected light in a first polarization plane, the specularly reflected light containing optical wave interference from the ROI of the ocular tear film while avoiding projecting the light including the unpolarized light directly into a pupil of an eye; polarizing the unpolarized light to cause a background signal comprised of unpolarized light returned from the ROI of the ocular tear film to have a second intensity less than the first intensity; capturing at least one image of the optical wave interference of specularly reflected light and the background signal from the ROI of the ocular tear film; and receiving the at least one image containing the optical wave interference of specularly reflected light and the background signal. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification