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At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

Refractive-index changes caused by proton radiation in silicate optical glasses.

We have studied experimentally, by using a differential interferometric technique, the effect of proton radiation on the refractive index of commercial (Schott) silicate crown glasses, BK7 and LaK9, and their radiation-resistant counterparts. The strongest effect was observed for the radiation-hard lanthanum crown LaK9G15: At a 0.65-Mrad dose the index change was approximately 3 x 10(-5). Radiation-hard glasses are used in optical systems operating in radiation environments because they prevent spectral transmission degradation in the visible. However, such glasses are not protected against radiation-induced refractive-index perturbations, and a diffraction-limited optical system based on such glasses may fail owing to radiation-induced aberrations.

Journal Article↗

Permanent refractive-index modification in germanium-doped optical fibers by use of red light.

We observed photoinduced birefringence in elliptical-core optical fibers by using a continuous-wave krypton-ion laser. We induced the birefringence by injecting 20 mW of 647-nm or 50 mW of 676-nm light into the fiber at 45 degrees to the slow axis. The rate of change of the refractive index was found to be proportional to the square of the average power. Polarization mode couplers written into the fibers have been stable for more than 2 years and can be erased by use of light polarized perpendicularly to the original writing beam.

Journal Article↗

Studies of compact hard tissues and collagen by means of Brillouin light scattering.

A measure of the elastic properties of tissue can be found from the propagation of sound in the tissue. Longitudinal sonic velocities were measured for mineralized turkey leg tendon (density 1.50 g/cc), deer antler (1.77 g/cc) and cow tibia (2.05 g/cc) in the 10 GHz frequency regime by means of Brillouin light scattering using a nine pass Fabry-Perot interferometer. Wet, air dried, mineralized and demineralized specimens were tested. Sonic velocity in each tissue increased with mineral content and decreased when the tissue was wet. All wet values are higher than for wet rat tail tendon collagen, axially and radially, but with considerably less anisotropy. The results are interpreted to indicate that bone matrix collagen is more highly crosslinked than tail tendon collagen. The loss of anisotropy is taken to correspond to a much higher crosslinking density between adjacent collagen molecules in mineralized tissue compared to rat tail tendon. The axial sonic velocity of dried rat tail tendon is almost that for low density dried mineralized tissue and greater than the radial sonic velocity of these tissues, but the radial sonic velocity for dried rat tail tendon is much lower, again corresponding to less crosslinking in this tissue. Longitudinal modulus, K, is defined as the tissue density times the square of the velocity. The compliance, 1/K, was found to be a linear function of density for each of the four conditions. It suggests that a Reuss formalism describes the elastic properties. Since the difference between the compliance for wet and dry tissue is also a linear function of density, the effect of water on the compliance is additive. The axial sonic velocity for cow bone is essentially constant over a frequency range spanning 10 orders. Presumably the axial sonic velocity is controlled by the continuity of the collagen fibers lying along the bone axis. The radial velocity decreases by 30% over this frequency range, probably due to the many levels of structure observed in long bone like osteons, Haversian canals and blood vessels, as well as internal surfaces like cement lines and between lamellae. The sonic anisotropy of hard tissues decreases considerably with increasing frequency. While rat tail tendon collagen is very anisotropic both sonically and optically, hard tissues whether wet, dry, mineralized or demineralized show much less anisotropy. The optical index of refraction, both axially and radially, was found by Brillouin scattering for the air dried demineralized tissues. A close match was found between optical and sonic anisotropy for all the demineralized tissues.

Animals↗

Keratometric index, videokeratography, and refractive surgery.

