METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR THICKNESS MEASUREMENTS USING SPECTRALLY RESOLVED FULL GRADIENT TOPOGRAPHY

An apparatus and method: project a plurality of light spots onto a cornea of an eye having a tear film disposed thereon, wherein the light spots are broadband light spots or are narrowband light spots whose bandwidth is tuned in time across a broad bandwidth; image the light spots from the cornea onto at least one two-dimensional detector array; spectrally resolve each of the plurality of imaged light spots; perform interferometry on the spectrally resolved imaged light spots to identify an anterior interface and a posterior interface of the tear film of the eye; and determine a thickness of the tear film as a distance between the anterior interface and the posterior interface.