Wave aberrations of the isolated crystalline lens

A method to measure wave aberrations in the isolated crystalline lens is demonstrated. The method employs a laser scanning technique in which the trajectories of narrow refracted laser beams are measured for an array of sample positions incident on the lens. The local slope of the emerging wavefront is calculated for each sample position, and a least squares procedure is used to fit a Zernike polynomial function to define the wave aberration. Measurements of the aberrations of an isolated porcine lens and macaque lens undergoing changes in accommodative state with mechanical stretching are shown. Many aberrations were present, but negative spherical aberration dominated. In the macaque lens, many aberrations underwent systematic changes with accommodation, most notably the 4th order spherical aberration, which became more negative, and the 6th order spherical aberration, which progressed from negative to positive.