Advances in adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) technology have enabled cones in the human fovea to be reliably resolved, providing new insight into human foveal anatomy, visual perception, and retinal degenerative diseases. These high-resolution ophthalmoscopes require careful alignment of each optical subsystem to ensure diffraction-limited imaging performance, which is necessary for resolving the smallest foveal cones. We present a systematic and rigorous methodology for building, aligning, calibrating, and testing an AOSLO optimized for imaging the cone mosaic of the central fovea in humans. This methodology uses a two-stage alignment procedure and thorough system testing to achieve an AOSLO with diffraction-limited performance. Human retinal imaging of two healthy subjects demonstrates that the system can reliably resolve the smallest foveal cones.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.