Higher adaptive optics loop rate enhances axial resolution in nonconfocal ophthalmoscopes

In this Letter, we propose a way to better understand the impact of dynamic ocular aberrations in the axial resolution of nonconfocal adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopes via a simulation of the 3D PSF in the retina for various AO-loop rates. We then use optical incoherence tomography, a method enabling the generation of tomographic retinal cross sections in incoherent imaging systems, to evaluate the benefits of a fast AO-loop rate on axial resolution and, consequently, on AO-corrected retinal image quality. We used the PARIS AO flood-illumination ophthalmoscope for this study, where retinal images from different focal planes at an AO-loop rate of 10 and 50 Hz were acquired.