ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the developments in combining the high axial resolution afforded by optical coherence tomography (OCT) with the benefits of improved lateral resolution provided by adaptive optics (AO) for imaging of the living retina. OCT and AO developed along separate paths and it is only relatively that retinal imaging systems combining both technologies have been developed. The concept of AO was proposed in 1953 to address atmospheric turbulence. The chapter explores how AO is combined with OCT, its intrinsic advantages and also describes the status of the field. Combining AO with OCT provides three distinct advantages: increased lateral resolution, smaller speckle size, and increased sensitivity due to the ability to collect light over a larger pupil diameter. Almost all AO-OCT systems employ Shack–Hartmann the wavefront sensor to measure the ocular aberration. Wavefront sensorless AO systems have been demonstrated for imaging human retinas and mouse.
