Abstract
The relationships between certain fundamental characteristic functions relating to an optical image-forming system are indicated, some being observable experimentally and others being unobservable. Of the observable characteristics two are especially useful in the analysis of the image-forming properties of the system. One of these represents the image of a point object and the other the Fourier transform of this point image. The two are considered for their practicality as bases for objective laboratory techniques in image evaluation. The transform of the point image is practical as it stands whereas the point image itself is not. A function directly related to the point image and to a number of other simple objects is suggested as a practical representative function. The practical functions are correlated and the relative merits of the two approaches are considered.
© 1956 Optical Society of America
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Erik Ingelstam, Erik Djurle, and Bo Sjögren
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