Ocular aberrations in barn owl eyes

Optical quality in barn owl eyes is presented in terms of measuring the ocular wavefront aberrations with a standard Tscherning-type wavefront aberrometer under natural viewing conditions. While accommodative state was uncontrolled, all eyes were focused within 0.4 D with respect to the plane of the aberrometer. Total RMS wavefront error was between 0.06 and 0.15 μm (mean: 0.10 μm, STD: 0.03 μm, defocus cancelled) for a 6 mm pupil. The results suggest that image quality in barn owl eyes is excellent.