Two-point resolution of asymmetrically apodized optical systems

Abstract

Effect of asymmetric apodization applied to two dimensional complex pupil filters on resolution of object points in the image plane of apodized optical systems has been investigated. The required pupil function and its transmittance is formulated and studied. These sparrow limits have been discussed as functions of the degree of spatial coherence of the illumination, intensity ratio of two object points and asymmetric apodization parameter (b). The sparrow resolution limit increases as the degree of coherence increases, irrespective of the intensity ratio of two point objects. With respect to intensity ratio of two points it is clearly found that for all cases of illumination, employing complex pupil filters in the presence of asymmetric apodization leads to an improvement in resolution of two object points. © Sociedad Española de Óptica.