Abbe limit

The Abbe limit describes the smallest detail that an optical system, like a microscope, can resolve or see clearly. It arises because light waves have a minimum wavelength, which prevents the system from distinguishing objects closer together than a certain distance. Essentially, if two tiny points are closer than this limit, they appear as one. This fundamental constraint affects all microscopes and similar instruments, setting a limit on how fine their details can be. Advances in technology, like electron microscopes, can surpass this limit by using shorter wavelengths of particles instead of light.