Скачать книгу

rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_bcb58926-227d-5c8a-a976-505ad603950c">(2.10)equation

Geometrical illustration of a compound microscope.

      (2.11)equation

      The equations above establish the standard definitions for microscope lens powers. For example, the magnification of microscope objectives is usually in the range of ×10 to ×100. For a standard tube length, d, of 160 mm, this corresponds to an objective focal length ranging from 16 to 1.6 mm. A typical eyepiece, with a magnification of ×10 has a focal length of 25 mm (d0 = 250 mm). By combining a ×100 objective lens with a ×10 eyepiece, a magnification of ×1000 can be achieved. This illustrates the power of the compound microscope.

      The entrance pupil is defined by the aperture of the objective lens. This entrance pupil is re-imaged by the eyepiece to create an exit pupil that is close to the eyepiece. Ideally, this should be co-incident with the pupil of the eye. The distance of the exit pupil from final mechanical surface of the eyepiece is known as the eye relief. Placing the exit pupil further away from the physical eyepiece provides greater comfort for the user, hence the term ‘eye relief’. Objective lens aperture tends to be defined by numerical aperture, rather than f-number and range from 0.1 to 1.3 (for oil immersion microscopes).

Geometrical illustration of a simple optical telescope.

      2.11.3 Simple Telescope

      A classical optical telescope is an example of an afocal system. That is to say, no clearly defined focus is presented either in object or image space. As the name suggests, the telescope views distant objects, nominally at the infinite conjugate and provides a collimated output for ocular viewing in the case of a traditional instrument. As far as the instrument is concerned, both object and image are located at the infinite conjugate. Of course, this narrative does assume that the instrument is designed for ocular viewing as opposed to image formation at a detector or photographic plate. In any case, the design principles are similar. Fundamentally, the telescope provides angular magnification of a distant object, and this angular magnification is a key performance attribute.

equation

      The separation, s, is simply the sum of the two focal lengths and the system matrix is given by:

      (2.13)equation

      The angular magnification (the D value of the matrix) is simply −f1/f2. It is important to note the sign of the magnification, so that for two positive lenses, then the magnification is negative. In line with the previous discussion with regard to the optical invariant, the linear magnification (given by matrix element A) is the inverse of the angular magnification. Also, the C element of the matrix, attesting to the focal power of the system, is actually zero and is characteristic of an afocal system.

      As an example, a small astronomical refracting telescope might comprise a 75 mm diameter objective lens with a focal length of 750 mm (f/10) and might use a ×10 eyepiece. Eyepiece magnification is classified in the same way as for microscope eyepieces and so the focal length of this eyepiece would be 25 mm, as derived from Eq. (2.12b). The angular magnification (f1/f2) would be ×30 and the size of the pupil about 3 mm, which is smaller than the pupil of the eye.

      In the preceding discussion, the basic description of the instrument function assumes ocular viewing, i.e. viewing through an eyepiece. However, increasingly, across a range of optical instruments, the eye is being replaced by a detector chip. This is true of microscope, telescope, and camera instruments.

      2.11.4 Camera

      In essence, the function of a camera is to image an object located at the infinite conjugate and to form an image on a light sensitive planar surface. Of course, traditionally, this light sensitive surface consisted of a film or a plate upon which a silver halide emulsion had been deposited. This allowed the recording of a latent image which could be chemically developed at a later stage. Depending upon the grain size of the silver halide emulsion, feature sizes of around 10–20 μm or so could be resolved. That is to say, the ultimate system resolution is limited by the recording media as well as the optics. For the most part, this photographic film has now been superseded by pixelated silicon detectors, allowing the rapid and automatic capture and processing of images. These detectors are composed of a rectangular array of independent sensor areas (usually themselves rectangular) that each produce a charge in proportion to the amount of light collected. Resolution of these detectors is limited by the pixel size which is analogous to the grain size in

Скачать книгу