Photonics Dictionary

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The scanning takes place inside the television tube as electrons, guided by...

The successive analysis or synthesizing of the light values or other similar characteristics of the components of a picture area, following a given method.

Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A scanning laser beam is used as a detector, which transmits information...

A light, radar or electron beam used to scan according to a particular method.

Measures by heterodyning interferometry the local slope of a vibrating sample. The method allows the reconstruction of a three dimensional map of the surface in order to determine the slope and...

In field-sequential color television, the rotating tricolor disc placed between the subject and the lens, or between the picture tube and the viewer.

The picture formed by the scanning beam of electrons in a scanning electron microscope.

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials characterization, and various industrial applications. Unlike traditional optical...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the surfaces of solid specimens. SEM achieves this by...

A device composed of a light source and phototube used to scan a moving strip of material in photoelectric side-register control systems.

1. The continuous thin strip marked by the scanning beam. Generally, during return of the scan, the line is blanked out. 2. The thin strip marked by the scanning process and composed of the...

A microdensitometer that contains a scanning stage to provide simultaneous representations of position vs. density.

A contour mapping technique that uses electronic scanning and sampling techniques instead of a reference grating (see moire topography; projection moire topography) to obtain moire fringes, producing...

See atomic force microscope; magnetic force microscope; near-field scanning optical microscope; scanning tunneling microscope.

A spectroradiometer having a means to scan different regions of the light spectrum, providing simultaneous representations of amplitude vs. wavelength of the spectrum.

The picture area scanned per second.

The spot illuminated on a cathode-ray tube by the initial impact of the scanning ray and the screen.

A high-resolution imaging instrument that can detect and measure the positions of individual atoms on the surface of a material. A very fine conductive probe is placed at a distance of 10 to 20...

The record formed on paper by a scanner.

Area scan, in the context of imaging and cameras, refers to a method of capturing an entire two-dimensional image in a single snapshot or exposure. Unlike line scan, which captures images one line at...

An optical scanning device designed to read information printed in the form of bars of different size by detection and processing of the varying reflectivity of light in the barcode.

Scanning characterized by the generation of a plane or right circular cone with a vertex angle of about 180° by the direction of maximum radiation.

An instrument that uses a beam of light to scan a color transparency, and three differently filtered photosensors to record the transmitted beam, as a means of producing three exposed separation...

A phase reflection scanner that eliminates the need for a complex translation device while maintaining a high-energy-density level during laser materials processing. These devices direct and focus...

A microscope design that involves apertures inserted in conjugate plane positions inside the microscope, with one aperture in front of the illumination source and the other at the focal position in...

A device used to determine the location and attitude with respect to the Earth of orbiting spacecraft by detecting the difference in thermal radiance between the Earth's horizon and space.

A scanning technique in which the object is illuminated the entire time, and in which picture elements of the object are viewed singly by the television camera.

A scanning technique in optical character recognition in which an array of photocells is used to scan each character to determine its horizontal and vertical characteristics.

An astronomical scanning technique for capturing images of stars without moving the sensor. To perform a drift scan, a CCD sensor's readout rate must be synchronized with the motion of celestial...

An image-processing device that scans in a straight line parallel to the axis of a rotating cylinder to which the material to be recorded is affixed.

The deflection of a beam of electrons, at regular intervals, across a cathode-ray tube screen, according to a definite pattern.

The method by which photographic film is scanned by an electron beam. One technique uses the uniform light of a television screen, focused by a lens onto the processed film, as a means of creating a...

A method that uses electronic means to move the scanning spot along the scanning line.

A scanner in which a fiber optic assembly replaces a lens system.

The process by which the light from the images of photographic film is encoded into electrical signals for video transmission.

An imaging device analogous to a drum scanner, but operating at greater speeds; it uses a row of sensors to traverse an image affixed to a flat surface.

A device used to scan, with a small, intensely bright spot, portions of a picture surface and to transform the original picture into a series of electrical signals. In optical character recognition,...

A galvanometric scanner, also known as a galvanometer scanner or galvo scanner, is a type of optical scanning device used to rapidly and precisely direct a laser beam or other light source to...

A method used in facsimile scanning that sweeps the elemental area across the copy in a spiral motion as the result of the movement of a single turn helix against a stationary bar.

An optical system used to collect infrared energy from a scene using scanning optics with a point or line detector, as compared with a fixed optical system with a full two-dimensional detector array.

An imaging device originally created to image whole mouse brain volumes at microscopic resolution. The main component of the instrument is an automated microtome and microscope capable of producing...

Line scan refers to a method of capturing images or data by scanning a single line at a time, as opposed to capturing the entire image simultaneously. This technique is commonly used in various...

A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to capture images one line or row of pixels at a time, rather than a full...

A type of recording in which the recording line remains fixed and the recording medium is fed past the recording device.

An instrument used to record the emittance or reflectance of an object by scanning with discrete spectral resolution over a wide spectral band, or recording many discrete spectral bands...

A scanning probe microscope that analyzes the surface of a specimen by recording the intensity of light as it is focused through a pipette and raster scanned across the specimen at a distance less...

A measurement technique used to determine the spatial distribution profile of an electrical or optical quantity of interest which is provided by multiple scans within the near-field region of a...

A device consisting of a disc with a spiral arrangement of holes that is used to convert visible patterns into electrical patterns. Light is reflected from the subject and focused through a vertical...

In a cathode-ray tube, the deflection of the beam of the tube over an angle that surpasses the angle that subtends the suitable area of the screen.

Parallel scanning refers to a method of acquiring data or images simultaneously from multiple sources or in parallel, rather than sequentially scanning each source one after another. This approach is...