Transmission loss in optical fibers caused by packaging processes; it is considered a power-coupling effect from the guided modes to the radiation modes.

A device designed to detect frequency-modulated signals by forming a unidirectional pulse from each sine wave. The direct...

Fresnel reflection refers to the reflection of light at the interface between two different media with different refractive...

A photosensitive device used to optically scan and read character data (numbers, letters etc.) and input this data into a...

A desklike apparatus with an opal glass surface illuminated from beneath by fluorescent tubes. It is equipped with roll...

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical,...

In fiber optics, the limitation on performance imposed by the system bandwidth rather than the amplitude of the signal.

Characterizes the significant solar radiation at the surface of the earth, so named because its spectral range extends only...

The capacitance of a capacitor which has a potential difference of one volt between its plates when it is charged by one...

The use of photographic emulsions to detect and determine the amounts of ionizing radiation, such as x-rays and gamma rays,...

An emulsion in which grains of the photosensitive material silver halide are deposited. Each grain, when exposed to light,...

A device that holds a number of filters and allows the filter with the desired characteristics to be rotated into an optical...

A semiconductor formed by applying a particular single-crystal layer to the specific insulator.

In optics, the conduction of radiant energy through a medium. Often denotes the percentage of energy passing through an...

The combination of the audio and visual signals that are transmitted and received at the same time, correlating the scene...

The equivalent f number of a fictitious lens that has a circular opening and 100 percent transmittance, which would give the...

An alternate term for lateral chromatic aberration. See chromatic aberration.

Nanophotonics is a branch of science and technology that explores the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, typically at...

A CCD image sensor that uses a proximity-focused image intensifier to provide greater sensitivity at low light levels.

A surveying device used to measure vertical displacement of target centers of scale lines from a horizontal plane generated...

A lens made from transparent plastic material. Lenses over 31/2 in. in diameter are usually machined, ground and polished....

A device used in thin-film deposition; the material to be evaporated is placed in a crucible that is heated inductively by...

The re-emission of absorbed energy, having the same wavelength as the incident energy, in an arbitrary direction from a...

An instrument that produces an intense, tightly focused beam of ions to stimulate emissions from a minute section of a...

A solid-state device, composed of silicon, that is used to convert radiation into electrical energy.

A mounting used for large concave gratings, whereby the slit, grating and plate holder lie in the Rowland circle, and the...

An excited energy state of an atom or atomic system that has a longer lifetime than the ordinary excited state and typically...

Optical cements and adhesives are specialized materials used in the assembly and bonding of optical components in optical...

MWIR stands for mid-wave infrared, referring to a specific range of wavelengths within the infrared spectrum. Infrared...

A high-resolution imaging instrument that can detect and measure the positions of individual atoms on the surface of a...

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) refers to a proposed method of generating electricity by harnessing the energy released from...

The determination of a substance's identity or quantity through the analysis of its optical rotation. For example, the...

That viewpoint at which the angular subtenses of points in the picture are identical to angular subtenses of the original...

In semiconductor physics, the term bandgap refers to the energy range in a material where no electronic states are allowed....

Electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by an electron as it is accelerated or decelerated while moving through the...

Optical phase distortion refers to a phenomenon where the phase of an optical wavefront is altered as it propagates through...

An optical element that measures the phase difference between two components of elliptically polarized light to correct for...

The surface of an optical fiber that is used as a reference when joining optical fibers. Although the outermost cladding is...

An instrument used to detect and measure radiant energy by the formation of a chemical reaction.

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

In television system specifications, the number of parallel horizontal black and white lines of equal thickness, that can be...

In micropositioning, a remote positioning device in which an electric current drives a movable armature mounted on an...

The triangle in a chromaticity diagram joining the chromaticities of the NTSC phosphors, and containing all chromaticities...

Optical glass refers to a type of glass specifically engineered and manufactured for use in optical components and systems,...

The discrepancy between the absolute luminance threshold and the photochromatic threshold.

A dichroic mirror, also known as a dichroic beamsplitter or interference filter beamsplitter, is an optical device that...

The compression and intensification of a laser pulse of a specific width into a smaller pulse width. A spherical cavity, in...

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer when detector noise prevails, which exceeds...

A television system designed to obtain pictures of objects or scenes beneath the surface of the water. Generally, a...

The calculated normal distance from a photon source at which harmful interaction with the incident light will occur....

In interlaced television scanning, an effect in which the lines of one field fail to fall exactly within the lines of the...

Luminescence is the emission of light that occurs without the involved substance undergoing a significant increase in...

A type of internal focusing in which only the lens elements closest to the rear of the lens barrel are moved.

Rare earth dopants refer to elements from the lanthanide series, also known as rare earth elements, that are intentionally...

Radiation in which the phase relationship between any two points in the radiation field has a constant difference, or is...

Ablation applied to polymers and chemical solids. Process of material removal that minimizes edge damage but will not heat...

The ratio between the luminescence of an object and the luminescence of the scattering medium through which it is being...

Also known as amplification. 1. The increase in a signal that is transmitted from one point to another through an amplifier....

A cathode-ray tube that either splits an electron beam from one source or uses beams from two sources to produce two beams,...

The least angle of incidence at which total internal reflection takes place. The angle of incidence in a denser medium, at...

Light produced by visible radiation that moves from the light source to the object without reflection. With respect to...

The pattern of physical or chemical changes that has taken place in a photographic emulsion, by its exposure to light, that...

A test similar to the Knoop hardness test, but used for fractured material. The indenter is a square-based pyramid-shaped...

A highly accurate cathode-ray tube used to display information with the utmost efficient stability and resolution. The...

The radiation-free transition that takes place within an ion, in which inner-shell vacancies in neutral atoms are filled by...

A particular type of phototube having increased sensitivity as a result of the glow initiated by light incident to the...

A camera containing an electronic image sensor that converts the image to an electronic signal suitable for television...

An optical medical instrument that uses an intense, precisely focused beam of light to stop weakened blood vessels from...

The minimum amount of strength characteristic of an optical fiber, as determined by proof stressing; expressed in thousands...

A device containing two photocells behind deep red and blue filters to measure color temperatures. The amplifier gain is...

The product of exposure time and irradiance or illuminance.

The continuous record containing the series of pictures formed by chronophotographic methods.

A device embodying a microprocessor that converts an image to digital form and then further enhances the image to prepare it...

The term "embedded laser" typically refers to a laser device that is integrated or embedded into a larger system or...

Situation in which the observer requires fewer than three independent stimuli to make color matches. Dichromats require only...

A specific type of photographic plate designed with only a small amount of gelatin to function in the extreme ultraviolet...

In astronomy, the method of deliberately viewing objects with peripheral vision to take advantage of the eye's greater...

The ratio of the velocities of light in two adjacent media, neither of which is air.

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape...

An analytical technique used to determine the nature of extremely small samples by forming the x-ray spectrum of the samples...

The apparent luminance of the image as seen through an optical system. This brightness of the image is determined by the...

The degree to which a vision system is capable of sensing differences in light intensity between two regions.

The decay of an electrostatic charge image resulting from long exposure to the dark.

Crystal growth method that resembles static freeze, but that induces growth by removing the ampoule from the furnace so that...

The process by which the raster beam in a video tube is cut off during the retracing and sync periods.

An accelerator at the Argonne National Laboratory, providing powerful x-ray beams for materials research applications.

An instrument designed to give a visual indication to the pilot when the plane has strayed from a specific flight path.

A device used to delay transmission of a signal for functions such as memory loops, sequential processing or built-in...

Any form of lens, optical system (camera, telescope, microscope, etc.), or opto-electronics utilized for the purpose of...

Photovoltaic (PV) refers to a technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity using semiconductors. The term...

The science of all complex elements of atomic and molecular spectra, and the interaction of radiation and matter.

A spectrophotometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the intensity of light at various wavelengths in the...

The line or lines emitted by an element when its radiation particles travel from one energy level to another.

An optical mounting device that permits adjustment around two perpendicular and intersecting axes of rotation.

A ground-based navigation beacon that emits pulsed signals which are picked up by aircraft making an instrument (blind)...

The rainbow exhibition of colors, usually caused by interference of light of different wavelengths reflected from...

Also known as the Bragg spectrometer. A system used for the x-ray analysis of crystal structure. In the instrument, a...

The perceived brightness of an object being viewed at some distance, especially through an optical instrument.

The process in which the normal rate of fluorescent emission from a substance is enhanced by virtue of the optical gain of...

A small xenon-filled tube with metal electrodes fused into the ends. The gas flashes brilliantly when a condenser is...

A device designed to convert linear change in the light state at input to log data at output.

A vacuum tube with an electron gun at one end and a fluorescent screen at the other. Electrons emitted from a heated...

A package for electronic components that is suited for automated assembly into printed circuit boards. The DIP is...

The maximum aperture of a lens at which it will still give a sharp image, even though its physical aperture may be larger.

A snapshot representation of the final image created by a computer program.

A type of optical microscope that allows the specimen being viewed to be irradiated by ultraviolet, violet and occasionally...

Describes incident radiation propagating parallel to an externally applied magnetic field in magneto-optical experimentation.

A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path...

Simulation of atmospheric turbulence for laboratory experimentation purposes, achieved by creating an unstable vertical...

An optical barcode reader, commonly known as a barcode scanner, is a device that uses optical technology to capture and...

With respect to photography, the law stating that the optical density of an exposed emulsion with standard development is a...

1. The direct storage of data as bits in memory using optical systems and properties. The memory makes use of a laser beam...

A short term for latent image intensification, a process much like hypersensitizing in photography, but used after exposure...

An imaging device originally created to image whole mouse brain volumes at microscopic resolution. The main component of the...

A neutral-colored gelatin wedge, cast between glass plates, that is used as an intensity scale in certain types of...

The measurement and analysis of color using a photoelectric instrument having three filters with broad spectrum bands.

The digitization process by which an image is manipulated to increase the amount of information perceivable by the human eye.

A tool used to remove the outer cladding of an optical fiber without damaging the fiber core.

An optical system that records inhomogeneities within a medium by detecting the energy refracted by that portion of the...

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or...

The ability of an electrical current to destroy superconductivity by means of the magnetic field generated by the current....

The physical area containing an assembly of computer graphics equipment for presenting generated images and allowing...

Pertaining to the manner in which light is reflected, as by a mirror or speculum.

A system used to measure very small displacement by electrical means.

An aperture, usually rectangular in shape, with a large length-to-width ratio, and a fixed or adjustable shape through which...

The distance between the object and the cornea, or the first surface of the objective in an optical device.

A device that uses low-level visible radiation or infrared radiation to produce a visual image of a night scene. These...

Piezoelectric transducers are devices that utilize the piezoelectric effect to convert electrical energy into mechanical...

A condition during laser operation when laser output can no longer be increased by additional electric current.

The optical energy transfer between ions of differing atoms.

An optical scanning system found in most computer scanners that can read documents, often in many type styles, and convert...

An InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) camera is a type of imaging device that utilizes InGaAs sensors to capture images in the...

A unit of optical measurement that expresses the refractive power of a lens or prism. In a lens or lens system, it is the...

Technology that uses data from an array of sensors, one of which is commonly lidar, to solve the problem of creating a map...

The distortion of an object's true image as the result of abnormal atmospheric disturbances along the path traveled by the...

In image processing, the mathematical relationships that link pixel brightnesses of input images to those of output images...

Acronym for self-aligned polysilicon interconnect N-channel. A metal-gate process that uses aluminum for the metal-oxide...

The number of electrons emitted per photon incident upon a photodetector.

