there is an ambiguity between depth resolution and depth of field, and the two both depend on recievers and displays.
The t terms have different meaning in different contexts. You need to give more details.
If I understand the question correctly, the Depth of Filed (DOF) is a term used often in optics defining the effective focus range that is the distance between the farthest and the nearest objects that could be observed as acceptably sharp images. However, Depth Resolution is usually defined when a wave (electromagnetic waves or particle waves, etc.) is interacting with materials. For example the depth resolution using an optical microscope could be controlled by an aperture that selectively collect light from difference rings from the light cross section that refers to different depth from within the material under the study. In case of SIMS or SEM or other modern instruments the beam may interact with the surface by sweeping a finely focused primary beam in a raster pattern over a square area. In certain instruments one may select secondary electrons or ions from specific depths using an appropriate apertures.
The depth resolution of the (imaging) device corresponds to the smallest axial (depth) distance between two point objects that the device can resolve. The depth of field is an axial (depth) range where the object stays in focus.
The depth resolution is impacted by many factors such as the beam intensity, beam cross section profile (e.g., Gaussian distribution for 00 laser mode), the interaction with materials and materials index of refraction, as well as optics involved such as the numerical aperture of the lens, and normalized radius (when an aperture might be used in the path of the beam, etc. One could look at detailed theory related to this in related published articles as shown suggested publications below and references therein,
Neil J. Everall, Applied Spectroscopy, 54, 773 (2000) & Appl. Spec., 54, 1515 (2000)
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