Photonics Dictionary: B

In semiconductor physics, the term bandgap refers to the energy range in a material where no electronic states are allowed. It represents the energy difference between the valence band, which is the...

The smallest amount of photon energy to pass a detector window and be counted.

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or light beam. The goal is to transform the incoming beam into a desired shape...

A small convergent lens, located between the objective and eyepiece of a microscope, that focuses an image of the upper focal plane of the objective in the focal plane of the eyepiece. It is commonly...

A source that attempts to create the characteristics of an ideal blackbody. It consists of a cavity, generally spherical, made of an opaque material and insulated from thermal effects, with a small...

A blackbody source, often simply referred to as a blackbody, is a theoretical or practical physical object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation incident upon it and emits radiation in a...

An optical system that rapidly alternates two similar pictures or scenes to permit the detection of small dissimilarities between them.

A blur circle refers to the out-of-focus region in an image captured by an optical system. When an object in a scene is not in perfect focus, its image is spread out into a circular shape on the...

A device for the internal inspection of hard-to-get-at mechanical parts, such as rifle barrels, sewer pipes, oil wells, or gas mains. The long narrow tube used contains a telescope system with as...

A breakout cable, also known as a fan-out cable or breakout assembly, is a type of cable that combines multiple individual cables into a single, larger cable. The breakout cable is designed to...

The fringes used in the Jamin interferometer and produced by light that has been internally and externally reflected by two plane-parallel plates, inclined toward each other at a small angle.

An instrument for measuring the brightness (luminance) of a scene. It may be a spot meter, covering an area of a degree or less, or an averaging meter, covering a broad area of the scene. Brightness...