Image: Pitch widening below Rayleigh criterion

Description: The separation between intensity peaks in the image is wider than the actual separation between illuminated point objects, below the Rayleigh criterion.[1] In this case, while 52 nm separation is maintained since it is above the 50 nm Rayleigh criterion, 48 nm and 44 nm separations appear wider in the image. The Rayleigh criterion for peak-to-peak separation comes from the radius for the first minimum of the Airy disk.[2] This distance needs to be doubled for separated edges, e.g. at half maximum intensity, as well as to minimize the neighboring feature's impact beyond the second minimum.
Title: Pitch widening below Rayleigh criterion
Credit: Excel
Author: Guiding light
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License: CC-BY-SA-4.0
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