Closed-loop optical stabilization and digital image registration in adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy

Eye motion is a major impediment to the efficient acquisition of high resolution retinal images with the adaptive optics (AO) scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO). Here we demonstrate a solution to this problem by implementing both optical stabilization and digital image registration in an AOSLO. We replaced the slow scanning mirror with a two-axis tip/tilt mirror for the dual functions of slow scanning and optical stabilization. Closed-loop optical stabilization reduced the amplitude of eye-movement related-image motion by a factor of 10-15. The residual RMS error after optical stabilization alone was on the order of the size of foveal cones: ~1.66-2.56 μm or ~0.34-0.53 arcmin with typical fixational eye motion for normal observers. The full implementation, with real-time digital image registration, corrected the residual eye motion after optical stabilization with an accuracy of ~0.20-0.25 μm or ~0.04-0.05 arcmin RMS, which to our knowledge is more accurate than any method previously reported.