NA和F数

Numerical Aperture and F-Number

https://www.eckop.com/resources/optics/numerical-aperture-and-f-number/

https://www.microscopyu.com/microscopy-basics/numerical-aperture

Numerical Aperture (also termed Object-Side Aperture ) is a value (often symbolized by the abbreviation NA ) originally defined by Abbe（阿贝）for microscope objectives （显微镜物镜）and condensers.

Numerical aperture (NA) refers to the cone of light that is made from a focusing lens and describes the light gathering capability of the lens (similar to f/# ). NA is defined by the following equation, where n is the index of refraction of the medium (often n=1 for air), and α is the half angle of the cone of light exiting the lens pupil.

$$NA=\text{n}\ast \sin (\alpha )$$

In the numerical aperture equation, n represents the refractive index of the medium between the objective front lens and the specimen, and α is the one-half angular aperture of the objective.

The numerical aperture of a microscope objective is a measure of its ability to gather light and resolve fine specimen detail at a fixed object distance. Image-forming light waves pass through the specimen and enter the objective in an inverted cone as illustrated in Figure 1 (above). A longitudinal slice of this cone of light reveals the angular aperture, a value that is determined by the focal length of the objective.

Equating to f/#

Now that we have briefly explained what numerical aperture is, we can equate it to f/#. As explained here, f/# is also a measure of how much light can get through a lens. f/# of a simple lens is defined by the following equation, where f is the focal length of the lens and D is the diameter (or more specifically the entrance pupil diameter for more complex lens systems).

$$f/\#=\frac{f}{D}$$

Using Geometric Relationships

In order to equate NA and f/#, we can use simple geometric relationships. Figure 3.1 shows a simple lens focusing light rays (blue lines) from infinity to a point. This creates a cone of light that can be described by numerical aperture using the previous equation. The half angle, α, can now be defined by the following equation:

$$\alpha =\arctan (\frac{D}{2f})$$

Fig. 3.1 Simple Lens

Now if we insert this definition for α into the equation for NA we get:

$$NA=\text{n}\ast \sin (\arctan (\frac{D}{2f}))$$

Now if we remember that the f/# = f/D, the NA and f/# can be equated a shown below:

$$NA=n\ast \sin (\arctan (\frac{1}{2f/\#}))$$

This is an exact equation relating the NA to the f/#, but it is often convenient to have an approximation for this. When n = 1 (medium is air) and if we use a small angle approximation (sin α ≈ tan α) then:

$$NA\approx \frac{1}{2f/\#}$$

The small angle approximation above is the most common equation for relating NA and f/#.

If the medium is not air, as is common for some microscope objectives, the approximation above can be multiplied by the index of refraction of the medium as shown below.

$$N{A}_n\approx n\ast \frac{1}{2f/\#}$$

Why Use Numerical Aperture?

There are a few main reasons to use NA instead of f/#.

1. NA is widely used to specify microscope objectives.
2. NA allows for a precise calculation of the point spread function (PSF) and the modulation transfer function (MTF)
3. The approximation for NA and f/# significantly breaks down at speeds faster than f/1.2.

Numerical Aperture and Image Resolution

https://www.microscopyu.com/tutorials/imageformation-airyna

The image resolution, (D) is defined by the equation below，which is clearly influenced by the objective numerical aperture. Note that lower values of D indicate higher resolution.

$$D=\frac{0.61\lambda }{NA}$$

the Airy pattern radius from the central peak to the first minimum is given by the equation:

$$r_{(Airy)}=\frac{1.22\lambda }{2NA}$$

where r(Airy) is the Airy radius, λ is the wavelength of illuminating light, and NA(Obj) is the objective numerical aperture.