Photonics Dictionary

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape resembling a cylinder. Unlike spherical lenses, which have the same...

A waveguide made up of a dielectric material, such as plastic or mica, in a cylindrical form, through which the waves travel.

1. In optics, the housing, usually cylindrical, that contains the lenses and iris diaphragm of a camera. 2. In fiber optics, a device for coupling two connectors.

A lens, usually having one or more cylindrical surfaces, used to produce distorted images and later to restore them to true form.

A cylindrical convex viewing mirror used for viewing distorted pictures formed by photographing the reflections of the objects in a similar type of mirror.

A cylindrical lens that may be rotated to distort a bundle of light originating at a point source, to form a line image.

Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the electromagnetic wave points along the azimuthal direction (around the propagation axis)....

A lens, both surfaces of which are ground and polished into a toric or cylindrical form.

A thermometric instrument used for the detection and measurement of radiant energy. Its essential component is a short narrow strip covered with a dead black absorbing coating and mounted at the...

A conical or cylindrical package of light rays emanating from a common point on the object.

Computer numerically controlled (CNC) grinding is a manufacturing process that utilizes computerized controls and precision machining tools to remove material from a workpiece. In CNC grinding, a...

A mass-relieving method whereby material is removed through the sides of a reflector in a direction parallel to the surface. A method of cutting a cylindrical piece of material from a large piece.

A positioning slide mechanism with two rows of alternately crisscrossed cylindrical rollers.

In a cylindrical lens, the meridian parallel to the generating lines of the cylindrical surface. In a toric lens, the cylinder axis is the axis of the equivalent cylindrical surface that has been...

A special evacuated camera equipped with means for holding a specimen and bombarding it with a sharply focused beam of electrons. A cylindrical film is placed around the specimen to record the...

A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It serves as the precursor from which optical fibers are drawn. The process of...

The process of grinding the toric surface of a single vision sphero-cylindrical lens.

A retroreflector that can focus a beam of light, with one planar reflective surface, one spherical and a third that is either planar or convex cylindrical.

A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin piece of transparent material, typically plastic or glass. This design...

Molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid or tube. Also called buckyballs. Cylindrical fullerenes are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes.

A helium-neon (HeNe) laser is a type of gas laser that emits visible red light at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. It operates based on the principle of stimulated emission of photons from excited helium...

A reflection hologram using multiple color lasers that integrates various graphical techniques to allow the display of three-dimensional images of live objects in motion, as well as outdoor scenes,...

A metal tool used to grind lenses with loose abrasive (see diamond cutting tool). The functional surface of the lap is carefully formed to be opposite the curve to be produced on the glass (concave...

Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser light. Laser optics play a crucial role in shaping the characteristics of...

A type of additive color photography using a lenticular structure impressed on a film base and a camera lens with a filter having three sectors of red, blue and green. Exposure of the film through...

Transparent matter that usually is drawn into a cylindrical, pyramidical or conical shape through which light is channeled from one end to the other by total internal reflections. Optical fibers are...

Also known as single plane illumination microscopy (SPIM), this process was designed for imaging of sensitive samples and fast biological processes in vivo. In this method, a light sheet illuminates...

An amorphous film in which cylindrical bubbles of reverse magnetization can be formed to follow circuit paths usually made by depositing magnetic metal strips on the film surface. It is used in...

A shaft, spindle or any object generally passed through a workpiece to hold, support or shape a particular piece during its machining process or its practical use. In fiber optics, optical fibers are...

A nanotube, also known as a nanotubule or simply a tube-like structure, is a nanoscale cylindrical structure composed of various materials, including carbon, boron nitride, or other compounds....

Literally, neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet. A cylindrical rod of yttrium-aluminum-garnet doped with neodymium that is the active medium of the Nd:YAG laser, a highly serviceable solid-state device...

A pair of waveguides with axes normal to the plane and that guide uniform cylindrical waves.

A flat cylindrical device generally used to polish terminated ends in fiber optic connections.

A camera system that uses a fine powder to diffract x-rays from the specimen. A beam of monochromatic x-rays passes through a collimator onto the specimen. Diffracted x-rays are recorded on the film...

The process of grinding the concave surface of a sphero-cylindrical lens.

Derived from "self-focusing,'' Nippon Sheet Glass Co. (NSG) of Japan's trade name for graded-index fiber rods with parabolic index profile, suitable for use as cylindrical microlenses.

Referred to as SWCNTs, these cylindrical nanostructures composed of a folded sheet of graphene can be used as near-infrared markers for small animal multiplex imaging. Emitting at different...

A ruggedized scintillation counter used in oil well logging. The cylindrical housing contains a gamma ray source, a crystalline scintillator and a photomultiplier tube. As the sonde is drawn through...

Sets of lenses (positive, negative and cylindrical) usually mounted in circular rims suitable for slipping into trial spectacle frames. The individual lenses bear codes that state their power in...

Also known as cathode-ray tube grid or shield. A cylindrically shaped electrode that, containing the cathode of a cathode-ray tube with opposite potential, is designed to focus and control the...

Irradiation of a cylindrical crystal with an x-ray beam resulting in Bragg diffraction that produces a slightly enlarged image.