Visual Optics 1: B.Optom - Executive

VISUAL OPTICS 1
B.OPTOM - EXECUTIVE
Human eye as an optical system
• The eye is a compound optical system comprising a cornea and a lens, as shown in Figure 1.
• It is an adaptive optical system because the crystalline lens changes shape to focus light
from objects at a large range of distances on the retina.
• Unlike the components of most optical systems, typified in Figure 2, the cornea and lens are
not centered on a common axis, nor are they spherically surfaced. Because a model eye is
being treated here, however, it will be assumed that the surfaces are spherical and that
their centers of curvature lie on the optical axis, a straight line from the vertex of the
cornea to the posterior pole.
• Furthermore, the incident rays will be considered paraxial, that is, they lie close to the
optical axis and strike the surfaces with very small angles of incidence (Fig. 3). A bundle of
paraxial rays converges to a single point focus. As the diameter of the bundle of rays grows
larger, the incidence angles of the marginal rays become larger so that they no longer may
be considered paraxial.
• Spherical aberration forces them to cross the axis at different points, thus blurring the
image, as illustrated in Figure 4.
• A 2-mm maximum pupil diameter for the eye satisfies paraxial assumptions.
Optical system of the eye: a, anterior surface of cornea; b, posterior surface of
cornea; c, anterior cortex; d, anterior core, e, posterior cortex; f, posterior core; v
and g, anterior and posterior poles of the eye through which the optical axis passes;
line jh, visual axis.
Fig. 2. Centered system of rotationally symmetric optical elements containing an optical axis.
Fig. 3. Increasing angle of incidence for rays striking a spherical surface at
increasing heights above the optical axis.
Fig. 4. The blur due to spherical aberration has radial symmetry.
Human eye as an optical system
• Briefly, the corneal portion, including the tear layer, separates air
from aqueous humor, and the lens portion separates aqueous from
vitreous humor.
• Rays entering the eye are refracted first and by the greatest amount
at the first surface of the cornea because of the large difference in
index of refraction at the air-to-cornea interface.
• The second surface of the cornea has negative power; nevertheless,
the cornea contributes over 70% of the approximately 64 diopters (D)
of refractive power of the unaccommodated eye.
• The crystalline lens supplies the remaining refractive power. During
accommodation, additional power is supplied by the lens, which
assumes a rounder form.
Terminology and sign convention
• Before the optical system of the eye is described in detail, a review
of a few basic optical terms will be useful.
• Light is assumed to travel from left to right.
• Positive distances are measured from left to right; negative
distances are measured from right to left.
• Object distances are measured from the optical element to the
object point.
• Image distances are measured from the optical element to the
image point.
• In Figure 8, the object distance from the lens to the object point is
negative, that is, it is measured from right to left, and the image
distance is positive.
Fig. 8. Illustration of the vergence equation L' = L + F for a thin lens.
Focal points and focal lengths
• When light from an infinitely distant source found to the left of
an optical element strikes the element, the collimated paraxial
rays will be converged to F', the second focal point.
• This will be a real image point for positive elements (Fig. 5) and
a virtual image point for negative elements (Fig. 6).
• Distance F'A is the second focal length.
• Light originating from the first focal point F will be collimated
by the optical element, forming an image at infinity.
• FA is the first focal length.
• The idea of refractive power is derived from focal length and
leads to the idea of vergence.
Fig. 5. Positions of the first and second focal points formed by a positive thin lens in air and
positive single refracting surface. The distance from F to A is equal to the distance A to F' for
the thin lens. The distance F to A is equal to the distance from C (the center of curvature) to F'
for a single refracting surface.
Fig. 6. Positions of the first and second focal points formed by a negative thin
lens in air and a negative single refracting surface.
Vergence
• Light diverging from the object point in Figure 7
has negative vergence.
• The spherical wavefronts grow larger as their
radial distances from the source increase.
• Because curvature is the reciprocal of the radius
of curvature, the farther the wavefront is from
the object, the smaller its curvature will be.
• Wavefront vergence in diopters equals the
reciprocal of the radial distance in meters:
Fig. 7. Vergence in diopters shown in relation to a distance scale in meters. Light from the
object point diverges; light converges toward the image point. The farther the wavefronts
are from either of these points, the shallower their curvatures and the weaker the
dioptric values of their vergences.
Vergence
• Vergence = 1/Distance in meters
• Light that is converging toward an image has positive
vergence.
• The wavefronts become increasingly curved as they
approach the image point, and the vergence increases
correspondingly.
• For example, at a distance of 4 meters, the vergence is ¼ = +
0.25 D; at 2 meters, the vergence is ½ = + 0.5 D.
• Diopters of convergence (+) and divergence (-) for various
distances from object and image are tabulated as shown in
Table 1.
TABLE 1. Vergences in Diopters at Various Distances
•
• Distance (meters)
• 0.00
• 0.05
• 0.10
• 0.50
• 1.00
• 2.00
• 10.00
• 20.00
• ∞
• Vergence (diopters)
• ∞
• ± 20
• ±10
• ±2.0
• ±1.0
• ±0.5
• ±0.1
• ±0.05
• 0.00
Vergence
• It is assumed that light travels from left to right.
• Consequently, a divergent wavefront is centered
about a point to the left of the wavefront.
• Because the wavefront is negative, the distance
from the wavefront to the point (which may be a
real object or a virtual image point) is negative.
• Convergent wavefronts are centered about real
images or virtual objects to the right of the
wavefront. These distances are positive.
Reduced vergence
• Objects and images in media of any refractive index have reduced distances.
For objects, the reduced distance is l/n, the reduced image distance is l'/n'.
Similarly, the reduced first focal length is f/n and the reduced second focal
length is f'/n'.
• The reduced vergence of the light after refraction (heading toward the image
point) is the sum of the reduced vergence of the light from the object when it
is incident on the lens or refracting surface plus the power of the lens or
surface. For example, an object in air placed 2 meters to the left of a lens will
send light to the lens that, when it reaches the lens, has a divergence in
diopters
• If the lens is a positive lens with a focal length of ½ meter the lens power
• The image vergence becomes L' = -0.5 + 2 = + 1.5 D.
• This shows that the light leaves the lens with a convergence L' of 1.5 D and
will be imaged in air at …
Magnification
• In Figure 10, an object whose height is y is a
distance l from a thin positive lens. The lens
forms an inverted image atl' with a height of
y'. Lateral magnification (m) is the ratio of the
image height divided by the object height, m =
y'/y. It also can be shown that magnification is
equal to the reduced vergence from the object
divided by the reduced vergence to the image:
m = L/L'.
Fig. 10. Lateral magnification of an object with height y at distance 1 from a thin lens.
Magnification
• In the previous lens example, we found L = -
0.5 D, and L' = + 1.5 D; consequently, the
magnification is m = L/L' = -0.5/150 = -1/3. The
image is one third as large as the object, and
the minus sign means that the image is
inverted.
Principal points
• The paraxial characteristics of a complex optical
system, such as the series of lens elements
shown in Figure 11a, can be determined readily
by reducing the system to six cardinal points.
• Two of these points, the first and second focal
points, have been considered already.
• Another pair, known as the first and second
principal points, will be defined.
Fig. 11. Principal planes of a complex lens system, a. Paths of paraxial rays from infinity to
F' and F. b. Lens system is replaced by a black box in which two planes, found by the
intersection of the projections of the incident and emergent rays, are located. c. Lens
system is replaced by the principal planes.
Principal points
• Suppose an incident paraxial ray from infinity strikes the first lens element at a
height h above the axis and is refracted through the lens system.
• When it strikes positive elements, it is bent toward the axis. Negative elements
bend it away from the axis.
• Ultimately, it emerges from the last element at a height h' above the axis and with
a slope that converges it to the second focal point F'.
• Because this lens system consists of several spaced-out elements, it cannot be
treated like a thin lens. Consequently, the distance from the last element to F' is
not equal to the focal length of the system; it is called the back focal length (BFL)
and is of physical rather than optical significance.
• The focal length of optical significance is the equivalent focal length (EFL). This
term implies that the lens system has a focal length that is equivalent to that of a
simple “thin” lens. To find the position of this hypothetical “thin”lens with respect
to focal point F', the series of lenses is replaced by a black box (see Fig. 11b).
Principal points
• What is in the black box is unimportant once the height of
incidence h, the height of emergence h', and the slope '
toward the focal point of a paraxial incident ray are
known.
• The second principal plane is located by extending the
incident ray forward and the emerging ray backward until
they intersect. This plane defines the position of a thin
lens that theoretically could replace the lens system.
• The point H' where this plane crosses the axis is called the
second principal point. The distance from F' to H' is the
equivalent focal length of the complex lens.
Principal points
• If this process is repeated for a paraxial ray
from infinity entering the lens system (or black
box) from right to left, H, the first principal
point, is obtained.
• The distance from F to H is the same as F' to
H', that is, the equivalent focal length is
constant no matter how the lens is turned.
Nodal points
• The remaining two cardinal points are a pair of axial points called the nodal points.
• They are extremely useful in calculating image sizes.
• An incident ray directed toward the first nodal point will appear to emerge from the
second nodal point with unchanged direction. Therefore, the nodal points are called
points of unit angular magnification.
• When both the object and image lie in a medium of the same index of refraction, the first
and second nodal points coincide with the first and second principal points (Fig. 12c), a
lens system surrounded by air.
• If the lens is a simple thin lens in a uniform medium, the principal and nodal points all
coincide at the vertex of the lens (see Fig. 12a).
• If the image is not in the same medium as the object, as in the single refracting surface of
Figure 12b, however, the nodal points do not coincide with the principal points. The two
principal points coincide at the vertex of the surface, and the two nodal points coincide at
the center of curvature of the surface.
• For all these cases, the slope of the ray directed toward the first nodal point is the same as
the slope of the ray that appears to emerge from the second nodal point.
Fig. 12. The relationship between principal and nodal points. a. Thin lens: H, H', N and N'
coincide at the optical center. b. Single refracting surface: H and H' coincide at the vertex; N
and N' coincide at the center of curvature. c. Complex lens in uniform medium: H and N
coincide; H and N' coincide.
Nodal points
• The eye is a complex series of refracting
surfaces that forms an image in vitreous of an
object in air. Therefore, it has a pair of
principal planes and a separate pair of nodal
points that can be used to represent it. Their
positions are shown in Gullstrand's schematic
eye (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13. Optical constants of Gullstrand's schematic eye. Top. Indices of the media and
the positions of the refracting surfaces. Bottom. Positions of the cardinal points that
replace the eye for purposes of optical calculations.
The Gullstrand schematic eye
• Schematic eyes are models of the optical system of the eye.
• They are extremely useful but limited representations of the dynamic
living eye.
• The schematic eyes developed by Listing, Tscherning, and Helmholtz 4
greatly advanced the understanding of the optics of the eye.
• However, it was Gullstrand who developed the most authoritative
model of the eye. His model was based on the work of many
researchers and some very original experiments and instrumentation of
his own.
• The essential parameters that Gullstrand needed to find how light
travels through the eye were the curvatures of the surfaces of the
cornea and lens, their positions, and the indices of refraction of the
ocular media.
• Although the anterior surface of the cornea seems
spherical, it is not.
• Centered about the vertex is an optical zone 2 to 3 mm in
diameter through which the rays enter the eye.
• The optical zone suffers from physiologic astigmatism, that
is, it is more steeply curved in the vertical meridian than
horizontally.
• Beyond this zone, the anterior surface of the cornea
flattens asymmetrically. It may be less flat in some
meridians and asymmetric on opposite sides of the vertex.
• These topographic features of the anterior surface of the cornea were determined by
means of Gullstrand's photokeratoscope, a device that took photographs of the corneally
reflected image of an illuminated pattern of circles.
• Measurements of the photographs were used to calculate the corneal contour.
• The ophthalmometer also was used for this purpose. Both methods use reflection from
the front surface of the cornea. This reflection forms the first of the four Purkinje images.
• With care, the reflex from the posterior surface of the cornea as well as faint reflections
from the anterior and posterior surfaces of the lens may be seen.
• The anterior surface of the lens is convex and forms a virtual reflex image, but the
posterior lens surface is concave and forms a real reflex image of a distant object.
• Each of these surfaces acts as a simple spherical mirror. Therefore, their radii may be
calculated easily,
• Measurements of 14 ocular parameters comprising curvatures of surfaces, thicknesses of
elements, and indices of the media were required for Gullstrand to define the optical
system of a standard eye (see Fig. 13).
The Gullstrand schematic eye – Refractive
indices
• The indices of refraction of the cornea, aqueous, lens, and vitreous had to be
determined. Gullstrand found that the indices of refraction of the aqueous
and vitreous were both equal to 1.336, which is practically identical to water.
The index of refraction of the cornea was higher and is given as 1.376.
• The crystalline lens structure often is compared with the layers of an onion.
This laminar structure has an increasing lens density and index of refraction
from the outermost layers to the center.
• Calculations of ray paths through a lens of continuously varying indices or
gradient index are very complicated. Therefore, Gullstrand calculated an
equivalent lens made up of a central core with a refractive index of 1.406
surrounded by a cortex of index 1.386.
• These two-index lenses closely approximated the size, shape, and power of
the average real crystalline lens.
The Gullstrand schematic eye – Radii of
curvature of refractive surfaces
• The radii of the various ocular surfaces were measured with an ophthalmometer.
• This is an instrument with an illuminated object pattern of known size and position that is
reflected by the ocular surface. The reflected pattern is viewed by means of the special
optical system of the ophthalmometer that may be adjusted to find the size of the image
reflected by the surface of interest.
• Because the ratio of the image size to the object size is equal to the ratio of the image
distance to the object distance, the focal length of the surface, treated as a spherical mirror,
can be calculated. The focal length of a spherical mirror is equal to one half of its radius of
curvature, so the ophthalmometer can be calibrated directly to read out the radius of
curvature of the surface. Clinical ophthalmometers usually are calibrated to provide the
refracting power of the front surface of the cornea. Given 1.376, the index of refraction of
the cornea, this merely requires solving the equation.
• Similarly, the power of the posterior surface of the cornea is the result of the difference in
the indices of the cornea and aqueous. This difference is much less than at the air-cornea
interface (the anterior surface) so that the power at the posterior surface of the cornea is
weak. In fact, it is a negative or diverging power because the light travels from a higher
(cornea 1.376) to a lower (aqueous = 1.336) index medium.
POSITIONS OF THE OCULAR SURFACES
• Gauges, calipers, and other mechanical devices provided the early data on
the thicknesses and positions of the optical elements in the eyes of cadavers.
• With the invention of the slit lamp, finding these positions optically without
dissecting and deforming the eye was possible.
• Initially, the slit lamp is focused on the anterior surface of the cornea to
establish the zero position.
• The slit lamp then is racked forward to bring the second surface into focus,
and the distance that the slit lamp is translated to accomplish this is
recorded.
• Similarly, for example, the depth of the anterior chamber would be found by
focusing on the anterior surface of the lens or on the edge of the iris.
• This is also an apparent position. The real position depends on the power of
the cornea.
GULLSTRAND'S RESULTS
• Several significant factors should be noted

