Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1977 May;67(5):696-8.
doi: 10.1364/josa.67.000696.

Photoreceptor diameter and spacing for highest resolving power

A W Snyder, W H Miller

Photoreceptor diameter and spacing for highest resolving power

A W Snyder et al. J Opt Soc Am. 1977 May.

Abstract

The maximum center-to-center angular spacing delta phi of photoreceptors tolerated for reconstructing the highest spatial frequency passed by a diffraction-limited pupil of diameter D is delta phi - lambda/D square root 3 when the photoreceptors are packed in a hexagonal array, where lambda is the wavelength in vacuum. This spacing gives the maximum signal-to-photon noise ratio when the inner segments touch. The mean luminance required for an eye to achieve its highest resolving power is independent of eye size, provided the retina is designed to sample the highest spatial frequency passed by the diffraction-limited optics.

PubMed Disclaimer