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FIRST Dictionary Terms

edge detection
In image processing, the location of edges by employing templates that respond to the first or second derivative of gray-scale intensity in the neighborhood of each pixel.
nodal testing
The measurement of first- and higher order properties of a lens and its formed image, including effective focal length, back...
Gaussian optics
1. That branch of optics that illustrates the theory in which q is substituted for sin q in Snell's law. Effective results...
cadmium lines
The three lines in the spectrum of cadmium that have the purest radiations and that were first used by Michelson to...
first-side meniscus
The process of grinding the concave surface of a single-vision spherical lens.
Rayleigh criterion of resolving power
When a lens system with a circular aperture is free of aberrations, the image of a point object will appear as a disc of...
quasi-linear theory
The first nonlinear theory in plasma physics that details the time and space evolution of plasma wave instability from a...
stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy
Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) is a superresolution microscopy technique that enables imaging of...
piezo worm
A piezoelectric translator that moves up and down a spindle like a caterpillar. It clamps itself at one end, expands, clamps...
Rayleigh scattering
Rayleigh scattering is a phenomenon that occurs when light waves interact with particles or molecules that are much smaller...
transfer blocking
A process used to control thickness and parallelism precisely during the production of plane-parallel plates. Elements are...
run end coding
A digital imaging method whereby the first gray level in the ordered sequence and the position of the first lengths of all...
first-side toric
The process of grinding the toric surface of a single vision sphero-cylindrical lens.
first-surface mirror
 spurious resolution
A phenomenon that causes the details in an image to appear at a spatial frequency higher than that at which the contrast...
intensity interferometer
An interferometer that functions by first detecting the light striking each aperture and then combining the two detector...
mercury vapor light source
A lamp that has mercury in a tube or bulb that has first been evacuated. The electricity travels through the vapor between...
quantum optics
The area of optics in which quantum theory is used to describe light in discrete units or "quanta" of energy known as...
maser
An acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Predecessor to the laser, the maser or...
spectroscopic flash
The light flash, produced in flash photolysis, that is triggered within a second discharge tube by the third electrode. It...
quantum cascade laser
A quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a type of semiconductor laser that operates based on the principles of quantum mechanics....
Nichols radiometer
An instrument devised by Nichols and Hull for use in the measurement of radiation pressure. The device has two small...
quantum wire
A narrow channel created by cleaving a crystal made of alternating layers of gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide,...
first-order spectrum
The separate spectral lines formed by a diffraction grating that are characterized by one wavelength difference in path...
germanium crystal
Germanium crystal refers to a crystalline form of the element germanium (Ge), which is a metalloid and semiconductor...
modified chemical vapor deposition
Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) is a technique used in the fabrication of optical fibers. It is a specialized form...
bilinear interpolation
It is often necessary to estimate the value of what a pixel would be between neighboring pixels. This is accomplished by...
Casimir force
The Casimir force is a quantum phenomenon that results in an attractive force between two closely spaced uncharged...
laser
A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...
objective
The optical element that receives light from the object and forms the first or primary image in telescopes and microscopes....
third-order theory
Calculations of lens aberrations whereby the first two terms of the series expansion are the only ones employed....
gas laser
One of the first lasers to find practical application. Generally, the pumping mechanism is an electric discharge, although...
Mangin mirror
A double-surfaced catadioptric spherical mirror whose spherical first surface consists of a negative meniscus (concave) lens...
threshold voltage
1. Voltage at which a PN junction begins to pass a current. 2. In a solid-state lamp, the voltage at which light is first...
acoustical holography
The optical reconstruction of image information contained in a sound field. First the diffraction pattern, formed by an...
Mach-Zehnder interferometer
A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of...
Bessel functions
Two formulas used in diffractometer analysis, the first giving the individual diffraction patterns of each aperture, the...
Airy disc
The central peak (including everything interior to the first zero or dark ring) of the focal diffraction pattern of a...