about the Gullstrand schematic eye with
relaxed or zero accommodation (Table 3).
• The first and second principal points at about
1.348 and 1.602 mm behind the vertex of the
anterior corneal surface are separated by only
about 0.25 mm and shift only approximately
0.4 mm at maximum accommodation.
• The power of the cornea is 43.05 D.

• In the unaccommodated state, the crystalline lens has a power of 19.11 D.
Interestingly, although the cortex and core indices are 1.386 and 1.406,
respectively, an index of 1.42 would be required if a homogeneous lens were
to have the same form and power.
• The power of the unaccommodated eye is 58.64 D.
• The data shows that the standard eye is axially hyperopic by 1 D; therefore,
it has a length of 24 mm from the anterior corneal surface to the fovea.
• An emmetropic eye would have an axial length of 24.4 mm.
• Axial myopia and hyperopia are produced by longer or shorter model eyes.
• Similarly, refractive myopia and hyperopia results if the power of the model
eye varies from 58.64 D.
• An optically homogeneous lens with spherical refracting surfaces would produce a

significant amount of spherical aberration.
• As noted, spherical aberration is characterized by rays being brought to a
progressively shorter focus as they strike a lens at greater heights from the optical
axis.
• Fortunately, two counter effects exist in the eye. The cornea is not spherical but
tends to flatten out at its margins, and thus, marginal rays are not refracted as
much as they would have been had the spherical contour of the cornea been
maintained.
• Similarly, the lower index in the outer zones of the lens causes less refraction of the
marginal rays. These two effects compensate for spherical aberration and may, in
fact, overcorrect it.
• Constriction of the pupil completes the mechanisms that reduce spherical
aberration, at least in bright surroundings.
• This plays a significant role in increasing visual acuity.
• During accommodation, the curvatures of the lens

become steeper, the axial thickness increases, and
the pupil constricts.
• These changes enable the eye to focus sharply
near objects on the retina.
• The uneven capsule (Fig. 14) allows the front
surface of the lens to bulge in the center while
keeping the periphery less curved, which helps
control spherical aberration as power is increased.
Fig. 14. Variation in thickness of lens capsule according to Fincham. (Davson H: The
Physiology of the Eye. Edinburgh: Churchill-Livingstone, 1949.)
• Figure 16 shows the blur patterns for a myopic, emmetropic, and

hyperopic eye.
• Both the red and blue blurs superimpose in the emmetropic eye,
producing no noticeable color aberration. In absolute hyperopia, the
blue rays focus on the retina and are surrounded by a red blur or halo.
• In myopia, the red rays are in focus on the retina and some blue halo
surrounds.
• For example, a myope will see red neon signs most sharply, and a
hyperope (with no accommodation) will see blue neon signs most
sharply.
• The myope and hyperope will see colored haloes about points
emitting a mixture of red and blue light.
Fig. 16. Yellow light is focused on the retina in emmetropia. Because of chromatic
aberration, red light focuses behind the retina and blue light focuses in front of it.
MODERN SCHEMATIC EYE
• Modern technological developments in the biometry
of the human eye have resulted in an extensive
literature describing its anatomy and optical
properties.
• Among these are the gradient index of the lens, the
aspheric curvatures of the surfaces of the cornea and
the lens, and the dispersive characteristics of the
ocular media.
• One such model that predicts spherical and
chromatic aberration is shown inFigure 17.

Fig. 17. A modern schematic eye model from Liou and Brennan.
MODERN SCHEMATIC EYE
• All surfaces are centered on the optical axis.
• The aperture stop coincides with the front
surface of the lens and is decentered by 0.5
mm nasally.
Reduced eye
• Because the Gullstrand and modern schematic eyes contains six refracting
surfaces, calculations are simplified by treating this eye as a black box and
using the cardinal points for determining object-image relationships.
• An even greater simplification, the reduced eye, was computed by Listing.
• He reduced the eye model to a single refracting surface, the vertex of which
coincides with the principal plane and the nodal point of which lies at the
center of curvature (Fig. 18).
• Listing combined the two principal points and the two nodal points each into
a single principal and nodal point.
• The single principal point is 1.5 mm behind the cornea. It represents the
vertex of a single refracting surface with a radius of curvature of 5.7 mm. The
nodal point of a single refracting surface is at the center of curvature so that
the nodal point is 1.5 + 5.7 = 7.2 mm behind the cornea of Gullstrand's eye.
Fig. 18. Comparison of the schematic and reduced eyes. The refracting
surface of the reduced eye is a hypothetical surface that lies midway between
the principal points of the schematic eye.
Reduced eye
• Retinal image sizes may be determined very easily
because the nodal point is at the center of curvature of
this single refracting surface.
• A ray from the tip of an object directed toward the nodal
point will go straight to the retina without bending,
therefore, object and image subtend the same angle.
• For example, in Figure 19, a ray from an angular
direction is shown. The ray goes through the nodal point
and is not bent; consequently, the angle subtended at
the nodal point by the retinal image is also equal.
Fig. 19. Retinal image size constructed by means of a ray through the nodal point.
Retinal image size
• The size of the retinal image is found easily by using the reduced eye model.
• Several rays may be used, but the simplest ray to use is the undeviated one
through the nodal point to the retina.
• For example, in Figure 19, this ray comes from the tip of a distant tree, which, for
example, subtends an angle = 0.1 radians at the nodal point N. The retinal image
subtends the same angle at the nodal point. Thus, Y' = 17.2 × 0.01 = 1.72 mm.
• Image point Q' can be constructed with rays other than the one through the
nodal point. In Figure 20, two rays from an infinitely distant object that subtends
an angle at the eye are incident on the eye. The rays are parallel to each other
(collimated). The upper ray is headed toward the nodal point and is identical to
the ray previously discussed. It strikes the retina at a height Y' = 17.2 × . The
lower ray crosses the axis at the first focal point F. When this ray strikes the eye,
it appears to originate at the first focal point and travels parallel to the axis after
refraction.
Retinal image size
• Because it travels parallel to the axis after entering the eye, its height
remains constant from the point of incidence T, at the refracting
surface, to the retina.
• Triangle FPT is the same as triangle NF'Q' because both triangles have
identical angles and sides that are 17.2 mm long.
• Consequently, height PT must equal height F'Q', and thus, the lower
ray will strike the retina at point Q' just as did the ray through the
nodal point.
• The triangles can be visualized better by assuming a flat cornea and
retina, which are the conditions for paraxial calculations. That is, the
rays are assumed to strike these surfaces so close to the axis that the
surfaces practically are flat over this short distance from the axis.
Fig. 20. Construction of image at intersection of ray through nodal point with ray
through first focal point of the eye.
IMAGE SIZE IN AMETROPIA
• Emmetropia prevails when the refractive power and axial length of the eye are
matched properly.
• Clearly, any number of combinations of power and length will produce emmetropia.
• The Gullstrand schematic eye with a power of 58.64 D and an axial length of 24.4
mm represents a typical emmetropic eye.
• Consequently, considering axial ametropia—the condition in which the power of the
eye is the normal 58.64 D—is convenient for illustrative purposes, but the length of
the eye is not 24.4 mm.
• Figure 21 illustrates the variation of axial length with ametropia. The easiest way to
show the magnitude of the retinal image size changes due to axial ametropia is to
use the reduced eye model that has a length of 22.9 mm and a power of about 58 D.
• It is evident in Figure 21 that for any given angular subtense of the object at the
nodal point of the eye, the retinal image will be smallest in hyperopia and largest in
myopia. The image size will be in direct proportion to the length of the eye.
Fig. 21. Visual angle and retinal image size in ametropia. The size of the retinal
image corresponding to a given angular field of view ( ) varies with the
elongation of the eye.
IMAGE SIZE OF OBJECT AT FAR-POINT IN AXIAL MYOPIA
• To form a sharp image on the retina of an axial myope,

