Magnitude of lateral chromatic aberration across the retina of the human eye

Abstract

Lateral chromatic aberration was measured in the right eyes of four adult observers as the physical misalignment between perceptually aligned short-and long-wavelength targets. The magnitude of aberration generally increased with retinal eccentricity but remained less than 10arcmin within 40 deg of the fovea. At 60 deg, lateral chromatic aberration increased to approximately 30 arcmin but was reducible by refractive correction in the two observers retested. The results are consistent with previous reports of a sizable region of reasonably good optical quality extending into the retinal midperiphery. Within this region, lateral chromatic aberration approximates the average spacing between adjacent retinal cones, indicating that it does not substantially limit peripheral color vision.