High-resolution Hyperspectral LSLO

The detectability of laser eye damage near threshold depends sensitively on ocular pigment distribution within layers of the retina at the targeted site and their wavelength-dependent absorption, the scattering characteristics of the affected region, and the biological response of injured structures. Other retinal pathologies also change the appearance of the retina in characteristic spatial patterns and colors. Spatio-spectral signatures of retinal changes contain important quantitative diagnostic information about the nature of the injury or the etiology and status of disease. The current need for dense hyperspectral and high resolution 2-D spatial retinal imaging over a band of 450 to >800nm at eye-safe light levels, concurrent with the delivery of laser exposure in non-human primates (NHPs), presents a significant challenge for the state-of-the-art in hyperspectral imaging of laser injury and for diagnostic testing eventually applied to humans for eye research and future clinical applications. Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to develop an innovative compact, high-resolution high-contrast hyperspectral retinal imaging system based on PSIs proprietary line-scanning laser ophthalmoscope (LSLO) and emerging broadband light source technologies. BENEFIT: The utility of the proposed hyperspectral imaging methods, apart from laser damage detection applications for DoD, stems from the great flexibility afforded by ultra-broadband sources with the LSLO imaging architecture; this optical system can also serve as a confocal, true color fundus imager, an autofluorescence/angiography system, a Doppler blood flow mapper, a perimetry system, and for a number of other applications, mainly through reconfiguration of control software. The clinical and commercial potential of such a relatively simple, yet powerful multifunction diagnostics platform is significant.