Relationship between the Sine-Wave Response and the Distribution of Energy in the Optical Image of a Line*

The method of obtaining the sine-wave response of a lens, both theoretically and experimentally, is described, and it is shown that the line spread-function can be derived from the sine-wave response alone if the spread function is symmetrical. If the spread-function is not symmetrical, it can be computed from the sine-wave response only when the phase function is also known, and an experimental method of obtaining this function is described. The mathematical procedure for the reciprocal inversion of the spread-function and the sine-wave response is confirmed experimentally.