Description of a particle that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image.

The square of the ratio of the measured detectivity to the theoretical maximum detectivity.

That layer in a semiconductor injection laser or light-emitting diode that provides optical gain.

A nondestructive test, also referred to as LASAT, that uses a high-energy laser pulse that is targeted on an adhesively...

1. To influence to a single direction. 2. Voltage that is applied to a solid-state device.

A scanning technique in which the optical density of the film being scanned controls the speed of deflection of the scanning...

Phase shift in electromagnetic signals caused by daily variations in the ionosphere, often during sunrise or sunset.

1. A faint second image caused by reflection that is sometimes seen when observing through an optical instrument. 2. With...

A variation from standard physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating techniques, magnetron sputtering is a plasma coating...

A multilayered thin-film device used to modulate transmitted light in integrated photonic circuits.

A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization...

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

A chemical compound that exhibits a reversible change in its absorption spectrum upon irradiation with given wavelengths of...

A miniature projecting device designed to enhance and reproduce the image generated by a smaller image-forming instrument....

An aptamer is a short, single-stranded DNA or RNA molecule that can bind to a specific target molecule with high affinity...

A camera copying system that can reduce originals onto 35- or 16-mm film for easy storage.

A semiconductor device with a semiconductor junction in which infrared radiant flux is nonthermally produced when a current...

A crystal-based device that combines and adjusts the intensities of multiple wavelengths of laser light in order to obtain...

An atomic clock is a highly precise timekeeping device that uses the vibrations or oscillations of atoms as a reference for...

Also referred to as a band-stop or band rejection filter; a notch filter is a filter that is designed to screen out a very...

An instrument used to record infrared images of large areas. The recorded data are used to produce maps in false color...

The use of high temperatures, between 2000 and 3000 °C, to excite emission lines from a sample in spectroscopic...

An adhesive used for bonding optical elements or for holding devices.

A polarizing beamsplitting prism similar in design to the Rochon prism. However, the Senarmont transmits the extraordinary...

A solar simulator is a device used to replicate the spectrum and intensity of sunlight in a controlled environment for...

The general term for the application of light to a subject. It should not be used in place of the specific quantity...

The relationship between different wavelengths of light generated by a source, which may affect the spectral distribution of...

Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a...

The maximum angle of view that can be recorded by a camera. Field is a function of lens focal length and film format.

A series of flanges or other conducting surfaces, usually metal, attached to an electronic device to transmit and dissipate...

In a straight line. When applied to a lens, it indicates that images of straight lines formed by the lens are not distorted.

The ratio between the focal length of a lens having a longer focal length than that of the standard lens used with a camera,...

An optically pumped solid-state laser in which the active medium is a neodymium ion in a glass rod host. Abbreviated...

An instrument that is used to detect high-energy particles by the pulse of the current formed when a particle passes through...

In a reflecting telescope, the obstruction of the primary mirror by a secondary mirror which blocks a small amount of the...

1. The variation in intensity of a light beam as it travels through the atmosphere. 2. In radiation physics, a light flash...

A physical constraint, often a lens retainer, that limits the diameter of the axial light bundle allowed to pass through a...

With respect to atomic fluorescence spectroscopy, the fluorescence that is emitted by an atom at a spectral line of a...

Of all the rays passing through a lens from an off-axis object point to its corresponding image point, there is always one...

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials...

Instantaneous field of view (iFOV) is a term commonly used in the context of remote sensing, imaging systems, and optical...

An instrument that can preselect intervals, often in increments of 1, 10 or 100 ns, for the generation of electronic pulses...

In a fiber optic transmission system, the conversion of received optical pulses directly to an electrical signal.

A monolithic device containing both photonic and electronic sources, detectors, modulators, etc., on a single semiconductor...

A powerful and flexible machine-learning approach that can be used in machine vision to help solve difficult problems....

A special-purpose camera used by ophthalmologists to photograph the retina of the eye. The optical system operates through...

The process of adjusting input pixel by pixel at the filter plane to adapt to nondeal phase behavior in an optical...

A specific gas-filled tube designed to illustrate the luminous effects of discharges through rarefied gases.

An instrument used to determine the absolute or relative scatter levels of optical surfaces.

Light that is a mixture of wavelengths.

Technique that provides two stereographic views of an object that are larger than the object itself, by means of mutually...

A communications system that can transmit in only a single direction at a time. See duplex.

A two-electrode device with an anode and a cathode that passes current in only one direction. It may be designed as an...

In photoelectric sensing, the portion of the transmitted beam that actually functions in the system; the diameter of the...

Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or...

An optical combiner, in the context of optics and display technologies, refers to a device or component that combines...

A device used to project a small area of light on a screen for indication.

An aperture located at an image plane of an optical system that determines the size and shape of the image.

The measurable leakage of optical energy from one optical conductor to another. Also known as optical coupling.

A linear or two-dimensional matrix of individual detector elements, typically used at the focus of an imaging system.

Optical surface damage due to abrasive rubbing. Abrasion damage affects are less than the thickness of the optical coating...

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are ordinary cells that are genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like...

The force acting upon a charged particle as it moves in a magnetic field, proportional to the particle's charge and velocity.

Optical elements, often created by micromachining, lithography or vacuum deposition, that rely on diffraction of the...

High harmonic generation (HHG) refers to a nonlinear optical process in which intense laser light interacts with a gaseous...

1. A bundle of light rays that may be parallel, converging or diverging. 2. A concentrated, unidirectional stream of...

A narrow channel created by cleaving a crystal made of alternating layers of gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide,...

Photobleaching is a phenomenon in which the fluorescence of a fluorophore (a fluorescent molecule or dye) is permanently...

Photographic recording of rapid events at a rate exceeding 106 frames per second.

A photodiode detector is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It operates based on the...

The condition in which the index of refraction in an optical fiber varies as a parabolic function of the radius.

A type of optical fiber in which a silica core is surrounded by a hard polymer or similar material much stronger than the...

An aplanatic surface is an optical surface that is specifically designed or shaped to minimize spherical aberration and...

The dark absorption lines observed in the spectrum of the photosphere of the sun. There are thousands of these lines, the...

Light that is directed or focused by means of curved reflective surfaces.

A device that enlarges and strengthens a signal's output without significantly distorting its original waveshape. There are...

The use of thin flexible glass or plastic fibers as wave guides — or "light pipes" — to channel light from one...

A quarter- or half-wave retarder made from two plates of quartz, mica or polymer with their fast axes crossed; the...

Primarily the measurement of photographic sensitivity of certain materials such as photographic film. It refers to the...

Displacement in a direction perpendicular to that of the intended displacement, as in a translation stage with simple...

Also known as roof prism. A type of prism designed by G.B. Amici. It consists of a roof edge produced upon the long...

A bench with instrumentation including a collimator, a microscope, positioners and a nodal slide used to rotate a lens about...

Fiber optic cable bearing many fibers independently sheathed and capable of carrying unrelated signals. They often surround...

An interferometer that functions by first detecting the light striking each aperture and then combining the two detector...

Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light...

A glass structure from which an optical fiber waveguide may be drawn.

An acronym for communications intelligence, referring to the collection of communications signals in the VHF and UHF...

The physical center of the lens; it is on the axis of the lens, halfway between the front and rear vertex. It is sometimes...

The angle formed between a ray of light striking a surface and the normal to that surface at the point of incidence.

A phenomenon that causes the details in an image to appear at a spatial frequency higher than that at which the contrast...

A medical imaging device that uses a ring of crystal/photomultiplier tube assemblies encircling the patient to detect gamma...

A system designed to control the output quantity of a device by returning a portion of its output signal to its input. This...

The strongest light emitted by the Earth's upper atmosphere. It most often can be viewed in the Arctic as the aurora...

A laser that relies on chemical activity instead of electrical energy to produce the pumping action necessary to form pulses...

Image distortion that occurs when the axes of the original image are not perpendicular in the resulting image, making the...

A number that indicates the magnitude of the shift in a solid of positive and negative charges in opposite directions when a...

The use of photographs taken from specially placed cameras, to develop, through computation, a spatial solution of the...

The monochromatic transparency effect produced by the immersion of a finely powdered substance (e.g., glass or quartz) into...

A facility designed for the observation and recording of astronomical phenomena.

A glass rhomb that is used in photometry to compare two illuminated surfaces. This is accomplished by the rhomb's angles,...

A phosphor that has the ability to convert into light emission a portion of energy lost by ionization when a charged...

A filter designed to decrease the luminosity of the sky without decreasing that of the landscape in the foreground. A filter...

A positioning slide mechanism with two rows of alternately crisscrossed cylindrical rollers.

In a single element, any lack of coincidence between the optical and the mechanical axes. In a lens system, any lack of...

The section of crystal symmetry having only one-quarter of the greatest number of faces permitted by the crystal system of...

A means of testing the strength of optical fibers to ensure reliability, by applying stress to the fiber so that any flaws...

In electrical equipment, power variations that are temporary (as opposed to the permanent, cumulative effects of drift).

The science of interfacing surfaces in moving contact, which includes areas such as friction, lubrication and wear.

In a gas, an electrical discharge that has no luminance.

A lens having each of its outer faces curved outward.

Concave and convex spherical mirrors are types of curved mirrors that have surfaces shaped like segments of spheres. These...

A weapon launched from a ground-based platform and controlled by a two-way fiber optic data link. The fiber is payed out...

In optics, the term image jump refers to a displacement or shift in the apparent position of an image when a change occurs...

Photometry is the branch of science that deals with the measurement of light, particularly in terms of its intensity and the...

One of the two major types of optical glass, the other being crown glass. Flint glass is softer than crown glass, has a...

Short wavelength infrared (SWIR) refers to the portion of the infrared spectrum that encompasses wavelengths roughly between...

A system incorporated into fiber optic data communications characterized by several spatially distributed terminals that are...

A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of a magnetic field. It can detect...

1. The characteristic of how light propagates through a waveguide that can be designated by a radiation pattern in a plane...

A bandpass filter with piezoelectric crystal components for the passage or impedance of electrical signals of various...

The principle that states that optical instrumentation cannot increase the radiance of a source; the radiance of an image...

A technique whereby the sample is illuminated by a hollow cone of light larger than the acceptance angle of the objective,...

Method for studying absorption coefficients of low-loss materials, in which a sample is allowed to come to thermal...

An image of an object that appears above the object's true position as the result of abnormal refraction of the image rays...

Fizeau fringes are interference fringes observed in an interferometer, specifically in a Fizeau interferometer. The Fizeau...

A device that produces an interferogram that can be directly related to the temperature gradient and thereby provides a...

An instrument that transforms heat energy into electrical energy.

In optical communication systems, operations in which the amplitude of the pulses, as opposed to their width, determines the...

The formula that gives the wavelength of maximum spectral radiant emittance of a perfect blackbody: λmax =...

The process by which an atomic system changes from one energy level to another by either the emission or absorption of...

iris or adjustable radially symmetric opening used for allowing the passage of useful light

An imaging device analogous to a drum scanner, but operating at greater speeds; it uses a row of sensors to traverse an...

Sapphire refers to a crystalline form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is used in various optical and photonic applications...

A lens mounting with eccentric rings that may be rotated to shift the axis of the lens to a prescribed position.

A semiconductor laser diode that emits light perpendicular to the active region. The output radiation is taken through the...

A camera designed with a telecentric optical system and a narrow field of view; the telecentric optical system (placement of...

A disc composed of a series of holographic optical elements that diffract light at various angles. When spinning, a raster...

Die bonding is a critical process in semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics assembly, where a semiconductor die or...

