Photonics Dictionary: C

An infrared detector that achieves a specified sensitivity through the application of certain cryogenic temperatures.

The production of visible light by infrared radiation whereby the light is produced by heat and not by any direct change in wavelength; the transformation is indirect.

Name originally given to the sun's infrared radiation by Sir William Herschel in his Philosophical Transactions of 1800.

An instrument incorporating an infrared detector assembly, used to analyze carbon dioxide gases and in medical applications to monitor air exchange in the lungs of patients on ventilators or under...

In an interferogram, an intense portion of the recording that corresponds in size to the amount of infrared radiation incident on the detector.

A phototube having a cesium-coated cathode that has its greatest sensitivity in the infrared region.

Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur (S), selenium (Se), and tellurium (Te). These elements are known as...

A reticle carrying patterns of various forms that can be rotated in an optical beam to cause variations in the intensity of the beam. It also is used in infrared detectors to scan the object field...

A cryogenically cooled component incorporated into the Dewar of an infrared detector assembly to maintain the sensing elements at the proper temperature (77 K or colder).

A mirror whose coating serves to reflect visible radiation while transmitting the infrared.

That part of an infrared detector-Dewar assembly that limits the solid angle viewed by the sensor; it is maintained at a uniformly cold temperature so that no thermal energy is emitted. Also known as...

A means of illumination from which the infrared component has been removed by absorption or reflection filters within the condenser system.

A solid with a structure that exhibits a basically symmetrical and geometrical arrangement. A crystal may already possess this structure, or it may acquire it through mechanical means. More than 50...

The naturally occurring crystalline form of silicon dioxide. It is slightly birefringent and exhibits rotary dispersion of light rays transmitted along the crystal axis, both right-hand and left-hand...

Adhering material used to glue optical components that transmit in the infrared. It is easily dissolved by acetone.