This thesis presents work on the development of a compact adaptive optics
ophthalmoscope to visualize microscopic details of the human fovea. Conventional
ophthalmoscopes currently employed in retinal imaging for diagnostic purposes help to
detect disorders in real-time; however, their resolution is limited by the optical quality of
the last focusing lens, the human eye. In recent years there has been a significant increase
in studying retinal alterations, including the complication of non-ophthalmic diseases.
In a number of cases, especially for visually impaired and elderly people, when the ocular
media become less transparent, fixation is hard for the patients. It is often difficult to
repeat the measurements during the usual clinical diagnostic routine; the dynamic
changes and imperfection in the optics of the eye also significantly degrade the retinal
image quality. In order to resolve cellular level details and hence detect ocular diseases in
their infancy, dynamic correction of ocular aberrations is required. Developments in
ophthalmoscopy have extended its application to high-resolution imaging using adaptive
optics. This technology enables the in-vivo study of finer microscopic structures by
dynamically correcting higher-order ocular aberrations. To date, such systems have been
large and confined to research laboratory conditions. This thesis investigates the
performance of a compact adaptive optics ophthalmoscope built in a cost effective way to
provide a diagnostic tool that is more affordable and usable in a general clinical
environment. It also highlights some of the problems associated with retinal imaging and
discusses the limitations of retinal imaging systems. The results obtained with this system
suggest that it is possible to non-invasively detect structural and functional changes of the
retina in their early phases of development and enable precise monitoring of the effect of
therapies in later clinical research.