What is meant by a 'diffraction-limited value with a focusing objective' and a 'free space propagation value with some divergence <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mi>&#x03B8;<!-- θ --></mi> </math> ?

Malcolm Gregory

Malcolm Gregory

Open question

2022-08-28

What is meant by a 'diffraction-limited value with a focusing objective' and a 'free space propagation value with some divergence θ'?

Answer & Explanation

Rachael Trevino

Rachael Trevino

Beginner2022-08-29Added 9 answers

"Diffraction-limited" means the spot size you calculate given the wavelength, aperture, and focal length. This is the ideal minimum, assuming a perfectly flat wavefront and so on.
Then, once you get close to this limit, there's no point in designing a lens whose geometric raytrace indicates a smaller spot size at the point of minimum confusion (aka smallest encircling spot for all incoming rays from a point source at infinity on the optic axis).
Free-space divergence angle typically means the plane angle (not solid angle) over which the beam is spreading, either due to noncollimation or self-diffraction. In the case of laser diodes, the raw output is elliptical and you'd expect to measure two different angles at the two orthogonal axes. If the diode contains a correcting lens, you may have a "round" rather than elliptical beam profile.

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