Deployment of combined higher order aberrations to extend the depth of focus of lenses

Abstract

This work proposes a lens topology based on the addition of combined high-order aberrations to its posterior surface to achieve an extended depth of focus. The added terms are vertical and horizontal coma and spherical aberration, described by Zernike polynomials. We compare the herein proposed IOL with three classes of IOLs available on the market: monofocal, multifocal and extended depth of focus (EDoF). The proposed lens showed better results off the image plane, confirming the increase in the depth of focus when compared with the monofocal IOL. This is clearly observed with the extended Through-Focus-MTF maps that allow the evaluation of several spatial frequencies at different image planes. The fabricated prototype has similar performance to the Tecnis Symfony, a commercial lens with extended depth of focus. And when the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) is compared to multifocal lenses, a niche where lenses with extended depth of focus can be possible substitutes, the performance of the herein proposed lens was higher in every case considered.