CLINICAL EVALUATION OF OPTICAL DEVICES AND THE COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN OF VISUAL OPTICAL SYSTEMS.
Most recently my research centered on clinical trials of composite prismatic elements. These elements are prisms that are composed of a refractive wedge with a diffractive surface. We compared them to refractive and Fresnel prisms. Among the visual functions studied were visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, stereo-acuity and reading. Another study dealt with predicting visual performance through telescopes. For this study we constructed an apparatus to measure the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the telescopes and measured the contrast sensitivity (CSF) of subjects with these telescopes. We found that multiplying the MTF with the unaided CSF at each spatial frequency was useful for predicting the visually aided CSF. A significant part of my research has been the design of telescopes and magnifiers for people with low vision using a sophisticated lens design program (OSLO). I currently am designing low power telescopic systems with extremely wide fields of view that will provide peripheral vision lacking in existing telescopes.
MKAT telescopes
Innovative telescope arrays (MKATs) with fields of view that are more than twice the width of existing telescopes have been designed by Dr. Milton Katz, Professor of Optics at the SUNY State College of Optometry. Two 2x seven-telescope arrays have been built and tested.
The first MKAT covers a 40 wide by 6 high total real field of view. With magnification, the apparent field of view is 80 by 12 . The corresponding real and apparent fields of view of the second MKAT are 33 by 9.3 and 66 by 22 .
The large peripheral field of the MKAT obviates the difficulties that users of conventional telescopes encounter in acquiring objects of interest or following a moving object. It may help ambulatory people with low vision, especially those who use telescopes to drive, to avoid hazardous conditions that they might miss with their current telescopes. Individuals with macular degeneration, or central and paracentral field defects should significantly benefit from the wide fields.
The MKAT can be converted for wide angle near vision tasks, such as reading or sewing, with lens caps.
In addition to low vision use, the 2x MKAT is a striking improvement over existing opera glasses that generally limit the field of view to one character on the stage. With it, the viewer will be able to see all actions across the entire stage.