A mirror mount is a mechanical device used to secure and precisely position mirrors in optical systems. Mirrors are...

An optical pyrometer that is equipped with a narrow bandpass filter to transmit a limited number of wavelengths to the...

A prism or prism assembly that serves to displace the instrument's optical axis.

A sapphire window refers to a transparent optical component made from sapphire crystal. Sapphire is a single-crystal form of...

1. The ring patterns of light that seem to encircle particles in the field of a microscope. 2. See Newton's rings.

A bundle of rays that originates from an object point on the optical axis of a lens system.

A device for forming at least two adjacent areas of polarized light. The angle between the directions of vibration of the...

A set of international standards by which a single telecommunications channel is used to transmit voice and data...

Multiple scattering method used in biological analysis in which approximations yield simple, explicit solutions, at least...

A technique developed to measure the molecular weight of macromolecules by analyzing the spontaneous fluctuations that occur...

An optically bistable device used for photonic switching, constructed of a multiple quantum well biased by an external...

A phenomenon, exploited for medical imaging, in which the nuclei of material placed in a strong magnetic field will absorb...

A lens system in which the centers of curvature of all surfaces fall on a common axis.

A traveling microscope or an automatic microdensitometer used to measure the spectrum plate obtained in a spectrograph.

An arrangement of optical fibers in a bundle whereby the geometric configuration of the input end differs from that of the...

Three proportional coefficients labeled Am, Bmn, and Bnm, that respectively characterize the rate of spontaneous emission,...

The decrease of a component's efficiency, or a reduction in a material's light sensitivity, as the result of accumulated...

A two-mirror corrector for a parabolic primary mirror that provides anastigmatic performance for large astronomical...

Plates of glass containing as many heavy metal oxides as can be dissolved in the glass without causing devitrification. The...

Generally, a rotatable table with scales marked in degrees. The fiducial marking also may be a vernier scale. The same...

Also known as display primaries. Colors formed by a television receiver that are of constant chromaticity and variable...

The smallest object that may be seen, measured in terms of the angle subtended by the object measured at the eye. Also...

In ultraviolet and fluorescence photography, the term applied to the filter used in the photographic system and with the...

The application of coherent wavefront techniques to the determination of the physical state of a system without appreciably...

A term used in data processing to describe a cathode-ray tube that displays graphic or character data.

Term synonymous with refractive index liquid, but related more to tank or chamber immersion of crystals, fibers, lenses,...

Characteristic of an absorber in the IR region, whereby absorption increases as a direct function of the intensity of the...

A type of interferometer noted for producing narrow multiple-beam interference fringes. As a result, when compared with the...

A nonmagnetic instrument utilizing an electrofocus and deflection tube with a photocathode for imaging purposes. The optical...

A solid-state device that acts as a high-speed power switch, and that is activated by incident radiation.

In laser pumping, parasitic absorption that occurs at certain wavelengths, decreasing pump efficiency and gain.

Also known as RAMP microscopy, random access multiphoton microscopy is a microscopic technique that uses multiple...

The organic inclusion in quartz crystal that forms delicate films and microspheres and that shows a maximum absorption at...

An instrument for eye surgery that directs intense xenon arc light through the transparent cornea lens to the retina where...

Low Earth orbit (LEO) refers to a region in space that is relatively close to Earth's surface, typically characterized by...

Use of achromatic design; the correction of chromatic aberration; without color or hue (grey, black and white)

A system that uses the heat from a pulsed laser to weld metals. Because of the rapidity and localization in which the...

A device used to detect elevation, pyramid and resolution errors in prisms and other components by bringing them into...

Oleophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or resist oils. The word oleophobic comes from the...

A binary semiconductor compound used as a substrate or active layer for diode lasers.

In a diode laser, a mode in the plane of the active layer that is perpendicular to the direction of the emitted beam.

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a type of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that uses a high-power...

In a bifocal spectacle lens, the vertical measurement of distance from the uppermost borderline of the bifocal segment to...

1. With respect to angular subtense, a source of light, such as a star, that is very small. In a lab, a point source may be...

A system in which a sequence of direct measurements of the target position is fed into a tracking filter that may produce...

A lens composed of two or more separate elements of optical glass that may or may not be cemented together. The surfaces of...

The point at which decreasing current supplied to a laser results in the extinguishing of the laser discharge.

An accurately produced hole of any size and shape that is used as a masking device in an optical system. Pinhole apertures...

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that integrates digital information, typically in the form of computer-generated...

Also known as gas focusing. The introduction of an inert gas into a cathode-ray tube for the concentration of the electron...

A waveguide with a rectangular cross section that is composed entirely of dielectric materials.

The three-dimensional interference pattern of fringes that is recorded on a holographic plate to facilitate the study of a...

A lens is a transparent optical device that focuses or diverges light, allowing it to pass through and form an image. Lenses...

Optical coatings are thin layers of materials applied to optical components, such as lenses, mirrors, filters, and prisms,...

A term variously applied to remote sensing techniques that essentially refers to all parametric conditions that influence...

In physics, momentum transfer is the amount of momentum transferred from one particle to another during particle collision...

A thermoplastic or thermosetting material used to hold an object fixed and keep it from deterioration. In microcircuitry,...

A process by which high-quality fiber optics are made. See axial vapor-phase deposition.

A mixture of ionized gas and metal vapor generated by impingement of the laser beam onto a material being welded or a weld...

A measurement of the spatial resolution of a line or area array in an optical character recognition scanning device.

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) refers to a phenomenon in wave physics, particularly in optics, where waves, such as light or...

Gas laser in which the tube acts as a channel for the laser beam.

A type of laser welding that produces short-duration vapor pockets without buildup of heat in the part, useful for parts...

A shield of rubber, plastic or metal used to protect the eyes of the observer from stray light and wind, and to maintain the...

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a non-invasive imaging technique that allows for high-resolution, in vivo imaging...

Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (such as...

The ongoing expansion of the universe based on observations of the recession of distant galaxies from each other as...

A sensing or image-forming detector that serves to convert infrared rays into visible signals for communication purposes....

The ratio of emitted power to input power.

A type of compensator for use with a microscope and consisting of a quarter-wave plate in a fixed position and a rotatable...

An electron tube having two electron guns, one on each side of the storage medium, to encode the information onto the...

In astronomy, the relation that states that the intensity of a star's visible radiation is inversely proportional to the...

Infrared radiation emitted from a source that is not heated sufficiently to give off visible radiation.

A blank area (caused by insufficient inking of the paper) that falls within the range of an intended character stroke in an...

High dynamic range (HDR) refers to a technology that allows for a broader and more dynamic range of luminosity in visual...

A method used to detect internal or residual microstresses in a material by using a laser beam to locate changes in...

A neuromorphic vision sensor is a type of imaging device designed to mimic the structure and functioning of the human visual...

A lens having surfaces whose centers of curvature coincide.

An optical source that has a luminous distribution that is uniform for all directions.

An arc lamp that has its cavity filled with krypton to produce a light source with unique characteristics.

A flaw deliberately introduced into an optical fiber to prepare it for cleaving.

A plate consisting of fused optical fibers with both surfaces ground and polished, and having the entrance surface curved to...

A source that attempts to create the characteristics of an ideal blackbody. It consists of a cavity, generally spherical,...

An optical storage product that can be used for playback only.

A cold-cathode tube containing neon and designed to visually determine a potential difference or field.

Raman spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry and physics to study vibrational, rotational, and other...

A type of erasable data storage device that uses a medium deposited on the disc in two layers, each dyed to absorb a...

Characteristic of optical analyses that are limited to infinitesimally small apertures. Also called first-order or Gaussian...

A feature in the chromosphere of the sun formed by a jet of gas that reaches from the chromosphere into the corona and has...

In colorimetry, the phenomenon in which spectrally different radiations produce the same color sensation for a given...

The series of processes used to identify and evaluate crystal structure by using crystalline solids to diffract x-rays. In...

In an optical waveguide, the exchange of power/energy among modes.

The angular spectrum approach is a mathematical and computational technique used in the field of optics to analyze and...

A hologram formed when the light of the illuminating beam is absorbed in correspondence with the recording exposure. In...

The array of methods used in the transmission and reception of pictures and images with a three-dimensional appearance.

Multiple exposures of holograms, one for each position of a vibrating image, that are used for vibration analysis and that...

A mechanical, electrical, thermal or optical detector designed to identify and measure ultrasonic radiation.

A type of laser for which a large number of the components can be fabricated in or upon a single substrate.

The amount of energy required to raise the energy level of an atom; a necessity if the atom is to radiate energy. High...

A diffraction grating is an optical component consisting of a surface with a periodic structure of equally spaced, parallel...

A material that produces stimulated emission during the process of amplification with a laser system.

A device that serves to detect the presence of vacuum ultraviolet radiation. It may be photographic film, a thermopile, ion...

The relative path difference (or phase shift) traveled between two rays that pass through different mediums from the same...

An electrical problem that occurs when voltage is not the same with respect to ground at every node of a system, causing...

A pulse having extremely short duration, about 10-13 to 10-10 s, that is produced by mode locking of wide-bandwidth lasers,...

A type of stereoscopic photography in which the distance between the two view points is greater than the average...

An angle formed by the lines of sight of both eyes when focusing on an object. Also, the rate at which a ray approaches the...

A cell filled with a transparent material that, when placed in a strong electrical field, exhibits double refraction. Since...

A light-harvesting protein found in the purple membrane of a micro-organism called Halobacterium halobium. The protein...

A technique for measuring the energy spectrum of electrons emitted during the absorption of ultraviolet radiation. This...

An electron tube that is used as a camera tube for a television system. When the picture to be transmitted is focused on a...

A small half-shade analyzer placed in the eyepiece of a polarimeter to determine the character of the polarized light...

Translucent collector developed to compensate for the partial blocking of a flat surface's collection angle that normally...

Characteristic of radiation detectors that produce energy that is similar to the energy of superconductive gaps when...

The production of holograms initially from either conventional photographs or incoherent optical equipment.

In physics, nuclear fusion refers to the process in which two atomic nuclei come together to form a heavier nucleus,...

Simulation of radiative transfer in which each photon is generated by a source and its path through the medium is...

A unit of metric measure equivalent to 1 thousandth (or 10-3 ) of the standard unit of optical power which is the diopter (1...

An optical system having one or more lens or mirror components that have nonspherical surfaces. These surfaces, whether...

A cathode-ray tube that increases the brightness or size of an image or forms a visible image from invisible radiation. The...

An artificial star used to aid in adaptive optics imaging of the sky. The guide star is provided from a telescope system on...

Radiographic recording and enhancement of the micoscopic details within the structure of thin specimens at a high...

A mass spectrometer utilizing both radial electrostatic and magnetic field analyzers to improve the focusing and increase...

The term reflective is an adjective that describes the ability of a surface or material to reflect light or other forms of...

A type of copying camera in which the object is placed on a horizontal easel and photographed by a horizontal camera above...

A diode with a semiconducting material, such as germanium or silicon, for one electrode, and a fine wire "whisker''...

A crucible made of electrically resistive material through which a current is passed to heat the material inside, which then...

The amount of x-rays used to penetrate and diffuse a target sample undergoing electron-probe microanalysis.

Color correcting; chromatic aberration corrected.

The region of the cathode-ray tube phosphor screen restricted by the tube and instrument specification.

A scientific CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) camera is a type of digital camera specifically designed for...

A substrate refers to a material or surface upon which another material or process is applied or deposited. In various...

