Photonics Dictionary: S

A television system in which the images produced appear three-dimensional.

The pattern used as a probe in morphological image processing to manipulate the size and shape of objects in an image.

Family of deterministic models of plant canopy reflectance that provides deterministic formulation for each necessary parameter and a method to calculate reflectance as a function of sun and observer...

Observed phenomenon in laser pulses in which a large number of excited electrons are created and in which multiphoton processes have produced seed electrons, and excited neutral atoms are...

Waves that propagate along the interface between two different media without radiation with exponentially decaying evanescent fields on both sides.

A small telescope mounted on a tripod and free to rotate about a vertical axis. A spirit level is mounted over the telescope and adjusted so that when the bubble is central, the telescope axis is...

1. The decrease of the absorption (or gain) coefficient of a medium near some transition frequency when the power of the incident radiation near that frequency exceeds a certain value. As long as the...

A swept-source laser, also known as a wavelength-swept laser, is a type of laser that rapidly and continuously changes its emission wavelength over time. This continuous wavelength tuning is achieved...

The reversal of a developed image due to the exposure of the partially developed image to actinic light.

Sagnac interferometry is a technique used to measure rotation or angular velocity based on the principle of interference. It relies on the Sagnac effect, named after the French physicist Georges...

Formula that describes the thermal equilibrium of gas electrons and ions as a direct function of variations in temperature.

A device that acquires a signal and then stores it for a specified period of time before processing, and used, for example, to reduce noise as in correlated double sampling.

Sapphire crystal refers to a transparent, single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) known as corundum. It is one of the hardest known materials, second only to diamond on the Mohs scale of...

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is highly transparent in the infrared region of the electromagnetic...

A sapphire window refers to a transparent optical component made from sapphire crystal. Sapphire is a single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is highly prized for its exceptional optical...

Sapphire refers to a crystalline form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is used in various optical and photonic applications due to its exceptional optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Sapphire...

A direct-readout television pickup tube.

A saturable absorber is a type of optical device that exhibits variable absorption properties depending on the intensity of incident light. In essence, it becomes less absorbent as the light...

A double-plate device used to transmit polarized light and form interference fringes of the light, thus indicating its presence. It consists of two calcite plates of equal thickness, cut parallel to...

1. A polariscope consisting of a Savart plate and a tourmaline plate analyzer, and used to produce parallel color fringes by transmitting polarized light. 2. A polariscope composed of an analyzing...

Scalar diffraction theory is a simplified approach used to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly light, as they encounter obstacles or apertures. It is termed "scalar"...

That theory that treats the light field as a single scalar field rather than as two coupled vector fields.

In coherence theory, an optical law put forth by physicist Emil Wolf that explains the behavior of light as it travels away from its source over large distances in space. Light spectra are assumed to...

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...

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.

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

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

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.

Measure of the interference fringe pattern produced by the forward scattering of light by an optical fiber; the fringe pattern is inversely proportional to the fiber diameter.

Change of the spatial distribution of a beam of radiation when it interacts with a surface or a heterogeneous medium, in which process there is no change of wavelength of the radiation.

The angle between the initial and final paths traveled by a scattered particle or photon.

The portion of light scattered when traveling through a unit thickness of material.

An instrument used to determine the absolute or relative scatter levels of optical surfaces.

A flat plate having its surface formed into a random pattern by abrasives. Radiation wavelengths that are longer than the scale of the pattern are specularly reflected; shorter wavelengths are...

The photomicrographic recording of Schlieren effects, irregular refractions of light from optic surfaces or areas of thin, transparent specimens, generally using a reticle with parallel transparent...

A camera that consists of a concave spherical mirror with an aspheric plate situated at the center of curvature of the mirror. The purpose of the plate is to correct the spherical aberration of the...

Oscilloscope electronic circuit that produces an output pulse whose pulse width is determined by the time that the output voltage exceeds a specified level.

A specific type of photographic plate designed with only a small amount of gelatin to function in the extreme ultraviolet and in positive-ray analysis.

A scientific CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) camera is a type of digital camera specifically designed for scientific imaging applications. It employs CMOS sensor technology, which...