Adaptive optics visual simulators: wavefront control to manipulate vision

The human eye has aberrations that degrade the quality of vision. Adaptive Optics visual simulators allow closed-loop correction of the eye's wave aberrations to produce diffraction-limited retinal image quality, or to manipulate the optics of the eye to probe the spatial limits of vision and neural adaptation. On the other hand, the wave aberrations can be controlled to expand depth-of-focus or provide multiple foci in eyes that have lost the ability to accommodate (presbyopia) and more recently to slow down myopia progression. We will present different wavefront control strategies (deformable mirrors, spatial light modulators and opto-tunable lenses) in visual simulators, and measured effects of correction and induction of wave aberrations and multifocal phase maps on visual function and perception.