PURPOSE: To clarify the confusion resulting from the use of slightly different refractive indices in calculations related to optical modeling of the cornea for refractive surgery, corneal diagnostics, and cataract surgery. SETTING: Scientific Institute H.S. Raffaele, Milan, Italy. METHODS: The cornea is represented as a centered optical system composed by 1, 2, or 3 spherical interfaces, in progression of modeling accuracy. Optical analysis is performed with the usual formulas of paraxial geometrical optics as well as with ray tracing. Simple models are also provided for corneas having both incisional and photoablative refractive surgery. Values of geometrical parameters are taken from the Gullstrand eye model. RESULTS: Using the keratometric index of refraction of 1.3375 is validated for estimating optical power differences on untreated corneas or after incisional keratotomy. It is not as accurate in assigning absolute values of dioptric power, where the value 1.3315 is more appropriate. For photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), however, the proper stromal index of refraction, 1.376, must be used for ablation calculations and dioptric change estimates. CONCLUSION: Videokeratographic instruments should include three distinct values of refraction index (1.3375, 1.376, and 1.3315) for an accurate and complete characterization of dioptric power maps. In cataract surgery, corrections must be introduced in the calculation of intraocular lens power for patients who have previously had PRK.

Cataract Extraction↗

Measurement of film thickness up to several hundreds of nanometers using optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy.

Up to now, most studies based on optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS) were dedicated to thin adlayers, assumed to be isotropic and homogeneous, for which data analysis was based on an approximation of the mode equations valid when the thickness is small with respect to the wavelength of the laser light. The aim of the present paper is to extend the use of OWLS to thicker deposited layers (up to approximately 400 nm). Both the simplified and extended models are compared in terms of optical parameters, i.e. the refractive index nA, the thickness dA, and the optical mass QA, for experimental data obtained with polyelectrolyte multilayer films. The deviation of these parameters can be quite large when derived using the simplified model instead of the extended model. This observation evidences that OWLS is well suited for the study of "thick" films if the appropriate model is applied to the data analysis.

Algorithms↗

Depth-of-focus of the human eye: theory and clinical implications.

The depth-of-focus, or the perceptual tolerance of the human eye to retinal defocus, is important to and imbedded in many aspects of clinical refraction and physiological optics. Although the depth-of-focus is a common concept in classical optics, there is relatively little detailed discussion of its implications as related to normal vision function and to vision anomalies. With current advances in refractive surgery and ophthalmic lens design, the demand for knowledge in this topic is both timely and important. This review of our current understanding of the depth-of-focus should prove to be useful to clinicians, researchers, and students as an introduction to the subject. Two areas will be considered: 1) basic definitions of and factors affecting the depth-of-focus, and 2) its contemporary clinical implications.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

Effect of electro-optic modulation on coupled quasi-phase-matched frequency conversion.

The electro-optic effect can be employed to modulate the refractive index of an optical superlattice. In coupled quasi-phase matched processes, this modulation will introduce quasi-phase mismatches and result in energy redistribution among the optical waves. Numerical results indicate that an efficient third harmonic in a periodic or quasi-periodic superlattice can be achieved by varying the external dc electric field. This method provides a simple and convenient way to control the efficiencies of frequency conversion.

Journal Article↗

Propagating modes in gain-guided optical fibers.

Optical fibers in which gain-guiding effects are significant or even dominant compared with conventional index guiding may become of practical interest for future high-power single-mode fiber lasers. I derive the propagation characteristics of symmetrical slab waveguides and cylindrical optical fibers having arbitrary amounts of mixed gain and index guiding, assuming a single uniform transverse profile for both the gain and the refractive-index steps. Optical fibers of this type are best characterized by using a complex-valued v-squared parameter in place of the real-valued v parameter commonly used to describe conventional index-guided optical fibers.

Journal Article↗

Microcrystalline identification of drugs of abuse: the psychedelic amphetamines.

The optical crystallographic or microcrystalline properties of the diliturate derivatives (5-nitrobarbituric acid) of the most used psychedelic amphetamine drugs have been determined. The crystallographic properties, especially the orthographic projection drawings and photomicrography of the crystals and other optical crystallographic data, such as the indices of refraction, extinction angles, and optical orientations serve to characterize and identify this group of drug chemicals. These data can be used with ultraviolet-infrared (UV-IR) spectroscopy, thin-layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (GLC/MS) data for the identification and confirmation of psychedelic amphetamine drugs.

Amphetamines↗

Theoretical analysis on the refractive-index distribution and bandwidth of gradient-index polymer optical fibers from a centrifugal field.

