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198 terms

Photonics Dictionary

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microscope eyepiece

An eyepiece located at the near end of the microscope tube. It often is a simple Huygens eyepiece, but compensating and flat-field projection eyepieces are quite efficient. Negative eyepieces are...

microscope, electron -> electron microscope

A device utilizing an electron beam for the observation and recording of submicroscopic samples with the aid of photographic emulsions or other short-wavelength sensors. With the electron microscope,...

microwave

An electromagnetic wave lying within the region of the frequency spectrum that is between about 1000 MHz (1 GHz) and 100,000 MHz (100 GHz). This is equivalent to the wavelength spectrum that is...

minimum angle of deviation

The smallest angle through which light is bent by an optical element or system. In a prism, the angle of deviation is a minimum if the incident and exiting rays form equal angles with the prism...

modulation transfer function

Also called sine wave response and contrast transfer function. The modulation transfer function is the ratio of the modulation in the image to the modulation in the object as a function of frequency...

motion picture camera

A camera equipped with a lens and a long length of perforated film, the latter being moved intermittently between exposures by a pulldown claw or sprocket. A rotating shutter serves to cut off the...

MTF curve -> modulation transfer function

multihaul transceiver

A multihaul transceiver is an optical transceiver module designed to support multiple network architectures or transmission technologies within a single compact device. It offers versatility and...

nanoparticle

A small object that behaves as a whole unit or entity in terms of it's transport and it's properties, as opposed to an individual molecule which on it's own is not considered a nanoparticle.....

near-field scanning optical microscope

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...

nematic phase

A form of liquid crystal with an appearance of moving, threadlike structures, particularly visible when observed in thick specimens with polarized light. During this phase, the molecules of the...

network interface card

A network interface card (NIC), also known as a network adapter or LAN adapter, is a hardware component that allows computers to connect to a local area network (LAN) and communicate with other...

Newtonian telescope

A telescope with a concave paraboloidal objective mirror and a small plane (diagonal) mirror that reflects rays from the primary mirror laterally outside the tube where the image is viewed with an...

nodal points

Of all the rays passing through a lens from an off-axis object point to its corresponding image point, there is always one ray whose direction in the image space is equal to that in the object space....

optical profiler

Also known as a white-light interferometer. Measures surface texture and shape from nanometer-scale roughness to millimeter-scale step heights. A standard arrangement includes an illumination source,...

oscilloscope

A system in which a supplied signal causes the deflection of the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube, thus forming a visible trace on the phosphor screen of the tube and providing for examination of...

overhead projector

A projector used to project transparencies. A horizontal 8 x 10-in. stage for writing or laying down preformed transparencies is provided with either an elliptical mirror or a plastic Fresnel lens...

panoramic camera

A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is mounted to rotate about a vertical axis. A slit opening in the film plane and the...

Pechan prism

A prism made up of two air-spaced components. It has the ability to revert, and not invert, an image, and can be used in convergent, divergent and parallel light. May be rotated to compensate for...

penta prism

A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to the entering and emerging beams. The deviation angle of 90° is...

penumbra

A source of light will not cast a distinct shadow of an interfering, opaque object, but will cast a shadow having two parts: 1. the umbra, or the central, totally dark part of the shadow; and 2. the...

periscope

An optical instrument designed to displace the line of sight in a vertical direction. For submarines and other military uses the periscope is a long tube containing prisms at both ends and...

Petzval lens

A high-speed, narrow-field lens consisting of two achromats spaced about the aperture stop. Its uses include portrait photography and motion picture projection.

Petzval surface

A paraboloidal surface on which the image is located when there is no astigmatism.

phase-contrast microscope

A microscope that has an annular stop in the lower focal plane of the condenser, and a quarter-wave retarding and absorbing ring in the upper focal plane of the objective that just fills the image of...

photometric sphere -> integrating sphere

A hollow sphere coated internally with a white diffusing material and provided with openings for incident beam, specimen and detector used for measuring the diffuse reflectance or transmittance of...

plasma-coupled device

Monolithic self-scanning linear image sensor array for multichannel spectroscopy with a spectral range of from 200 to 1000 nm.

pluggable optics

Pluggable optics, also known as pluggable transceivers or optical transceivers, are modular devices used in optical communication systems to transmit and receive data over optical fibers. They are...

Pockels cell

A Pockels cell, also known as an electro-optic modulator, is an optical device used to control the polarization of light by applying an electric field. It is named after the physicist Friedrich Carl...

polarization-preserving fiber

Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its length. Also called polarization-maintaining fiber. The polarization is...

polygonal mirror

A polygonal mirror, also known as a multifaceted mirror or facet mirror, is a type of optical component used in various laser systems, optical scanners, and imaging devices. It consists of a flat or...

positive spherical aberration -> spherical aberration

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...

powder camera

A camera system that uses a fine powder to diffract x-rays from the specimen. A beam of monochromatic x-rays passes through a collimator onto the specimen. Diffracted x-rays are recorded on the film...

prism binoculars

A pair of telescopes with prismatically erected images, mounted side by side with the eyepieces at the interocular distance of the observer. This separation is adjustable with a convenient millimeter...

prism spectrograph -> spectrograph

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...

pyroelectric infrared detector

Unlike the thermocouple or bolometer, the pyroelectric infrared detector is a current source with an output proportional to the rate of change of its temperature. Capable of extremely rapid response...

quantum efficiency

Quantum efficiency (QE) is a measure of the effectiveness with which a device or system, typically in the context of photonics or electronics, converts incoming photons (light) into a useful output...

rad

A unit of energy absorbed from ionizing radiation, equal to 100 ergs per gram of irradiated material.

radiation pyrometer

Also known as radiation thermometer. A pyrometer in which the radiant intensity from the source to be measured is used to calculate its temperature. The usual detector is a thermocouple, thermopile...

Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry and physics to study vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes in a system. Named after the Indian physicist Sir C.V. Raman...

reflection

Return of radiation by a surface, without change in wavelength. The reflection may be specular, from a smooth surface; diffuse, from a rough surface or from within the specimen; or mixed, a...

resolution chart -> resolution target

A chart on paper or glass containing a series of sets of lines at progressively smaller spacing and used to ascertain the limiting number of lines per millimeter that an optical system is capable of...

resolution target

resolution test chart -> resolution target

resolving power chart -> resolution target

reticle

A reticle, also known as a reticule or graticule, is a pattern or set of markings placed in the focal plane of an optical instrument, such as a microscope, telescope, riflescope, or camera, to...

rhomboid prism

A reflecting prism that is rhomboidal in shape. It has two parallel transmitting faces, and two parallel reflecting faces; the latter are oblique to the former (usually but not necessarily at...

ring-laser gyroscope

A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is a type of gyroscope that uses laser light to detect and measure changes in orientation. It operates based on the Sagnac effect, which is a fundamental principle of...

Sagnac interferometer

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...

scanner

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...

Photonics Dictionary