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The observation of sub-wavelength structures with microscopes is difficult because of the Abbe diffraction limit. Ernst Abbe found in 1873, [ 2 ] and expressed as a formula in 1882, [ 3 ] that light with wavelength λ {\displaystyle \lambda } , traveling in a medium with refractive index n {\displaystyle n} and converging to a spot with half ...
The result, θ = 4.56/D, with D in inches and θ in arcseconds, is slightly narrower than calculated with the Rayleigh criterion. A calculation using Airy discs as point spread function shows that at Dawes' limit there is a 5% dip between the two maxima, whereas at Rayleigh's criterion there is a 26.3% dip. [3]
Only the very highest quality lenses have diffraction-limited resolution, however, and normally the quality of the lens limits its ability to resolve detail. This ability is expressed by the Optical Transfer Function which describes the spatial (angular) variation of the light signal as a function of spatial (angular) frequency. When the image ...
Thus, the resolution limit is usually around λ 0 /2 for conventional optical microscopy. [17] This treatment takes into account only the light diffracted into the far-field that propagates without any restrictions. NSOM makes use of evanescent or non propagating fields that exist only near the surface of the object.
The Rayleigh criterion specifies that two point sources are considered "resolved" if the separation of the two images is at least the radius of the Airy disk, i.e. if the first minimum of one coincides with the maximum of the other. Thus, the larger the aperture of the lens compared to the wavelength, the finer the resolution of an imaging system.
The Rayleigh criterion for barely resolving two objects that are point sources of light, such as stars seen through a telescope, is that the center of the Airy disk for the first object occurs at the first minimum of the Airy disk of the second. This means that the angular resolution of a diffraction-limited system is given by the same formulae.
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Sparrow's resolution limit is nearly equivalent to the theoretical diffraction limit of resolution, the wavelength of light divided by the aperture diameter, and about 20% smaller than the Rayleigh limit. For example, in a 200 mm (eight-inch) telescope, Rayleigh's resolution limit is 0.69 arc seconds, Sparrow's resolution limit is 0.54 arc seconds.