High-Resolution Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope with Dual Deformable Mirrors

Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO SLO) has demonstrated superior optical quality of non-invasive view of the living retina, but with limited capability of aberration compensation. In this paper, we demonstrate that the use of dual deformable mirrors can effectively compensate large aberrations in the human retina. We used a bimorph mirror to correct large-stroke, low-order aberrations and a MEMS mirror to correct low-stroke, high-order aberration. The measured ocular RMS wavefront error of a test subject was 240 nm without AO compensation. We were able to reduce the RMS wavefront error to 90 nm in clinical settings using one deformable mirror for the phase compensation and further reduced the wavefront error to 48 nm using two deformable mirrors. Compared with that of a single-deformable-mirror SLO system, dual AO SLO offers much improved dynamic range and better correction of the wavefront aberrations. The use of large-stroke deformable mirrors provided the system with the capability of axial sectioning different layers of the retina. We have achieved diffraction-limited in-vivo retinal images of targeted retinal layers such as photoreceptor layer, blood vessel layer and nerve fiber layers with the combined phase compensation of the two deformable mirrors in the AO SLO.