OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IN OPHTHALMO SCOPY

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) opens a new dimension in ophthalmos copic fundus diagnosis. For the first time it is possible to display i n vivo the layer structure of the fundus of the human eye. OCT is a sc anning technique imaging the fundus in a cross-sectional view. The cli nical evaluation has demonstrated good results concerning early diagno sis of glaucoma and diabetes related ocular diseases. The lateral reso lution of OCT is limited by the eye itself and is about 10 mu m. The r esolution perpendicular to the fundus (z-dimension) is determined by t he coherence length of the tight source and is for superluminescent di odes in the order of 20 mu m. The optical transfer behavior correspond s to a high pass filter. The transfer performance is best for structur e sizes in the order of the wavelength.