a distant object must be brought toward the eye. As
the object nears the eye, the rays strike the eye with
increasing divergence. This causes the image, which
initially falls in the vitreous at F', to shift back toward
the retina (Fig. 22).
• When the sharp image coincides with the retina of the
elongated eye, the object is at the far-point of the eye.
• The unaccommodated myopic eye can see clearly up
to this distance but no farther.
Fig. 22. Length of the reduced eye in 5 D of axial myopia is 25.2 mm. Because the power
of the refracting surface is normal the position of the nodal points remains 5.7 mm; the
distance from the nodal point to the retina is increased to 19.5 mm from a normal
distance of 17.2 mm.
Image Size of Object at Far-Point in Axial Hypermetropia
• The small globe of the axially hyperopic eye causes the

retina to intercept the convergent rays before they come to
a focus, as shown in Figure 23.
• In order for rays from an object to come to a focus on the
retina, they must be convergent when they strike the
refracting surface. That is, they must appear to originate at
a virtual object located behind the retina.
• When the vergence of the incident light plus the power of
the eye cause the image to fall on the retina, the
corresponding virtual object is at the far-point of the eye,
behind the retina.

Fig. 23. The size of the retinal blur circles in hyperopia or myopia depends on the diameter of the bundle of light admitted to the eye.

Fig. 24. The length of the reduced eye in 5 D of axial hyperopia is 21.2 mm. The position
of the nodal point is 5.7 mm from the refracting surface. The distance from the nodal
point to the retina is decreased to 15.5 mm from a normal distance of 17.2 mm.
PUPILLARY APERTURE, DIFFRACTION, AND
RESOLVING POWER
• Because light consists of rays traveling in straight lines, it works well for finding object and image
positions and sizes. However, are there rays of light?
• A direct experiment to elucidate this might be to allow a bundle of rays to pass through a
circular aperture. As the aperture is made smaller, fewer rays should be transmitted. If these
rays are observed on a screen, the spot diameter also should become smaller. Although at first,
the spot on the screen does constrict, at a certain point as the aperture continues to shrink,
however, the spot on the screen begins to enlarge (Fig. 25).
• This phenomenon, known as diffraction, sets a limit to the minimum size of an image. Diffraction
is a bending of light caused by the edge of an aperture or the rim of a lens.
• Even a perfect lens, free from aberrations, will not focus light to a point because of diffraction.
• Instead of a point image, a lens with a circular aperture or pupil produces a blur consisting of a
series of concentric bright and dark rings (Fig. 26).
• At the center of this diffraction pattern is a bright spot known as the Airy disc because Sir
George Airy, (1801-1892), Astronomer Royal, was the first to calculate the energy distributions in
the pattern. About 84% of the total energy of the diffraction pattern is in the Airy disc. The
remaining energy is distributed in the surrounding rings that become progressively fainter.
PUPILLARY APERTURE, DIFFRACTION, AND
RESOLVING POWER
• Diffraction blur increases directly with the
wavelength and inversely with the aperture
diameter.
• A red light source will be imaged with nearly
twice the diameter of a blue light source.
Doubling the aperture diameter will halve the
diffraction blur.
Fig. 25. Diffraction due to reducing the size of the aperture.
Fig. 26. Distribution of energy across the diffraction pattern of a circular aperture.
Fig. 27. Diffraction pattern of lens of circular aperture d and tabulation of pattern size,
intensity, and energy distribution. (From Modern Optical Engineering by Smith WJ.
Copyright 1966, McGraw-Hill. Used with permission of McGraw-Hill Book Company.)
MODULATION TRANSFER FUNCTION-
DIFFRACTION LIMITED
• The image-forming quality of optical systems
classically has been expressed by their
resolving power or the limiting resolution
below which the image of a target can no
longer be resolved. This is the point at which
the contrast between light and dark regions in
the image is so low that the image appears to
be a smear.
DIFFRACTION LIMITED
• At best, all images are slightly smeared because of diffraction.
• Points are imaged as diffraction patterns; fine lines are spread into long blurs (Fig. 29
a and b).
• A plot of the luminance (L) across such smeared images is called the spread function.
The spread function causes the sharp edge of an object to have a rounded image
luminance profile (see Fig. 29c). This rounded luminance profile on both sides of a
coarse square wave or bar target will be a blurred region between a flat maximum (L
= 1) and minimum (L = 0) luminance distribution.
• As progressively finer bar targets are imaged by the optical system, their luminance
profiles are progressively imaged closer together and run into each other.
• In other words, increasingly more light invades what should be the dark areas. The
ideal square wave luminance distribution of the image becomes degraded into a
sinusoidal distribution (see Fig. 29e). As the bar targets become more closely spaced
(higher spatial frequency), the difference between the maximum and minimum
luminance lessens, or the contrast, expressed as a modulation, is reduced.
Fig. 29. a. Intensity in diffused image of a point. b. Intensity in diffused image of a line. c. Spread
function or light distribution in image of a sharp edge. d. Bar targets of various spatial frequencies
(N lines per millimeter) have periods of 1/N mm. e.Ideal images of the bar targets would be
square waves; because of the spread function, the light distribution in the image is sinusoidal. As
the spatial frequency of the bar target is increased, the contrast in the image is
reduced. f. Modulation transfer function for two lenses.
DIFFRACTION LIMITED
• The ideal modulation transfer function (MTF)
targets are not bars with square wave
luminance distributions but gratings that vary
sinusoidally in luminance.
• Because the luminance distributions in their
images always are sinusoidal, their
mathematical treatment is facilitated.
MODULATION TRANSFER FUNCTION OF THE
EYE AND RETINAL IMAGE BLUR
• The quality of the image on the retina is altered by four
types of blurs:
• scattering by small particles in the ocular media,
• diffraction at the pupil,
• inaccurate focus due to accommodation and ametropia,
and
• aberrations of the eye.
• Blurring of the retinal image reduces spatial contrast of
the image, and the reduction of contrast increases with
spatial frequency.
• Blur of the retinal image from scattered light results largely from small
particles in the ocular media, particularly in the lens and vitreous, that
scatter light toward the retina.
• In the young eye, scattered light is a minor source of retinal blur, but in the
aging eye, the lens and vitreous can become major sources of scattered
light because of cataracts, vitreous degeneration, and other age-related
disorders.
• Scattered light reduces contrast of the image by adding a veiling luminance
or “wash” over the retinal image. Because the veiling light is added both to
the troughs and peaks of grating images, contrast of the image is reduced
at all spatial frequencies, including low spatial frequencies.
• The loss of contrast from scattered light can be debilitating for elderly
patients.
• Diffraction is an interference phenomenon that involves
“bending” of rays that pass close to edges like the
edges of the pupil.
• When the pupil is smaller than about 2 mm in diameter,
the MTF of the eye is limited by blur from diffraction.
• As pupil size is reduced, contrast is reduced or
eliminated at high spatial frequencies. For pupils larger
than about 2 mm in diameter, inaccurate focus and
aberrations are the major sources of retinal image blur.
• Inaccurate focus of the eye (defocus) from uncorrected ametropia and from
inaccurate accommodation produces large amounts of defocus blur and loss
of contrast at moderate and high spatial frequencies.
• In the aberration-free eye, the effect of defocus on blur of the retinal image
is similar for myopic and hyperopic focus, and for over- and
underaccommodation.
• Figure 31 shows the effect of defocus on MTF for various amounts of
defocus-blur for an eye with a 3-mm pupil.
• Again, at low spatial frequencies, inaccurate focus does not affect contrast of
the image, but by 3 cpd (20/200), the loss of contrast is significant, even for
0.25 D of defocus, and by 10 cpd (20/60), defocus in the amount of 0.75 D
reduces contrast close to zero. The effects of defocus blur on contrast are
more severe for pupils larger than 3 mm, and uncorrected ametropia and
inaccurate accommodation are a primary source of retinal image blur.
Fig. 31. Modulation transfer functions for defocus blur of 0, 0.25 D, 0.5 D, 0.75 D, and 1
D for a 3-mm pupil.
• Chromatic dispersion by the ocular media produces two
chromatic aberrations. Longitudinal (axial) chromatic aberration
measures more than 2 D across the visible spectrum.
• In addition to longitudinal chromatic aberration, decentered
pupils and the angle between visual and optic axes produce
lateral (transverse) chromatic aberration that averages about 30
arc seconds at the fovea.
• The blur from longitudinal chromatic aberration is significant
even at relatively low spatial frequencies (e.g., 1–3 cpd), but
blur from lateral chromatic aberration is significant only at
higher spatial frequencies (>10 cpd).
• Figure 34 shows the effects of both defocus and
chromatic aberration on MTF of the eye.
• The figures represent under- and overaccommodation in
the amount of a half-diopter with the focus referenced to
550 nm light.
• In summary, at spatial frequencies above approximately
0.5 cpd (20/1200), the contrast of the retinal image is
different for each spectral component of the image. These
chromatic effects control reflex accommodation and are
potential stimuli for the process of emmetropization.
Fig. 34. Modulation transfer function showing the effect of longitudinal chromatic aberration for myopic focus
or overaccommodation of 0.5 D (left) and for hyperopic focus or underaccommodation of 0.5 D (right). Contrast
(modulation) of the retinal image is highest for the wavelength in focus on the retina, and contrast is reduced
for spectral components that focus behind and in front of the retina. As a consequence, relative contrast of
spectral components distinguishes myopic from hyperopic focus. Calculations are for a 3-mm pupil with focus
referenced to 550 nm light.
DEPTH OF FOCUS AND DEPTH OF FIELD
• A good 35-mm camera has adjustable shutter speed and lens-opening settings.
• When one wants to stop motion, the shortest shutter speed and largest lens opening
are used, that is, a picture taken at 1/500 of a second and a large aperture f/1.9.
• If the subject is 8 feet away, one would find that everything between about 7.5 and
8.5 feet away would be in focus on the film, or the depth of field is about 1 foot.
• At the other extreme, if one were to photograph a stationary object 8 feet away, one
could get the proper exposure with a long shutter speed setting of 1 second and a
small aperture f/22.
• The depth of field would range from 5 feet to about 25 feet. Everything throughout a
depth of field of 20 feet would be in focus on the film when the lens aperture is
stopped down from f/1.9 to f/22.
• That is, the larger the pupil, the shorter the depth of field becomes. The range in
axial position of the image point corresponding to the depth of field is called the
depth of focus. The ranges just cited are based on a 3-minute blur tolerance used by
the photographic industry.
• If an eye with fixed accommodation is focused on a point source at M (
Fig. 35) and the point source is brought closer to the eye, it will appear
just noticeably blurred when it reaches position P.
• Similarly, when moved farther away, it appears just noticeably blurred
when it reaches position R.
• The distance R P is the total depth of field.
• It results in a depth of focus R' P' between the conjugate image points
that fall in front and behind the retina.
• The diameter of the blur spot on the retina depends on the size of the
pupil. Therefore, depth of field and depth of focus depend on pupil
diameters. Comparing the diagrams, the larger pupil produces a just
noticeable blur when R and P are moved through shorter distances;
thus, the corresponding depths of field and focus are reduced.
Fig. 35. The depth of field is the distance from R to P. The corresponding depth of focus
is the distance from R' to P'. Depth of field and depth of focus decrease as the
pupillary diameter increases (bottom).
• For an average pupil diameter of 2 to 3 mm,

