title: System approach to image formation in a magic mirror.
abstract: Image formation in a quasi-linear isoplanar system consisting of a plane-parallel layer of bronze (a "magic mirror") and a plane-parallel layer of free space (air) is described. The exhaustive characteristic of the quasi-linear isoplanar system is performed with a point spread function, where the role of an incoming signal from a point source is investigated with a local camber (or a hollow) on the back of the bronze mirror. Note that the point spread function of the image system should be as close as possible to a Dirac delta function. The quasi-linear isoplanar imaging magic-mirror-layer-of-space system should map a point source input signal (local camber on the back surface of a bronze mirror) to a point output signal (a light point on the screen). At a certain parity between the thickness of the layer of bronze and the thickness of the layer of free space, this linear isoplanar system forms the image with a very large depth of field.
authors.affiliation: Max-Born-Institut für Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspectroskopie,Max-Born-Strasse 2a, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrey V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Gitin