Photonics Dictionary: M

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...

A camera lens, used in macrophotography, that is designed and corrected to produce optimum definition of a nearby object when it is photographed at a magnification of approximately1:1.

The photographic recordformed in macrophotography in which the size of the small nearby object at theimage plane is the same size or greater than the actual life size of theobject.

the photography of very close, and typically small objects with a magnification of approximately 1:1

An electron system using the effect of a constant magnetic field on electron paths to differentiate electrons that have varying velocities for the accurate measurement of the energies and intensities...

A device using the Kerr effect to read back the signals from mechanically recorded tapes and discs. It consists of a light source, optical lenses to focus and direct the light beam, a pair of...

A type of high-speed photographic shutter that uses Faraday rotation to produce exposure times as fast as 1 microsecond. It consists of two polarizers, set with their planes of polarization at right...

1. A framelike structure that serves to restrict the viewing area of the screen when placed before a television picture tube. 2. In photolithography, a photomask (or mask) is typically a patterned...

A technique used in photolithography of computer chips to compensate for errors caused by the proximity effect, which results in variations in size between areas of the mask that have many small...

In the context of thin film deposition processes such as evaporation or sputtering, masks are used to selectively deposit material onto substrates, creating patterns or structures with precise...

A device that uses electromagnetic fields to separate electrically charged particles according to their masses. As a beam of charged particles is passed through a mass spectrograph, the result is a...

Also known as an eyepiece micrometer. A microscope eyepiece that has a finely divided scale ruled or photographed on a section of transparent glass, and located in the focal plane. The dimensions of...

An electric arc that is formed in mercury vapor through which an electric current flows. The intensity of the illumination of the arc depends mostly on its design and the conditions under which it...

Metabolic imaging refers to the visualization and quantification of metabolic processes within living organisms, tissues, or cells using various imaging techniques. It provides insights into the...

A specially designed microscope for observing the etched surface of a polished metal specimen. The specimen is often laid face down on a horizontal stage and observed from beneath, the illumination...

A small optical polishing machine intended for polishing the surface of a metal specimen before etching for examination under a microscope. Although shaping and polishing machines for this purpose...

The analysis of metal structure using an optical or electron microscope, generally with a camera, to record observations.

Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or meta-elements, arranged in a specific pattern to manipulate the propagation of...

The photographic recording of objects or events in a manner that allows quantitative information to be derived from the photograph. An example is the film made by a cinetheodolite in photographing a...

Micro-optical coherence tomography (micro-OCT) is an imaging technique that is an adaptation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to achieve high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging of biological...

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level. These components are miniaturized optical elements that manipulate light at a...

The fundamental tool of microdensitometry, the microdensitometer is an instrument used for the precise measurement of microscopic optical densities (i.e. optical absorption) by detection of faint...

A small card (10 x 15 cm) that has been treated with a photographic emulsion to record and store the microimages of documents and graphic information projected on it by a microfilm camera. A...

A camera used to reduce originals onto film for easy storage. There are two basic types: one in which the film is fixed during exposure, and one in which the film is exposed while moving past an...

Two essential pieces of equipment used in connection with the microfilming process: a camera capable of producing, on film, large-scale reductions of almost any matter, printed, painted or...

An extremely short, high intensity electronic flash of light, having a duration of about 1 x 10-6 s, used in photographing rapidly moving subjects.

A graphic reproduction of an object formed by a microscope or another optical system. Also an instrument used to make tiny writing, etching, or engravings.

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each individual lens in the array is referred to as a microlens. These...

A technique for producing micron-size structures on surfaces by using short-wavelength light or electron beams.

A photograph reduced to the microscopic scale and stored on a microfilm as seen with microfiches for the purpose of storing and archiving information.

Radiographic recording and enhancement of the micoscopic details within the structure of thin specimens at a high magnification. Also known as x-ray micrography

An instrument consisting essentially of a tube 160 mm long, with an objective lens at the distant end and an eyepiece at the near end. The objective forms a real aerial image of the object in the...

An eyepiece located at the near end of the microscope tube. It often is a simple Huygens eyepiece, but compensating and flat-field projection eyepieces are quite efficient. Negative eyepieces are...

A microspectroscope equipped with a sensing and recording device, such as a camera, to measure the spectrum formed by microscopic samples.

The holographic recording of the pattern formed by two sets of coherent microwaves that interfere at a scanning plane. A scanning device converts the microwave interference pattern into a light...

Minimum object distance, often abbreviated as MOD, refers to the closest distance at which a camera lens or optical system is capable of producing a sharp and focused image. In photography, this term...

A computer-generated, phase-and-amplitude, off-axis hologram made by a multi-exposure technique that uses three computer generated transmission masks. Each mask controls one fixed-phase component of...

Contour mapping technique that involves positioning a grating close to an object and observing its shadow on the object through the grating. The resultant moiré fringes correspond to a contour line...

Graphic evaluation of the operation of a steam thermodynamic cycle of a solar energy system on which enthalpy is plotted against entropy.

An instrument that contains a spectrograph with a grating in which an array of slits, in place of a photographic plate, is arranged according to the lines of the sample to create an illustration of...

A hologram formed by reconstruction of multicolor wavefronts. The system used to produce the hologram is designed to combine the different colored wavefronts of the separate illuminating sources, and...

A technique that combines two or more imaging processes in order to minimize the disadvantages within each of the contributing processes. In medical applications, combining multiple modalities...

A laser having a Q-switching method that allows separate parallel volumes of the lasing material to act independently of each other and produce several separate beams. It is useful in high-speed...

The use of narrow bandpass filters and special photographic emulsions to discern features of a surface that would not be easily recognizable with regular black-and-white or color photographic methods.