the depth of focus generally is taken to be
±0.25 D because such a change in vergence is
tolerated before a blur is perceived.
• Two examples will be useful in understanding
the depths of field and focus.
DEPTH-OF-FIELD CALCULATION
• Assume that the eye in Figure 36 is focused on an object

point M found 4 meters away.
• The vergence of the light from this point will be -0.25 D
when it strikes the eye and will be brought to a sharp focus
on the retina.
• While accommodating for 4 meters, the subject will not
notice a blur at distance farther or nearer than 4 meters
until the vergence reaching the eye changes by ±0.25 D.
• Thus, if the -0.25 D vergence from M at 4 meters is
increased by + 0.25 D, one range of the depth of field is
found, specifically the far range R
Fig. 36. Depth of field and focus for ± 0.25 D of blur when fixating at 4 m. The
far depth of field extends out to R at infinity; the near depth of field extends
from M to P (2 m from the eye).
• Zero vergence corresponds to an infinitely distant far depth of

field. The subject will see clearly from 4 meters to infinity.
Similarly, to find the near depth of field P, the -0.25 D
tolerance is added to the vergence of the light reaching the
eye from point M:
• A vergence of -0.5 D takes the near depth of field from 4 to 2
meters. The total depth of field is from infinity to 2 meters.
• The results of this numerical example depended on the
selection of a 4-meter fixation distance and a ±0.25 D
tolerance. Had a tighter tolerance or another fixation distance
been chosen, the results would have been different.
• The depth of focus in the eye simply is the range

between the images of the far and near depths
of field, that is, the positions of the image
conjugates of points R and P. It should be
assumed that the power of the eye (F), when it
focuses on the point 4 meters away, is 58.25 D.
First find the position of the image of object M
for which the vergence LM at the eye is -0.25 D.
Thus, the vergence after refraction by the eye is…
• The near depth of focus equals l'P - l'M = 0.13 mm. The far depth of focus
equals l'R - l'M = 0.07 mm. Thus, the total depth of focus equals 0.07 +
0.13 = 0.2 mm.
• Figure 35 illustrates the reduction in depth of field and focus as the pupil
enlarges.
• In a similar way, Figure 37 shows an exaggerated blur B that is just
noticeable.
• For an eye focused at the fixation plane M, point P will produce a blur of
some diameter B when it is a distance S closer to the eye with a smaller
pupil.
• When the pupil is enlarged as in the lower illustration, the point may be
moved toward the eye, through a distance S' before blur B occurs, where
S' is less than S.
Fig. 37. Depth of field is determined by a just noticeable blur B. If the eye fixates plane
M, and point P is moved toward the eye, blur B occurs sooner from the larger pupil.
VISUAL DISCRIMINATION
• Visual discrimination can be divided into three broad categories: light
discrimination, or the detection of light and color; spatial discrimination,
or the ability to distinguish forms and relationships in space; and
temporal discrimination, concerned with time-varying stimuli. Resolution
and acuity represent visual capacities within the category of spatial
discriminations. The total range of visual capacities are as follows:
• Light discrimination
– Brightness sensitivity or the ability to detect a very weak light
– Brightness discrimination or the ability to detect threshold changes or
differences in the luminance of light sources
– Brightness contrast having to do with luminance differences at levels well above
the threshold and their visual interactions
– Color discrimination or the ability to detect colors
• Spatial discrimination
– Types of visual acuity
• Minimum visible and perceptible acuity: the ability to detect the
presence of objects in the visual field without naming or resolving
them
• Minimum separable acuity: the ability to resolve separate parts of a
pattern
• Hyperacuity and vernier acuity: the ability to localize small
displacements of one part of an object with respect to the other
parts
• Minimum legible acuity: the ability to recognize a pattern such as a
letter
• Contrast sensitivity function of the eye
– Distance discrimination or ability to judge absolute

or relative distances of objects.
– Movement discrimination or the ability to detect
relative or absolute angular motion
• Temporal discrimination: the growth and decay of sensations caused
by time-varying stimuli, such as flickering lights
• The density of rods and cones from the nasal to the temporal edge
of the retina (Fig. 38) is basic to an understanding of visual
discrimination. Cones are concentrated at the fovea and have a
packing density that is about 18 times greater than elsewhere in the
retina. No rods occur at the fovea. They reach maximum density at
about 18 to 20 degrees from the fovea. Neither rods nor cones are
found in the blind spot. Figure 39 illustrates the relative sensitivity
to different wavelengths of light of the rods and cones. Photopic
vision for high-acuity discriminations is mediated by the cones. The
rods, sensitive to low light levels, are used for scotopic vision.
Fig. 38. Rod-cone population curve as measured across the shaded zone of the retina
in the inset figure. (Chapanis A: How we see. In: Human Factors in Undersea Warfare.
Washington, DC: National Research Council, 1949.)
LIGHT DISCRIMINATION
Brightness Sensitivity
• Brightness sensitivity is the ability to detect a very weak light source in a black background.
• Hecht and associates15did the classic experiment to find the minimum energy necessary for
vision. The subject was dark-adapted for maximum sensitivity. They used light of wavelength
510 nm corresponding to the peak spectral sensitivity of the rods. A source subtending 10
minutes of arc, put 20' off-axis to correspond with the area of greatest rod density was
flashed on for 0.001 second.
• The detection threshold was found to correspond to approximately 50 to 150 photons
striking the cornea. Of these, about 50% are absorbed and reflected by the ocular media,
leaving 25 to 75 photons to strike the retina.
• Only about 20% of these photons are absorbed by the rhodopsin, thus only 5 to 15 photons
are left to excite vision. Because they fall on a 10-minute area of the retina that contains
some 500 rods, the probability of more than one photon falling on any rod is very low.
• Thus, the light can be seen when each photon is absorbed by a different rod. When one
photon is absorbed, it is absorbed by one molecule of rhodopsin. This single molecule
initiates the chain of reactions, resulting in nervous stimulation and the perception of light.
Amazingly, a retinal rod reaches the absolute limit of sensitivity set by quantum and
molecular theories.
Brightness Discrimination
• Brightness discrimination is the ability to

detect small differences in brightness between
two light sources, or luminance difference
thresholds (LDTs).
• Given two contiguous surfaces of the same
color but slightly different luminance, L and L +
ΔL, the subject is to detect the brighter
surface; ΔL is equal to the LDT.
Brightness Contrast
• Expressed as a percentage, (ΔL/L) × 100 also is called

brightness contrast; ΔL is the difference in luminance
between object and background, and L is the brightness
of the background.
• Brightness contrast depends on the size of the object, the
background brightness, the wavelength, the region of the
retina stimulated, and the shape of the object.
• Figure 40 shows that smaller differences in brightness are
required (lower contrast) as illumination L increases.
• Larger objects require lower contrast to be discriminated.
Fig. 40. Contrast discrimination curve. The least contrast required for an object to be
detected against its background decreases as the luminance (in log units of
millilamberts) increases. The eye can detect differences in the brightness of objects
better as the illumination increases. (Wulfeck JW et al: Vision in Military Aviation.
WADC Technical Report 58–399. Wright Air Development Center, OH, Nov. 1959.)
Spatial Contrast Sensitivity
• Visual acuity, measured with black Snellen letters on a

white background, fails to inform on the individual's
ability to see targets of low contrast that commonly
make up the real world.
• A more complete assessment of vision is provided by
measuring the contrast sensitivity function (CSF).
• This usually is done with spatial sine-wave patterns
that may be varied in contrast and spatial frequency (
Fig. 41).
• Here, we define contrast as a ratio of luminances (L).
Fig. 41. Sine-wave gratings are shown at two spatial frequencies (left and right). The
top gratings are objects with high contrast (1.0), and contrast is reduced to 0.6 and 0.3
at the bottom. Sinusoidal luminance profiles are shown below each grating.
• Spatial frequency is the number of cycles per degree (cpd)
in the sine-wave pattern, where 30 cpd corresponds to
20/20 or 1 minute acuity.
• Contrast sensitivity is the reciprocal of the threshold
contrast or necessary contrast for seeing the sine-wave
pattern.
• A contrast sensitivity curve, based on data by Corwin,16 is
shown in Figure 42. The normal CSF curve shows that
sensitivity falls at both high and low spatial frequencies.
• Peak sensitivity lies at about 4 to 5 cpd. Thus, the contrast
thresholds are low at these spatial frequencies.
Fig. 42. Contrast sensitivity function (CSF). Mean CSF curve (top). Template for rapid
screening (below). (Corwin TR et al: Contrast sensitivity norms for the Mentor B-Vat II-
SG Video Acuity Tester. Optom Vis Sci 66:864, 1989)
• Visual acuity is the end point of the CSF curve.
• Two individuals may have the same Snellen acuity but very
different sensitivities at intermediate spatial frequencies.
• Contrast sensitivity decreases with age, cataracts, and ocular and
neural pathologies. Claims for using CSF diagnostically have been
controversial.
• However, CSF may be useful in monitoring the efficacy of therapies
or following vision changes after corneal surgery.
• Several tests for clinical CSF measurements are available.
• The Arden17 and Vision Contrast Test System18 shown in Figure 43
comprise several printed sine-wave grating charts for distance and
near testing that provide a rapid assessment of CSF.
Fig. 43. Gratings that comprise the Vision Contrast Test System.
• Rapid results also are provided by the Pelli-Robson letter
chart shown in Figure 44.19
• Each chart contains eight lines of six letters in two sets of
three. All letters are of the same size. Each set of three
letters has a constant contrast; however, the sets decrease
in contrast by a factor of 1/ √2 or in steps of 0.15 log units,
from 100% at the top left to 0.6% at the bottom right.
• Administering this test is easy, compared with
psychophysical procedures, because it more resembles an
acuity test.
Fig. 44. The Pelli-Robson letter sensitivity chart.
Color Discrimination
• Color is classified in terms of its hue, saturation, and brightness.

