Propagation of Light

Propagating through space, light carries with it the information on the shape and the spectrum of the source. A straightforward way to extract this information is an optical system that forms an image, reproducing the source’s spatial and spectral intensity distribution. However, there is a limit to the level of detail that can be resolved in the image of the source both due to fundamental physical boundaries – the diffraction at the aperture – and due to atmospheric turbulence.