Photonics Dictionary: A

A measuring device that uses a light-sensitive cell or detector to determine the amount of light transmitted by a substance.

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...

Component that is externally controlled via electronic or photon signal.

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...

That image remaining on the detector after the primary stimulus has been removed. In the visual system, the after-image commonly appears as the complementary color of the primary stimulus.

Light present in the environment around a detecting or interpreting device, especially a machine vision system, and generated from outside sources. Such light must be treated as noise by the vision...

A type of fiber optic sensor that detects alteration in position, distance, pressure, liquid level or temperature by transmitting light across a gap to a reflector; a change in the light returned to...

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.

Angular deviation from the optimum alignment of source to optical waveguide, waveguide to waveguide, or waveguide to detector, resulting in a loss of optical power.

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...

An atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) is an analytical instrument used to determine the concentration of specific chemical elements in a sample by measuring the absorption of light at...

A device for automatic exposure control in which a motor-driven diaphragm adjusts the aperture in response to a signal from a photocell detecting ambient light.

Autofluorescence refers to the natural emission of fluorescence exhibited by certain biological structures or molecules when exposed to light. Unlike fluorescence that results from the application of...

Automated optical inspection (AOI) is a technology used in manufacturing processes, particularly in electronics, to automatically inspect and detect defects or anomalies in products. AOI systems use...

In fiber optics, the use of a detector to study the range of refractive indices achieved at various wavelengths. This information is calculated electronically to establish the divergence between...

A receiver for optical communications systems consisting of a symmetric binary, pulse-code-modulated transmitter, a log-normal channel and an array of independent photocounting detectors that yield...