Photonics Dictionary

Image of a uniform source through the sample of a microscope image system. Light from the sample plane is reimaged by the objective into the image plane.

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 OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two thin-film transistors (TFTs) to control the on-current at each OLED cell or...

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two thin-film transistors (TFTs) to control the on-current at each OLED cell or...

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) refers to a set of safety features and technologies designed to assist drivers in the driving process and enhance overall vehicle safety. These systems use...

The creation of a planned sequence of data input that is obtained while airborne for use in aerial photogrammetry and other types of map making and surveying. The data can be photographic, electronic...

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

Agri-photonics refers to the application of photonics technologies in agriculture. Photonics involves the generation, manipulation, and detection of light and other forms of radiant energy whose...

An old name for the rotating arm moving about an axis of rotation over a divided circle used to measure angles. Now the term refers to a small stadia telescope mounted over a ruler for use in...

An optical device, such as a Nicol prism, capable of producing plane-polarized light, and used for detecting the effect of the object on plane-polarized light produced by the polarizer.

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

A compound lens combination whose astigmatic difference is zero for one or more off-axis zones in the image plane. In such a lens the other aberrations are sufficiently well-corrected to yield...

The angle formed between the normal to a surface and the reflected ray. This angle lies in a common plane with the angle of incidence and is equal to it.

The angle formed between a refracted ray and the normal to the surface. This angle lies in a common plane with the angle of incidence. See also Snell's law of refraction.

The angular spectrum approach is a mathematical and computational technique used in the field of optics to analyze and simulate the propagation of optical waves, particularly in the context of wave...

An antigen is any substance that is capable of triggering an immune response in an organism. Antigens are typically proteins or large polysaccharides, although other types of molecules can also act...

An APD detector, or avalanche photodiode detector, is a type of photodetector used to detect light or optical signals by converting incoming photons into electrical current. It operates based on the...

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

Aplanatic points refer to specific points in an optical system where certain aberrations, such as spherical aberration or coma, are minimized or eliminated. In an optical system, aberrations are...

An aplanatic surface is an optical surface that is specifically designed or shaped to minimize spherical aberration and coma. Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays...

The ability of a machine to perform certain complex functions normally associated with human intelligence, such as judgment, pattern recognition, understanding, learning, planning, and problem...

An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical lenses, which have a constant curvature across their surfaces, aspheric lenses...

An astronomical mirror, also known as a telescope mirror or primary mirror, is a key component of a reflecting telescope. It serves as the primary optical element responsible for gathering and...

An astronomical telescope is a type of optical instrument designed to gather and magnify light from distant celestial objects for observation and analysis. It typically consists of two main optical...

Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the electromagnetic wave points along the azimuthal direction (around the propagation axis)....

Bathymetric lidar is a remote sensing technique used to measure the depth of water bodies and map underwater terrain features. It employs lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, which uses...

A small convergent lens, located between the objective and eyepiece of a microscope, that focuses an image of the upper focal plane of the objective in the focal plane of the eyepiece. It is commonly...

Bioluminescence is a natural phenomenon in which living organisms produce and emit light through a chemical reaction occurring within their bodies. This light emission is typically the result of a...

A biomarker, short for biological marker, refers to a measurable and quantifiable indicator of a biological condition, process, or response. Biomarkers can be substances or characteristics that are...

Also called proximity focus image intensifier. A compact image intensifier that utilizes a microchannel plate intensification stage. This is an in-line device that does not invert the image.

A blackbody source, often simply referred to as a blackbody, is a theoretical or practical physical object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation incident upon it and emits radiation in a...

A piece of glass, quartz or other transparent material formed roughly by molding or cutting into the approximate shape and size of the finished part.

1. A plane that forms one side of the groove ruled on a diffraction grating. 2. To form the individual grooves of a grating with flat smooth faces, inclined to the surface by an angle known as the...

A ground-based navigation beacon that emits pulsed signals which are picked up by aircraft making an instrument (blind) approach in landing. The signal is transmitted to the aircraft's L-scan...

The process whereby blanks are attached to a block in a position for grinding or polishing.

A blur circle refers to the out-of-focus region in an image captured by an optical system. When an object in a scene is not in perfect focus, its image is spread out into a circular shape on the...

The law given by the formula: that is, the frequency of radiation emitted or absorbed by a system when E2 and E1 are the energies of the states among which transition takes place, and h is...

A technique in which a beam of x-rays is directed against a crystal, the atoms of which, because of their lattice arrangement, reflect the ray in the same way as a series of plane surfaces. If the...

The law expressing the condition under which a crystal will reflect a beam of x-rays with the greatest amount of distinction or resolution and, at the same time, denoting the angle at which the...

For light incident on a plane boundary between two regions having different refractive indices, the angle of incidence at which the reflectance is zero for light that has its electrical field vector...

A standard lens interface initially made for 16mm movie cameras and now used primarily on closed-circuit television cameras. It is a 1-in.-diameter, 32-thread-per-inch interface with a...

An apparatus, designed for use with a camera, that is used to rapidly open the path from lens to film, to maintain the opening throughout exposure and to close the opening in rapid succession. The...

Carbonization is a process in which organic materials are heated in the absence of air, leading to the decomposition of the material and the production of carbon-rich residue. During carbonization,...

The Casimir force is a quantum phenomenon that results in an attractive force between two closely spaced uncharged conductive surfaces. This force arises from the quantum vacuum fluctuations of the...

A fiber optic end plate constructed by drawing a bundle of parallel fibers embedded in glass and cutting it into thin slices. These slices are assembled in a plane and heated to produce a...

A CCD camera, or charge-coupled device camera, is a type of digital camera that utilizes a CCD image sensor to capture and record images. CCD cameras are widely used in various applications,...

A CCD image sensor, or charge-coupled device image sensor, is a type of electronic device used to convert optical images into electronic signals. It is a key component in digital cameras, camcorders,...

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...