Automatic lens design and manufacturing system

A method for designing a customized ophthalmic lens, comprising the steps of:

• (1) providing a set of characteristic data of an eye of an individual, wherein said set of characteristic data comprises wavefront aberrations of the eye and corneal topography;
• (2) creating a computational model eye that reproduces the wavefront aberrations of the eye of the individual, wherein the computational model eye comprises a lens-supporting surface having the corneal topography of the eye of the individual and a model retina having a model fovea comprising a lattice of pixels that represent photoreceptors, wherein the distance between the model fovea and the center of the lens-supporting surface is equal to a visual axial length of the human eye, wherein the computational model eye is
• (a) a reduced computational model eye that comprises an optical refractive element having a first optical surface and an opposite second optical surface and the model retina, wherein the first optical surface is the lens supporting surface, or
• (b) an anatomical computational model eye that comprises a model cornea having an anterior surface and an opposite posterior surface, a model crystalline lens, and the model retina, wherein the anterior surface of the model cornea is the lens-supporting surface, wherein the model cornea, the model crystalline lens and the model retina are arranged in a way identical to the arrangement of their corresponding optical elements in the human eye,
• wherein the computational model eye further comprises a model pupil which is located between the optical refractive element and the model retina in the reduced computational model eye or between the model cornea and the model crystalline lens in the anatomical model eye, wherein the size of the model pupil is about from 2.0 mm to 8.0 mm and adjustable according to the individual's age and/or illumination light intensity;
• (3) designing an optical model lens which is capable of compensating for the wavefront aberrations of the eye, wherein said optical model lens has an anterior surface and an opposite posterior surface;
• (4) evaluating the visual performance of said optical model lens with the computational model eye;
• (5) obtaining visual performance information of said optical model lens;
• (6) modifying the design of said optical model lens on the basis of said visual performance information to improve corrections of the aberrations of the eye, if the visual performance of said optical model lens is not optimal;
• (7) repeating steps (4) to (6), if necessary, until the visual performance of said optical model lens is optimal;
• and
• (8) transforming the optimized optical model lens into a set of mechanical parameters for making said customized ophthalmic lens.

A method for creating a computational model eye, the method comprising the steps of:

• (1) providing a set of characteristic data of an eye of an individual, wherein said set of characteristic data comprises wavefront aberrations and corneal topography data of the eye of the individual;
• (2) converting the corneal topography data into a mathematical description representing a first surface of a first refractive optical element, the first optical refractive element having the first surface and an opposite second surface;
• (3) designing and optimizing the second surface of the first refractive optical element so that the first refractive optical element, alone or in combination with a second refractive optical element that has a third surface and an opposite fourth surface and an index of refraction distribution, reproduces the wavefront aberrations of the eye;
• (4) designing a model retina that has a curvature of the human retina and comprises a model fovea having a lattice of pixels representing photoreceptors;
• and
• (5) arranging the first refractive optical element and the model retina along an optical axis in a way such that the distance between the fovea and the center of the first surface of the first refractive optical element is equal to the visual axial length of the human eye,
• wherein the size of fovea is about 2 mm and wherein the lattice of pixels is a hexagonal lattice of pixels with a diameter of about 2.5 micron.

A system for characterizing the optical metrology of an ophthalmic lens, the system comprising:

• (a) a monochromatic point light source;
• (b) a diffraction limited model eye in front of said monochromatic point light source, wherein said model eye has a posterior surface and an opposite anterior surface having an averaged corneal topography of a population;
• (c) a lubricating system to simulate a tear film on the anterior surface of the model eye;
• (d) an aperture which simulates the human fovea and is located between said light source and said model eye, wherein said simulated fovea is capable of moving along the light path via manual means or via a precision motion control system to null defocus;
• (e) a wavefront sensor in front of said model eye;
• and
• (f) a micro-electro-mechanical device (MEM) that is controlled by a computer system to generate desired wavefront aberrations of the eye which needs to be corrected, wherein the MEM is located in the optical pathway of the metrology system between the wavefront sensor and the model eye.