• Hue relates to the wavelength of the light that results in the
perception of red, green, blue, or other colors.
• Saturation relates to the purity of the color, that is, how much
white light is mixed with the color.
• Brightness relates to the amount of luminous energy of the
color.
• Hue discrimination varies with the wavelength. It is greatest
around 490 nm (blue-green) and 580 nm (yellow), where
differences of about 1 nm can be discriminated (Fig. 45).
• About 128 hues can be distinguished under good conditions.
Fig. 45. Threshold sensitivity to wavelength. The smaller detectable difference in hue
is a function of wavelength. (Wulfeck JW et al: Vision in Military Aviation. WADC
Technical Report 58–399. Wright Air Development Center, OH, Nov 1959, p 115.)
Minimum Visible Acuity
• Minimum visible acuity often is called detection and really

is an example of brightness discrimination.
• It is indicative of the smallest area of the retina with
which we can merely detect light without regard to form.
• The minimum visible acuity is not determined by the size
of the object because a point source is not imaged as a
point on the retina because of aberrations and diffraction.
• Furthermore, fixation movements shift the image from
area to area.
Minimum Perceptible Acuity
• Minimum perceptible acuity refers to the detection of fine

objects, such as dots or lines, against a plain background.
• The objects may be bright on a dark background, dark on
a bright background, or of low contrast, that is, of nearly
the same luminance as their background.20
• This type of acuity depends on brightness sensitivity and
discrimination.
• The object need not be identified, merely detected.
• A long black line subtending 0.5 seconds of arc is visible
against a white background.
Minimum Separable Acuity
• Clearly, if both image patterns fell on one foveal cone, only one
object could be seen. If two adjacent cones were stimulated,
there still would appear to be one object. The necessary and
sufficient condition for resolving two objects is for two cones
to be stimulated and separated by a third cone that is subject
to a perceptibly lower level of stimulation.
• Figure 46 illustrates how two diffraction images separated by
Rayleigh's limit would appear on the foveal cone mosaic,
containing some 147,000 cones/mm2. The diameter of a cone
is approximately 2 μm, and the cones are spaced 0.3 μm apart.
Fig. 46. Position on the retinal mosaic of diffraction patterns of two just resolvable star
images. Peaks of patterns fall on cells a and c. Cell b receives less illumination since it
corresponds to position of dip. Energy falls off rapidly from center of patterns;
however, if intensities of the sources are very high, many more cells receive greater
than threshold stimuli; sources appear enlarged, and resolution may be lost.
• Central foveal cones have diameters as small as 1.5 μm or 0.0015 mm. The linear
separation of two cones separated by a third is approximately 0.003 mm. This
corresponds to a visual angle of…
• In addition to two-point resolution, the category of minimum separable acuity
includes such tests as the Landolt C and grids of equally spaced parallel black and
white lines (Figs. 47 and 48).
• The gap in the C subtends one fifth of the diameter of the ring, and the thickness of
the ring is one fifth of the diameter.
• The position of the gap may be rotated and the rings made progressively smaller
until the subject correctly locates the gap more than 50% of the time.
• Visual acuity is defined as the reciprocal of the gap in minutes of arc.
• A 1-minute gap corresponds to a standard acuity of 1. A 2-minute resolvable gap
corresponds to a visual acuity of 0.5. Figure 49 illustrates relative visual acuity as a
function of the field angle from the fovea. Figure 50 provides visual acuity as a
function of background luminance for various field angles.
Fig. 47. Landolt C: an example of a minimum separable type test target.
Fig. 48. a. Black-and-white square wave grating with elements subtending 0.4 minute of
arc. b. Ideal image intensity distribution. c. Actual image intensity distribution of much
lower contrast. (From Schlaer S: Relation between visual acuity and illumination. J Gen
Physiol 21:165, 1937)
Fig. 49. Relative visual acuity as a function of field angle. Acuity is greatest at the fovea
and falls off sharply in the peripheral retina. (Chapinis A: How we see: A summary of basic
principles. In: Human Factors in Undersea Warfare. Washington, DC: National Research
Council, 1949.)
Fig. 50. Visual acuity curve. Visual angle subtended by smallest detail that can be
discriminated as a function of background luminance in log millilamberts and image
positions 0°, 4°, and 30° from the visual axis. (Wulfeck JW et al: Vision in Military Aviation.
WADC Technical Report 58–399. Wright Air Development Center, OH, Nov 1959, p 116.)
• Parallel line gratings of various angular subtenses provide very precise

measures of acuity and have been used to study visual acuity in humans,
other mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects.
• For humans, the average angle subtended by the narrowest resolvable lines
of a grating is about 1 minute of arc or less.
• The reciprocal of this angle is, again, a measure of visual acuity. Pirenne 15
states that humans have a maximum visual acuity of 1.7 versus 0.017 for the
bee, or roughly 0.6 minutes versus 60 minutes for the respective angles of
resolution.
• As the resolution limit for a grating consisting of lines that subtend 0.4
minutes of arc is approached, the retinal image of the bars loses the
sharpness and contrast dictated by simple geometric optics.
• Because of diffraction and chromatic aberration of the eye, light from the
closely packed white image spaces spills over into the black image spaces.
Visual Acuity and Receptive Fields
• Implicit in the discussion of the foveal cone mosaic is the idea that each foveal cone
is connected to the visual cortex via a single optic nerve fiber. This, of course, is not
correct.
• Rods and cones connect with retinal bipolar cells, which connect with retinal
ganglion cells. The ganglion cells send fibers to the brain. These connections are
highly complicated.21
• Several rods and cones form synapses with one bipolar cell, and several bipolar
cells may form synapses with one rod or cone. The connections between the
bipolar cells and the retinal ganglion cells are similarly complicated.
• The mosaic of cones and rods that send signals to any particular visual cell, either a
retinal ganglion cell or a cell in the visual cortex, is called the receptive field of the
cell.
• Light that stimulates any portion of the receptive field (that is any rod or cone in
the receptive field) will elicit a response in the visual cell. Various types of signals
are generated, depending on the regions of the receptive field stimulated.
Hyperacuity and Vernier Acuity
• Vernier acuity is a hyperacuity test of the

ability to detect a break in a line. It is as fine as
3 to 5 seconds of arc.
• The cones above the break in the line or edge
(Fig. 51) receive a greater stimulus than those
below.23 This difference is signaled by a greater
frequency of nerve fiber impulses.

Fig. 51. Vernier acuity. Diffracted energy on the retina from the edge of a broken line spreads out as shown by the profile of illumination, which corresponds to a scan along the dashed line. The profile for the upper region is slightly offset from that of the lower region;
consequently, the cones in the columns above the break in the line receive more illumination than the cones below the break.

Hyperacuity and Vernier Acuity
• Another form of hyperacuity test is used to evaluate

vision through dense cataracts before surgery.
• Enoch and coworkers,25,26 recognizing that patients
with dense ocular media disorders retain the ability
to project or point to an intense light source, use
three bright sources to measure a three-point
vernier acuity. Two of the sources are aligned
vertically. A source at their midpoint is randomly
offset from the vertical alignment. The patient is
required to align it with the two fixed sources.
Minimum Legible Acuity
• In 1862, the Dutch ophthalmologist, Snellen, was the first to devise the
familiar eye chart based on findings that most emmetropes had a threshold
visual angle of 1 minute of arc for black objects on a white background.
• He used black block letters to form a chart that has become the basis for
the common clinical test of visual acuity. The test requires the
identification of letters of the alphabet, the details of which subtend
certain angles at specified distances.
• The process of identifying letters is complicated by experience, familiarity,
and psychologic factors that permit some blur interpretation that may be
characteristic of the form of the letter.
• Thus, although the Snellen test is a test of minimum separable acuity, it is
not as clear cut, for example, as resolving two points. Nevertheless, it is the
clinically preferred acuity test.
• The form of the Snellen letter corresponding
to the 1-minute visual angle is illustrated in
Figure 53. The letter E subtends 5 × 5 arc
minutes. Each bar of the letter subtends 1 arc
minute in width. When such a letter is read at
a distance of 20 feet, visual acuity is termed
20/20. This is the Snellen fraction, and it is
defined as
Fig. 53. Snellen E: An example of a minimum legible type test target.
• Thus, 20/20 visual acuity means the subject has read a letter at 20 feet that was
designed to be read at 20 feet. A rating of 20/40 means that a letter that normally
should be read at 40 feet has to be brought to within 20 feet before it is
recognized.
• The normal rating of 20/20 corresponds to a visual angle of 1 minute arc for the
smallest gap in the letter; visual acuity is the reciprocal of this angle.
• The visual angle for 20/40 visual acuity is 2 minutes of arc, and visual acuity is 20
÷ 40 = 0.5, which is called decimal acuity.
• The various letters of a line of Snellen letters are not equally legible. 27 The B is
most difficult. It would have to be increased approximately 1.17 times the letter E
to be equally legible.
• The easiest letter to recognize is the L, which to be as difficult to recognize as the
E should be reduced to approximately 0.84 times the E. In other terms, if the
ability to read a letter B that subtends 5 minutes is considered to be 20/20 visual
acuity, then the letter L can be read with an acuity as poor as 20/30.
• Snellen test charts cover a range of visual acuity from 20/400 to
20/10. This corresponds to decimal visual acuity of 0.05 to 2.
• The chart normally is designed for use at 20 feet.
• If a chart for near vision is required, the line corresponding to
20/20 would contain letters that subtend 5 minutes at, for
example, 16 inches, and the letters would have 1-minute details.
• The American Medical Association test chart consists of 17 lines
ranging from 20/20 to 20/200.
• The lines of this chart are designated additionally with a value
termed visual efficiency. This is an arbitrary rating evidently used
as a basis for industrial compensation for vision impairment.
Fig. 54. Comparison of visual efficiency and acuity.
Fig. 55. Visual acuity as a function of refractive error. Solid line corresponds to absolute
hyperopia; dashed line corresponds to myopia. (Wulfeck JW, et al: Vision in Military
Aviation. WADC Technical Report 58–399. Wright Air Development Center, OH, Nov 1959,
p 55.)
Bailey-Lovie Chart
• The Bailey-Lovie28 chart, shown in Figure 56, was designed to overcome

deficiencies in the Snellen chart.
• It has the following design features. All letters are of almost equal
legibility.
• At 20 feet, their stroke widths or the angles of resolution of the letters
go from 10 to 0.5 minutes of arc, corresponding to an acuity range from
20/200 to 20/10.
• Each line contains five letters, with between-letter spacing equal to the
width of a letter to avoid crowding. The between-line spacing above a
line is equal to the height of the letters in that line.
• The 14 lines of letters progress in size geometrically in a ratio of 10 √ 10,
or 0.1 log units. Each correctly identified letter on a line of five letters is
scored at 0.02 log units.
Fig. 56. The Bailey-Lovie test chart.
The LogMAR Scale
• Visual acuity is expressed as the logarithm of the minimum

