Beugungsscheibchen
Due to diffraction, even a focusing system which is perfect according to geometrical optics will have a limited spatial resolution. In the usual case of a uniform circular aperture, the point spread function (PSF) which describes the image formed from an object with no spatial extent (a "point source"), is given by the Airy disk as illustrated here. For a circular aperture, the peak intensity found at the center of the Airy disk defines the point source image intensity required for a Strehl ratio of unity. An imperfect optical system using the same physical aperture will generally produce a broader PSF in which the peak intensity is reduced according to the factor given by the Strehl ratio. An optical system with only minor imperfections in this sense may be referred to as "diffraction limited" as its PSF closely resembles the Airy disk; a Strehl ratio of greater than .8 is frequently cited as a criterion for the use of that designation.