The Abbe Sine Condition

The Abbe Sine Condition is a principle in optics that ensures a microscope or camera lens produces sharp images when viewing objects at different planes. It states that for a lens to correctly focus all parts of a three-dimensional object, the height of the object point (h) divided by its distance from the lens (u) must equal the height of the image point (h') divided by its corresponding image distance (v). In simple terms, it guarantees that light rays from various depths focus properly onto the image, minimizing distortion and blurring, which is essential for high-quality optical imaging.