人眼角膜的力学性能对维持角膜正常结构和功能具有重要作用、是研究角膜生理和病理特征的重要基础。然而现阶段却缺乏客观精准的在体角膜力学性能评估机制。扫描式光学相干弹性成像技术（OCE）采用多次激励和多次采集的方法，受眼动影响和探测速度限制，具有较大测量误差。项目提出多光束OCE测量新方法，无需扫描即可实现角膜力学参数的快速、非侵入、高分辨在体测量。项目拟建立基于微透镜阵列的光学相干（OCT）探测光矩阵，实现单次激励下角膜多方位、多点位响应信号的高分辨、快速采集；建立基于角膜多点位同时探测的多阶干涉信号模型，对复杂干涉图谱中各点位信号进行有效识别和正确提取；提取各点位相位变化时序信号、重构角膜力学响应矩阵、实现角膜力学参数的高精度在体测量；结合离体实验、有限元仿真、预临床实验，对多光束OCE测量方法进行验证。项目旨在为角膜疾病的早期诊断和角膜手术的术前、术后评估提供更准确客观的角膜力学参数依据。

Human corneal biomechanical properties are directly related to structural integrity, ocular health, and vision functions of the human eye. Characterization of corneal biomechanics is significant for diagnosis and treatment of ocular diseases but there is no reliable and subjective gold-standard measurement method yet. Conventional optical coherence elastography (OCE) with scanning mechanism is limited by detection speed and has relative large measurement error for in-vivo corneal biomechanical property quantification. Here we present a multi-beam OCE method to enable fast, non-invasive and high-resolution measurement of corneal biomechanics in vivo. We plan to design and optimize the micro-lens array to establish the desirable detection beam matrix for corneal elasticity measurement in multiple radial directions and at multiple corneal positions in optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. We plan to develop algorithms for discriminating the true and false signals from the overlaid complex interference signals and for extracting the phase signals of measurement positions. Corneal mechanical responses can be acquired based on the time-dependent phase changes from multiple corneal positions and corneal biomechanical properties can be quantified based on the relation between stimulation force and corneal mechanical response. We plan to perform ex vivo experiment, finite element analysis (FEA), and pre-clinical study to validate the multi-beam OCE method. This non-contact, high-speed corneal elastrography method is a significant project that could assist with earlier diagnosis and treatment of corneal diseases (e.g. keratoconus) and better detection of those at-risk before refractive surgery.