Past exam of the physics 2 paper of the University of Oxford / 2021 / 7 / a / Solution

For a uniformly illuminated single slit of width $b$, summing the wave amplitudes across the slit gives the Fraunhofer diffraction profileThe first minimum occurs at $\sin \theta =\lambda /b$. The Rayleigh criterion places one source's central maximum at the other source's first minimum; hence the slit gives $\Delta \theta \simeq \lambda /b$. A circular aperture instead produces an Airy disk, whose first minimum is at $1.22\lambda /D$. For the camera's circular lens,The factor $1.22$ belongs to circular-aperture diffraction, rather than the single-slit profile.