Chromatic aberration &

Duochrome test Your Text Here

Presented by:- Ranjita Amanatya

Your Text Here
 Introduction

• Wavelength of light determines its color.

• Refractive index, which is ratio of speed of light in vacuum to that in given medium, is different for each wavelength.

• Shorter wavelengths traveling more slowly than longer wavelengths, correspond to larger refractive indices, lead to shorter
focal lengths.
Your Text Here
• Cornea and crystalline lens have different values of optical power / focal length for different colors.

Your Text Here

 Chromatic aberration
• It is a phenomenon in which the light rays passing through the lens focus at different points depending on their wavelength.

• All optical systems have aberrations that degrade quality of image.

• It occurs only with polychromatic light, mixture of different wavelengths.

• Because of Chromatic aberration of eye, shorter(green) wavelengths are focus in front of longer (red) wavelengths.

• If aberration can be produced with single wavelength of light, it is referred to as monochromatic aberration.

Prism separates white light into spectrum Chromatic aberration in lens

Shorter wavelengths are more refracted than longer wavelengths
Longitudinal chromatic aberration 1
Describes different focal points for different
chromatic components along optical axis

2 Lateral chromatic aberration

Describes different tinted blur

surrounding images
 Longitudina Chromatic Aberration
 Light rays striking periphery of lens (nonparaxial rays), focused closer to lens than those striking near its center (paraxial rays).

 Difference in dioptric power for wavelengths of 486nm and 656 nm is defined as lens’s longitudinal chromatic aberration.

 Electromagnetic radiation ranging from 380 to 760 nm, human eye exhibits about 2.50 D of longitudinal chromatic aberration,
corresponding to linear distance of 0.93 mm.

Longitudinal chromatic aberration

Difference in dioptric power for wavelengths of 486nm and 656 nm.
 Axial (longitudinal) chromatic aberration in human eye

Comparison to red, refractive power for green is larger, so focal length is shorter.
 Lateral (Transverse) Chromatic Aberration
• Lateral CA is difference in prismatic power for wavelength 486 nm and 656 nm.

• As patient looks through more peripheral regions of lens, prismatic power increases, resulting in greater lateral chromatic
aberration, seen by patient as colored fringes.

As lens’s prismatic power increases toward periphery of lens,

lateral chromatic aberration also increases.
 Lateral (Transverse) Chromatic Aberration

Color fringe along edges of newspaper & along letters

Optical centers of lenses are not aligned with patient’s pupils, forcing pt to
view through noncentral region of lens that has LCA
 Clinical implications of chromatic
aberration
Reduced visual acuity

Your Text Here

Impact on refractive
error correction

Your Text Here

Increased eye strain

Color vision
 To mitigate clinical implications of
chromatic aberration

Use of achromatic or Wavefront-guided

apochromatic lenses refractive surgery

Your Text Here

Intraocular lens Your Text Here Corrective lenses with

(IOL) selection chromatic aberration
correction
 Achromatic
lenses

Apochromatic
Your Text Here
To correct chromatic lenses
aberration, lens
manufacturers use
various techniques
Your Text Here

Lens coatings

 Achromatic doublets:-Plus and minus lenses of different indices are fused together.
Used to reduce longitudinal chromatic aberration.
Diffractive optics MULTIFOCAL IOL
LIGHT-FOCUSING CHARACTERISTICS OF
MULTIFOCAL IOL (Diffractive)
• Based on constructive & destructive
interference of light.

• Lenses generate 2 main focal points, in which

majority of incoming light is focused.

• Near & distance correction put in each of

concentric rings, using diffraction optics.
Generates 2 overlaying bundles of light,
with both covering full aperture
• Utilizes principles of WAVEFRONT OPTICS OF
LIGHT. One focuses in near &
other in distance
• Totally independent of pupil size.

• Exhibit chromatic behaviour , correcting

eye’s chromatic aberration in near focus
 Double slit experiment

Regular pattern of bright lines:-

Waves from 2 slits show
(Constructive interference)

Dark areas:-Light waves from 2 slits

cancel each other out completely
(Destructive interference)

Demonstrating diffraction when light passes slits

Causes
Constructive & Destructive interference

 When light passes slits, it bends around their corner & produces 2 diverging spherical wavefronts
Wavefront passing a Plano diffractive lens

• Each zone generates annular wavefront, whose interaction causes constructive interference
at specific points (Focal points in space)

• Each zone of diffractive lens splits light to both foci

Bifocal diffractive lens has 2 focal points

Relevant for vision (Far & Near foci) How dffractive lens
is able to correct
chromatic
aberration of eye?

Chromatic aberration of
diffractive lens is reverse of
eye tissues, so they have
higher power for longer
 Duochrome test (red-green)
• Bichrome or duochrome test (red-green) utilizes LCA or separation of foci along axis.

 Subjective test used to identify monocular spherical end point with the aim of keeping accommodation balanced/relaxed.

• First described by Clifford Brown in 1927 and later reintroduced by Freeman in 1955.

• Yellow light is focused on retina.

• Eye is myopic for Green light b/c green light is focused slightly infront of red light & eye is hypermetropic for Red light.

• This fact forms basis of Duochrome test, used in subjective refracton.

• Uses split screen with green and red background and either black letters or Verhoeff’s circles serving as recognition targets.
 Red part appears sharper than green part,
eye has more power than is needed (myopic)

Minus corrective lens should be used.

RAM stands for Red Add Minus

Green part appears sharper than red part, eye

has less power than is needed (hyperopic)

Plus corrective lens should be used.

GAP stands for Green Add Plus
 Duochrome test endpoint
Eye that has been properly corrected, or in which no correction is needed (Emmetropic eye)

Focusing of red and green components.

2 chromatic targets appear to be nearly equal in sharpness.

The Red-Green Refraction Technique
 Ask the pt.
Are the letters clearer on red or on green?
OR
Are they about the same?

3 Responses

RED letters look better BOTH look same GREEN letters look better

Check reliability by
adding +/-0.25D

Adding -0.25D Adding +0.25D

GREEN looks better RED looks better

 This test is not performed in pts with high refractive error b/c 0.50D difference between
2 sides is too small to distinguish if pt is having high power.

 Duochrome test is not used with pts whose V.A. is worse than 6/12.
 Duochrome test in color vision deficiency
• Because this test is based on chromatic aberration and not on ability to see color, it is used even for people with
color vision deficiency.

• Defocus effects do not depend on individual’s ability to also recognize surrounding color.

• Examiner may ask ‘left/right?’ instead of ‘red/green.

 Questionnaire for CVDs

Are you being treated for or do you have glaucoma, optic neuritis,
1. multiple sclerosis, or diabetes?

2. Other than wearing spectacles or contact lenses and/or having color vision
Your Text Here
problem?

3. Are you aware of any other vision problems?

Your Text Here
4. Do you have any one of these conditions? Lupus, malaria, rheumatism.

5. Have you had cataract surgery?

6. Do you use any of these medications? Chloroquine, HCQ, Digoxin

 References
1)Klinke, T.; Hannak, W.; Böning, K.; Jakstat, H. A comparative study of the sensitivity and specificity of the Ishihara test with
various displays. Int. Dent. J. 2024, 74, 892–896

2)Satyasri, B.; Kumar, P. The prevalence of congenital color vision abnormality among patients attending a tertiary eye care
center in Southern India. Cureus 2023, 15, e43837.

3)Almustanyir, A.; Hovis, J. Color vision defectives’ experience: When white is green. Color Res. Appl. 2020, 45, 586–590

Your Text Here

Your Text Here

Thank you