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diffraction limit

diffraction limit noun: the minimum angular separation of two sources that can be distinguished by a telescope (depending on the wavelength of the light being observed and the diameter of the telescope).

Noun

diffraction limit (plural diffraction limits)

  1. The minimum angular separation of two sources that can be distinguished by a telescope (depending on the wavelength of the light being observed and the diameter of the telescope).
    • For telescopes with circular apertures, the size of the smallest feature in an image that is diffraction limited is the size of the Airy disk. As one decreases the size of the aperture in a lens, diffraction increases. At small apertures, such as f/22, most modern lenses are limited only by...

Forms of diffraction limit

pluraldiffraction limits

Questions about diffraction limit

What does diffraction limit mean?
Diffraction limit means the minimum angular separation of two sources that can be distinguished by a telescope (depending on the wavelength of the light being observed and the diameter of the telescope).
What part of speech is diffraction limit?
Diffraction limit is a noun.
What is the plural of diffraction limit?
The plural of diffraction limit is diffraction limits.

Words near diffraction limit in the dictionary

  1. diffracted
  2. diffracting
  3. diffraction
  4. diffraction grating
  5. diffraction gratings
  6. diffraction limit
  7. diffraction limits
  8. diffraction pattern
  9. diffraction patterns
  10. diffractional
  11. diffractionally

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: diffraction limit (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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