RESOLVING POWER OF OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

INTRODUCTION
Two distinct very close lying objects may appear as a single object when seen with
the naked eye. It is well known fact that the eye can only see two objects as separate if the
angle subtended by them at the eye is greater than one minute. For objects lying very close to
each other i.e. subtending angles less than one minute at the eye, different optical instruments
such as telescope, microscope and grating etc., can be used to increase the angle subtended at
the eye and hence make the objects appear as separate. The method of seeing two objects
lying very close to each other as separate using some optical instruments is called resolution.
As discussed in previous chapter, a parallel beam of light when passed through a
circular aperture, it can not be focused to a point image but gives a diffraction pattern due to
wave nature of light. The diffraction pattern consists of a central maximum surrounded by
dark and bright concentric rings, rapidly decreasing in intensity. The width of central maxima
varies inversely with the dimensions of the aperture. When telescope or microscope is used to
resolve the objects, the circular aperture of objective lens allows the light to pass through it
and hence the images formed are influenced by the diffraction effects. Obviously, the images
of two objects will not appear as distinct if their separation is much less than the width of the
corresponding central maxima. In a way, the diffraction effects put a theoretical limit on the
capability of an optical instrument to show distinct images of two very closely placed objects.
The ability of an optical instrument, expressed in numerical value, to produce distinct images
of two very close lying objects is called resolving power.
The resolution between two very close lying point objects is known as geometrical
resolution. A telescope or microscope produces geometrical resolution. In case of telescope,
the reciprocal of the smallest angle subtended between two objects which can be seen
separately through the telescope measures its resolving power. In case of microscope, the
reciprocal of the minimum distance between two point objects which can be seen separately
through the microscope measures its resolving power. The resolution in case of two very
close spectral lines is known as spectral resolution. A prism or a diffraction grating produces
spectral resolution. In the current chapter the Rayleigh criteria for resolution is discussed and
further used to deduce the expressions for resolving power of different optical instruments
commonly employed to produce geometrical or spectral resolution.

RAYLEIGH’S CRITERION OF RESOLUTION

(a) (b)

Figure 1: (a) Diffraction pattern from two close lying objects.

(b) Rayleigh criteria.
In order to obtain a numerical value of resolving power, Lord Rayleigh proposed an
arbitrary criterion known as Rayleigh’s criterion for resolution. According to Rayleigh, in
case of two very close point objects or two very close spectral lines, the pattern may be
regarded as just resolved if central maximum due to first diffraction pattern coincides with
the first minimum due to the other and vice-versa. Thus the distance between the centers of
the pattern should be equal to the radius of the central diffraction disc.
The diffraction pattern formed by two wavelengths  and (+d), very close to each
other, is shown in Figure (1a). The two wavelengths will be just resolved if central maximum
due to wavelength  coincides with the first minimum due to wavelength (+d) and the
central maximum due to wavelength (+d) coincides with first minimum due to wavelength
 as shown in Figure (1b).

RESOLVING POWER OF A TELESCOPE

A telescope is not only used to form magnified image of a distant object but it should
also be capable of producing fine details of the object. The resolving power of the telescope
is measured in terms of limit of resolution (d), which is defined as the smallest angle
subtended by two distant objects just resolved by the telescope objective lens. Resolving
power of the telescope is the reciprocal of limit of resolution.
A

O1 C

O2 P2

P1

O1
O2
B

Figure 2: Ray diagram for resolving power of telescope.

Consider two distant point objects O1 and O2 lying very close to each other and
sending light of wavelength,  as shown in Figure (2). Since the objects are placed very far
from the telescope, therefore, the incident wave-front on the objective will be a plane wave-
front. The objective lens of the telescope acts as a circular aperture. Thus Fraunhoffer
diffraction patterns are formed in the focal plane of objective. These patterns consist of
central bright discs with centers at P 1 and P2 and surrounded by a number of alternate bright
and dark rings. Let the angle subtended by the objects be d. Let the diameter of ring or
aperture of the objective lens be ‘a’.
According to Rayleigh’s criterion, objects O1 and O2 will be just resolved if the
central maximum P1 due to object O1 coincides with first minimum due to object O2 and vice
versa should also hold good. From B draw BC perpendicular on O 2 A. Then BC represents
incident plane wave-front from source O2.
Now path difference between secondary waves from points C and B reaching P 1 =
CA. If this path difference is equal to , then P1 corresponds to first minimum due to object
O2. This is because lens can be assumed to be divided into two equal halves and wavelets
from corresponding points from two halves will have phase difference of  / 2.
Now, ABC = d
CA
In ACB,  sin d
AB
or CA = AB sin d = a sin d
As d is small thus sin d  d
or CA = a d
Now, when CA = , the Rayleigh’s criterion will be satisfied and two objects will be just
resolved.
Therefore, CA = a d = 

or d 
a
This condition holds good for rectangular aperture. In case of circular aperture apply Airy’s
correction, thus modified result is given as
1.22
d 
a
Therefore, the resolving power of telescope is given as
1 a
 (7.1)
d 1.22
Now if ‘f’ is the focal length of objective lens of telescope and ‘r’ is the radius of central
bright ring or radius of Airy’s disc, then
r
d 
f
1 f
or  (7.2)
d r
Combining Eq. (7.1) and Eq. (7.2), we get
a f

1.22 r
1.22f
or r (7.3)
a
Thus higher is the value of ‘a’ i.e. diameter of telescope objective lens and smaller its focal
length ‘f’, then smaller will be the value of ‘r’ i.e. radius of Airy’s disc. Thus, d will be
smaller and resolving power will be higher.
It may be noted that for a given objective lens in a telescope, the angular size of the
image as seen by the eye is determined by the magnification of the eyepiece. However,
increasing the size of the image by increasing the power of the eyepiece does not increase the
amount of detail that can be seen, since it is impossible by magnification to bring out detail
which is not present in the primary image formed by the objective lens. Each point in an
object becomes a small circular diffraction pattern or disk in the image, so that if an eyepiece
of very high power is used, the image appears blurred and no greater detail is seen. Thus
diffraction by the objective is the most important factor that limits the resolving power of a
telescope.

RESOLVING POWER OF A DIFFRACTION GRATING

The resolving power of a plane diffraction grating is its ability to show two
neighboring lines in a spectrum as separate. It may be defined as the ratio of the wavelength
of any one of the spectral line to the difference in wavelengths between this line and a
neighboring line such that the two spectral lines can be just resolved. The two lines of
wavelengths  and (+d) are said to be just resolved if the central maximum due to (+d)
falls on the first minimum due to wavelength, . The resolving power of the diffracting
grating is given by ( / d ) .
 Consider a light beam comprising two wavelengths,  and (+d), to be incident normally
on the surface of a plane diffraction grating. The two wavelengths will give their own diffraction
patterns. According to Rayleigh’s criterion, the two patterns would be just resolved if the principal
maximum of one overlaps with the first secondary minimum of the other in any order. As shown in
section (6.5), the condition for the secondary minimum after the nth order principal maximum is
given by

(a  b) sin(  d)  n  (7.7)
N
Now, suppose the nth principal maximum corresponding to wavelength (+d) has the same
direction as that of the first secondary minimum of the nth order principal maximum
corresponding to wavelength, . Therefore,
(a+b) sin (+d) = n (+d) (7.8)
Comparing, Eq. (7.7) and Eq. (7.8), we get

n (  d )  n 
N

or nd  
N

or  nN (7.9)
d
Therefore, resolving power of diffraction grating = nN.
It is clear from the expression for resolving power that the resolving power is directly
proportional to (i) order of the spectrum (ii) total number of lines on the grating.