Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-2-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/10/c/solution

The Rayleigh criterion declares two equal incoherent point images just resolved when the central maximum of one lies at the first minimum of the other's point spread function. For a single rectangular slit, the first minimum occurs at . Thus
This is a resolution in the direction across the slit width, and the last approximation requires . The central maximum's full width between its two first minima is approximately ; it is not the Rayleigh criterion's separation. Two coherent sources can interfere with one another, so a resolution statement for them also needs their relative phase.

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