Photonics Dictionary

The code used to describe the United States system of color telecasting.

A category of systems designed to communicate a photo taken from the air (e.g., aircraft, balloon, satellite) to a ground station. It can be done by direct television transmission of the photo, or by...

A television system that does not broadcast television signals but transmits them over a closed circuit.

A television system that is capable of producing an image whose colors approximate the colors of the original, by the use of additive color mixing of the three primary colors.

With respect to television, a potentiometer that allows variation of the intensity of the different elements of an image and that can be used to accentuate the highlights and shadows in an image. In...

An electron-gun system is an assembly used to generate and control a focused beam of electrons. Electron guns find applications in various fields, including cathode ray tubes (CRTs), electron...

The number of fields scanned per second in a television system. The US standard is 60. Also called field frequency.

A night-vision device that uses one or more infrared transducers to scan a scene in the 3- to 5-µm or 8- to 12-µm spectral region, convert the infrared radiation to electronic data and...

1. To center an image or place it in any part of the television screen desired. Also applies to stills. 2. A single image of the connected multiple images on motion-picture film. 3. The size of the...

The number of times per second that the frame of a television system is completely scanned. In the United States, 30 per second is the standard frame frequency.

Frame rate refers to the frequency at which consecutive images, or frames, are displayed in a video sequence. It is typically measured in frames per second (fps) and determines the smoothness and...

Modification of a system to provide for a linear transfer characteristic from an input to an output device. A circuit for this purpose is built into a television camera to compensate for display tube...

An electron tube that is used as a camera tube for a television system. When the picture to be transmitted is focused on a photosensitive surface, electrons are emitted from each section of the...

An infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED) is a semiconductor device that emits infrared light when an electric current passes through it. Similar to standard LEDs that emit visible light, IR LEDs are...

In an interlaced scanning electro-optical system such as television, the system resolution will be less than the number of active scan lines because of the random phase nature of the object being...

A television system used for seeing in the dark, particularly with the use of infrared rays.

Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light signals over long distances with minimal loss of signal quality. It serves as a...

Quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED) is a display technology that utilizes quantum dots, which are semiconductor nanocrystals, to produce vibrant and high-quality images. QLED displays are...

A television system that uses a slow rate of horizontal scanning to increase its reproduction and transmittance accuracy of printed matter, photographs and illustrations.

A television system in which the images produced appear three-dimensional.

A television receiver that receives the signals generated by a television camera directly, or remotely through a radio signal. It may be used to continuously check image and sound reception; as a...

A television display system in which the television signal is converted to an image that is projected onto either a front or rear projection screen.

A color-television viewing system with three kinescopes, three lenses and three deflection yokes used to form the red, green and blue images required for a tricolor television projection.

A television system designed to obtain pictures of objects or scenes beneath the surface of the water. Generally, a low-light-level television camera and a suitable light source are enclosed in a...

With respect to a television system, a pulse transmitted at the end of each field to break off the cathode-ray beam as it begins the next field.

In television system specifications, the number of parallel horizontal black and white lines of equal thickness, that can be resolved from top to bottom of the raster. (One line equals either a black...

A visual system including a tiny television tube and imaging optics, all contained in a helmet to be worn by pilots in flight simulator training.

The state of a carrier signal that corresponds to maximum picture brightness in a television system.