Extraction of ultra-high frequency retinal motions with a line scanning quasi-confocal ophthalmoscope

Abstract

Ultra-high frequency motions of the retina severely affect the stabilization of images and result in significant imaging distortions. In this paper, a high speed line scanning quasi-confocal ophthalmoscope (LSO) capable of 160 frames per second was devised for generating stable undistorted retinal images. This technique resulted in minimal intra-frame motions, and a strip-based cross correlation algorithm with sub-pixel resolution was applied to extract retinal motions. Three retinal motion components at rates of up to 1600 Hz were clearly distinguished and extracted accurately for the first time using ophthalmic imaging methods. This was especially apparent for the fastest tremor and microsaccade movements that cannot be estimated from previously reported ophthalmic imaging instruments. Furthermore, these results were consistent with retinal motion characteristics obtained with optical lever methods, validating this technique. Actually, the LSO system has great potential to extract retinal motions, and some other tracking systems may be adopted to correct retinal motions in ophthalmic imaging modalities.