Photonics Dictionary

Lenses that have identical flange focal distances and can be interchanged.

An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical lenses, which have a constant curvature across their surfaces, aspheric lenses...

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 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...

A GRIN (gradient index) lens is a type of optical lens that utilizes a gradient in refractive index across its volume rather than having a uniform refractive index like conventional lenses. This...

An infrared lens is an optical component specifically designed and optimized for transmitting, focusing, or manipulating infrared (IR) radiation within the infrared spectrum. These lenses are used in...

Lens testing equipment refers to a range of specialized tools and instruments used to evaluate the optical performance, quality, and characteristics of lenses. These instruments are essential for...

A lens is a transparent optical device that focuses or diverges light, allowing it to pass through and form an image. Lenses are commonly used in optical systems, such as cameras, telescopes,...

A machine vision lens is a specialized optical lens designed for use in machine vision systems, which are used for automated inspection, measurement, and quality control in industrial applications....

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each individual lens in the array is referred to as a microlens. These...

A molded lens is an optical lens manufactured using a molding process, typically involving the shaping of a material, such as glass or plastic, into the desired lens shape. This process involves...

A spheric lens, also known as a spherical lens, is a type of optical lens with at least one surface that is part of a sphere. This means that the lens surface is curved in a symmetrical manner,...

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is typically a curved, transparent piece of glass or other optical material...

A wide-angle lens is a type of camera lens that has a shorter focal length than a standard or normal lens, allowing it to capture a broader field of view. Wide-angle lenses are characterized by their...

A two-lens arrangement intended to image light into a microscope slide sample. The primary aberrations present are red and blue rings observed around the image focus.

Designed for the function of optical wavefront analysis. Shack-Hartmann camera aberration sensors use a lens array to image the wavefront to the CCD image plane. Live feedback may be applied through...

The value of the distance of distinct vision, minimum focusing distance or near point, divided by the focal length of the lens. Magnification is produced when the optic is placed at its focal...

An optical lens manufactured to control the transmission of light over a specified wavelength range. Low absorption lenses are produced which are anti-reflection coated for UV, VIS and IR wavelengths...

An achromat, in the context of optics, refers to a type of lens or lens system designed to reduce chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon where different colors of light...

A lens consisting of two or more elements, usually of crown and flint glass, that has been corrected for chromatic aberration with respect to two selected wavelengths. Also known as achromat.

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.

An intermolecular substance that serves to hold materials together. Two types are used in the optical industry: one, which must be transparent and colorless, to cement lenses together; and a...

An optical tooling instrument consisting of an objective lens, a focusing lens, an optical micrometer, a reticle and an eyepiece. The alignment telescope projects a precise line of sight to which a...

Commonly known as CR39, this thermosetting plastic is used in the casting of eyeglass lenses because of its toughness and clarity.

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

A lens that distorts an optical image.

A compound lens combination whose astigmatic difference is zero for one or more off-axis zones in the image plane. In such a lens the other aberrations are sufficiently well-corrected to yield...

The angle between the most divergent rays that can pass through the lens to form an image. In a birefringent crystal light modulator or Pockels cell, the maximum angle in the incident light rays that...

The angular spectrum approach is a mathematical and computational technique used in the field of optics to analyze and simulate the propagation of optical waves, particularly in the context of wave...

An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to minimize unwanted reflections and increase the transmission of light...

The second adjustable iris diaphragm in an optical system. In the common microscope condenser system, it usually is located beneath the substage condenser on a transmitted light microscope. When the...

The ratio of the lens aperture to its focal length (1/f/#).

A physical constraint, often a lens retainer, that limits the diameter of the axial light bundle allowed to pass through a lens.

Also known as aplanatic lens. A lens corrected for spherical aberration and coma.

A system that satisfies the Abbe sine condition, and is free from spherical aberration and coma.

Aplanatic points refer to specific points in an optical system where certain aberrations, such as spherical aberration or coma, are minimized or eliminated. In an optical system, aberrations are...

An aplanatic surface is an optical surface that is specifically designed or shaped to minimize spherical aberration and coma. Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays...

An apochromat, often referred to as an apochromatic lens or apochromatic objective, is a type of optical system designed to minimize chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration occurs when different...

The use of a variable transmission filter at the aperture stop of a lens to modify its diffraction pattern. Reduced transmission at the center of the aperture will favor performance at high...

The transparent fluid that fills the portion of the eye between the cornea and the eye lens (the anterior chamber).

The ratio of aperture area over receiving area for a specific lens. Also called geometric concentration.

A point source of light used for the test and evaluation of image quality. May be a backlit pinhole in an otherwise opaque sheet placed at an appropriately large distance from the lens being tested.

Not spherical; an optical element having one or more surfaces that are not spherical. The spherical surface of a lens may be slightly altered so as to reduce spherical aberration. Aspheric surfaces...

An optical system having one or more lens or mirror components that have nonspherical surfaces. These surfaces, whether reflecting or refracting, serve to advance or retard the incident wavefront,...

An aspheric mirror is an optical mirror surface that deviates from the shape of a perfect sphere, having a non-spherical surface profile. Unlike traditional spherical mirrors, which have a curved...

A lens aberration that results in the tangential and sagittal image planes being separated axially.

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