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DIFFRACTION AND VISUAL RESOLUTION
Author(s) -
HALLDÉN ULF
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.1973.tb03799.x
Subject(s) - optics , resolution (logic) , diffraction , ring (chemistry) , pupil , aperture (computer memory) , point (geometry) , physics , materials science , mathematics , computer science , chemistry , geometry , artificial intelligence , acoustics , organic chemistry
It is known that, when diffraction is the limiting factor of resolution, the resolution of two point sources of light and that of a grating are inversely proportional to the diameter of the aperture. Here it is shown that the same relation is valid for the visual resolution of the Landolt ring test object. A comparison of the resolution, when limited by diffraction, of the Landolt ring and of two point sources of light shows that the resolution of the former is much better. This explains the clinical observation that patients treated with miotics often have better visual acuity than would be expected from the diameters of their pupils. The visual resolution of two point sources of light is limited by diffraction when the diameter of the pupil is less than 2.5 mm; the corresponding value for the resolution of the Landolt ring is about 1 mm.