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Memorial in Jena, Germany to Ernst Karl Abbe, who approximated the diffraction limit of a microscope as = , where d is the resolvable feature size, λ is the wavelength of light, n is the index of refraction of the medium being imaged in, and θ (depicted as α in the inscription) is the half-angle subtended by the optical objective lens (representing the numerical aperture).
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]
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.
The ability of a lens to resolve detail is usually determined by the quality of the lens, but is ultimately limited by diffraction.Light coming from a point source in the object diffracts through the lens aperture such that it forms a diffraction pattern in the image, which has a central spot and surrounding bright rings, separated by dark nulls; this pattern is known as an Airy pattern, and ...
Rayleigh criterion may refer to: Angular resolution § The Rayleigh criterion, optical angular resolution; Taylor–Couette flow § Rayleigh's criterion, instability ...
Gaussian beam width () as a function of the axial distance .: beam waist; : confocal parameter; : Rayleigh length; : total angular spread In optics and especially laser science, the Rayleigh length or Rayleigh range, , is the distance along the propagation direction of a beam from the waist to the place where the area of the cross section is doubled. [1]
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.
For example, a perfect, non-aberrated, f/4 optical imaging system used, at the visible wavelength of 500 nm, would have the optical transfer function depicted in the right hand figure. The one-dimensional optical transfer function of a diffraction limited imaging system is identical to its modulation transfer function.