Abstract: An improved ophthalmic instrument for estimating aberrations in the eyes of a patient and providing the patient with a view of optical correction of the aberrations so as to provide instant feedback as to the accuracy of the estimated aberrations. The ophthalmic instrument comprises an adaptive optic subsystem for sensing and correcting estimated aberrations in a patient's eye, and a fixation target providing a view of correction of the estimated aberrations. The adaptive optics subsystem includes a wavefront sensor and a multi-stage phase compensator. The multi-stage phase compensator includes a first stage for compensating for a defocus component of the estimated aberrations, and at least one other additional stage for compensating other higher order components of estimated aberrations. Preferably, the first stage comprises a variable focus lens for defocus correction, and the additional stage(s) comprises a deformable mirror for correction of higher order aberrations estimated in the eye.

Abstract: An improved ophthalmic instrument for in-vivo examination of a human eye including a wavefront sensor that estimates aberrations in reflections of the light formed as an image on the retina of the human eye and a phase compensator that spatially modulates the phase of incident light to compensate for the aberrations estimated by the wavefront sensor Optical elements create an image of a fixation target at the phase compensator, which produces a compensated image of the fixation target that compensates for aberrations estimated by the wavefront sensor. The compensated image of the fixation target produced by the phase compensator is recreated at the human eye to thereby provide the human eye with a view of compensation of the aberrations the human eye as estimated by the wavefront sensor. The phase compensator preferably comprises a variable focus lens that compensates for focusing errors and a deformable mirror that compensates for higher order aberrations.

Abstract: An improved ophthalmic instrument for in-vivo examination of a human eye including a wavefront sensor that estimates aberrations in reflections of the light formed as an image on the retina of the human eye and a phase compensator that spatially modulates the phase of incident light to compensate for the aberrations estimated by the wavefront sensor Optical elements create an image of a fixation target at the phase compensator, which produces a compensated image of the fixation target that compensates for aberrations estimated by the wavefront sensor. The compensated image of the fixation target produced by the phase compensator is recreated at the human eye to thereby provide the human eye with a view of compensation of the aberrations the human eye as estimated by the wavefront sensor. The phase compensator preferably comprises a variable focus lens that compensates for focusing errors and a deformable mirror that compensates for higher order aberrations.

Abstract: An improved ophthalmic instrument including a wavefront sensor that estimates aberrations in reflections of the light formed as an image on the retina of the human eye. A phase compensator, operably coupled to the wavefront sensor, spatially modulates the phase of incident light to compensate for the aberrations estimated by the wavefront sensor. The phase compensator includes a first stage and at least one other additional stage, wherein the first stage compensates for a defocus component of the aberrations, and the additional stage(s) compensate for other higher order components of the aberrations. The first stage preferably comprises a variable focus lens and the additional stage(s) preferably comprise a deformable mirror.

Abstract: An improved ophthalmic imaging instrument including a wavefront sensor-based adaptive optical subsystem that measures phase aberrations in reflections derived from light produced by an imaging light source and compensates for such phase aberrations when capturing images of reflections derived from light produced by the same imaging light source. The high-resolution image data captured by the improved ophthalmic imaging instrument can be used to assist in detection and diagnosis (such as color imaging, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography) of abnormalities and disease in the human eye and treatment (including pre-surgery preparation and computer-assisted eye surgery such as laser refractive surgery) of abnormalities and disease in the human eye.