Theoretical analysis was applied to analyze the refractive-index distribution (RID) and bandwidth (BW) of gradient-index polymer optical fibers (GI POFs) prepared by a centrifugal field process. The RID of the prepared GI POF could be represented by the equation of n(r) = n1[1 - 2delta(r/alpha)g](1/2). The studied material systems were poly(hexafluoroisopropyl 2-fluoroacrylate) (PHFIP 2-FA)/dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/benzyl benzoate (BEN). The RID and the BW were significantly affected by an essential parameter k, which was related to thematerial properties (density difference and molecular weight) and processing properties (rotating speed, temperature, and radius). As k increased, the characteristic constant of RID, g, decreased to a minimum and then increased sharply, owing to the separation of the polymer and the dopant. On the other hand, the relative refractive-index difference of RID, delta, increased to a steady value after k increased to a certain value. The variation of RID with k resulted in a local minimum of intermodal dispersion, and thus a maximum bandwidth was obtained. The maximum BW of the PHFIP 2-FA/DBP and PMMA/BEN systems at 1550 nm (100-m fiber length and 2-nm spectral width) for the case of k not equal to 0 were 6.7 and 3.2 Gb/s, respectively. The wavelength of light source affects the BW significantly only at k around zero because of the importance of the intramodal dispersion in this case.

Journal Article↗

Multifocal intraocular lenses.

Current multifocal intraocular lens designs incorporate refractive or diffractive optical principles to achieve increased depth of focus. Information about four basic design concepts is presented. Early clinical results with two of these, the IOLAB Nuvue two-zone refractive multifocal and the 3M diffractive multifocal, are summarized.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗

Twin study on myopia.

In order to reassess the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in the development of myopia in Chinese schoolchildren, 90 pairs of MZ and 36 pairs of like-sex DZ twins were enrolled for detailed ophthalmological examination about their ocular refractions. Corneal curvatures and axial lengths were also measured. With equivalent settings of the range for concordance, corneal curvatures showed higher concordance rate (84%) than ocular refractions (65%) and axial lengths (59%) in MZ twins. F-test on the intrapair variances between MZ and DZ twins revealed a significant hereditary role in determining the ocular refraction and its optical components. The degree of genetic determination was expressed by heritability indices, which were derived from intraclass correlation coefficients. The diversity of sample ages and refractions, while making the obtained data difficult to further explore the gene-environment interaction, led to the observation of more intrapair differences with age and myopic progression in MZ twins.

Adolescent↗

Glenn A. Fry Award Lecture 1991: perceptual manifestations of imperfect optics in the human eye: attempts to correct for ocular chromatic aberration.

The profession of optometry has been very successful in providing optical corrections for spherocylindrical refractive errors. In this paper, I examine one attempt to improve retinal image quality beyond that afforded by a standard refractive correction. Ocular chromatic aberration is one of the factors that prevent retinal image quality from reaching the upper limit set by the wave nature of light. It can be subdivided into three primary aberrations (wavelength-dependent differences in imaging plane, image position, and image size). We have been able to measure all three of these using psychophysical techniques. Although attempts to provide an optical correction for wavelength-dependent refractive errors have been optically successful, they have failed to improve vision. Several possible explanations are given for this failure.

Awards and Prizes↗

Metrics of optical quality derived from wave aberrations predict visual performance.

Wavefront-guided refractive surgery and custom optical corrections have reduced the residual root mean squared (RMS) wavefront error in the eye to relatively low levels (typically on the order of 0.25 microm or less over a 6-mm pupil, a dioptric equivalent of 0.19 D). It has been shown that experimental variation of the distribution of 0.25 microm of wavefront error across the pupil can cause variation in visual acuity of two lines on a standard logMAR acuity chart. This result demonstrates the need for single-value metrics other than RMS wavefront error to quantify the effects of low levels of aberration on acuity. In this work, we present the correlation of 31 single-value metrics of optical quality to high-contrast visual acuity for 34 conditions where the RMS wavefront error was equal to 0.25 microm over a 6-mm pupil. The best metric, called the visual Strehl ratio, accounts for 81% of the variance in high-contrast logMAR acuity.

