A camera lens is set to and used at for incoherent (natural-light) imaging directly…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Optics & Photonics · Fourier optics and image formation · Fourier optics and image formation

What an Instrument Can See, Ch The transfer function of an imaging system

Problem

A camera lens is set to

f/4

and used at

\lambda = 550\ \mathrm{nm}

for incoherent (natural-light) imaging directly onto its sensor, so the image-side numerical aperture is

\mathrm{NA} \approx 1/(2N)

with

N

the

f

-number. The sensor has a pixel pitch of

4\ \mu\mathrm{m}

. ((a)) Find the incoherent cutoff spatial frequency at the sensor, in cycles per millimetre. ((b)) State the pixel pitch the sampling theorem requires, and say whether the stated sensor satisfies it, giving the factor by which it falls short if not.

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