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ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/paper-2/section-a/a1/solution
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2018 Paper 2 Section A A1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
For a photon, . Using Planck constant , speed of light and givesThe Rayleigh criterion for a circular aperture of diameter is , set by the first zero of its Airy disk. Thus the ideal diffraction-limited resolution isThe conversion to transverse separation uses the small-angle approximation. An order-of-magnitude estimate instead gives and ; the distinction is the chosen resolution criterion. These are aperture limits, before instrumental aberrations and detector sampling.
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