Fluidic Astigmatic and Spherical Lenses for Ophthalmic Applications

Fluidic lenses have been developed for ophthalmic applications. The lenses use a pressure differential to deform a membrane, which separates two fluids with different indexes of refraction. The change in membrane shape creates changes in the optical wavefront. By utilizing different boundary conditions on the membrane, the progression of the membrane shape can be controlled. Specifically, a circular restraint is used to produce optical power, whereas a rectangular restraint is used to produce a combination of power and astigmatism. These lenses are analyzed for dominant properties and wavefront quality. By combining 2 rectangular restraint lenses at 45° and a circular restraint lens, both orthogonal second order Zernike astigmatisms as well as second order power can be independently controlled. This combination can also be described as independent control of ophthalmic cylinder, cylinder axis, and power, which is required to create a basic phoropter. A fluidic phoropter is demonstrated and analyzed in this manuscript