Photonics Dictionary: C

The concave portion of a surface, formed on a blank, on which the disk of higher refractive glass will be fused to form a multifocal spectacle lens.

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...

An instrument that detects high-energy charged particles by analysis of the Cerenkov radiation that they emit.

Electronic circuit capable of distinguishing the pulses emitted by separate counters in a given time phase and determining whether the pulses were emitted by the same particle or correspond to a...

A ring dye laser that uses prisms and a saturable absorber within the laser cavity to shape and shorten the pulses generated. Counterpropagating modes oscillating simultaneously in the ring...

A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical instruments to determine pulse code, repetition frequency and wavelength.

Energy loss encountered at connectors in optical fiber transmission systems. The major contributors are mutual core displacement and fiber axis tilt. It is observed in both permanent splices and...

A system consisting of two or more Geiger-Müller counters, connected in coincidence with their centers on an axis. The only particles recorded are those traversing all counters, near the axis,...

An instrument that is used to detect high-energy particles by the pulse of the current formed when a particle passes through a normally insulating crystal to which a potential difference is applied.