Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The eye's aplanatic answer

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 586–589 (2008)Cite this article

The human eye is a simple, but extremely robust, optical instrument. Analysis by sophisticated wavefront-sensing technology and customized ray-tracing has now revealed that the eye is actually an aplanatic design, with the cornea and lens compensating each other's aberrations.

The optics of the human eye impose the first physical limit to vision when projecting the images of the world onto the retina. However, the human eye is a relatively simple optical device with only two elements: the cornea and the crystalline lens. Until recently, we did not have a complete understanding of its optical properties and imaging performance. The development of an accurate description of the eye's optics is not only vital because it provides an understanding of the most important optical system for humans; it also supports the optimization of the design of contact lenses, refractive surgery procedures and artificial intraocular lenses, for example. High-resolution retinal imaging based on adaptive optics1,2 can also greatly benefit from a better description of the optics of the eye.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Modelling the eye.
Figure 2: Average aberration maps for myopic and hyperopic groups, for each ocular component: cornea, internal lens and total eye.
Figure 3: Three eye models with different shapes for the crystalline lens.

References

  1. Liang, J., Williams, D. R. & Miller, D. T. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 14, 2884–2892 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Fernández, E. J., Iglesias, I. & Artal, P. Opt. Lett. 26, 746–748 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Geary, J. M. Introduction to Wavefront Sensors (SPIE Press, Bellingham, USA, 1995).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Artal, P. & Guirao, A. Opt. Lett. 23, 1713–1715 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Artal, P., Guirao, A., Berrio, E. & Williams, D. R. J. Vis. 1, 1–8 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kelly, J. E., Mihashi, T. & Howland, H. C. J. Vis. 4, 262–271 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Artal, P., Benito, A. & Tabernero, J. J. Vis. 6, 1–7 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Artal, P., Berrio, E., Guirao, A. & Piers, P. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 19, 137–143 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Glasser, A. & Campbell, M. C. W. Vis. Res. 38, 209–229 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Guirao, A., Redondo, M. & Artal, P. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 7, 1697–1702 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Guirao, A. et al. Arch. Ophthalmol. 120, 1143–1151 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Tabernero, J., Piers, P. & Artal, P. Opt. Lett. 32, 406–408 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Tabernero, J., Piers, P., Benito, A., Redondo, M. & Artal, P. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 47, 4651–4658 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Rosales, P. & Marcos, S. Opt. Express 15, 2204–2218 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Tabernero, J., Benito, A., Alcón, E., Artal, P. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 24, 3274–3283 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Smith, W. J. Modern Optical Engineering 3rd edn (McGraw Hill, New York, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Noll, R. J. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 66, 207–211 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Smirnov, M. S. Biofizika 6, 776–795 (1961).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Howland, H. C. & Howland, B. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67, 1508–1518 (1977).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Iglesias, I., Berrio, E. & Artal, P. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 15, 2466–2476 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Santamaría, J., Artal, P. & Bescós, J. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 4, 1109–1114 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Liang, J., Grimm, B., Goelz, S. & Bille, J. F. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 11, 1949–1957 (1994).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Prieto, P. M., Vargas-Martín, F., Goelz, S. & Artal, P. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 17, 1388–1398 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Guirao, A. & Artal, P. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 17, 955–965 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Fercher, A., Mengedoht, K. & Werner, W. Opt. Lett. 13, 186–188 (1988).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Cook, C. & Koretz, J. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 15, 1473–1485 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Fercher, A., Drexler, W., Hitzenberger, C. K. & Lasser, T. Rep. Prog. Phys. 66, 239–303 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Barry, J. C., Dunne, M. C. M. & Kirschkamp, T. Ophthalmic. Physiol. Opt. 21, 450–460 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Rosales, P. & Marcos, S. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 23, 509–520 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Tabernero, J., Benito, A., Nourrit, V. & Artal, P. Opt. Express 14, 10945–10956 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Glasser, A. & Campbell, M. C. W. Vision Res. 39, 1991–2015 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Gullstrand, A. in Handbuch der Physiologischen Optik 3rd edn, 1909 Vol. 1 (ed. Southall, J. P.) 351–352 (Optical Society of America, Washington DC, 1924).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Liou, H. L. & Brennan, N. A. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 14, 1684–1695 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. Porter, J., Guirao, A., Cox, I. G. & Williams, D. R. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 18, 1793–1803 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Thibos, L. N., Hong, X., Bradley, A. & Cheng, X. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 19, 2329–2348. (2002).

    Google Scholar 

  36. Kiely, P. M., Smith, G. & Carney, L. G. Opt. Acta 29, 1027–1040 (1982).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. Jamieson, T. H. Appl. Opt. 15, 2276–2282 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. Head, A. K. Proc. Phys. Soc. B, 70, 945–949 (1957).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Hannan, P. G. Appl. Opt. 31, 513–518 (1992).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Our work is supported in part by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain (grants FIS2004-2153 and FIS2007-64765) and Fundación Séneca, Murcia, Spain (04524/GERM/06). We thank the members of our laboratory for their contributions to some specific parts of the reviewed research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, Pablo Artal and Juan Tabernero are in the Laboratorio de Óptica, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, (Edificio CiOyN), 30071 Murcia, Spain.,

    Pablo Artal & Juan Tabernero

Authors
  1. Pablo Artal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Juan Tabernero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pablo Artal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Artal, P., Tabernero, J. The eye's aplanatic answer. Nature Photon 2, 586–589 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.187

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.187

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing