这项工作表明，如果研究人员知道光学器件要做什么，甚至在设计之前，研究人员也可以推断出所需的最小厚度。这个极限来自衍射和重叠非局域性C概念，它可以从设备的数学描述中严格推导出来。C表示不同输出区域的输入区域有多少重叠。这一限制广泛适用于光学，从相机到超表面，以及一般的波系统。
研究人员表示，这项研究表明了光学系统为什么以及何时需要厚度和宽度或面积。波衍射解释了在显微镜和照相机中，为了达到一定的分辨率或像素数量，对透镜或光圈的面积或直径的基本需求。
附：英文原文
Title: Why optics needs thickness
Author: David A. B. Miller
Issue&Volume: 2023-01-06
Abstract: This study shows why and when optical systems need thickness as well as width or area. Wave diffraction explains the fundamental need for area or diameter of a lens or aperture to achieve some resolution or number of pixels in microscopes and cameras. This work demonstrates that if we know what the optics is to do, even before design, we can also deduce the minimum required thickness. This limit comes from diffraction combined with a concept called overlapping nonlocality C that can be deduced rigorously from just the mathematical description of what the device is to do. C expresses how much the input regions for different output regions overlap. This limit applies broadly to optics, from cameras to metasurfaces, and to wave systems generally.
DOI: ade3395
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade3395