resolution of an optical system tagged posts

Optical resolution is the ability of an imaging system to distinguish between closely spaced objects. In the picture, we show two points separated by the Rayleigh’s limit, as observed in the experiment. Credit: Martin Paúr – Palacký University

The resolution of an optical system (like a telescope or a camera) is limited by the Rayleigh criterion. An international team, led by Complutense University of Madrid, has broken this limit, showing that it is not a fundamental curse. This opens the door to considerable improvement in resolution and could force the revision of Optics textbooks. This research is the culmination of a thrilling race between four groups of scientists around the world.

An ideal optical system would resolve a point perfectly as a point...