With respect to the effect of crystals on lightwaves, the family of curves having constant direction of polarization.

An optical lens manufactured to control the transmission of light over a specified wavelength range. Low absorption lenses...

The internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of interconnected physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other objects...

Angular deviation from the optimum alignment of source to optical waveguide, waveguide to waveguide, or waveguide to...

The process of heating and slowly cooling a solid material, like glass or metal, to stabilize its thermal, electrical or...

Computer vision enables computers to interpret and make decisions based on visual data, such as images and videos. It...

The growth of particular grain fragments in a metal or alloy, at the expense of others, that occurs when the metal or alloy...

A fiber-coupled LED (light-emitting diode) refers to an LED device that is optically coupled to an optical fiber for the...

The radio waves of the electromagnetic spectrum that have frequencies of up to 10,000 megacycles per second.

A surface heat-treating process that produces a highly stressed surface. In case-hardening of glass, a plate of glass is...

A device having a plane mirror so mounted that it can be set to reflect sunlight into a piece of laboratory equipment. It is...

A photoelectrical relay that uses a phototube as its photoelectric device to open and close an electrical relay; used to...

An event-based image sensor, also known as a dynamic vision sensor (DVS), is a type of digital imaging device designed to...

The condition in which two or more energy states are identical.

A contact tip made of artificial sapphire (AlO2) that allows surgeons to use laser power to cut and coagulate tissue...

Observed phenomenon in laser pulses in which a large number of excited electrons are created and in which multiphoton...

Commonly known as CR39, this thermosetting plastic is used in the casting of eyeglass lenses because of its toughness and...

The application of a cine camera in recording the images on a fluorescent screen. When x-rays are used to produce the screen...

In aerial photography, the geometric method of indicating the three-dimensional location of ground points from a pair of...

A telescopic light-sensing meter used to measure illumination levels of small regions at a distance of many feet; it is used...

A technique for obtaining improved resolution of images produced by large telescopes and distorted by the effects of...

Lens which, by altering the phase, efficiently images through a holographic process.

The photoemission that would occur if a crystal were pure and its structure perfect.

1. In relation to cathode-ray tube displays, errors in the signal's amplitude, phase or both that result in small, rapid...

The fine scratches formed when, in hand centering, the forked stick used to move the lens on the chuck marks the rotating...

Glass consisting of almost pure silicon dioxide (SiO2). Also called vitreous silica. Frequently used in optical fibers and...

In the optical field, a piece of glass to which a lens or prism is cemented. The unit is ground and polished as a whole to...

An imaging technique used in radiology that is based on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to produce...

Scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) refers to a type of image sensor technology specifically designed...

An optical waveguide in which only the lowest order bound mode, which may consist of a pair of orthogonally polarized...

The element in a charge-coupled device that receives the charge packets transferred from the line of sensor sites and then...

The fundamental wavelength standard of time or frequency. An atomic standard, it is properly expressed as 9,192,631,770...

The analysis of fluorescence emitted by discrete atoms, in flames, that have absorbed radiation from an external source. It...

A lens aberration that results in the tangential and sagittal image planes being separated axially.

Three-photon microscopy is an advanced imaging technique that belongs to the family of multi-photon microscopy methods. It...

In an optical system, the gradual reduction of image illuminance as the off-axis angle increases, resulting from limitations...

A pulsed interferometer that permits the continuous quantitative mapping of the surface deformation of an adaptive optical...

Filoviruses are a family of viruses that are responsible for severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fevers in humans and...

The use of photoelectric sensors to detect and measure the intensity of a light source. This application, as compared to...

The determination of the temperature of a source by the detection of its incandescent brightness.

A device that measures the wavelength of an electromagnetic wave.

Although low in sensitivity (approximately 10-7 m for helium-neon lasers), this holographic technique permits quantitative...

The current that flows through a photosensitive device, such as a photodiode, as the result of exposure to radiant power.

The light flash that occurs when an electrical field is applied to a phosphor already excited by ultraviolet radiation.

Conduction of an electric current through a chemical compound in its natural state, solution or as a molten, to decompose...

The use of phase conjugation or other methods to increase the power density of a laser beam under adverse atmospheric...

A controlled random search process, such as generalized simulated annealing, that has been incorporated into many optical...

In fiber optic communications, a light source whose beam can be modulated and sent along an optical fiber, and the...

Phase contrast microscopy is an optical microscopy technique that enhances the contrast of transparent and colorless...

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a therapeutic approach that utilizes the combination of light, a photosensitizer, and...

A cylindrical lens that may be rotated to distort a bundle of light originating at a point source, to form a line image.

A type of holographic film widely used for industrial applications because it is inexpensive and erasable.

The propagation or hindrance of waves reaching each aperture of the interferometer because of atmospheric turbulence.

A technique in which a beam of x-rays is directed against a crystal, the atoms of which, because of their lattice...

In a semiconductor, the state created by the addition of a dopant that creates excess holes.

A vacuum pump in which heated oil or another substance is forced through jets as a vapor that collides with gas molecules...

A diode laser is a type of laser that uses a semiconductor diode as the active medium to generate coherent light....

A spectroscope having a diffraction grating for the resolution of light of various wavelengths.

In fiber optics, the glass that is found around the glass core of the fiber, and that has a lower refractive index than the...

Also known as all-glass fiber. A fiber with both a silica core and a silica cladding, regardless of the presence of a...

A device that is used to produce or analyze plane-polarized light. It may be a Nicol prism or some other form of calcite...

Blocking by means of a pitch ring, pitch button or a totally pitched block. Pitch, containing a soft filter, may be used...

A branched fiber optic lightguide that performs both receiving and transmitting functions.

The Foucault test is performed by moving a knife edge laterally into the image of a small point source. The eye, or a...

An acronym of gamma ray amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It is a gamma ray laser that operates between...

A package for an optical fiber or fibers that may include cladding, buffering, strength members and an outer jacket.

With respect to microscopy, light that is directed through the specimen by a substage condenser.

The application of photography, with the exception of radiography, to obtain pictures of parts or the whole of a patient to...

A photodiode that has been designed so that the bar of semiconductor material has a PN junction perpendicular to its length...

An alien, electrically charged atomic system in a solid; an ion substituted for the constituent atom or ion in a crystal...

Blaze height typically refers to a parameter in the context of diffraction gratings, which are optical devices consisting of...

The science of producing, recording, storing, transmitting and displaying visual images by any system (photographic, video,...

A panel of photoconductive and electroluminescent layers used as either a positive or negative image intensifier, depending...

The scientific observation of celestial radiation that has reached the vicinity of Earth, and the interpretation of these...

A photometer that uses a wedge, marked to show its reduction of flux density, to make two light sources equal in intensity...

A diagram that shows actual component signals and the basic wiring configuration of a relay logic circuit.

A step-by-step method of reducing the amount of data in a digital video signal to transmit or store a high-quality image....

A corner cube, also known as a corner reflector or retroreflector prism, is a type of optical device used to reflect light...

An extended bubble or seed on glass, elliptically shaped and more than one-quarter inch (6.3 mm) in length.

A testing device that provides a contour map of the emergent wavefront for the observer in terms of the given wavelength of...

An optogenetic technique that embeds genetically-engineered proteins to the heart to aid in terminating arrhythmias. After...

The use of a plasma to induce the formation of oxides in the production of graded-index optical fibers.

The angle between the initial and final paths traveled by a scattered particle or photon.

Also called calcite. A natural hexagonal crystal of calcium carbonate. It cleaves readily into rhomboids useful in the study...

A thermal source that emits less radiation than a blackbody under identical temperature conditions.

Optical manufacturing tools and machinery encompass a wide range of equipment, instruments, and systems used in the...

The use of retroreflective projection technology (RPT) to project a background image onto a masked object, such as a vehicle...

Extensive data storage in the form of bits, with the use of high-resolution photographic materials and optics, and generally...

Lenses that have identical flange focal distances and can be interchanged.

A fiber optic transmission system in which data can go in only a single direction.

A plate of glass in which a face has been frosted by grinding or etching. It diffuses light by scattering in directions...

A technique for producing micron-size structures on surfaces by using short-wavelength light or electron beams.

The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is an optical device used for measuring the wavefront aberrations of an optical system....

An astronomical mirror, also known as a telescope mirror or primary mirror, is a key component of a reflecting telescope. It...

Design and engineering consulting services refer to professional services provided by specialized firms or individuals to...

In optics, a collapsible structure situated between the lens and film of a camera to allow variation of the distance between...

An optical correlator incorporating a binary phase-only spatial light modulator made from an iron garnet magneto-optic solid...

The closest distance to which the eye can focus on an object, normally taken to be 250 mm. The near point varies with age.

A mode of data transmission whereby each bit of information is generated separately, with some stop/start code to indicate...

The area closest to an aperture or source where the diffraction pattern differs substantially from that observed at an...

An interference filter in which a very thin metal foil with a periodic array of square holes (inductive mesh) or a thin...

A power loss caused by transverse or lateral deviation from optimum alignment of source to optical waveguide, waveguide to...

Pockels cell or dynamic optical retarder in which the electrical field is applied in a direction parallel to that of light...

A type of spectroscopy used extensively in the analysis of biological samples. Because most biologically synthesized...

A device used to view microfilmed documents where the image on film is projected, in magnified form, onto a rear projection...

The ratio of the illuminance at the peak of the diffraction pattern of an aberrated point image to that at the peak of an...

The value equal to the raster height divided by the half-period of a periodic test pattern.

Calculations of lens aberrations whereby the first two terms of the series expansion are the only ones employed....

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a non-invasive optical technique used to detect changes in blood volume in tissues. It...

A nitrogen vacancy (NV) refers to a specific type of defect or impurity in a crystal lattice where a nitrogen atom replaces...

Mechanical device intended for the translation (rotational and linear) using high precision control from electronically...

A term applied to an electric charge image in a camera tube that remains for a period of a few frames after its initial...

A self-healing, index-matching, nonporous coating for optical components that can eliminate production difficulties and...

A lamp that emits light as the result of the passage of an electrical current through ionized cesium vapor.

A camera lens, used in macrophotography, that is designed and corrected to produce optimum definition of a nearby object...

Refers to the variety of techniques that use the interference pattern produced by laser light diffusely reflected by an...

The perceptual term for that aspect of color described by words such as red, yellow or blue. Achromatic colors, such as...

Microscopy is a scientific technique that involves the use of microscopes to observe and study objects that are too small to...

An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical...

A furnace used to heat glass materials. It may be a small laboratory-type furnace for small-scale experiments or large...

The arrangement of two Porro prisms so that the inverted image formed by certain types of optical instruments is the same as...

The near-point distance of the normal eye. The value of 10 in. or 25 cm is normal. This value is used in evaluating the...

Total number of characters available to each position of a digital numeric system.

Handheld optical laser device containing a semiconductor or DPSS source. The output is corrected via internal collimating...

In astronomy, the main lobe of an antenna pattern that has a small angular extent in two mutually perpendicular directions....

The properties exhibited by a semiconductor as the result of its modification by imperfections and impurities in the crystal.

The induced birefringence in isotropic gases that results when the gases are placed in strong fields.

The term gradient-index profile refers to a specific type of refractive index distribution within an optical material. In...

The optical power loss caused by a space between axially aligned fibers.

A critical image parameter in applications where object position may change dynamically relative to the imager; this is a...

A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical...

The electric arc that is a particular discharge between two electrodes in a gas or vapor which is characterized by high...

A type of photographic film, often used in microfilming, that is processed by heat treatment, needing no liquid application.