dispersion
Dispersion refers to the phenomenon where different wavelengths (colors) of light travel at different speeds when passing...
magneto-optics
Magneto-optics refers to the study and manipulation of the interaction between magnetic fields and light (electromagnetic...
surface quality
The specification of allowable flaws in a surface by comparison to reference standards of quality. Two graded sets of...
laser crystal
A laser crystal, also known as an active medium or gain medium, is a solid-state material used in the construction of...
working distance
In microscopy, the clear distance between the specimen being viewed and the first optical element of the objective lens.
sine condition
First stated by Abbe, condition states that the ratio of input and output angles, from object point to image point, for two...
Q-switched pulse
A laser output that occurs when the cavity resonator Q is first kept very low, using rotating mirrors or saturable...
first-order theory
 near-field holography
A lithography method that allows the transfer of fine-pitch gratings from a phase mask into photoresist. The exposure takes...
chirped-pulse amplification
Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies...
grating beamsplitter
A grating beamsplitter is an optical device that utilizes the principles of diffraction to split a beam of light into...
rainbow hologram
Essentially, a hologram of a hologram, in which the first-generation hologram is masked with a narrow slit. During image...
stiction
In positioning, the friction that prevents immediate motion when force is first applied to a body or surface at rest.
optogenetics
A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue,...
Koehler illumination
A two-stage illuminating system for a microscope in which the source is imaged in the aperture of the substage condenser by...
first-order optics
 generating
A rapid roughing process for the quick removal of glass, the first step in manufacture of a curved lens surface. It is...
first principal point
The principal point of a lens relative to the object space.
perovskite
The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a...
oil-immersion objective
A form of high-power microscope objective where the space between the object and the first element is filled with an oil...
single-photon-decay spectroscopy
A technique for observing the decay of light emissions from sources following their pulsed excitations, based on recording...
reduced focal length
The ratio of the first focal length of a lens to the refractive index of the medium containing the incident light; the ratio...
paraxial
Characteristic of optical analyses that are limited to infinitesimally small apertures. Also called first-order or Gaussian...
electron image tube
A cathode-ray tube that increases the brightness or size of an image or forms a visible image from invisible radiation. The...
object distance
The distance between the object and the cornea, or the first surface of the objective in an optical device.
first window
The spectral transmission window in silica-based fibers between 830 and 850 nm.
run length coding
A digital imaging method whereby the first gray level of each sequential point-by-point sample and its position in the...
internal transmittance
The ratio of the radiant power transmitted to the second surface of a medium to the corresponding radiant power that has...
reconstruction diffraction efficiency
Holographic quantity expressed as the ratio of the reconstructed first-order image to that of the incident reconstructing...
Brownian motion
The behavior of microscopic solid particles suspended in a fluid, first observed by botanist Robert Brown in 1827 as a...
Förster resonance energy transfer
Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a mechanism describing the transfer of energy between two closely spaced...
Porro prism erecting system
The arrangement of two Porro prisms so that the inverted image formed by certain types of optical instruments is the same as...
indium
Metal used in components of the crystalline semiconductor alloys indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), indium gallium arsenide...
time constant
The amount of time needed for a detector signal or electronic circuit to reach 63 percent of its final value after a fixed...
cross dispersion
Recombination of only the light that is correctly dispersed by the first stage of a polychromator through its wide...
monochromator
A monochromator is an optical instrument used to isolate and select a narrow range of wavelengths from a broader spectrum of...
Kerr effect
The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where...
contextual analysis
In optical character recognition systems, the identification of a character facilitated by means of known factors governing...
primary spectrum
The first-order spectrum formed by a diffraction grating.
window
1. A piece of glass with plane parallel surfaces used to admit light into an optical system and to exclude dirt and...
Clayden effect
The desensitization of the first photographic exposure after it has been subjected to high-intensity radiation.

(79 results found)

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