---
title: "Rayleigh Resolution calculator — AperiOptic"
description: "Smallest resolvable feature for a microscope objective. Free online optics calculator, with the formula and code snippets."
url: "https://aperioptic.com/calculators/rayleigh-resolution"
---

# Rayleigh Resolution calculator

Smallest resolvable feature for a microscope objective.

Category: [Diffraction](https://aperioptic.com/calculators)

Formula: `r = 0.6098·λ/NA (j₁,₁/2π ≈ 0.61)`

## Inputs

| Input | Parameter | Unit | Default |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Wavelength | `lam` | nm | 550 |
| NA | `NA` |  | 0.65 |

## Result with the default inputs

- Resolution: 516.0142 nm
- Abbe limit: 423.0769 nm

Open it with your own values: put each input in the address as a parameter, for example [`/calculators/rayleigh-resolution?lam=550`](https://aperioptic.com/calculators/rayleigh-resolution?lam=550). A unit other than the listed one goes in `<parameter>_unit`.

Read more: [Wikipedia: Angular resolution, The Rayleigh criterion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_resolution#The_Rayleigh_criterion)

[All optics calculators](https://aperioptic.com/calculators)

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The interactive page: https://aperioptic.com/calculators/rayleigh-resolution (AperiOptic runs in the browser; free, no account). Every page of the site as Markdown: https://aperioptic.com/llms.txt