Photonics Dictionary: O

Optical artifacts refer to undesired or unintended effects that can occur in optical systems, such as microscopes, cameras, telescopes, and other optical instruments. These artifacts can distort or...

The point on the optical axis of a lens that is the image of the nodal points. For any bundle of rays passing through the optical center of a lens, the incident and emergent rays through this point...

Optical design software refers to specialized computer programs used by optical engineers, physicists, and designers to simulate, model, analyze, and optimize the performance of optical systems and...

The fluorographic method whereby the visible image (as opposed to the x-ray image) is photographed by mounting a camera in front of the fluorescent screen.

The relative path difference (or phase shift) traveled between two rays that pass through different mediums from the same object point. For a perfect optical system, the optical path, or distance,...

A transparent crystalline substance that displays the same optical properties (i.e. refractive index) in all directions such that all light rays behave the same in all directions of propagation and...

A transparent crystalline substance in which the refractive index of the optic axis (extraordinary axis) is different from the other two crystal axes. Two polarization directions are allowed for any...

Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and its manifestation as both particle and wave phenomena. It encompasses the...

A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue, typically neurons, which have been genetically modified to respond to light....