%0 Journal Article
%T Adaptive Optics for Visual Simulation
%A Enrique Josua Fern¨¢ndez
%J ISRN Optics
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/104870
%X A revision of the current state-of-the-art adaptive optics technology for visual sciences is provided. The human eye, as an optical system able to generate images onto the retina, exhibits optical aberrations. Those are continuously changing with time, and they are different for every subject. Adaptive optics is the technology permitting the manipulation of the aberrations, and eventually their correction. Across the different applications of adaptive optics, the current paper focuses on visual simulation. These systems are capable of manipulating the ocular aberrations and simultaneous visual testing though the modified aberrations on real eyes. Some applications of the visual simulators presented in this work are the study of the neural adaptation to the aberrations, the influence of aberrations on accommodation, and the recent development of binocular adaptive optics visual simulators allowing the study of stereopsis. 1. The Eye and Its Aberrations Vision is a fascinating puzzle involving different aspects. In a first stage, light emitted or reflected by external objects reaches the eye. The image of the object is projected onto the observer¡¯s retina by the optics of the eye. The information contained in the image is to be processed and transmitted from the retina to the brain by neural cells. The brain is finally in charge of the psychological interpretation of the scene for a useful perception of our surrounding reality. Each part of the complete process of vision is complex enough for requiring a separate analysis. The first part of vision pertains solely the optical aspects of formation of the images, and it is usually termed the optical or first stage. In this work, several aspects related to the optical stage will be shown, in particular, the connection of vision and the optical quality of the eye, and how adaptive optics has dramatically changed our methods and approaches for the study and understanding of vision. It seems appropriate starting with a description from an optical point of view of the eye. The eye is a complex system showing a tremendous histological richness. However, when studying the formation of images on the retina from the real world only some parts of the eye are relevant [1]. In the following, some fundamental parts of the eye are revisited. Some of them are shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 The first element that light encounters coming from the object or scene is the cornea. The latter provides approximately two-thirds of the total optical power of the eye. Considering solely the optical properties, the cornea might be
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.optics/2012/104870/