Laser method for corneal structure investigation

This paper reports a laser method for corneal structure investigation which allows to obtain images of corneal layers as well as information about dimensions of the endothelium and basal epithelium cells. The method's principle is based on the laser radiation reflection at the interface between ocular media having different refractive indices. So, the laser incident beam on the cornea is multiply reflected and refracted within it, since the cornea is a superposition of several transparent layers with different refractive indices. If observed on a screen, the radiation reflected by a certain corneal layer forms on it the image of corneal cell structure. Because of cornea curvature, the reflected beam which contains information about corneal structure--becomes strongly divergent; therefore the experimental set-up forms the cell images big enough to be seen directly by eye.