Wavefront-shaping-based correction of optically simulated cataracts

“Cataracts is a common ocular pathology where the crystalline lens tends to become opaque, degrading the quality of the retinal images because of the increase of both aberrations and scattering. In this work, we simultaneously generated and optically corrected the effects of cataracts in an optical bench by using a liquid crystal device spatial light modulator. The correction was carried out by implementing a feedback-based wavefront shaping technique with different spatial resolutions of the corrector phase maps. Its benefits were evaluated through objective and subjective descriptors of the quality of vision. The analysis of the experimental results, in addition to numerical calculations of the uncorrected and corrected ocular point spread functions, allowed us to understand the limitations of the technique and to present a strategy to overcome it for future in vivo applications.”