Humans↗

[Basic principles of physics in optical imaging of the human eye].

Creation of a real picture of the observed object on the retina by optical system of the eye is the primary physical condition of the visual perception. Absorption of the light energy initiates the sequence of further physicochemical, biochemical and psychophysiological events partially taking place already in the retina but mostly in the higher cerebral and spinal centres. So the visual perception and its final evaluation is the result of a complicated complex of processes where the optical imaging itself plays the role of the starting factor. In the publication particularly the physical substance of the optical imaging on refraction surfaces between media with different refraction index has been accentuated. The laws of reflection and refraction and their origin are derived in the terms of the physical (Maxwell equations) and geometrical (Fermat principle, principle of the mutual independence of light beams) optics. In the adequate extent the development and structure of the eye and the whole visual complex, the bases of the quantification of the visual perception and contemporary opinions on mechanisms of the colour vision (trichromatic theory) have been described. The publication is completed by a mathematical appendix explaining some relations usually absent in the biomedical literature.

Electromagnetic Phenomena↗

Assessment of optic nerve head topographic parameters with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

AIM: To assess the disc area, age, sex, laterality (side of the eyes) and refractive error dependent differences in optic nerve head topographic parameters in a normal population. METHODS: Optic nerve head topographic analysis of both eyes of 551 healthy Turkish subjects aged 11-75 years (1102 eyes) was performed using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope, the Heidelberg Retinal Tomograph II (HRT II). The effects of disc size, sex, laterality (side of the eyes), age and refractive error on optic nerve head topographic parameters were assessed. Subjects were divided into three different age groups (<30 years, 30-60 years, >60 years) and three different disc area groups (<2.00 mm(2), 2.00-2.25 mm(2), >2.25 mm(2)). Disc area, topography standard deviation and a total of 12 topographic parameters were calculated by HRT II for each subject. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t-test, multiple regression analysis, Tukey-HSD test, anova and Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: A total of 543 subjects (298 women and 245 men) were included in the study. The mean disc area of the subjects was 2.12 +/- 0.47 mm(2) (range 1.16-4.98 mm(2)). The mean refractive error of the subjects was -0.58 +/- 1.71 D (range -4.75 D to +4.25 D). The mean cup shape measure was -0.21 +/- 0.07 (95% confidence interval -0.07 to -0.35). The disc area was significantly correlated with all of the topographic parameters but two; namely, the cup shape measure and the height variation contour. Significant age-related differences were detected in four parameters (mean retinal nerve fibre layer [RNFL] thickness, disc area, cup-to-disc area ratio, cup area) and significant sex-related differences were detected three parameters (mean RNFL thickness, height variation contour, RNFL cross-sectional area). However, there were no significant differences in any of the parameters for laterality and refractive error. The parameter cup shape measure did not correlate with any of the five variables investigated. CONCLUSION: Cup shape measure was the only optic nerve head topographic parameter that was independent of age, sex, disc area, laterality and the refractive error. It seems to be a promising parameter in evaluation and comparison of the optic discs of normal subjects, with different disc area, age, sex, refraction error and laterality, as being independent of the main variation factors of the disc topography.

Adolescent↗

Optometric findings in children with cerebral palsy.

Optometric examinations of 73 children with normal intelligence but with cerebral palsy revealed a higher than normal incidence of strabismus, significant refractive errors, amblyopia, nystagmus, and optic atrophy.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

Optical characterization of multilayer stacks used as phase-change media of optical disk data storage.

We report results of measurements of the optical constants of the dielectric layer (ZnS-SiO2), reflecting layer (aluminum-chromium alloy), and phase-change layer (GeSbTe, AgInSbTe) used as the media of phase-change optical recording. The refractive index n and the absorption coefficient k of these materials vary to some extent with the film thickness and with the film deposition environment. We report the observed variations of optical constants among samples of differing structure and among samples fabricated in different laboratories.

Journal Article↗