A device that uses four electrodes set in an alternating positive-negative polarity series to focus the beams of charged...

The process by which a surface is made to conform accurately to a given curvature.

A microscope that has been modified to permit the quantitative analysis of dust samples.

A photon-counting instrument for use in both space-borne and ground-based photometric and spectroscopic instrumentation....

A type of liquid-crystal display in which each display element contains an active component, such as a thin-film transistor,...

Category inclusive of all radiation that is incited electronically, except laser radiation, as a function of the application...

The communications network between nodes of a data transmission system.

Fluence is a term used in various scientific and technical disciplines to describe the amount of something per unit area....

Magnification that is above the level of maximum useful magnification and does not contribute useful resolving power. In a...

An adhesive used to hold optical components in their mounts. It may be a thermoplastic or chemical-hardening substance.

The recorded interference pattern formed by the interference of two sound beams.

Autofluorescence refers to the natural emission of fluorescence exhibited by certain biological structures or molecules when...

A statistical means of characterizing the failure of a fiber or device as related to strain or time. Results are plotted on...

A state in which the human eye has very little or no power of accommodation. A common and normal condition in the eyes of...

A device used to transmit and receive images that have been converted to electrical signals over regular telephone lines; it...

A support for optical parts comprising a solid bed that permits precise longitudinal movement of one component relative to...

A crystal having the axes of its grains aligned so that they have directional magnetic characteristics.

The span of frequencies within which a single channel of broadcast television must fall; in the US, it is 6 MHz.

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a precision optics polishing technique used for shaping and finishing optical surfaces...

Quantum confinement refers to the phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the motion of charge carriers, such as electrons or...

A photovoltaic device that consists of multiple p-n junctions to produce a greater efficiency when in use than that of...

A device composed of dissimilar metals that, when welded together, develop a small voltage dependent upon the relative...

A series of solar cells arranged to collect solar radiation and to generate a given amount of electrical energy.

The allowable departure from the given figure or geometrical form. It may be described in terms of fringes or wavelengths.

The conductivity increase exhibited by some nonmetallic materials, resulting from the free carriers generated when photon...

An optical interference coating, vacuum-deposited on a circular substrate, whose transmission characteristics may be varied...

A lens having one or more toric surfaces. A toric surface is one having a maximum power in one meridian and a minimum power...

A laser device intended for crushing urinary tract stones so they can be flushed from the body. Light is introduced via...

The process whereby the number of atoms or atomic systems in a set of energy levels is changed by the absorption of light...

A piezoelectric transducer made of a thin strip of piezoelectric material bonded to a strip of metal.

A sensor generally used for infrared imaging. It consists of two chambers separated by a thin, blackened membrane. An...

Decibels referenced to one milliwatt; often used to specify power ratings for semiconductor diode lasers.

A laser device used to establish a location or target usually for detection by an impact source e.g. missiles and guided...

An imaging process, similar to specific Doppler mapping radar techniques, that utilizes a laser, an optical imaging system,...

High-modulus elastic fibers that exhibit the following differences from conventional elastic fibers: Increasing temperature...

A wireless stereo imaging device used in conjunction with a monitor to produce a virtual interactive environment. Liquid...

Device in which contact ionization of atomic particles and thermionic electron emission are used to produce magnetically...

The parallel resistance and capacitance appearing between the active guard ring junctions in a silicon photodiode.

Luminescence that arises from friction and that usually occurs in crystalline materials.

The use of a microscope in photographing objects. A device for photomicrography includes a light source, microscope and...

A wide-field multiobject spectroscopy system used in astronomy, in which a bundle of low-loss optical fibers positioned on...

A fiber optic connector or splice that mates two multifiber cables, optically aligning all of the individual fibers...

In astronomy, the relative brightness of a celestial body. Originally a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 represented the brightest...

With respect to photography, the change in the density-exposure relations, for small details of the photographic image, that...

A thermistor that uses a semiconductor that is sensitive to infrared radiation to measure the radiation's intensity.

A device that acquires a signal and then stores it for a specified period of time before processing, and used, for example,...

A mechanical fixture, generally a rigid tube, used to confine the stripped end of a fiber or a fiber bundle.

In optical fiber, sharp but microscopic curvatures that create local axial displacements of a few microns and spatial...

The unit of the dose of any radiation that produces the same biological effect as one roentgen of x-ray.

Infrared optics refer to optical components and systems designed to manipulate and control infrared (IR) light, which lies...

A molded lens is an optical lens manufactured using a molding process, typically involving the shaping of a material, such...

A CMOS image sensor, short for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, is a type of semiconductor device used...

An endoscope is a medical device used for visualizing and examining the interior of hollow organs, body cavities, or...

The organ of vision or light sensitivity.

The capacity of a chiral substance such as a crystal or molecule to rotate the plane of polarized light that is transmitted...

A process used in pyrometry and photothermometry to create a photographic record of a surface's temperature gradients....

The ability of particular pure liquids to doubly refract when influenced by a magnetic field with a direction that is...

A condition in which the solid inclusions within a glass blank are very numerous, such as 25 or more to the square inch.

Focal, nodal or principal points of a lens. If the respective distances of the object and image are measured from the...

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by supplying electrical energy to the electron beam...

The light flash, produced in flash photolysis, that is triggered within a second discharge tube by the third electrode. It...

Light striking a surface at an angle almost perpendicular to the normal.

Pennwalt's trade name for polyvinylidene fluoride, a material used in the jacket of fiber optic cables where low smoke...

Powder used to produce a smooth optical surface through abrasive polishing. Compounds may produce a surface finish specified...

An optical test table made up of two outer layers or "skins'' bonded to either side of a honeycomblike core, usually of...

The process of binding or attaching larger metal sheets by laser welding. The effect is generated by higher power densities...

To control, by magnifying or reducing, the size of a televised image, either electronically or optically.

A discharge lamp filled with deuterium to produce high-intensity ultraviolet radiation for use in spectroscopic analysis.

A type of fiber optic cable that emits light from its sides along its length.

Pairs of color stimuli that exhibit metamerism as described by colorimetry. Also known as metameters.

Laboratory experiments that focus on demonstrating new capabilities of a certain technology or device, usually without...

An optical fiber in which the core is of uniform refractive index.

A method in optical character recognition in which a mobile light beam scans the outlines of characters for subsequent...

A lens having an extremely high aperture and used in the recording of x-ray fluorescent screen images. It often is specially...

A lamp that uses the transmission of an electric current through a gas or vapor to produce illumination. Neon, mercury and...

An automatic camera that can record reduced images of documents at a rate of up to 30,000 documents per hour by having the...

Any organic substance, that when dissolved in appropriate liquid based solvents will absorb and emit electromagnetic...

A crystalline substance in which all planes are parallel, or approximately parallel.

A device designed to measure the amplitude and frequency of the elements in a complex waveform.

A technique developed by British Telecom in which the viscous drag of air is used to install optical fibers in narrow...

A coil used to focus an electron beam by the generation of a magnetic field parallel to the beam.

An otoscope is a medical device used by healthcare professionals, particularly ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists,...

A device that enables visual tracing of a fiber optic cable to check for breaks and defects by coupling visible light into...

A system in which a supplied signal causes the deflection of the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube, thus forming a visible...

A process of isolation of various atom vapor ions by means of tuning a laser source. For example, laser enrichment is...

A sealed, hard, magnetic disc drive used for the storage of data in a computer system.

See thermoelectric cooling.

The application of reversible writing with a laser beam on particular storage materials. In one method, an amorphous film is...

A special evacuated camera equipped with means for holding a specimen and bombarding it with a sharply focused beam of...

A nonabsorbing, multireflecting device, similar in design to the Fabry-Perot interferometer, that serves as a multilayer,...

A rapid roughing process for the quick removal of glass, the first step in manufacture of a curved lens surface. It is...

A specific type of hologram that will transmit a pure plane wave when the hologram is illuminated by the type of wave it is...

Any optical device that utilizes diffraction in an image-forming capability. Familiar diffractive lenses are zone plates,...

The term applied to the geometrical structure of radiometry or of the propagation of any quantity that is conversed and that...

A thin-film device containing miniature optical components connected via optical waveguides on a transparent dielectric...

A grating beamsplitter is an optical device that utilizes the principles of diffraction to split a beam of light into...

The unwanted and unpredictable fluctuations that distort a received signal and hence tend to obscure the desired message....

The method for measuring the index profile of an optical fiber by preparing a thin sample that has its faces perpendicular...

Reactive evaporation refers to a process in thin-film deposition where a material is deposited onto a substrate through...

An approach to optical character recognition based on matching the input character against a set of stored prototypes.

A chemical used in the developing of positive photographs that incites oxidation and thereby dissolves the negative silver...

A device used to scan images or information on photographic film for the subsequent relay of information.

A mode in an optical waveguide whose fields are transversely oscillatory everywhere external to the waveguide. It exists...

A platform mount used to hold sensitive optical instruments immobile.

The higher throughput obtained with an FTIR device compared with traditional spectrometers that need slits to achieve...

Atmospheric aberration caused by the Earth's rotation; the degree varies from 0 at the poles to a maximum of 0.31 s of arc...

Agents used for testing light sources and natural daylight with visual and instrumental assessment using a set of white...

Color sensitivity extended to cover the entire visible spectrum out to the red.

A device for measuring diffraction grating efficiency at any angle of incidence, consisting of a reflectometer wherein the...

For light incident on a plane boundary between two regions having different refractive indices, the angle of incidence at...

Ellipsometry is an optical technique used to characterize the properties of thin films and surfaces. It is based on the...

Characterizes an Earth-orbiting satellite whose orbit plane is near polar and positioned at an altitude that allows it to...

A semiconductor device with the property of conducting current more easily in one direction than the other. It has two...

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each...

Carrier injection refers to the process of introducing charge carriers (either electrons or holes) into a semiconductor...

Standard maintained by the International Commission on Radiological Units as a unit of radioactivity defined as the quantity...

A technique for measuring the concentration of any gases. Identical infrared beams are alternately chopped, one passing...

An astronomical scanning technique for capturing images of stars without moving the sensor. To perform a drift scan, a CCD...

An optical device that produces a line image lying along the axis from a point source of light; therefore, it has no...

Spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) is a technique that extends traditional Raman spectroscopy by incorporating...

A retroreflector is an optical device or structure that reflects incident light or electromagnetic waves back to their...

The angle formed between a refracted ray and the normal to the surface. This angle lies in a common plane with the angle of...

A femtosecond laser is a type of laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of femtoseconds,...

Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) is a semiconductor alloy composed of gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), and phosphorus (P). It...

The resulting contraction or expansion of a piezoelectric crystal along an electric axis when the crystal is under the...

The photographic recording of objects or events in a manner that allows quantitative information to be derived from the...

A wave in the electromagnetic spectrum that has both electrical and magnetic field vectors in the direction of propagation.

Ultrasonic refers to sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing, typically above...

A passive infrared system that uses two line-of-sight telescopes to generate both narrow and wide field-of-view images of...

The transmission of a color photograph by separating the colors into varying intensities of red, blue and green, and then...

The creation of free electrons within a solid by the absorption of a sufficient amount of photons. The effect produces an...

The use of the photographic process to produce precision copies of an original image that are many times smaller in size....

Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain...

Histochemical staining is a laboratory technique used in biology and medicine to visualize specific chemical components...

Intravital microscopy is an imaging technique used to visualize biological processes within living organisms, typically in...

Cemented prisms of differing refractive indices which refract incident light and, due to differing refractive indices, will...

A telescope objective with excellent spherochromatic correction, consisting of a meniscus crown and a meniscus flint, both...

