Schwarzschild objective function

Figure 3.14 Calculated sensitivity as a function of radial distance from the center of an objective diffraction pattern, comparing Schwarzschild objective used in a nonconfocal (solid line) and confocal (dash-dot line) configuration. The plateau still occurs near 5 [im distance for both cases, but the enclosed sensitivity has been increased to more than 80%. Also note how the confocal case approaches 100% more quickly as a function of radial distance.

Figure 7.4 Point spread function (PSF) for three optical arrangements. Left panel the Airy function for a standard, full-aperture objective. Middle panel a Schwarzschild objective having a central obscuration of 25%. Right panel two matched Schwarzschild objectives used in a confocal arrangement.

Figure 3.12 Calculated sensitivity as a function of radial distance from the center of an objective s diffraction pattern, comparing the nonconfocal case for a Schwarzschild and a conventional objective (no obscuration). The plateau near 5 p,m distance for Schwarzschild corresponds to the first diffraction minima. Thus, only j of the sensitivity is located in the diffraction pattern s central peak. Contrast this to the Airy pattern where more than 80% is contained in the central maximum.

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