Computational adaptive optics of the human retina

It is well known that patient-specific ocular aberrations limit imaging resolution in the human retina. Previously, hardware adaptive optics (HAO) has been employed to measure and correct these aberrations to acquire high-resolution images of various retinal structures. While the resulting aberration-corrected images are of great clinical importance, clinical use of HAO has not been widespread due to the cost and complexity of these systems. We present a technique termed computational adaptive optics (CAO) for aberration correction in the living human retina without the use of hardware adaptive optics components. In CAO, complex interferometric data acquired using optical coherence tomography (OCT) is manipulated in post-processing to adjust the phase of the optical wavefront. In this way, the aberrated wavefront can be corrected. We summarize recent results in this technology for retinal imaging, including aberration-corrected imaging in multiple retinal layers and practical considerations such as phase stability and image optimization.