Optical fiber capable of operating at both a shorter and a longer wavelength.

A CCD image sensor, or charge-coupled device image sensor, is a type of electronic device used to convert optical images...

A form of dispersing prism, often used in monochromators, that consists of a common right-angle prism with a 30°...

The state of a carrier signal that corresponds to maximum picture brightness in a television system.

In vivo is a Latin term that translates to "within the living." In scientific contexts, particularly in biology and...

Composed of one color; having only one wavelength of radiation.

A set of three colored lights which, when mixed, give the sensation of white light. The set used in color television, for...

In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such...

Biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their physiological or behavioral characteristics....

A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue,...

The ratio of the size of the image of an object to that of the object. The ratio of the linear size of the image to that of...

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) refers to a set of safety features and technologies designed to assist drivers in...

A method of spectral analysis in which some property of the sample is varied and the corresponding change is measured. The...

Fluorescence is a type of luminescence, which is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other...

The photographic recording of the heat radiation emitted from various points on the object as corresponding density...

A mirror coated to reflect cold (white) light while transmitting hot (infrared) energy.

The darkening of the laser facet of a semiconductor laser diode. It can be prevented by placing the component in a...

Corrected for distortion.

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a mechanism describing the transfer of energy between two closely spaced...

1. An instrument used to measure the opacity or density of dyes, pigments or dispersed particles that form an image in or on...

A camera designed to record astronomical objects (e.g., stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies) and their spectra.

Also called Geiger-Müller counter. An instrument designed to detect and measure radioactivity through the use of a...

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that involves the use of artificial neural networks to model and solve complex...

The distance between pupil centers in a two-pupil system, measured perpendicularly to the optic axis.

Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is a technique used in photon counting applications, particularly in the...

A tool of cast iron or another suitable medium used with a slurry of silicon carbide, aluminum oxide or emery for grinding...

In optical character recognition systems, the identification of a character facilitated by means of known factors governing...

A method of scanning in which a frame transfer device produces a continuous video image of a moving object by means of a...

In a visual optical system, the axial distance from the last mechanical surface of the eyepiece to the exit pupil.

The slope of the curve when output is plotted against input for quantum efficiency in a device.

An instrument that uses a photoelectric system to determine the size and volume of dust particles in a given unit of air.

Unlike the thermocouple or bolometer, the pyroelectric infrared detector is a current source with an output proportional to...

An oscillator that uses a piezoelectric crystal to control its frequency.

Combining light beams, usually of unlike frequencies, to form a single beam with a frequency that is equal to the frequency...

A material property that is the inverse of its resistance to the flow of electricity.

In optics, a shape often given to the leading edge of a projectile. In any side view it appears as a pointed arc, while any...

Used in computer design for optical systems with common parts and different applications.

A lens with a surface that is a cone instead of the usual sphere.

A camera used to reduce originals onto film for easy storage. There are two basic types: one in which the film is fixed...

The point on an elliptical orbit about the Earth that is the farthest distance from the Earth.

A form of high-power microscope objective.

A lens that has one convex surface and the other concave.

A polygonal mirror, also known as a multifaceted mirror or facet mirror, is a type of optical component used in various...

The minimum energy required to induce atomic and molecular separation or displacement due to incident intense laser...

In television, the period during which the electron beam is cut off while the raster returns from the right-hand side of the...

An erasable data recording and storage medium that uses a laser to heat the crystalline surface of the disc to a certain...

A layer of material applied to a coated surface to protect it from physical or chemical action.

Change of sensitivity of the eye leading to changed color perception.

Microscopic investigation of two-dimensional areas of a three-dimensional object that can be quantitatively evaluated by...

A kinescope used to survey the details of television video transmission.

The methods and techniques used to obtain medical photographs of the human eye. To photograph the exterior of the eye,...

An image that is reversed contour or inside-out.

A fiber splice accomplished by fixtures or materials, rather than by thermal fusion. Index matching material may be applied...

A distributed feedback laser (DFB laser) is a type of semiconductor laser diode designed to emit coherent, narrow-bandwidth...

A wedge-shaped piece of quartz typically found in a polarimeter to monitor and rotate the plane of polarization of plane...

A band of light that appears along the outer edge of a transparent material under microscopic investigation and that moves...

The transition boundary between P-type and N-type materials in a semiconductor.

The image of a point source that appears as a circle of finite diameter because of defocusing or the aberrations inherent in...

The use of narrow bandpass filters and special photographic emulsions to discern features of a surface that would not be...

Examination of the processes whereby heat energy is converted into other forms of energy.

The photographic recordformed in macrophotography in which the size of the small nearby object at theimage plane is the same...

Indium phosphide (InP) is a compound semiconductor material composed of indium (In) and phosphorus (P). It belongs to the...

The pattern of microwave field intensity that can be obtained by detecting the minute expansion of a microwave absorber slab...

The potential difference between two areas of a semiconductor when one is exposed to light.

A technique for detecting free radicals by their electronic spectra. The material to be studied is placed in a...

Also cellulose acetate film. The emulsion layer applied to the substrate of a photographic surface. The emulsion layer is...

Diffuse light emitted by the atmosphere due to the excitation of particles of atmospheric gas. These excited particles...

Quantum sensing refers to a class of sensing technologies that leverage principles from quantum mechanics to enhance the...

The approximately concentric waves that form on a surface that has been polished without an oscillation of the polishing lap.

A crystal having identical lattice points.

Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication,...

Any object that emits radiation of a wavelength lying between about 0.75 to 1000 µm. A calibrated secondary source...

Trade name for a type of borosilicate glass manufactured by Corning Glass Works, noted for its low coefficient of thermal...

Irradiation of a cylindrical crystal with an x-ray beam resulting in Bragg diffraction that produces a slightly enlarged...

A method of storing digital data using techniques that consume less memory space than basic methods do. See differential...

Optic surface cleaning liquid that may be applied to glass, crystal, dielectric and metal surfaces; however, may not be...

Plot of spectral luminous efficiency vs. wavelength.

Fiber that emits luminescent radiation excited by ultraviolet, x-ray or high-energy particles.

Sets of lenses (positive, negative and cylindrical) usually mounted in circular rims suitable for slipping into trial...

A telemicroscope in which a negative eyepiece is used to produce erect images.

the photography of very close, and typically small objects with a magnification of approximately 1:1

In the field of optics and imaging, a mesoscope refers to an optical instrument that is designed to observe and capture...

A polishing machine in which the rouge slurry is contained in a bowl and is constantly diverted mechanically so that it...

A photon sieve is an optical device used in the field of optics and imaging. It's designed to focus and shape light,...

A term applied to rays that possess the same focal point, which may be infinity, thereby meaning that the rays are parallel.

An optical fiber in which ions of a rare-earth element, such as neodymium, erbium or holmium, have been incorporated into...

A small optical polishing machine intended for polishing the surface of a metal specimen before etching for examination...

The angle subtended by two points or lines that are just far enough apart to be distinguished as separate. The ability of an...

The inductance of a closed circuit in which an electromotive force of one volt is produced when the electric current in the...

The use of a short-duration electron beam to record high-speed events that occur in microscopic objects made of materials...

An optical compensator similar to the Babinet compensator, but which produces a phase-change consistent throughout its...

Also termed eye distance. The distance between the vertex of the last optical surface of a visual optical system and the...

1. Lines of the same color. 2. A term used in photoelastic stress analysis to refer to the interference fringes produced in...

The ratio of the intensities of two specified spectral lines of a source having vastly different excitation energies. This...

Optical glass that possesses a refractive index equal to or less than 1.5, and an Abbe number that ranges from 62 to about...

The collection and analysis of data relevant to monitoring the rate and quality of industrial production, either...

A study of the energies and wavelengths of radiation emitted by atoms and molecules when particular physical conditions are...

In chemistry, a halide refers to a chemical compound containing one or more halogen atoms bonded to another element. The...

A mass-relieving method whereby material is removed through the sides of a reflector in a direction parallel to the surface....

A phototube that functions within a vacuum and thus eliminates the effects of gaseous ionization on its electrical...

With respect to color photography, the measurement, at a given wavelength, of the way the color film modulates the radiant...

An optical illusion in which distant objects are lighter in tone and less distinct in outline than those closer to the...

In an optical system having astigmatism, the distance between the tangential and sagittal image planes.

A liquid, usually of a specific refractive index and dispersion, serving as an interface between two solids to form a...

A filter, used in photography, that absorbs the ultraviolet and extreme blue violet radiation scattered by atmospheric haze.

The use of a surgical laser instead of sutures or staples to close a wound or rejoin severed blood vessels.

An astronomical telescope is a type of optical instrument designed to gather and magnify light from distant celestial...

The photographic recording of the distribution and location of radioactive substances found in a specimen. The record formed...

Hypothetical observer having standard color vision as described by standard color-matching properties.

The light wavelength for which the direction of reflectance from the groove face is identical to the angle of diffraction...

A characteristic of optical fiber used to calculate the fiber's ability to maintain polarization. The beat length describes...

A technique for observing the decay of light emissions from sources following their pulsed excitations, based on recording...

Uniform measure of time based on dynamics law and calculated according to planetary orbital paths; specifically, Earth's...

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of...

A function of the intensity distribution in an image aberrated by a quadratic curvature wavefront distortion.

A measuring device that uses a light-sensitive cell or detector to determine the amount of light transmitted by a substance.

A two-lens arrangement intended to image light into a microscope slide sample. The primary aberrations present are red and...

Magneto-optics refers to the study and manipulation of the interaction between magnetic fields and light (electromagnetic...

1. A framelike structure that serves to restrict the viewing area of the screen when placed before a television picture...

A term used to describe a photograph, film or television picture where the values for black and white areas are at or near...

Also known as Fresnel reflection. That portion of the incident radiation that is reflected from the surface of a refractive...

A double meniscus system in which two achromatized meniscus lenses are arranged symmetrically on either side of the aperture...

In avalanche photodiodes, the point at which an increase in the reverse bias voltage causes the current gain to approach...

A fiber optic component or system designed in such a way that it can be operated by people without specialized knowledge of...

A group of energy levels to which ions in the ground state are initially excited when pumping radiation is applied to a...

The base used to hold an astronomical telescope. It may be either altazimuth, with horizontal and vertical axes of rotation,...

Nanoparticle photonic resonator absorption microscopy is a microscopy technique that combines the principles of photonic...

The sensitivity of a photographic emulsion when exposed to light, provided that the film is developed through a standard...

In an optical fiber or waveguide communications system, an optoelectronic device or module that receives an optical signal,...

See charge-coupled device; charge-injection device.

The region of a ferroelectric crystal where spontaneous polarization is uniformly directed.

A transistor that uses an electro-luminescent source, a transparent base and a photoelectric collector.

The component of a microscope on which the sample or slide to be examined is placed. Depending on the design of the...

A camera that uses multiple exposures to record the trajectory of an ordnance from a ground-level position.

Pictorial information processing in which the processed picture shows a family of equidensity lines or bands coded with...

The fiber optic connector standard for Nippon Telephone & Telegraph (NTT) installations, developed with Nippon Electric...

Decrease in cosmic ray activity that is observed approximately 24 hours after a solar flare, attributed to a shielding...

Heat measurement method in which the sample is made part of the interferometer and the temperature increase is determined by...

The use of a specialized optical microscope designed to provide a more three-dimensional view of a sample. Stereomicroscopy...

A figure of merit corresponding to the amount of light seen by a viewer through binoculars. A higher number indicates a...

