Ethan Rossi | Searcharxiv

arXiv2022

Diffuse Maxwellian illumination for safe wide-field retinal Doppler holography

We report a diffuse Maxwellian illumination scheme for wide-field retinal laser Doppler holography. Inserting an engineered diffuser in the illumination arm transforms a spatially concentrated near-infrared laser focus into an angularly diversified illumination pattern, thereby reducing local irradiance near the anterior segment while preserving coherent interferometric detection. This configuration allows the eyepiece to be positioned closer to the cornea, increasing the digitally reconstructed retinal field of view without producing a localized corneal hot spot. We compare three illumination geometries: focused non-diffuse illumination, diffuse illumination at the same cornea--eyepiece distance, and diffuse Maxwellian illumination. Diffuse Maxwellian illumination expands the retinal field of view while preserving Doppler contrast in broad and high-frequency fluctuation bands. Light-hazard assessment is limited to the current ophthalmic standards ISO 15004-2:2024 and ANSI Z80.36-2021. Based on measured beam profiles, the recommended operating power at 852 nm is set by the most restrictive relevant exposure condition among the assessed anterior-segment, iris, and retinal limits. These results support diffuse illumination as a practical route toward safer, non-mydriatic, wide-field Doppler holography of the human retina.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2011

The Adaptive Optics Summer School Laboratory Activities

Adaptive Optics (AO) is a new and rapidly expanding field of instrumentation, yet astronomers, vision scientists, and general AO practitioners are largely unfamiliar with the root technologies crucial to AO systems. The AO Summer School (AOSS), sponsored by the Center for Adaptive Optics, is a week-long course for training graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the underlying theory, design, and use of AO systems. AOSS participants include astronomers who expect to utilize AO data, vision scientists who will use AO instruments to conduct research, opticians and engineers who design AO systems, and users of high-bandwidth laser communication systems. In this article we describe new AOSS laboratory sessions implemented in 2006-2009 for nearly 250 students. The activity goals include boosting familiarity with AO technologies, reinforcing knowledge of optical alignment techniques and the design of optical systems, and encouraging inquiry into critical scientific questions in vision science using AO systems as a research tool. The activities are divided into three stations: Vision Science, Fourier Optics, and the AO Demonstrator. We briefly overview these activities, which are described fully in other articles in these conference proceedings (Putnam et al., Do et al., and Harrington et al., respectively). We devote attention to the unique challenges encountered in the design of these activities, including the marriage of inquiry-like investigation techniques with complex content and the need to tune depth to a graduate- and PhD-level audience. According to before-after surveys conducted in 2008, the vast majority of participants found that all activities were valuable to their careers, although direct experience with integrated, functional AO systems was particularly beneficial.

physics.ed-ph↗