Light rays indicate the direction of energy propagation and are normal to the wavefront surfaces.
In a homogenous medium
light rays are straight.
The diameter of the smallest disk that a lens can produce as image of a point size object is called Airy-disk
According to the so called “Rayleigh Criterion” holds:
The smallest possible
Airy-Disk that a (diffraction limited)
lens can generate is
The best possible resolution on image side (at 20%
contrast) is the radius of this smallest possible
Airy-Disk
When you double the F#, you lose factor 2 of resolution in each x and y direction.
If the
lens supported 5 Megapixel before, then it supports only 1.3 Megapixel after
When you double the wavelength (for example 850nm IR instead of 420nm blue), you lose factor 2 of resolution in each x and y direction. If the
lens supported 5 Megapixel before, then it supports only 1.3 Megapixel after
See F-number