Ocular optics is normally estimated based on up to 2,600 measurement points within the pupil of the eye, which implies a lateral resolution of approximately 175 µm for a 9 mm pupil diameter. This is because information below this resolution is not thought to be relevant or even possible to obtain with current measurement systems. In this work, we characterize the in vivo ocular optics of the human eye with a lateral resolution of 8.6 µm, which implies roughly 1 million measurement points for a pupil diameter of 9 mm. The results suggest that the normal human eye presents a series of hitherto unknown optical patterns with amplitudes between 200 and 300 nm and is made up of a series of in-phase peaks and valleys. If the results are analysed at only high lateral frequencies, the human eye is also found to contain a whole range of new information. This discovery could have a great impact on the way we understand some fundamental mechanisms of human vision and could be of outstanding utility in certain fields of ophthalmology.

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Wave Front Phase Imaging (WFPI) is a new technique for measuring the free shape of a silicon wafer. To avoid the effects of gravity affecting the wafer shape, the silicon wafer is held vertically while measured using a custom made three-point wafer holder. The wave front phase is measuring using a non-coherent light source that is collimated and then reflected off the silicon wafer surface. The wave front phase is measured using a unique new method that only needs to record the intensity of the reflected light at two or more distances along the optical path. Since only intensity images are used to generate the phase, commercially available CMOS sensors with very high pixel count are used, which enables very high number of data points to be collected at the time required by the cameras shutter speed when using a dual camera setup with simultaneous image acquisition. In the current lab system, a single camera on a linear translation stage is used that acquires 16.3 million data points in 12 seconds, including the stage motion, on a full 300mm wafer providing lateral pixel resolution of 65μm. The flatness of the silicon wafers used to manufacture integrated circuits (IC) is controlled to tight tolerances to help ensure that the full wafer is sufficiently flat for lithographic processing. Advanced lithographic patterning processes require a detailed map of the free, non-gravitational wafer shape, to avoid overlay errors caused by depth-of-focus issues. We present WFPI as a new technique for measuring the free shape of a silicon wafer with high resolution and high data count acquired at very high-speed using a system where the wafer is held vertically without the effects of gravity.