Photonics Dictionary

A symmetrical, very wide-angle lens. Well-corrected for spherical aberration and color, the Topogon can cover fields up to 90° at speeds from f/11 to f/6.3.

A lens having one or more toric surfaces. A toric surface is one having a maximum power in one meridian and a minimum power in a perpendicular meridian. In ophthalmic optics, toric lenses are used to...

A lens intended for use with wavelengths shorter than about 380 nm. It must be made of quartz, calcium fluoride, lithium fluoride or some other material transparent to ultraviolet radiation, as glass...

A microscope used either to detect selective absorption of various wavelengths by the specimen or to achieve increased resolution by virtue of the short wavelength of ultraviolet radiation. Electron...

A simple electrostatic lens with a focus controlled by a single potential difference.

A lens assembly containing several movable elements to permit changing of the effective focal length (EFL). Unlike a zoom lens, a variable-focus lens may require refocusing with each change of EFL....

A wide-angle lens is a type of camera lens that has a shorter focal length than a standard or normal lens, allowing it to capture a broader field of view. Wide-angle lenses are characterized by their...

A type of radial gradient lens that can focus light even though its surfaces are flat.

An optical system of variable focal length, the focal plane remaining in a fixed position. This result is achieved by moving some of the components of the system along the lens axis, other components...

Also known as aplanatic lens. A lens corrected for spherical aberration and coma.

An apochromat, often referred to as an apochromatic lens or apochromatic objective, is a type of optical system designed to minimize chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration occurs when different...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that builds three-dimensional objects layer by layer from a digital model. This technology allows the creation of...

A two-lens arrangement intended to image light into a microscope slide sample. The primary aberrations present are red and blue rings observed around the image focus.

A dispersion relation defined in order to value the reciprocal amount of dispersion. It is defined as the refractivity over the difference in index values of the shortest and longest visible...

Designed for the function of optical wavefront analysis. Shack-Hartmann camera aberration sensors use a lens array to image the wavefront to the CCD image plane. Live feedback may be applied through...

An instrument that uses optical filtration in order to measure the transmittance for a discrete range or specific number of wavelengths.

The value of the distance of distinct vision, minimum focusing distance or near point, divided by the focal length of the lens. Magnification is produced when the optic is placed at its focal...

The natural log of the ratio of absorbed intensity over the total intensity which gives a constant value assuming a stable volume as well as energy. In optical physics the absorbance may be defined...

The transfer of energy from an incident electromagnetic energy field with wavelength or frequency to an atomic or molecular medium.

A group of frequencies or wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum which exhibits resonance or energy contributions near and in relation to a peak resonance wavelength.

The absorption index represents the imaginary component of the complex index of refraction, and not the real component. The imaginary component may characterize the attenuation per unit length...

The wavelength or frequency corresponding to an absorption resonance with a given molecular or atomic species. The line spectrum will vary with the element as well as the molecular compound.

An absorption peak refers to a sharp increase or spike in the absorption of electromagnetic radiation at a particular wavelength or energy level. It is a distinctive feature in the absorption...

Measures the absorption or sample transmittance over a range of specified wavelengths. Sample may be placed within the device and the transmission measured to an accuracy of given percent. The...

Experimental method of measuring the transmission of a given sample as a function of the wavelength.

Fraction absorption over a specified range of wavelengths.

The measured change in absorption at a single wavelength while altering experimental parameters such as the incident intensity or pulse width.

Impurity in a semiconductor or any other electroluminescent device capable of inducing hole conduction and accepting a valence band electron to produce an acceptor energy level.

A broadband continuum resonator that confines a wide range of wavelengths. From the optical confinement a single wavelength may be released by means of a tuning grating.

An achromat, in the context of optics, refers to a type of lens or lens system designed to reduce chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon where different colors of light...

Cemented prisms of differing refractive indices which refract incident light and, due to differing refractive indices, will not spatially separate individual wavelengths.

Light diffracted by a solid (usually quartz in crystal or fused form) traversed by acoustic waves. If the ultrasonic wavelength is larger than the diameter of the light beam, the diffraction orders...

1. In optics, the housing, usually cylindrical, that contains the lenses and iris diaphragm of a camera. 2. In fiber optics, a device for coupling two connectors.

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of atmospheric distortions. The Earth's atmosphere can cause light passing through it...

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional objects by adding material layer by layer. This is in contrast to...

An intermolecular substance that serves to hold materials together. Two types are used in the optical industry: one, which must be transparent and colorless, to cement lenses together; and a...

Film designed especially for the needs and conditions encountered in aerial photography. It is produced in a variety of widths, lengths and emulsions.

An optical system with object and image points at infinity. Literally, "without a focal length."

An optical tooling instrument consisting of an objective lens, a focusing lens, an optical micrometer, a reticle and an eyepiece. The alignment telescope projects a precise line of sight to which a...

Any fluorescence in which the wavelength of the emitted light differs from that of the absorbed light.

Commonly known as CR39, this thermosetting plastic is used in the casting of eyeglass lenses because of its toughness and clarity.

A 2-million W, 2.7-µm-wavelength hydrogen-fluoride laser used as a directed energy weapon.

A positively charged particle emitted from the nucleus of an unstable isotope, characterized by two protons and two neutrons. Quantitatively, the equivalent of a helium atom's nucleus.

An optical system with different focal lengths or magnification levels in perpendicular planes to the optical axis.