Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät

Institut für Physik

Fachgebiet: Experimentalphysik

Betreuer: Prof. Dr. Heinrich Stolz



M.Eng. Stephan Reiß
(e-mail: stephan.reiss@uni-rostock.de )

Noninvasive determination of tissue characteristics of eye lenses using Brillouin- spectroscopy

The present dissertation is the result of a successful interdisciplinary collaboration of physics and ophthalmology. In relation to the current research of presbyopia the confocal Brillouin-spectroscopy was used for noninvasive and spatially resolved determination of important viscoelastic and biophysical parameters of the eye lens tissue. A spectrometer design consisting of a new tandem-configuration with two high dispersive multi-pass scanning interferometers was developed. This spectrometer allows in vivo-measurements of the eye. Spatially resolved ex vivo and in vivo Brillouin-spectroscopy studies of the eye lenses of the rabbit, pig and human were made. Regarding the analysis of the spatially resolved Brillouin-frequency shift, new opportunities have been initiated in order to expand the range of application of this method significantly in ophthalmology. For the first time the refractive index, the density, the protein concentration and the bulk modulus can be determined from the Brillouin-frequency shift of the eye lens. The results were compared with data from literature, which were determined by other methods, and show a very good agreement.