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Linear birefringence measurements of the in vitro human cornea
Author(s) -
Jaronski Jarosław W.,
Kasprzak Henryk T.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
ophthalmic and physiological optics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.147
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1475-1313
pISSN - 0275-5408
DOI - 10.1046/j.1475-1313.2003.00128.x
Subject(s) - cornea , birefringence , azimuth , optics , anisotropy , polarimetry , polarization (electrochemistry) , materials science , human eye , physics , chemistry , scattering
This paper presents results of an in vitro investigation of the optical anisotropy of the human cornea. Computer controlled imaging polarimetry and the Jones formalism were used to investigate the distribution of the birefringence and the azimuth angle across the surface of 12 corneas taken from the corneal bank. Each map of the birefringence and the azimuth angle has no rotational symmetry and is different for each cornea. The minimal value of the birefringence always appears in the corneal centre and varies from 9 to 43° for different corneas. Birefringence of the cornea increases monotonically more than one order in the direction of the corneal periphery. Close to the centre of the cornea the azimuth angle is almost constant and varies significantly away from the optical part of the cornea.