Physics:Stokes lens

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Short description: Ophthalmic lens
Stokes lens
Medical diagnostics
SynonymsStokes' lens
Test ofAstigmatism

Stokes lens also known as variable power cross cylinder lens[1] is a lens used to diagnose a type of refractive error known as astigmatism.

Lens design

The Stokes lens also known as variable power cross cylinder lens, in its standard version, is a lens combination consisted of equal but opposite (one plano-convex and other plano-concave) power cylindrical lenses attached together in a way so that the lenses be rotated in opposite directions.[2][3] When the axes are parallel, the two powers cancel each other out to achieve the resulting power zero; When the axes are vertical, a sphero-cylindrical lens with maximum power is obtained.[3]

Uses

Stokes lens is a lens used to diagnose and measure astigmatism.[4][5]

Adaptations

American ophthalmologist Edward Jackson revised the Stokes lens concept and made a cross cylinder lens to refine power and axis of astigmatism.[2] This lens combination is known as Jackson cross cylinder.[2] Based on the Stokes lens, James P. Foley and Charles E. Campbell made a variable power astigmatic lens which is combination of two identical cylindrical powers instead of equal and opposite powers.[2][6]

History

In 1837, English mathematician and astronomer George Biddell Airy invented the cylindric lens and used it to correct astigmatism.[3] Irish English physicist and mathematician George Stokes invented Stokes lens in 1849.[3]

References