Light spreads out uniformly at the same speed in all directions. Its position at any given moment is a sphere that connects all the corresponding phase points, having the source at its center. Such imaginary spherical surfaces are called light fronts or wavefronts. There are three principal factors that limit the finest details an eye can see: optical (due to scattering, diffraction, chromatic and monochromatic aberration), retinal and neural factors (limiting visual acuity to an approximate maximum of 20/10 or 2.0). A mathematical system, the Zernike polynomials, can define geometrical surfaces in order to describe the monochromatic aberrations, both for the lower order aberrations ('prism', 'sphere' and 'astigmatism') and the higher order ones ('coma', 'spherical aberration' and others). The wavefront measures the performance of the whole optical system of the eye. Both systems described herein, the aberrometer based on the Tscherning principle and the one originated from the Hartmann-Shack sensor, start from the same logic: to compare the actual position of the wavefronts with the ideal one, calculate mathematically the geometrical surface that describes that discrepancy and represent it in the terms of the Zernike polynomials. Corneal topography measurement, with adequate software, can also express the wavefront, caused by the corneal irregularities, with the Zernike polynomials, but it still represents the anterior corneal surface only. Wavefront technology offers a new way to quantify and classify optical imaging errors of the human eye. The next article will deal with the peculiarities of the wavefront analysis, as well as with some of the clinical and surgical applications to the day-to-day ophthalmic practice.
Light; Cornea; Corneal topography; Refractive errors; Visual acuity; Ocular refraction