In field-sequential color television, the rotating tricolor disc placed between the subject and the lens, or between the...

A phenomenon in which high optical power, encountering an imperfection in an optical fiber, destroys the fiber's core and...

The collection and detection of x-rays by virtue of their ionizing properties. The ionization may be perceived directly by a...

1. The anode or anticathode of an x-ray tube that emits x-rays when bombarded by electrons. 2. The screen in a television...

A positively charged particle emitted from the nucleus of an unstable isotope, characterized by two protons and two...

Observed phenomenon of a small developed image with higher density than a larger image because of variation in photographic...

A null optic in the form of a concave spherical mirror; used for the test and evaluation of a hyperboloidal aspheric surface.

In a liquid crystal system, the director refers to the local symmetry axis around which the long range order of the liquid...

The study of the transmission of radiant energy through crystals, especially anisotropic crystals, and their effects on...

A blank whose basic surface curves are attained by heating and forming a given weight of raw glass; a rough glass blank...

The restricting aperture located at the front of the lens. It is usually defined as the maximum diameter of the entrance...

Operation in which the minimum detectable signal is set because of variations in the average signal current; e.g., quantum...

Measures the absorption or sample transmittance over a range of specified wavelengths. Sample may be placed within the...

Refers to the voltage and current necessary for the operation of circuit devices.

A transistor designed to respond to either light or electrical signals.

An X-Y electrically addressable series of arrays with individual electron emitters bombarding a phosphor-coated transparent...

A computer-generated, phase-and-amplitude, off-axis hologram made by a multi-exposure technique that uses three computer...

The real numerical aperture (NA) of a fiber when the computed NA is not valid because of change in the glass indices during...

The coupling of two circuits by the use of a light pipe through which photons are transmitted.

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of...

A method used in surface quality testing for accurate positioning and rotation of metal spheres about an axis or fixed point...

A statistical method of dealing with a series of values where each value is squared, the mean of these squares is...

A lens that is implanted within the eye to replace the eye lens, which has been removed because of cataract or other defect.

A cathode-ray tube in which secondary emission electrons form a display of high intensity.

A system for fabricating optical fiber, consisting of a furnace that heats the materials, a polymer coating stage, a...

Scalar diffraction theory is a simplified approach used to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly...

A transparent powdered solid immersed in a liquid or plastic of similar refractive index but widely different dispersion;...

Mathematical definition for the changes that occur between potential and kinetic energy. These formulas express wave motion.

The emission of a photon by the return of an excited carrier from the conduction band to the valence band of a semiconductor...

Having a longer axis that is relatively vertical.

An interferometer spectrometer designed to measure thicknesses of thin films or layers by recording the interferogram and by...

A vacuum deposition method in which the coating material (target) is removed from the surface of the coating source...

A colorimeter using a spinning disc made of different colored sections for colorimetric analysis.

An array or mosaic of optical surfaces. May be a number of lenses closely packed to form multiple images or many parallel...

A group of related lines that represent transitions between two spectroscopic terms, each of which may be complex. Also in...

Hardware installed on fiber cable ends to provide cable attachment to a transmitter, receiver or other cable. Usually a...

Photoconductivity that may be extended as far as the microwave region because of the absorption of photons by electrons.

A three-terminal semiconductor having only one PN junction and a stable, open-circuit, negative-resistance property.

A single long gate electrode that transfers the line of charge packets to the transport shift register in a charge-coupled...

Participates in a reaction only in the presence of light and radiant energy. Besides 3D printing, photoreactive agents also...

A holographic plate coated by photopolymeric mixtures that are composed of one or more monomers and a photoredox catalyst...

Volumetric imaging refers to the capture, visualization, and analysis of three-dimensional (3D) information from a volume of...

A chemical substance that exhibits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet radiation, x-rays or an electron beam. The...

A camera designed to record at rates exceeding 50 fps. For frame rates up to about 500 fps, an ordinary pull-down mechanism...

A crystalline-quartz plate designed according to specifications but having its two major faces parallel.

A terahertz spectrometer is a scientific instrument used to measure and analyze the properties of materials in the terahertz...

A transparent lead-lanthanum zirconate titanate ceramic with optical qualities that can be controlled by applying voltages...

A telescope in which a mask occults the solar disk, generating an artificial eclipse and allowing observation and recording...

A lenticular screen having the lenticules tipped about 20° to compensate for off-normal projection.

In an optical system, noise created by mode-dependent optical losses and variations in the distribution of radiant power...

Conventional coordinates for optical system analysis, the X-axis being the horizontal, the Y-axis the vertical and the...

Measures by heterodyning interferometry the local slope of a vibrating sample. The method allows the reconstruction of a...

The method by which Thomas Young in 1802 disproved Newton's corpuscular theory of light by the formation of interference...

A plastic used in molded optical components. Styrene elements can be combined with acrylic elements to produce achromatic...

A light-tight box that receives light from an object or scene and focuses it to form an image on a light-sensitive material...

Also known as HCS, an analytical method designed to collect statistically relevant amounts of quantitative data on many...

One or more optical elements – typically cemented together - in an optical system that are treated as a single group;...

The angle between the most divergent rays that can pass through the lens to form an image. In a birefringent crystal light...

The spectroscopic study of radiation emitted by the process of fluorescence.

In computer graphics, a character generator that produces alphabetical and numerical characters with some punctuation and...

A general term referring to the situation in which an image is not a true-to-scale reproduction of an object. The term also...

A single-particle scattering technique in which an incident laser beam is tightly focused by means of lenses to yield a...

Having human characteristics or behavior.

In an interference pattern, that point where there is no difference between the optical paths of the interfacing wavefronts.

A still camera with a shutter capable of opening for a time as short as a fraction of a microsecond. An electronically...

A laser-induced scar on experimental bare glass surfaces usually attributable to threshold damage and indicative of isolated...

A microcomb, short for microresonator frequency comb, is a novel photonic device that generates a precise series of evenly...

An image-enhancement technique in which each pixel is subjected to a mathematical operation that groups it with its nearest...

A device that accumulates and stores electrical energy to introduce capacitance into a circuit. Basically, it is composed of...

A system that uses infrared detectors and related instrumentation to determine when abnormal amounts of infrared radiation,...

Also called sine wave response and contrast transfer function. The modulation transfer function is the ratio of the...

The moving spot of light emitted by a source, generally a cathode-ray tube, to illuminate specific points of an area...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It...

A source of energy that produces needed excitation for population inversion in laser operation. The excitation source that...

Polymers are large molecules composed of repeating structural units called monomers. These monomers are chemically bonded...

The hardware for reading (and writing in devices so equipped) an optical mass data storage disk.

A device in which the functions of optical detector and emitter are combined.

An intensity distribution (intensity as a function of radial distance from the beam center) which is given by the Gaussian...

Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors...

A specific type of filter designed to reduce the amount of light scattered by reflections from the edges of optical...

A type of glass that includes phosphorus pentoxide and that, unlike silica-based glass, is resistant to hydrofluoric acid.

An optical wedge of very small angles that admits light while sealing out moisture and dirt and that may be rotated to...

A lens that is symmetrical and designed to work between 1:1 and about 4:1. It covers a field of about ±20° at f/8...

When uncontrolled laser energy leaks from a laser cavity prematurely, it causes serious damage to optical components and...

Two simple meniscus lenses arranged symmetrically on either side of the aperture stop, providing reduced coma, lateral color...

Describing a prism, or the effects produced by prisms.

The intermolecular attraction between two surfaces, as between a substrate and a coating; it is an important factor in the...

Popular process for silicon and polycrystalline production that consists of an alteration of the original state of a...

Deep ultraviolet (DUV or deep-UV) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet light with shorter wavelengths than those in the...

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that belongs to the powder bed...

A type of computer in which the electronic circuits, which process data serially, are replaced by photonic circuits capable...

The temperature of a complete radiator that has a total radiant emittance identical to that of an unknown resource.

The optical Fourier transform is a mathematical operation applied to optical signals that involves transforming a spatial...

A filter with a transmission that is high for a particular band of frequencies, but that falls to low values above and below...

An optical crystal that possesses a strong nonlinear dielectric response function to optical radiation. A material with a...

A two-sided mirror suspended by a pendulum mechanism. An autocollimator set normal to such a mirror surface will, by...

A reticle carrying patterns of various forms that can be rotated in an optical beam to cause variations in the intensity of...

The product of the actual base or baseline of a rangefinder or heightfinder, and the power or magnification of the...

This term literally means "to lag behind.'' It is quite often used to describe the residual effect that remains after...

A precision lens designed to convert the plane wavefront output of an interferometer to a spherical wavefront for the...

The phenomenon whereby certain crystals exhibit spontaneous electric polarization. It is analogous with ferromagnetism.

An optical fiber's absorption of electromagnetic waves due to hydroxyl ions remaining after contact with water.

A casting consisting of an optical material molded into the desired geometry for grinding, polishing or, in the case of...

Describing a laser in which the gas is permanently sealed within the tube.

A piezoelectric translator that moves up and down a spindle like a caterpillar. It clamps itself at one end, expands, clamps...

A light beam whose electric vectors all vibrate in a single fixed plane.

The unusual and anisotropic diamagnetic quality observed in particular crystals such as those composed of bismuth.

In atmospheric optics, the almost total blocking of light transmission in the atmosphere due to the scattering and...

Any of the photoelectric and thermal detectors, spectrographs and monochromators, thermographs, scanners, amplifier tubes,...

A feature of some imaging devices, such as digital cameras, that allows them to compensate for different lighting conditions...

A capacitor that uses glass as its dielectric material.

In optics, the term denoting the lack of a fixed phase relationship between two waves. If two incoherent waves are...

A laser radar application in which a sequence of direct measurements of target position is fed into a tracking filter to...

A method for characterizing a fiber wherein an optical pulse is transmitted through the fiber, and the resulting light...

Backscatter refers to the phenomenon in which radiation or waves are scattered backward, opposite to the direction of the...

Referred to as SWCNTs, these cylindrical nanostructures composed of a folded sheet of graphene can be used as near-infrared...

A parabolic, elliptical, hyperbolic or circular section created when a solid cone is intersected by a plane.

A type of quarter-wave retarder in the form of a glass rhomb; light entering the retarder undergoes two total internal...

A sound wave that travels through a piezoelectric material.

Microscopy technique to convert the phase structure of the wave transmitted or reflected by the specimen into a...

A double-plate device used to transmit polarized light and form interference fringes of the light, thus indicating its...

A Darlington current amplifier consisting of two separate transistors, of which a phototransistor is the input device.

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light...

1. A method of photographing distant objects with a lens of long focal length. 2. The reproduction of photographs over a...

The process whereby pitch is broken and the lenses or blanks are removed from the block.

A semiconductor platelet laser that emits a coherent image by means of plane optical pumping over the platelet surface, and...

Laser texturing is a manufacturing process that involves using a laser beam to selectively modify the surface of a material,...

A method of fabricating a graded-index optical waveguide by means of an ion exchange process.

A laser having a Q-switching method that allows separate parallel volumes of the lasing material to act independently of...

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is a spectroscopic technique that involves using a laser to excite molecules or atoms,...

A device that combines the functions of encoder and decoder.

A filter that transmits a single spectral line emitted by a line source.

Photoelastic equipment and supplies refer to instruments and materials used in photoelasticity, a technique used to analyze...

Relative to a light source, the frequency at which the source appears to fluctuate in light intensity half the time and...

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is an advanced optical imaging technique used in microscopy to enhance the...

The smallest linear diameter to which a laser or other beam of radiant energy is capable of being focused, depending on the...

