Rayleigh criterion
E179227
The Rayleigh criterion is a fundamental limit in optics that defines the minimum angular separation at which two point sources can be distinguished as separate due to diffraction.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Rayleigh criterion canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1571199 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Rayleigh criterion Context triple: [Lord Rayleigh, knownFor, Rayleigh criterion]
-
A.
Airy disk
An Airy disk is the central bright spot in the diffraction pattern formed when light passes through a circular aperture, fundamentally limiting the resolving power of optical systems.
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B.
Fraunhofer diffraction
Fraunhofer diffraction is the far-field diffraction pattern of waves, typically light, observed when both the source and observation screen are effectively at infinite distance or made so with lenses, producing characteristic interference patterns.
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C.
Poisson spot
Poisson spot is a bright point of light that appears at the center of the shadow of a circular object due to wave diffraction, providing striking evidence for the wave nature of light.
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D.
Huygens–Fresnel principle
The Huygens–Fresnel principle is a fundamental concept in wave optics that explains how every point on a wavefront acts as a source of secondary wavelets whose interference determines the wave’s subsequent propagation and diffraction.
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E.
Kirchhoff diffraction theory
Kirchhoff diffraction theory is a classical wave optics framework that models light propagation and diffraction by treating wavefronts as superpositions of secondary spherical waves emitted from an aperture.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Rayleigh criterion Target entity description: The Rayleigh criterion is a fundamental limit in optics that defines the minimum angular separation at which two point sources can be distinguished as separate due to diffraction.
-
A.
Airy disk
An Airy disk is the central bright spot in the diffraction pattern formed when light passes through a circular aperture, fundamentally limiting the resolving power of optical systems.
-
B.
Fraunhofer diffraction
Fraunhofer diffraction is the far-field diffraction pattern of waves, typically light, observed when both the source and observation screen are effectively at infinite distance or made so with lenses, producing characteristic interference patterns.
-
C.
Poisson spot
Poisson spot is a bright point of light that appears at the center of the shadow of a circular object due to wave diffraction, providing striking evidence for the wave nature of light.
-
D.
Huygens–Fresnel principle
The Huygens–Fresnel principle is a fundamental concept in wave optics that explains how every point on a wavefront acts as a source of secondary wavelets whose interference determines the wave’s subsequent propagation and diffraction.
-
E.
Kirchhoff diffraction theory
Kirchhoff diffraction theory is a classical wave optics framework that models light propagation and diffraction by treating wavefronts as superpositions of secondary spherical waves emitted from an aperture.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
concept in physical optics
ⓘ
diffraction limit ⓘ optical resolution criterion ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
cameras
ⓘ
circular apertures ⓘ far-field diffraction regime ⓘ microscopes ⓘ optical instruments ⓘ telescopes ⓘ |
| assumes |
diffraction-limited, aberration-free optics
ⓘ
incoherent point sources ⓘ |
| basedOn | diffraction of light ⓘ |
| category |
diffraction phenomena
ⓘ
imaging theory ⓘ optical resolution ⓘ |
| characterizes | limit of spatial resolution due to diffraction ⓘ |
| comparedWith |
Abbe diffraction limit
ⓘ
Sparrow criterion ⓘ full width at half maximum criteria ⓘ |
| defines | minimum resolvable angular separation of two point sources ⓘ |
| field |
imaging science
ⓘ
optics ⓘ |
| givesFormula | θ = 1.22 λ / D for a circular aperture ⓘ |
| historicalContext | introduced by Lord Rayleigh in the 19th century ⓘ |
| implies |
resolution improves with decreasing wavelength
ⓘ
resolution improves with increasing aperture diameter ⓘ |
| influences |
choice of aperture size in optical systems
ⓘ
trade-off between resolution and light-gathering power ⓘ |
| mathematicalBasis | diffraction by a circular aperture described by Bessel functions ⓘ |
| namedAfter | Lord Rayleigh ⓘ |
| parameter |
D is the aperture diameter
ⓘ
θ is the minimum resolvable angular separation ⓘ λ is the wavelength of light ⓘ |
| relatesTo |
Airy disk
ⓘ
diffraction-limited resolution ⓘ numerical aperture ⓘ optical transfer function ⓘ point spread function ⓘ wavelength of light ⓘ |
| statesThat | two point sources are just resolvable when the principal maximum of one diffraction pattern coincides with the first minimum of the other ⓘ |
| usedFor | estimating resolving power of optical instruments ⓘ |
| usedIn |
astronomical imaging
ⓘ
design of camera lenses ⓘ design of microscopes ⓘ design of telescopes ⓘ lithography resolution analysis ⓘ optical metrology ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Rayleigh criterion Description of subject: The Rayleigh criterion is a fundamental limit in optics that defines the minimum angular separation at which two point sources can be distinguished as separate due to diffraction.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.