University of California

Tsutomu Shimada

Karlheinz Strobl

Irving J Bigio

Charlie E Strauss

Joseph A Zuclich

Thomas J Zaugg

Thomas R Loree, Deceased

Carl W Wilson

George E Busch

David C Thompson

Dennis K Remelius

The present invention describes the use of a pair of acoustooptic devices in a laser or other optical resonator to produce a wavelength-dependent deflection of the light without incurring a net frequency shift. This permits rapid electronic tuning of the resonator wavelength, as well as rapid electronic variation of cavity loss, out-coupling fraction, and round-trip phase shift. The dispersive quality of acoustooptic devices in transmission is utilized as a reflection grating substitute. Two mirrors, one an output coupler, a gain medium and two acoustooptic devices arranged for maximum efficiency such that the incident and diffracted beams are approximately at the Bragg angle for each acoustooptic device permit the laser wavelength to be determined by the acoustic frequency.

Rapid acoustooptic tuner and phase-shifter

Method for quantifying optical properties of the human lens. The present invention includes the application of fiberoptic, OMA-based instrumentation as an in vivo diagnostic tool for the human ocular lens. Rapid, noninvasive and comprehensive assessment of the optical characteristics of a lens using very modest levels of exciting light are described. Typically, the backscatter and fluorescence spectra (from about 300- to 900-nm) elicited by each of several exciting wavelengths (from about 300- to 600-nm) are collected within a few seconds. The resulting optical signature of individual lenses is then used to assess the overall optical quality of the lens by comparing the results with a database of similar measurements obtained from a reference set of normal human lenses having various ages. Several metrics have been identified which gauge the optical quality of a given lens relative to the norm for the subject's chronological age. These metrics may also serve to document accelerated optical aging and/or as early indicators of cataract or other disease processes.

Method for quantifying optical properties of the human lens

Growing community of inventors

Los Alamos, NM, United States of America

Tsutomu Shimada