angle of resolution or logMAR.28 This is the log10 of the
stroke width at 20 feet.
• Also shown is the corresponding angular resolution of a
black-and-white line pair. A 20/20 letter subtends 5 minutes
of arc. It has a line stroke of 1 minute of arc.
• A black-and-white line stroke subtend 1 minute of arc. The
decimal equivalent of 20/20 = 1. Because the log 10 1 = 0, the
logMAR value = 0. A 20/200 letter has a line stroke of 10
minutes of arc. Its logMAR value is 1 because log 10 10 = 1.
REFRACTIVE STATE OF THE EYE
• The image of an infinitely distant object will fall in front of the retina in myopia, on the retina in
emmetropia, and behind the retina in hyperopia, when these eyes are exerting zero
accommodation.
• Because the image of an infinitely distant object defines the position of the second focal point
of any optical system, we can restate the previous sentence to say that the refractive state of
the eye depends on the second focal length. The eye is myopic when the second focal length is
shorter than the length of the eye, it is emmetropic when the two lengths are equal, and it is
hyperopic when the second focal length is greater than the length of the eye.
• Twenty feet (6 meters) is the clinical equivalent of infinity.
• Classification of refractive states into categories of hyperopia, emmetropia, and myopia should
not obscure the fact that they represent a continuum of eye growth and changes.
• Except for the fact that a hyperope requires a plus lens and a myope a minus lens correction,
the two eyes are physiologically alike and optically differ only as far as the position of the
second focal point is on one or the other side of the retina.
• As the eyeball grows, some flattening of the cornea and lens offsets the refractive error that
otherwise would result. This process of emmetropization tends to restrain the development of
high refractive errors and concentrates the distribution of refractive states near emmetropia.
Emmetropia
• Although the emmetropic eye, with relaxed accommodation, forms sharp retinal
images of distant objects, emmetropia is not the statistically normal refractive state.
• Studies of refractive state show that the peak of the distribution curve occurs at
about 1 D of hyperopia, although the frequency of myopia is greater in adults than
children (Fig. 58).
• Most infants are hyperopic, probably because the axial length of their eyeballs is too
short. Consequently, hyperopia decreases with growth.
• Emmetropia is considered merely a point on the curve of refractive status that marks
the transition from hyperopia to myopia. It occurs when the length of the eyeball,
the curvature of the cornea, and the power of the unaccommodated lens all are
appropriate for focusing collimated light on the retina, a remarkable condition to
exist in so large a sample of the population.
• The young emmetrope with normal amplitude of accommodation will have distinct
distant and near vision, assuming that there are no problems with binocular vision or
amblyopia.
Fig. 58. Distribution of refractive errors among the population (Wulfeck JW et al: Vision
in Military Aviation. WADC Technical Report 58–399. Wright Air Development Center,
OH, Nov 1959.)
Ametropia
• Ametropia exists when distant objects are not focused sharply on the retina by an
eye with relaxed accommodation. The eye is too long or short for its power or too
weak or strong for its length. Whether it is power or length, that is, whether it is
refractive or axial ametropia, depends on establishing norms for power and
length as, for example, those of Gullstrand's schematic eye. Naturally, any given
individual may suffer from both axial and refractive ametropia.
FAR-POINT
• Because the emmetrope forms an image of an infinitely distant object on the
retina, we can say that the retina is conjugate with infinity. That is, if the light
paths are reversed and the retina is considered an object, then the image of the
retina, formed by the emmetropic eye, would lie at infinity. The point in space
conjugate to the fovea is called the far-point. It is the farthest point of distinct
vision. Figure 59a illustrates that in emmetropia, the second focal point falls on
the retina, therefore, the far-point is at infinity.
Fig. 59. a. Emmetropia: an infinitely distant object is focused on the retina; the far point is at infinity. b. Myopia: an
infinitely distant object is focused in front of the retina; the far point is a finite distance in front of the eye. c. Hyperopia:
an infinitely distant object is focused behind the retina; the far point is a finite distance behind the eye.
Ametropia
• To find the far-point of a myopic eye, it must be remembered that this eye is
too strong. As a result, collimated rays focus short of the retina, and the
second focal point lies within the vitreous (see Fig. 59b).
• To compensate for this excessive power of the eye, the object must be
brought closer.
• A closer object sends divergent light to the eye that pushes the focus closer
to the retina.
• When divergence just matches the amount of excessive power of the eye, the
image falls on the retina, and the object is at the far-point of the eye because
it is conjugate with the retina.
• For example, if an object must be brought to within 1 meter of the eye for its
image to fall on the retina, the far-point is at 1 meter and the eye suffers from
1 D of myopia.
• A myopic eye always has a far-point at some real distance in front of the eye.
Ametropia
• The location of the far-point for the hyperope is precisely the opposite, that is, it is a virtual
point behind the eye (see Fig 59c).
• Because the hyperopic eye has inadequate refractive power, collimated light will appear to
focus behind the retina. The light is intercepted by the retina, so it does not actually focus
behind the retina.
• Any object in front of the hyperopic eye will, if brought toward the eye, provide divergent
light. However, the hyperopic eye is weak so the image will fall even further behind the
retina.
• The unaccommodated hyperope will not see clearly at any distance in front of him. To move
the image from behind the retina onto the retina, the light must be convergent when it
strikes the eye or appear to focus behind the eye. Obviously, real objects cannot be seen
behind the retina, so a plus lens in front of the eye is needed to achieve this convergence.
• If a plus lens provides, for example, 1 D of convergence at the eye, the lens will form an
image of a distant object 1 meter behind the eye. This image appears to be a virtual object to
the eye. If the unaccommodated hyperope's eye can focus this image on the retina, the far-
point of the eye is 1 meter behind the eye, that is, the retina is conjugate with the virtual
object. The eye suffers from 1 D of hyperopia.
LENGTH OF EYE IN AXIAL AMETROPIA
• We calculated the size of the retinal image in axial ametropia using reduced eye
models with 5-D of myopia and hyperopia.
• Similar calculations could be made with the schematic eye.
• In this case, the distance from the second principal point H' to the second focal
point F' shows the variation in length corresponding to axial ametropia because
the principal points are nearly fixed in position compared with the focal points.
• Figure 60 shows the position of the second principal point.
• It is 1.6 mm behind the first surface of the cornea. Consequently, the length of
the eye will be 1.6 + l'.
• Length is obtained with the fundamental equation: L' = L + F, where in axial
ametropia F is constant (58.64 D), L is the vergence at the eye due to an object at
the far-point, and L' will be the vergence after refraction.
• Figure 61 presents the calculated length of the schematic eye in axial ametropia.
Fig. 60. The length of the schematic eye is calculated with respect to the second
principal plane, which lies 1.6 mm behind the cornea.
Fig. 61. Variation in the length of the schematic eye in axial ametropia.
CORRECTION OF MYOPIA
• The far-point of a myopic eye lies in front of the eye. The relaxed myopic eye can see distinctly this point
but no farther.
• To enable the myopic eye distinctly to see infinitely distant objects, it is necessary to make these objects
appear to be at the far-point by altering the vergence of the light from infinity so that it enters the eye
with the same divergence as rays from the far-point. This requires a lens at the eye that will diverge
collimated light so that it appears to come from the far-point. Such a lens is a minus lens and if collimated
light strikes this lens, it will appear to be focused at the second focal point of the lens.
• Consequently, a minus lens with a second focal point that is coincident with the far-point of the myopic
eye will correct that eye. It will cause collimated rays from infinity to enter the eye with the same
divergence as rays from the far-point and be focused on the retina. This is illustrated inFigure 62.
• The uppermost diagram depicts a myopic eye sharply focusing light from its far-point on the retina. Light
from points beyond the far-point would have less divergence at this eye and be foused in front of the
retina.
• The action of a properly chosen minus lens is shown in Figure 62b. This lens causes light from infinity to
diverge so that on emerging, the rays appear to originate at a virtual image point coincident with the far-
point. If the lens is now combined with the eye as shown in the bottom diagram, the necessary divergence
to light from infinity has been provided to enable the eye to focus it on the retina.
• The combination of minus correction lens and eye system causes the retina to be conjugate with infinity,
thus corresponding to the condition of emmetropia.
Fig. 62. Spectacle correction of myopia. a. Rays from the far point are focused on the
retina. b. A negative lens whose second focal point coincides with the far point forms a
virtual image of rays from infinity at the far point. c. Rays from the infinity strike the eye
with a vergence as if from the far point and are focused on the retina.
CORRECTION OF HYPEROPIA
• The far-point of the hyperopic eye lies behind the retina.

• Although a hyperope can converge light by accommodating to see clearly at far, without
accommodation, the hyperope cannot see distinctly any point in front of him or her from near to
infinity. Light must strike the eye with convergence, that is, appear to come from the virtual
object (far-point) behind the retina, if it is to be focused on the retina.
• Consequently, to see clearly at far, a plus lens is needed that has a second focal point coincident
with the far-point of the eye; thus, the image of a distant object is moved to the retina. The
combination of correction lens and eye causes the retina to be conjugate with infinity as it would
be in emmetropia.
• The closer this lens is to the eye, the shorter must be its focal length if F' is to be coincident with
the far-point. Just as in the myopic correction, the magnification depends on the position and
power of the lens.
• Figure 63 illustrates how a plus lens corrects the hyperopic eye. The top diagram shows how the
eye can focus on the retina rays that initially were converging toward its far-point behind the
retina. The middle diagram shows a plus lens positioned to make its second focal point coincide
with the far-point. The lens converges rays from infinity toward the far-point; consequently,
when these rays strike the eye, as in the bottom diagram, the eye can focus them on the retina.
Fig. 63. Spectacle correction of hyperopia. a. The far point lies behind the eye. Rays
converging to the far point lies behind the eye. Rays converging to the far point are
focused on the retina. b.A positive lens focuses rays from infinity at its second focal
point, which is coincient with the far point. c. Convergent rays strike the eye and are
focused on the retina.
Axial Myopia
• The sole condition to be satisfied by the correction lens is that its second focal point
coincides with the far-point of the eye.
• Theoretically, the lens can be placed anywhere between the cornea and the far-point
provided that the aforementioned condition is satisfied.
• The closer the lens is to the far-point, however, the shorter its focal length must be,
and the smaller the image of a distant object will be in the focal plane. It is this image
that the eye views.
• Obviously, as the image at the far-point becomes smaller, it will subtend a smaller
angle at the nodal point of the eye and the retinal image will shrink correspondingly.
• In Figure 65a, the negative correction lens is a short distance from the eye. It forms a
virtual image of the collimated off-axis rays, whose height at the second focal plane
(also far-point plane) is Y1'.
• In Figure 65b, the eye views this virtual image point whose height Y1' subtends some
angle at the eye's nodal point and forms a retinal image of corresponding subtense.
Fig. 65. Minification by spectacle lens in myopia. a. The lens is close to the eye and forms an image
of height Y1', which subtends an angle at the eye, as shown in b. c. When the lens is fitted farther
fro the eye, it forms an image of height Y 2', which subtends a smaller angle ' at the eye, as shown
in d. The farther from the eye that the correction lens is fitted, the greater is the minification.
Axial Myopia
• Figure 65c illustrates the geometry that results when a negative

correction lens of shorter focal length is placed farther from the
eye to cause the focal point to coincide with the far-point.
• The collimated rays from the object approach this lens with the
same slope as before, and after refraction, they virtually are
focused at the far-point plane.
• The height Y2' in this plane is reduced from that of the previous
correction, however, and this image subtends a smaller angle at
the nodal point of the eye. Consequently, the retinal image is
reduced in size (see Fig. 65d).
• Usually, the farther a negative correction lens is fitted from a
myopic eye, the smaller the retinal image will be.

