What is Resolution?
Resolution is the quality of the image which is decided by the diffraction effect. The resolving power of an instrument depends on its resolution. The resolution of an optical instrument is defined as the smallest distance between two points that can be distinguished by the observer’s eye or the lens installed in the optical device. Scientifically, the precision with which an optical device can record or measure a specimen’s variables under observation is also known as resolution.
It is measured by the smallest distance which could be seen clearly without blur due to diffraction. The diffraction or aberration reduces the resolution of an instrument and often creates a blurred image. Diffraction is associated with the wave nature of light. Light interferes with itself when it passes through a lens and creates a ring-shaped diffraction pattern called the Airy pattern. Such a pattern is obtained only when the wavefront of the light source is spherical or plane at the aperture’s exit point.
Resolving Power of a Microscope and Telescope
Wave optics, also known as Physical optics, deals with the study of various phenomena such as diffraction, polarization, interference, resolution, and other occurrences. Wave optics is the segment of optics that focuses on the study and behavior of light and its wave characteristics. Wave optics particularly describes the connection between waves and rays of light. According to the wave theory of light, light is a form of energy, it travels through a medium in the form of transverse wave motion. The speed of light traveling through a medium depends upon the nature of the medium.
Here, the approximation is carried out by using ray optics for the estimation of the field on a surface. Integrating ray-estimated field over a mirror, lens, or aperture for the calculation of the scattered or transmitted field also gets involved later on. Wave optics stands as a witness to the scientific study of understanding the nature of light. One is the particle nature of light and the other is the wave nature of light.