Photonics Dictionary: M

millicandela — The millicandela is equivalent to one thousandth (or 10-3) of the standard unit of luminous intensity that is the candela, which is the power emitted by a given light source in a particular direction.

machine vision system

A machine vision system is an integrated combination of hardware and software components designed to capture, process, and analyze images to perform automated inspection, measurement, and quality...

MCT

mercury cadmium telluride — Mercury cadmium teluride (HgCdTe) is a specific alloy combination that allows one to obtain any optical absorption bandgap of the material between 0 and 1.5 electron volts (eV) making it completely transparent at photon energies and wavelengths below the energy gap in the infrared.

microdisplay

A microdisplay is a miniature electronic display technology that is designed to project visual information onto a small screen. Unlike traditional displays, microdisplays are typically very compact...

minimum perceptible

The smallest object that may be seen, measured in terms of the angle subtended by the object measured at the eye. Also referred to as minimum perceptible color difference (MPCD) which is a unit of...

mode 1 (and mode 2)

In compact disc systems, the two principal frame formats for data storage. Mode 1 devotes 2048 bytes to user data, reserving 288 bytes for error detection and correction over and above the CIRC...

modulation transfer function analysis/measurement equipment

MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer function (MTF) of optical systems. The MTF is a quantitative measure of the...

multispectral imaging

Multispectral imaging is a technique that involves capturing and analyzing images at multiple discrete spectral bands within the electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike hyperspectral imaging, which acquires...

Photonics DictionaryM