Diffraction

Question 1

what is the fundamental property of light waves

Answer 1

resolving power/resolution

Question 2

what is rayleigh’s criterion

Answer 2

ability to show as separate 2 point sources of light, each of which produce its own diffraction power
-2 objects are just resolved if their airy discs are one half overlapped

Question 3

what is diffraction

Answer 3

the spreading of a collimated light beam when the light encounters an obstacle

Question 4

what is the width of the pattern

Answer 4

the distance btwn the 2 dark bands flanking the bright center

Question 5

the width of the pattern is inversely proportional to the..

Answer 5

width of the slit through which the light has passed

Question 6

what does the quality of the image in a pinhole camera depend on

Answer 6

size of the aperature

Question 7

the pinhole cannot be made arbitarily small bc

Answer 7

1. birghtness of the image depends on the aperature size

2. diffraction effects become increasingly important as the aperature is reduced

Question 8

what does the pinhole in the exam room allow bypass of

Answer 8

optics of eye like refractive error, moderate cyl, and catact