Imaging eyes: ocular diagnostics by adaptive optics

眼科成像的最新进展对理解和治疗导致视力丧失的疾病产生了重大影响。眼睛是一个独特的透明器官，可以对视网膜进行光学成像，视网膜是眼睛后面对光敏感的组织。光学相干层析成像(OCT)是一种常用的诊断成像方式，越来越多地被研究用于实时体积成像。然而，即使具有良好的人眼光学性能，OCT的横向分辨率以及相关的光学成像技术也是有限的。需要自适应光学(AO)来获得在细胞水平上可视化视网膜所需的分辨率。AO最初是为天文成像而开发的，它使用可变形的光学装置对进入眼睛的光进行波前校正，校正角膜和人工晶状体中的缺陷，并允许衍射限制聚焦在视网膜上。我的研究计划的目的是研究新的OCT、AO和相关的高分辨率成像技术，以克服可视化视网膜结构和生物功能的挑战。

Recent advancements in ophthalmic imaging have made significant impacts to understanding and treating diseases leading to vision loss. The eye is a uniquely transparent organ, permitting optical imaging of the retina, the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a commonly used diagnostic imaging modality that is increasingly being investigated for real-time volumetric imaging. However, even with the good optical performance of the human eye, the lateral resolution of OCT, and related optical imaging techniques, is limited. Adaptive Optics (AO) is needed to obtain the resolution required to visualize the retina at the cellular level. Originally developed for astronomical imaging, AO performs wavefront correction of the light entering the eye using deformable optics, correcting the imperfections in the cornea and intra-ocular lens and permitting diffraction limited focusing on the retina. The purpose of my research program is to investigate novel OCT, AO, and related high resolution imaging technology to overcome the challenges to visualization of the retinal structure and biological function.