Off-axis optical quality and retinal sampling in the human eye

Using the double pass procedure, Navarro et al. (1993; Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 10, 201-212) measured the monochromatic modulation transfer function (MTF) of the human eye as a function of retinal eccentricity. They chose conditions as similar as possible to those encountered in natural viewing. We report new measurements obtained with conditions chosen instead to optimize retinal image quality: we paralyzed accommodation, used a 3 mm pupil, and corrected defocus and oblique astigmatism at each retinal location. MTFs were estimated at the tangential focus, circle of least confusion, and sagittal focus produced by oblique astigmatism. Though optical blur is well-known to have little effect on peripheral visual acuity, it can nonetheless substantially reduce aliasing by receptoral and post-receptoral spatial sampling.