Photonics Dictionary

A scanning technique in optical character recognition in which an array of photocells is used to scan each character to determine its horizontal and vertical characteristics.

A device that measures the spatial distribution of energy perpendicular to the propagation path of a radiant beam. An energy or power meter is typically used to monitor the amount of light passing...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It involves measuring and visualizing how the optical power or intensity is...

The series of equally spaced parallel slits that make up a scanning aperture in place of a single slit, in the scanning of a repetitive pattern.

A device consisting of a disc with a spiral arrangement of holes that is used to convert visible patterns into electrical patterns. Light is reflected from the subject and focused through a vertical...

A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is mounted to rotate about a vertical axis. A slit opening in the film plane and the...

An instrument in which an image of the sun is scanned by the entrance slit of a monochromator, the exit slit simultaneously scanning a photographic plate for analysis of the solar spectral lines. If...

An instrument similar to the spectroheliograph, but having a scanning method that is performed by a pair of rapidly oscillating slits or a rotating glass block located before a pair of fixed slits at...