Photonics Dictionary: T

See optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR).

Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is an advanced fluorescence microscopy technique that leverages the principle of total internal reflection to selectively illuminate and image...

The reflection that occurs within a substance because the angle of incidence of light striking the boundary surface is in excess of the critical angle.

The equivalent f number of a fictitious lens that has a circular opening and 100 percent transmittance, which would give the same central illumination as the lens being considered: where...

An instrument used to measure the luminance (brightness) of a distant object. The object is viewed through a small telescope, and a mirror in the focal plane reflects an internal illuminated surface...

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is typically a curved, transparent piece of glass or other optical material...

Characteristic of deflected light power defined as the quadratic invariant function of the video signal amplitude.

The process of attaching a device to the end of a fiber cable to enable the beam to be transmitted farther, to pass to another device and to avoid reflection.

The instrument used to collect thermal radiation information on an object by scanning. It consists basically of a detector, a photoconductive element that converts incident radiation to an electrical...

A thin layer of a substance deposited on an insulating base in a vacuum by a microelectronic process. Thin films are most commonly used for antireflection, achromatic beamsplitters, color filters,...

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical, electrical, or mechanical properties. These coatings are composed of thin...

(TOF) The length of time needed for a signal to arrive at and be reflected from the target. The basis of an active autoranging/autofocus system.

In a cathode-ray tube, the visible line or lines formed on the screen by the deflection of the electron stream.

Pertaining to materials having the property of reflecting a part and transmitting a part of the incident radiation.

Measure of the amount of light that is transmitted, relative to the amount lost by absorption or reflection.

The distortion of an image formed by a cathode-ray tube, caused by unbalanced deflection voltages or deflection voltages that are not symmetrically aligned with the resultant anode potential.

Oscillator device composed of a semiconducting diode in a coaxial resonating cavity. When the biasing current is applied to the diode, high-frequency waves are emitted into the cavity where they are...

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.

Also known as corner-cube reflector or retrodirective reflector. Three reflecting surfaces, perpendicular to each other, that are arranged like the inside corner of a cube. As the triple mirror has a...

Computation of tristimulus values by integrating or summing, over the visible wavelength region, the product of the relative spectral power of a CIE standard source, the reflectance of the object...

A magnetic-deflection mass spectrometer that has an electrostatic field placed perpendicularly to its magnetic field, permitting both spatial mass dispersion and perfect double focusing in the plane...