Tolerance on defocus precisely locates the far field (exactly where is that far field anyway?)

    Authors

    J. E. Harvey; A. Krywonos;D. Bogunovic

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Appl. Optics

    Keywords

    DIFFRACTED WAVE-FIELDS; ABERRATIONS; Optics

    Abstract

    The Fraunhofer criterion defines the location of the boundary between the Fresnel and the Fraunhofer diffraction regions and thus determines the location of that region commonly referred to as the far field. The Fraunhofer criterion is usually given as an axial distance much greater than some amount relative to the maximum dimension of the aperture. By recognizing that Fresnel diffraction patterns are merely defocused Fraunhofer diffraction patterns, we show that the Fraunhofer criterion can be written precisely in terms of an allowable tolerance on defocus. This new criterion provides insight that is useful to optical designers and engineers who routinely deal with such tolerances. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.

    Journal Title

    Applied Optics

    Volume

    41

    Issue/Number

    13

    Publication Date

    1-1-2002

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    2586

    Last Page

    2588

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000175347500027

    ISSN

    1559-128X

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