Re: [DIYbio] Why does a beam expander allow a smaller focused spot size?

On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 11:43 AM, Simon Quellen Field
<sfield@scitoys.com> wrote:
> You are getting close.
> :-)
>
> Diffraction is not the correct answer, although diffraction does cause the
> spot to be larger
> than it would otherwise be.
>
> Any beam of light has a divergence -- it spreads out as you get farther
> away.

I'm still not quite there... does the smaller focal length allow less
overall divergence to occur? As in, if the focal length were longer,
the rays would have a longer time to diverge?

--
Nathan McCorkle
Rochester Institute of Technology
College of Science, Biotechnology/Bioinformatics

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