Photonics Dictionary: S

An optical instrument for forming the spectrum of a light source and recording it on a film. The dispersing medium may be a prism or a diffraction grating. A concave grating requires no other means...

A kind of spectrograph in which some form of detector, other than a photographic film, is used to measure the distribution of radiation in a particular wavelength region.

Characteristic of the relationship between photoelectric activity and the wavelength of incident radiation.

A spectrophotometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the intensity of light at various wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically in the visible and ultraviolet regions. It is...

The detection and measurement of spectral reflectance, spectral transmittance or relative spectral emittance, relative to wavelength.

Study of the reflection or transmission properties of specimens as a function of wavelength.

An instrument for plotting the rotatory dispersion of a substance at different wavelengths.

A spectroradiometer is a device used to measure the intensity of light at different wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum. It provides a detailed spectral distribution of light, breaking...

In a general sense, any one of a class of instruments used to disperse radiation, visible or invisible, into its component wavelengths and for determining or measuring the resultant spectrum. In a...

Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves measuring and analyzing how different materials absorb, emit, or scatter light,...

Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays passing through a lens or curved optical surface do not converge or diverge to a single focal point. Instead of focusing to a...

A tiny lens (as small as 100 µm in diameter) used to focus light on charge-coupled devices, formed by heating a photosensitive material exposed through a mask, leaving a pattern of raised...

A lens aberration. The chromatic variation of spherical aberration.

A lens or lens surface that is a combination of a sphere and cylinder.

An instrument for measuring the radius of curvature of a spherical lens or mirror surface. It may consist of a ring resting on the surface, with a micrometer plunger in the middle of the ring to...

A multilayer filter that passes only a narrow band of wavelengths.

A semiconductor laser that operates in the infrared and that is pumped with strong pulses of radiation from a second laser. Dependent on quantum-mechanical principles, it can be tuned over a large...

A loose term for a single polishing machine. In a lens factory it is the minimum unit of production.

A device through which scintillations are observed or counted through a magnifying lens system.

A close-up lens, semicircular in shape, that is mounted in front of a conventional lens focused at infinity. The result is an image made up of two sections; one focused through the split lens on near...

The interference of the two real images formed by a Billet split lens.

A lens derived from the Cooke triplet anastigmat, but with one of the crown elements split in two, resulting in improved speed and correction of aberrations.

A method of evaluating image quality whereby a large number of rays are traced through a lens from a single object point, and their intersections with the focal plane are plotted and analyzed.

A neutral density filter that, when placed in front of the iris of a lens, increases the f-stop range.

A metal tool used to hold a number of lens blanks during grinding and polishing.

A phenomenon that causes the details in an image to appear at a spatial frequency higher than that at which the contrast first drops to zero. A phase reversal will accompany this phenomenon, often...

A wave that changes from one amplitude to the other in a short time compared with the wavelength.

A type of laser used when a great amount of power is required. Avoiding the bulk of large numbers of optical lenses, this instrument offers high-output intensity and a small emitting region at...

A lens whose focal length is roughly equal to the diagonal of the negative format of the camera on which it is mounted.

The combination of two waves having the same frequency and amplitude and traveling in opposite directions. Standing waves are indicated by a stationary set of nodes spaced one-half wavelength apart...

The visual examination by a trained observer of the image of a point source. Any coloring or departure from the Airy disc rings indicates the presence of aberrations in the lens forming that image.

STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence microscopy that surpasses the diffraction limit, enabling the visualization of...

The formula that indicates the total radiation at all wavelengths from a perfect blackbody. W Total = 5.67 x 10-12 T 4(W/cm2)

The unit solid angle subtended at the center of a sphere by an area on its surface equivalent to the square of the radius; the unit of solid angular measurement, often used in problems of...

A camera with two taking lenses and synchronized shutters. Two images are recorded simultaneously on separate frames, producing a three-dimensional image when viewed through the proper apparatus.

Technique that provides two stereographic views of an object that are larger than the object itself, by means of mutually inclined lens axes or nominal separation of axes of parallel lenses.

A small instrument containing a picture support and a pair of magnifying lenses so arranged that the left eye sees only the picture taken with the left lens of the stereo camera, and the right eye...

An exaggerated depth appearance in stereo photographs caused by the lenses in the camera being farther apart than the eyes of the viewer.

A polishing machine with a lens mounted on a wooden stick, allowing a very wide sweep. It is used to polish hemispherical or hyper-hemispherical surfaces.

The fine scratches formed when, in hand centering, the forked stick used to move the lens on the chuck marks the rotating lens surface.

Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) is a superresolution microscopy technique that enables imaging of biological specimens at resolutions beyond the diffraction limit of conventional...

A line of the Raman spectrum that fulfills Stokes' law because it possesses a wavelength that is greater than the radiation that stimulated the luminescence of the source.

Relative to radiation wavelength, the law that states that the wavelength of luminescence stimulated by radiation always surpasses that of the stimulating radiation.

To reduce the size of a lens aperture, which increases the depth of field.

A streak camera is a specialized instrument used to capture and analyze ultrafast phenomena, such as extremely short pulses of light or rapidly changing events. Unlike traditional cameras that...

Structural color refers to coloration in materials that is not caused by pigments or dyes but is instead a result of the physical structure of the material. In structural color, the interaction of...

The distance between two focal lines in an astigmatic image produced by a lens or mirror.

Controlled beam technology that introduces beams of sunlight through holes in a roof that are relayed throughout the building by a series of mirrors and lenses. Ideally, cool lighting is obtained by...