DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MEASURING SCATTERING IN OPTICAL SYSTEMS

摘要

The invention relates to an image polarimeter which is used to determine quantitatively the level of scattering in any optical system, particularly the human eye (4). The instrument uses a double-pass ophthalmoscopic system as a nucleus, said system including a polarisation state-analysis unit (13) comprising a rotary retardation plate (130) and a linear polariser (2, 131). According to the invention, by maintaining the polarisation fixed at the inlet arm, for each of the independent orientations of the fast axis (130a) of the retardation plate (130), the camera or intensity detector (6) records an image of the plane of the retina. Subsequently, said images are used to calculate the Stokes vector of the light that emerges from the eye (4) and, consequently, the degree of polarisation which constitutes a parameter that is directly related to scattering.