Geometric-phase (GP) Multifocal Intraocular Lenses (IOL) for Presbyopia Correction

Intraocular lens (IOL) technology for presbyopia correction and cataract surgery is of constantly growing importance as the population aging deepens in many developed societies. An ideal IOL for this purpose is desired to simultaneously support near, intermediate, and distant vision without any serious complications. The pseudophakic presbyopia correction presently relies on multifocal or extended depth-of-focus IOLs using combined refractive and diffractive surfaces to create series of axial multi-foci or enhanced field of view. In spite of their enormous success, current IOL technologies still have inherent challenging issues for further substantial improvements such as light loss, blurred vision, and posterior capsule opacification (PCO).

   We have recently demonstrated a new type of multifocal and extended depth of focus (EDOF) intraocular lenses (IOLs) embedding mm-thin geometric phase (GP) lens layers. Multifocal GP IOLs are fabricated by radial alignment of anisotropic orientation in UV-curable liquid crystal polymers. It is expected that GP IOLs will alleviate the most common problems associated with multifocal and EDOF IOLs, blurred vision and photic phenomena caused by light scattering and posterior capsule opacification.