Combined high contrast and wide field of view in the scanning laser ophthalmoscope through dual detection of light paths

Abstract

© The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. We demonstrate a multimode detection system in a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) that enables simultaneous operation in confocal, indirect, and direct modes to permit an agile trade between image contrast and optical sensitivity across the retinal field of view to optimize the overall imaging performance, enabling increased contrast in very wide-field operation. We demonstrate the method on a wide-field SLO employing a hybrid pinhole at its image plane, to yield a twofold increase in vasculature contrast in the central retina compared to its conventional direct mode while retaining high-quality imaging across a wide field of the retina, of up to 200 deg and 20μm on-axis resolution.