Fig. 66. Size of the retinal image as a function of lens-to-eye distance for a distant object that subtends 0.1 radians
and an axial myopia of 5 D. The far point is 200 mm away.
Axial Hyperopia
• As expected, plus lenses will produce image size effects opposite that of negative lenses.
• The plus lens correction also must fulfill the condition of superimposing its second focal
point on the far-point of the eye.
• For the hyperope, however, the far-point is behind the eye. The plus correction lens can be
fitted no closer to the far-point than the vertex of the eye. Theoretically, of course, the lens
can be fitted any distance in front of the eye.
• However, the closer to the eye the lens is fitted, the shorter its second focal length must be
to maintain coincidence with the far-point.
• Concomitantly, the image formed by the lens at the far-point plane will be smaller. The eye,
in effect, views this image, which will subtend correspondingly smaller angles at the nodal
point.
• Figure 68a shows the correction lens relatively close to the vertex of the eye. An image of
height Y1' is formed at the far-point plane that, when viewed by the eye, subtends an
angle , as shown in Figure 68b. When a longer focal length lens is fitted farther from the
eye as in Figure 68c, the image Y2' at the far-point plane enlarges and subtends a larger
angle ' at the nodal point of the eye.
Fig. 68. Effect of the position of a spectacle lens on retinal image size in 5-D refractive myopia.
Object subtends 0.1 radians. a. Emmetropic eye forms an image 1.72 mm long. b. Chief ray height
of uncorrected eye is 1.72 mm. Power of eye is 63 D. c. Fitting the correction lens at the first focal
point does not affect power but shifts second principal plane to within 15.9 mm of the retina.
Image height is 1.59 mm. d. Fitting the correction lens at the refracting surface results in a normal
power of 58 D, and since the principal plane remains at the vertex, the image height is 1.72 mm,
the same as in emmetropia.
Astigmatism
• Paraxial theory indicates that spherical refracting surfaces form point images because these surfaces
have constant curvatures in all meridians.
• Cylinders, conversely, have a maximum curvature along their circumferential direction and zero
curvature along their length, that is, parallel to the cylinder axis.
• The zero curvature is 90 degrees to the maximum curvature. A cylindrical refracting surface will form a
line image of a point parallel to the cylinder axis.
• If the cylinder is bent into a doughnut shape, then the meridian that formerly had zero curvature takes
on a curvature. This curvature is less than the circumferential curvature and is at 90 degrees to the
latter. Thus, a toric surface results, which forms two line images of a point at right angles to each other
and at different distances along the axis. The distance between these line foci is called the interval of
Sturm in honor of the mathematician who investigated it in 1838. The interval of Sturm is shown in
Figure 70 as formed by a toroidal lens that is curved more deeply vertically than horizontally. Figure 71
illustrates the same lens with a circular aperture. The bundle of light, as it traverses the interval of
Sturm, has its cross-section transformed from a horizontal line to a horizontal ellipse. Then it becomes
circular in section, and this position is known as the circle of least confusion. As the light progresses,
the section becomes elongated into a vertical ellipse. This narrows to a vertical line at the end of the
interval. The eye becomes astigmatic when any of its refracting surfaces assume a toroidal shape. The
astigmatism is termed regular if the meridians of maximum and minimum curvature are at right angles
to each other. These meridians are called principal meridians.
Fig. 70. Formation of astigmatic images by a toroidal lens.
Fig. 71. Formation of the circle of least confusion by a toroidal lens .
WITH- AND AGAINST-THE-RULE ASTIGMATISM
• Astigmatism of the eye may be hyperopic or myopic depending on

whether the astigmatic foci fall behind or in front of the retina.
• Corneal astigmatism is most pronounced, although lenticular
astigmatism often is manifested when a spherical contact lens
eliminates the toricity of the cornea.
• The condition in which the meridian of greatest power is vertical,
or within 30 degrees of the vertical, is most common and is called
with-the-rule astigmatism.
• It is corrected with a minus cylinder at axis 180 degrees. When the
corneal curvature of greatest power is horizontal ±30 degrees, it is
called against-the-rule astigmatism. In the following classification,
accommodation is inactive and the object point is very distant.
REGULAR ASTIGMATISM
Simple Hyperopic Astigmatism
• In simple hyperopic astigmatism, the meridian of maximum power is

emmetropic; therefore, it forms a line image of a point on the retina.
• If that meridian is at 90 degrees, the astigmatism is with the rule, and a
horizontal line is focused on the retina.
• The meridian of minimum power is hyperopic. It will form a vertical line
image behind the retina.
• The interval of Sturm extends from the retina to this image behind it (
Fig. 72).
• Suppose an individual has 1 D of against-the-rule corneal astigmatism.
Using the reduced eye as a model, the power in the 180-degree meridian
is 58 D. The power in the 90-degree meridian is 57 D because the
hyperopic astigmatism is refractive in nature. The positions of the line
images with respect to the principal point P of the reduced eye are:
Fig. 72. Simple hyperopic against-the-rule astigmatism.
REGULAR ASTIGMATISM
Simple Hyperopic Astigmatism
• Vertical line image: f = 1336/58 = 23.0
Horizontal line image: f = 1336/57 = 23.4
mm;
The interval of Sturm is 23.4 mm - 23.0 mm =
0.4 mm.
• Correction will be obtained with a + 1.00 DC
axis 180 degrees, or with + 1.00 DS - 1.00 DC
axis 90 degrees.
Compound Hyperopic Astigmatism
• Both the maximum and minimum meridional powers are refractively hyperopic in
compound hyperopic astigmatism.
• InFigure 73, the meridian of maximum power (57 D) is at 90 degrees. This is with-
the-rule astigmatism, and this meridian forms a horizontal line image at a
distance of 23.4 mm.
• The more hyperopic (weaker) meridian at 180 degrees has a power of 56 D in this
example. It forms a vertical line image along the 90-degree meridian, at a focal
distance f = 1336/56 = 23.8 mm.
• The interval of Sturm is 23.8 - 23.4 = 0.4 mm, calculated in vitreous, but it would
extend from 0.4 to 0.8 mm behind the retina. Although accommodation will allow
the movement of the line foci toward the retina, both line foci cannot be placed
simultaneously on the retina. Accommodation here is an attempt to find the best
compromise focus, which usually is the circle of least confusion. A + 1.00 + 1.00 ×
90-degree lens or + 2.00 - 1.00 × 180-degree lens will correct this eye.
Fig. 73. Compound hyperopic with-the-rule astigmatism.
Simple Myopic Astigmatism
• In this type of astigmatism, the eye is emmetropic in one meridian.

• A distant point will be imaged as a line on the retina by the power in
this meridian.
• Figure 74 illustrates simple myopic with-the-rule astigmatism. The
power in the 90-degree meridian is 59 D or myopic by 1 D. The power
in the 180-degree meridian is a normal 58 D. The image conjugates
with respect to the principal point of the reduced eye are as follows:
• Horizontal line image: f = 1336/59 = 22.64 mm;
Vertical line image: f = 1336/58 = 23.0 mm;
The interval of Sturm is 22.64 - 23.0 = 0.36 mm;
A minus 1-D cylindrical lens axis 180 degrees will correct this
condition.
Fig. 74. Simple myopic with-the-rule astigmatism.
Compound Myopic Astigmatism
• This condition occurs when the meridians of maximum and

minimum power are both too strong, that is, when they are
refractively myopic.
• Both line images fall short of the retina, and the interval of
Sturm is displaced forward of the retina.
• In Figure 75, the meridian of greatest power is horizontal,
therefore, the astigmatism is against the rule. The interval
of Sturm is 22.27 - 22.64 = -0.37 mm. The myope is unable
to shift the circle of least confusion back to the retina. A
minus sphere combined with a minus cylinder will bring
both foci to a common point on the retina.
Fig. 75. Compound myopic against-the-rule astigmatism.
Mixed Astigmatism
• As the name implies, this condition has a myopic and

a hyperopic component. The meridian of weakest
power forms a line conjugate to a distant point that
lies behind the retina, whereas the meridian of
greatest power produces a line image within the
vitreous humor. Thus, the interval of Sturm straddles
the retina. In Figure 76, the vertical meridian is
hyperopic. The meridian of greatest power is
horizontal; therefore, the astigmatism is against the
rule. The interval of Sturm is 0.43 + 0.36 = 0.79 mm.

