Photonics Dictionary: C

Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur (S), selenium (Se), and tellurium (Te). These elements are known as...

A photoelectric detector consisting of a glass tube internally coated with a low conductance material. Voltage applied along the tube causes photoemission from the photocathode at the end of the tube...

A cathode-ray tube that generates symbols for use in other displays. The tube operates by scanning specific characters on the target and generating them as video signals to other cathode-ray systems.

Computer hardware or firmware that accesses character patterns stored in read-only memory and displays them at specific coordinates on a screen.

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a type of electronic image sensor used in various imaging devices, including digital cameras, camcorders, and scientific instruments. It consists of an integrated...

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment refers to a class of specialized apparatus used in the process of chemical vapor deposition, a technique for depositing thin films of various materials onto...

Chip-on-board (COB) lights refer to a type of LED lighting technology where multiple LED chips are directly mounted onto a substrate, typically a printed circuit board (PCB), without the need for...

Description of a particle that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image.

Chirality is a property of certain molecules and objects in which they are non-superimposable on their mirror images. In other words, a chiral object or molecule cannot be exactly superimposed onto...

Chirped mirrors are optical devices designed to manipulate the spectral properties of ultrashort laser pulses. They consist of multiple layers of dielectric coatings deposited on a substrate, where...

Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies without causing damage to the amplifying medium. The method was first...

Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a lens or optical system, leading to a failure to focus all colors to the same...

CID, or charge injection device, camera refers to a type of imaging device that utilizes a specific kind of solid-state image sensor technology. CID cameras are capable of capturing images in a...

Hypothetical observer having standard color vision as described by standard color-matching properties.

The application of a cine camera in recording the images on a fluorescent screen. When x-rays are used to produce the screen images, this process is referred to as cine-radiography.

Cinematography performed with the use of a microscope to film the actions of microscopic specimens.

The photographic filming of the action of x-ray images recorded on a fluorescent screen by means of large lens apertures and highly sensitive filters.

An optical instrument used to track and image a test vehicle (target) throughout its flight. The cinesextant frequently includes multiple devices such as high-speed video and film cameras as well as...

Circular dichroism (CD) is a spectroscopic technique used to study the structural characteristics of chiral (asymmetric) molecules, particularly biomolecules like proteins, nucleic acids, and certain...

The low-refractive-index material that surrounds the core of an optical fiber to contain core light while protecting against surface contaminant scattering. In all-glass fibers, the cladding is...

A mode that is confined by virtue of a lower-index medium surrounding the cladding. Cladding modes, in the terminology of mode descriptors, are equivalent to cladding rays in the terminology of...

An area in which airborne particulates can be monitored and controlled so that given size particles do not exceed a specified concentration, thereby eliminating potential dysfunctions in gyroscopes,...

An instrument for measuring the vertical angle of an object. It usually contains an accurately made protractor, a sensitive level bubble, and a sighting device, such as a small telescope.

A signal, generated by an oscillator, that provides the means of synchronization of operations in a data communications network.

This type of miniaturized system, referred to as CMOS qPCR, combines microfluidic technology with an ultralow-light CMOS bio-optical sensor with LEDs as the optical excitation source to achieve...

CoaXPress (CoaXPress or CXP) is a standardized digital interface and communication protocol used primarily in machine vision and industrial imaging applications. It enables high-speed data...

Glass that transmits near-ultraviolet radiation but is opaque in the visible region. Also known as woods glass.

An image that is not immediately recognizable but scrambled.

A plane mirror mounted on a polar axis that lies parallel to the plane of the mirror. When the mirror is rotated once in 48 hours, celestial objects can be made to appear stationary and are...

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser produces an optical wave that is modulated in amplitude, phase or frequency by...

A coherent fiber bundle (CFB), also known as a coherent fiber optic bundle, is an assembly of multiple optical fibers arranged in a specific geometric pattern to maintain the spatial coherence of...

The manifestation of light from scatterers outside the plane of the object in coherent light systems. The output of these systems is often marred by this noise.