Photonics Dictionary

A 3D profile sensor, also known as a 3D profiling sensor or 3D depth sensor, is a technology that is used to capture and measure the three-dimensional shape or profile of an object or a scene. These...

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...

3D scanners are devices used to capture the three-dimensional shape and characteristics of physical objects or environments. They utilize various technologies to gather data about the geometry,...

Ray oriented and assumed to propagate orthogonal to the optical axis

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...

A form of roof prism used to invert an image. The prism has faces cut normal to the optical axis; therefore, the prism may be placed within the optical path of a system and invert the image without...

Device which measures the index of refraction of glass as well as the dispersion over visible range.

The minimum energy required to induce atomic and molecular separation or displacement due to incident intense laser irradiation.

Ablation applied to polymers and chemical solids. Process of material removal that minimizes edge damage but will not heat the surrounding portion of the sample.

A high-brightness, short-duration source in which low-pressure gas initiates the discharge to vaporize material from the tube wall, leading to a high-pressure discharge of ionized wall material.

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

Method of preserving the measured color value and color information as it is translated from differing devices. For example the output of a television display may be measured to have an identical...

The minimum value of luminance for vision. The value may vary with age as well as dark adaption period. (Measured range approximately log luminance -3 through 2.) About 10 -2 ml at the fovea, 10 -5...

Least value of color value combinations which gives white light; minimum purity as determined to be white.

A hologram formed when the light of the illuminating beam is absorbed in correspondence with the recording exposure. In application, absorption holograms are intended for use in satellite...

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.

An accelerometer is a sensor or transducer that measures the rate of change of velocity of an object, or in simpler terms, it measures acceleration. Accelerometers are widely used in various...

The range of angle or solid angle values by which light may enter an optical system.

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.

Mount attached to a camera or camcorder which allows the user to attach a microphone or flash unit.

Also cellulose acetate film. The emulsion layer applied to the substrate of a photographic surface. The emulsion layer is composed of small particles suspended in gelatin solution.

Optic surface cleaning liquid that may be applied to glass, crystal, dielectric and metal surfaces; however, may not be applied to plastic and polymer materials.

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...

A lens consisting of two or more elements, usually of crown and flint glass, that has been corrected for chromatic aberration with respect to two selected wavelengths. Also known as achromat.

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

Use of achromatic design; the correction of chromatic aberration; without color or hue (grey, black and white)

The recorded interference pattern formed by the interference of two sound beams.

The optical reconstruction of image information contained in a sound field. First the diffraction pattern, formed by an object irradiated by ultrasonic rays, interferes with a mutually coherent...

An acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is a device that utilizes the interaction between sound waves and light waves to modulate or control the intensity, frequency, phase, or direction of laser beams. It...

Discipline within optical physics that addresses sound vibration, phonon effects and their influencing behavior within optical elements and systems.

The change in refractive index that occurs as acoustic vibrations are transmitted through an optical material.The index changes are periodic in relation to the frequency, spatial orientation, and...

Stimulating light used for the production of energy through photosynthesis, solar cell or other light senstitive device.

Electromagnetic energy that is capable of producing photochemical activity.

A device that measures the intensity of photochemically active radiation, particularly from the sun. One form of this instrument determines the fluorescence initiated by the radiation.

Actinometry refers to the measurement of the intensity of radiation, particularly ultraviolet (UV) radiation or sunlight. It is commonly used in atmospheric science, environmental monitoring, and...

Component that is externally controlled via electronic or photon signal.

imaging system which clearly shows the IR signals in the field of view as well as ambient environment

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...

In photography, the density gradient across an edge separating light from darkness, a physically measurable quantity that correlates well with subjectively observed sharpness of definition. By...

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...

A process of color photography in which colors are added one to another in the form of light, rather than as colorants, to obtain color synthesis.

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...

In display technology, an expression of resolution given by the number of pixels in both the horizontal and the vertical axes of a cathode-ray tube or similar device.

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...