Fig. 76. Mixed against-the-rule astigmatism.
Irregular Astigmatism
• In the previous examples of types of regular astigmatism, the axes were at 90 and
180 degrees. In reality, the axes may be at any meridian. If the maximum and
minimum curvatures are 90 degrees apart, the astigmatism is regular—for example,
45 degrees and 135 degrees, or 65 degrees and 155 degrees.
• If, however, the two principal meridians of curvature are not 90 degrees apart or the
corneal curvature is not axially symmetric, the condition is irregular astigmatism.
• This may be due to injury, corneal diseases that leave scars, keratoconus, or
congenital abnormalities.
• Because spectacle lenses necessarily are ground to uniform curves, they cannot
properly correct axial asymmetry of the cornea. If grinding an asymmetric correcting
lens was possible, it would be proper only for a fixed-eye position because the
mobile eye would view through different portions of the lens that would vary in
power. The ideal solution to irregular corneas and irregular corneal astigmatism is to
use contact lenses that replace the cornea with a spherical refracting surface and
move with the eye so that they always are centered.
Accommodation
• Normally one can sharply see distant scenes and objects held close to the eye without
awareness of any focusing by the eye. As a result, the noncritical observer assumes
that all distances are simultaneously in focus for the eye. Scheiner 23 showed with his
two-hole disc that, in fact, when a distant scene is sharply seen, a fine pin held close to
the eyes appears double. Similarly, if the eye is focused on the pin, a distant scene
appears double. As seen in Figure 80, the two pinholes transmit two small bundles of
the rays that otherwise would enter the eye and come to a focus. If this focus falls on
the retina, the two bundles converge to one point and the observer perceives one
point. If the focus falls in front or behind the retina, the two bundles intersect the
retina at two separate points and a double image is perceived. Scheiner used this to
measure the accommodation of the eye. Simply stated, a fine distant object was
brought closer to the eye. As long as the eye accommodated, it maintained the object
in focus, and it was perceived singly. Accommodation was exerted maximally when the
object had reached the near-point. Further approach caused the object to appear
double. The point at which doubling is first perceived is called the near-point of
accommodation.
Fig. 80. Scheiner's disc experiment.
Accommodation
• The sequential occlusion of the two holes of the Scheiner disc can be used to find the refractive state
of the eye. For example, the pencil of rays through the lower hole will strike the hyperopic retina
below the axis and the myopic retina above the axis. The hyperope will note a disappearance of the
upper image (opposite), and the myope will not see the lower image (same) when the lower hole is
occluded. (Hint: project the retinal point back through the nodal point for the apparent direction of
the same source.)
• Thomas Young (1773-1829) pioneered the investigation of the accommodative mechanism of the eye.
Theoretically, the eye may change its focus in several ways. It may change its axial length. This is
essentially how a camera is focused for near objects. The lens simply is moved farther from the film
plane by means of a focusing ring built into the lens barrel or, in extreme close-up work, the lens is
attached to a bellows that permits positioning the lens through a much greater range. A natural
question, then, is whether the eye elongates to focus on near objects. A young emmetrope can focus
easily on an object 10 cm from the eye. We can find the elongation of the eye required to place the
retina in the image plane of this object with the vergence equation. The eye must elongate to 27.7
mm. When the object is at infinity, the position of the image was shown to be 22.9 mm, thus, the
growth in axial length of the eyeball is 27.7 - 22.9 = 4.8 mm. This is a change in axial length of more
than 20% of the emmetropic length of the eye, and it must be accomplished almost instantly,
imperceptibly, and unflaggingly during the waking hours. Clearly, the human eye does not
accommodate in this manner.
Accommodation
• Accommodation also may be mediated through an increase in the power of its
refractive elements. The eye theoretically may increase its power through a
shortening of the radius of curvature of the cornea or the lens or by an axial shift of
the lens. Young did an experiment in which he immersed his eyes in water. By
nearly matching the refractive indices at the water/cornea interface, he practically
eliminated the corneal refractive power. He became an extreme refractive
hyperope. To see distant objects clearly, Young introduced a positive lens to replace
the lost corneal power and could accommodate for near objects. Thus, he showed
that accommodation could be exerted despite the neutralization of the cornea.
• Although the crystalline lens remained the most logical agent of accommodation,
the question to be resolved was whether the crystalline lens moved axially or
changed shape. Axial movement was eliminated by the constraints on how much
the lens could move within the anterior chamber. Calculations show that the depth
of the anterior chamber is not sufficient for maintaining the focus of near objects.
Accommodation
• The steepening curvatures of the crystalline lens account for the ability to accommodate.
Helmholtz concluded that the zonule maintains shallow lens curvatures in the
unaccommodated state. Relaxation of the fibers, when the ciliary body constricts, allows
the elastic capsule of the lens to assume a rounder form. Tscherning noted that the
central portion of the lens became more deeply curved whereas the peripheral zone of
the lens surface flattened during accommodation. He concluded that this occurred
because of an increase in tension by the zonule during accommodation. It generally is
accepted that Helmholtz is correct in concluding that relaxation of tension by the zonule
allows the lens to assume a more deeply curved form. Fincham concluded that it was the
nonuniform thickness of the lens capsule that caused the bulge in lens curvatures in
accommodation rather than capsule elasticity.23
• Gullstrand provides a radius of curvature of 10 mm for the anterior surface of the
crystalline lens when relaxed and a radius of curvature of 5.33 mm when accommodated
by nearly 10 D. The axial thickness of the lens slightly increases because of the forward
bulge of the anterior surface. Mainly because of the bulge, the power of the lens
increases from 19 to 33 D, and the power of the eye correspondingly increases from 58.64
to 70.57 D.
STIMULUS FOR ACCOMMODATION
• The nature of the optical stimulus for reflex changes in accommodation has been debated
for more than 50 years. The standard view is that accommodation is a closed-loop negative
feedback system that alters focus to maximize or optimize the luminance contrast of the
retinal image. In this view, contrast is reduced both for underaccommodation and
overaccommodation, and feedback from changes in defocus blur is an essential part of the
accommodative process. However, recent experiments confirm that accommodation
responds in the absence of blur feedback13 and that the stimulus on the retina has
directional quality that distinguishes myopic from hyperopic focus. Along these lines,
Fincham29 suggested that accommodation responds directly to the vergence of light at the
retina, using the effects of chromatic aberration and the Stiles-Crawford effect. At spatial
frequencies above approximately 1 cpd, chromatic aberration ensures that the contrasts of
long-, middle- and short-wavelength components of the retinal image are different. For
example, the relative contrasts red>green>blue specify focus in front of the retina. In one
model of the process, the refractive state of the eye is determined by comparing relative
cone contrasts, measured separately by L-, M- and S-cone classes. In addition to the effects
of chromatic aberration, the waveguide nature of directionally sensitive foveal cones could
play a role in the accommodative process, but the notion remains largely unexplored.
AMPLITUDE AND RANGE OF ACCOMMODATION
• When the eye is accommodated fully, the point in space conjugate to the retina is the near-
point of the eye. It is the nearest point of distinct vision. How much accommodation is exerted
from the relaxed state to full accommodation is termed the amplitude of accommodation. If
the distances of the far- and near-points from the first principal point of the eye are denoted by
r and p and the corresponding reduced vergences are denoted by R and P, the difference R - P =
A, in diopters, is the amplitude of accommodation. The corresponding distance of distinct vision
from the near-point to the far-point of p - r = a is termed the range of accommodation (Fig. 81).
• The range of accommodation for a given amplitude of accommodation depends on the
refractive state of the eye (Table 8). An emmetrope, a myope, and a hyperope may each have
the same amplitude of accommodation, but their ranges of accommodation will differ greatly.
To find the range of accommodation, we need to know the amount of ametropia and the
amplitude of accommodation. From these, the far- and near-points can be calculated. The
range of accommodation is the distance between these points. For example, of three
individuals, each with an amplitude of accommodation of A = 10 D, one is an emmetrope, the
second is a 5-D hyperope, and the third is a 5-D myope. What are their ranges of
accommodation?
•
Fig. 81. Range of accommodation in myopia (top) and hyperopia.
AMPLITUDE AND RANGE OF ACCOMMODATION
• The emmetrope's far-point r is at infinity, therefore, R = 1/∞ = 0. Substitution into the

equation R - P = A, results in 10 = 0 - P, or the dioptric value of the near-point is P = -10 D. This
corresponds to a near-point distance p = 1/P, or p = -1/10 meter = -10 cm. The emmetrope's
range of accommodation is from 10 cm in front of the first principal plane of the eye to
infinity.
• The hyperope has a far-point R = + 5 D, that is, the far-point distance r is 1/5 meter behind
the eye. P = R - A = 5 - 10 = -5 D. The near-point distance p is one fifth of a meter in front of
the eye. In effect, 5 D of accommodation were exerted to overcome the hyperopia, to see
sharply at infinity, and the remaining 5 D determined the near-point. The range of
accommodation of the hyperope is from 20 cm in front of the eye, through infinity, to 20 cm
behind the eyes (see Fig. 81).
• The dioptric value of the far-point of the 5-D myope is R = -5. Thus, P = -5 - 10 = -15 D. The
range of accommodation of the myope is a = p - r = -100/15 + 100/5 = -6.7 + 20 = + 13.3 cm,
or from 6.7 cm to 20 cm in front of the eyes.
• These examples illustrate the limited range of accommodation available to the myope who
otherwise has an amplitude of accommodation equal to that of an emmetrope and
hyperope.
PRESBYOPIA
• The amplitude of accommodation decreases from childhood to 75 years of age. When
the reduction in amplitude causes the near-point to move beyond the comfortable
reading distance, the condition is termed presbyopia. Presbyopia has its onset at about
45 years of age when, according to Donders, the amplitude of accommodation is 3.5 D.
If a 45-year-old individual is emmetropic, his near-point will be R - P = 3.5 D. Therefore,
p = 100/3.5 = 28.5 cm = 11 inches. At 55 years of age, his amplitude has dropped to 1.75
D and his near-point is p = 100/1.75 = 57 cm = 22.5 inches. Ten years later, at 65 years of
age, he has only 0.5 D of amplitude and his near-point is now p = 100/0.5 = 200 cm = 80
inches. Finally, at 75 years of age, he has zero amplitude and his near-point is at infinity
along with his far-point. His range of accommodation also is zero. Because of a ¼ D
depth of focus, he still can see clearly from 4 meters out to infinity.
• The relationship between amplitude of accommodation and age was investigated by
Donders and for a long time was used as a basis for prescribing a near add.
Measurements of monocular amplitude of accommodation were made on 4000 eyes by
Duane. The results, shown as an average middle curve and upper and lower ranges on
amplitude at any given age, are plotted in Figure 82 and listed in Table 8.
Fig. 82. Monocular amplitude of accommodation with age for 4000
individuals. (Southall JPC: Introduction to Physiological Optics, p 89. New York: Dover,
1937.)
PRESBYOPIA
• Various causes have been proposed to account for the reduction in
accommodative amplitude. Accommodation has two parts. One is
physical and concerns the change in shape of the lens during
accommodation. In presbyopia, the physical part is related to hardening
or sclerosis of the crystalline lens that reduces the elasticity of the lens
capsule and the plasticity of the lens core. The physiologic part of
accommodation is the innervation and contraction of the ciliary muscles.
Some hold that sclerosis of the ciliary body reduces its ability to
constrict, and the lens does not sufficiently obtain the conditions
required for changing its shape. If most of the cause of presbyopia is
physical, that is, it is related to the inability of the crystalline lens to alter
its shape to bring near objects into focus, then the lens is an indicator of
age and may be considered a biological clock.

Visual Optics 1: B.Optom - Executive

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VISUAL OPTICS 1

• Several significant factors should be noted

• The power of the cornea is 43.05 D.

• An optically homogeneous lens with spherical refracting surfaces would produce a

• During accommodation, the curvatures of the lens

• Figure 16 shows the blur patterns for a myopic, emmetropic, and

• To form a sharp image on the retina of an axial myope,

• The small globe of the axially hyperopic eye causes the

• For an average pupil diameter of 2 to 3 mm,

• Assume that the eye in Figure 36 is focused on an object

• Zero vergence corresponds to an infinitely distant far depth of

• The depth of focus in the eye simply is the range

– Distance discrimination or ability to judge absolute

• Brightness discrimination is the ability to

• Expressed as a percentage, (ΔL/L) × 100 also is called

• Visual acuity, measured with black Snellen letters on a

• Color is classified in terms of its hue, saturation, and brightness.

• Minimum visible acuity often is called detection and really

• Minimum perceptible acuity refers to the detection of fine

• Parallel line gratings of various angular subtenses provide very precise

• Vernier acuity is a hyperacuity test of the

• Another form of hyperacuity test is used to evaluate

• The Bailey-Lovie28 chart, shown in Figure 56, was designed to overcome

• Visual acuity is expressed as the logarithm of the minimum

• The far-point of the hyperopic eye lies behind the retina.

• Figure 65c illustrates the geometry that results when a negative

• Astigmatism of the eye may be hyperopic or myopic depending on

• In simple hyperopic astigmatism, the meridian of maximum power is

• In this type of astigmatism, the eye is emmetropic in one meridian.

• This condition occurs when the meridians of maximum and

• As the name implies, this condition has a myopic and

• The emmetrope's far-point r is at infinity, therefore, R = 1/∞ = 0. Substitution into the

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