RAYLEIGH

Resolving two images

This animation shows the superposition of two images. Each image is the diffraction pattern obtained from passing the light from a point source through a circular hole. In the top half of the screen, the images are shown separately. In the bottom half, the sum of the two images are shown. The sum is normalized so that the maximum intensity is a constant.

The program recognizes the following commands:
+ Increase separation between the peaks.
- Decrease the separation between the peaks.
Rayleigh Move the peaks to positions which satisfy the Rayleigh criterion: each peak is at the same position as the first minimum of the other image.