A device that measures the back focal length or vertex power of a lens.

An input device for a computer that detects and reads the data, in the form of punched holes in cards, by light that is...

A range of wavelengths within which radiation transmitted through the atmosphere suffers relatively little absorption by...

Derivative of the half-tone screen process involving the fabrication of a binary pulse-width modulated copy of the...

Optical fiber channel characterization scheme based on three assumptions; the discrete mode spectrum can be replaced by a...

A visual system including a tiny television tube and imaging optics, all contained in a helmet to be worn by pilots in...

imaging system which clearly shows the IR signals in the field of view as well as ambient environment

1. In optics, the bending of rays away from each other. 2. In lasers, the spreading of a laser beam with increased distance...

A standard source of high-charge-state ions for accelerators that has an external magnetic field oriented perpendicularly to...

The formation of a block by attaching optical elements to a plate with a ring of pitch or other thermoplastic material.

The shortest wavelengths of the infrared region, nominally 0.75 to 3 µm.

In optics, the changing of the relative curves of a lens without changing its refractive value.

The product of Avogadro's constant and the electrical charge of an electron; thus, the electrical charge carried by 1 gmol...

The region of the electromagnetic spectrum from 320 to 400 nm.

Particle acceleration refers to the process by which charged particles, such as electrons or protons, gain kinetic energy...

A type of distortion in which the magnification varies in different orientations, the directions of maximum and minimum...

An optical resonator in which feedback is accomplished by two parallel planes. In diode lasers, the planes are obtained by...

A photomicrographic recording technique that utilizes dark-field illumination to render an image of an object having a...

Light perceived as achromatic, that is, without hue.

An instrument that uses electromagnetic fields to sort out the relative masses of atoms and molecules.The same way an...

Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser...

The plot that expresses a reaction rate vs. the reciprocal of absolute temperature. Often used to describe the thermal...

A microspectroscope equipped with a sensing and recording device, such as a camera, to measure the spectrum formed by...

1. A mechanism that permits the focusing of an optical system.2. A means of obtaining the sharpest image from a cathode-ray...

Polishing with a plastic pad.

An instrument that photographs the spectra of an extraterrestrial object.

An instrument with a fluid that modulates a light beam traversing it because of the effect of ultrasonic waves passing...

The picture area scanned per second.

A process, either naturally occurring or mechanically induced, whereby water is changed from its liquid state into a vapor.

Information storage on a dielectric medium that represents the data as those spots on the medium having electrostatic...

A material used as a protective layer on an aluminized or silvered mirror. It is evaporated on the mirror as a thin layer,...

The transmission of light by a condenser to observe either very small particles or very fine lines with a microscope.

An optical system that is corrected chromatically for three colors simultaneously.

See optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR).

The transfer of a part of a device's or circuit's output back to its input.

Light measurement by comparison of the luminances of unlike chromaticities.

A multimode laser characteristic defined as the ratio of power loss for the second mode to that of the lowest mode.

Abbreviation of "synchronization.'' In television, the timing signals used to drive the scanning process. Horizontal...

In an optical waveguide,- typically a multimode fiber - the distortion resulting from differential mode delay, i.e. axial...

A semiconductor laser in which the naturally occurring broad linewidth has been narrowed by incorporating the laser diode...

A grating with very coarse rulings to match the long wavelengths in the far-infrared region. In the most efficient ruling...

In fiber optic cable, containment of the fiber or fibers within an outer protective tube in which they can move to some...

A portable instrument that uses a four-sided reflecting prism or set of mirrors to create a duplicate image of an object on...

A structure consisting of a thin film of liquid crystal sandwiched between light-polarizing filters that have received a...

With respect to a television system, a pulse transmitted at the end of each field to break off the cathode-ray beam as it...

An amorphous film in which cylindrical bubbles of reverse magnetization can be formed to follow circuit paths usually made...

Any of a number of instruments that uses a flame to vaporize a solution of the chemical being analyzed so that light may be...

A system in which the electrical signal embedded within an audio input signal is converted to a modulated light pattern and...

The measured planar or solid angle of related aspects of an optical system with respect to an optical axis.

Also known as an optical diode, an optical isolator is a device that utilizes the Faraday effect to suppress or redirect...

A homogeneous optical medium or coating that transmits only in particular regions of the spectrum. It is used to change or...

Designating any instrument in which both eyes can be used to view the image to achieve a stereoscopic effect, or merely to...

A device composed of a light source and phototube used to scan a moving strip of material in photoelectric side-register...

Fine lines, wires or threads used in the focal plane of many optical instruments to point out and locate particular objects...

The scale for floating hydrometers used to measure the specific gravity of a polishing suspension. The depth of immersion is...

A device that responds to incident light but does not generate light.

An instrument in which an image of the sun is scanned by the entrance slit of a monochromator, the exit slit simultaneously...

A process and method by which manipulation and orientation of a given number of directed laser beams decreases the motion of...

A frequency comb is a precise and regular series of equally spaced spectral lines, or frequencies, that are generated with...

A semiconductor diode that exhibits change in capacitance with a change in applied voltage; used as a voltage-variable...

Digital signal processing (DSP) refers to the manipulation and analysis of signals, which are representations of physical...

The point at which infrared transmission is cut off.

An electro-optic system using, in general form, an evacuated glass envelope with a semitransparent photocathode at one end...

A device used to measure the focal length of an optical system or lens.

Used in halftone screens to change the fundamental sampled spatial frequency of the halftoned picture, as well as varying...

An instrument that measures the angle at which a prism can couple laser light into an optical waveguide; used to determine...

A phonon is a quantum of vibrational energy associated with the periodic motion of atoms or molecules in a crystalline...

Any device in which the passage of electrons through a vacuum, gas or semiconductor is the principal means of conduction.

Photographic recording that uses infrared radiation as the light source to form an image of a microscopic object and a...

The pattern, formed by a character generation cathode-ray tube system, in which the characters are made up of wave shapes...

The horizontal distance between the 90° meridian of a bifocal lens and the geometrical center of the segment.

The deflection of an electron beam by the action of an electrostatic field that has a component perpendicular to the...

The elimination of magnetic moments and decrease in magnetic susceptibility with a decrease in temperature due to the equal...

In a charge-coupled device, the detection of charge collected by the transport register rather than by the image-sensing...

The bending of x-rays by the regular layers of molecules in a crystal acting like a very small diffraction grating. The...

A lens or lens system used to transfer a real image from one point within an optical system to another, with or without...

An electric or electronic device that regulates the voltage going to a light source as a means of varying the intensity of...

A mixed-signal oscilloscope (MSO) is a type of electronic test instrument that combines the capabilities of both a...

An optical diffuser is an optical component or material designed to scatter or diffuse light that passes through it. It is...

The transformation of incident radiant energy into a photoelectric emission current.

A helium-neon (HeNe) laser is a type of gas laser that emits visible red light at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. It operates...

A measure of the time-integrated amount of flux. It has units of lumen-seconds and might be used to describe such things as...

A sensitometer having a continuously controlled monochromator to measure spectral sensitivity and contrast of photographic...

Remote sensing is a method of data collection and observation where information about objects, areas, or phenomena on...

The term half bandwidth (HBW) generally refers to the width of a spectral band or frequency range at half of its maximum...

The fraction of available output from a radiant source that is coupled and transmitted by an optical fiber.

Ultraviolet reflectance refers to the ability of a material or surface to reflect UV light. Ultraviolet light is...

Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This...

A device designed to measure radiant energy, particularly in the thermal region.

In gradient index optics, a gradient profile in which the refractive index varies along the direction of light propagation,...

A device used to measure directional reflectance, with light collection restricted to a narrow range of angles of which the...

Medical lasers are devices that produce intense beams of light with specific characteristics and properties, which are used...

The power, expressed in prism diopters, that is the linear displacement, in centimeters, produced by the prism one meter...

Concave is an adjective used to describe a surface or shape that curves inward or has a hollow or recessed appearance. In...

Protective material surrounding the cladding of an optical fiber that allows the fiber no play within it.

Machinery used to grind and finish a component, such as a lens or prism, to a desired precision. Usually such machines carry...

A vacuum tube in which a magnetic field is superimposed onto the tube's electrical field. When the two fields are aligned,...

The amount of energy required for a particular kind of atom to remove an electron to infinite distance. The ionization...

The angle at which a given mode propagates down an optical fiber.

A natural or mechanical system adversely affected by the influence of laser radiation. During laser damage the common effect...

A form of lens assembly used in a projection system to maximize efficiency and assure uniform illumination of the object...

The manual shifting bias control of a cathode-ray tube that determines both the average brightness and the contrast of a...

One of a class of crystalline substances belonging to triclinic, monoclinic and orthorhombic systems that have two optic...

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The...

The central peak (including everything interior to the first zero or dark ring) of the focal diffraction pattern of a...

A thermal-infrared camera, often referred to simply as a thermal camera, is a type of imaging device that detects infrared...

A solid with a structure that exhibits a basically symmetrical and geometrical arrangement. A crystal may already possess...

Calorimetry is a branch of science that involves the measurement of heat flow in physical or chemical processes. It...

A strong, heat-resistant glass that contains a minimum of 5 percent boric oxide.

Characteristic of a reflector that reflects light along a different line or lines than that of the incident ray.

A device used to create a light output that exceeds light input, the energy being provided by an electric field. It consists...

An instrument consisting essentially of a tube 160 mm long, with an objective lens at the distant end and an eyepiece at the...

The elimination of magnetic fields from within a material as that material makes the transition from the normal to...

A Pockels cell, also known as an electro-optic modulator, is an optical device used to control the polarization of light by...

That branch of astronomy concerned with the study of the moon's physical characteristics.

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a nondestructive analytical technique used to investigate the optical properties...

E.I. duPont's trade name for a material used in the jacket of fiber optic cables. It is flame-retardant, thermally stable...

A process that employs heat to remove polyimide plastic coatings from silica optical fibers and capillary tubing.

A hologram in which diffraction is produced by the silver image, resulting in a dimmer image than in a phase hologram, where...

A semicircular, half-wave quartz plate between the polarizer and analyzer. It often is used in forming precision settings...

A spectrum that originates from molecules and that is composed of bands which, in turn, consist of many closely spaced...

In a solid-state laser, the material (Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, ruby) in which lasing action takes place.

An acoustic wave that propagates along the surface of a solid and decays exponentially with substrate depth. Also called a...

Area scan, in the context of imaging and cameras, refers to a method of capturing an entire two-dimensional image in a...

A ray that behaves according to paraxial equations; one that lies close to and almost parallel to the optical axis.

1.) Generally, the electromagnetic spectrum within the wavelength region extending from the vacuum ultraviolet at 40 nm to...

A method of resampling in which a 16-pixel neighborhood around a given pixel from the original image is used to calculate...

The finishing of the edge of an optical element by grinding.

An instrument that measures several optical parameters, such as optical power and wavelength, with a single measurement...

The conduction of electricity in a gas as a result of the ions generated by collisions between electrons and gas molecules.

Electromagnetic radiation with frequencies between 300 GHz and 10 THz, and existing between regions of the electromagnetic...

An airspaced achromatic doublet telescope objective.

Refers to the characteristic hue of the ocean according to the presence and concentration of specific minerals or...

Any system of time measurement that is based on atomic resonances. The transition times between the hyperfine levels of...

A noncontact form of electromodulation in which modulation of the electric field is caused by photo-excited electron-hole...

The transmittance of a point on a photographic negative equal to the log to the base 10 of the reciprocal of the...

The resulting interference pattern generated from moiré deflectometry, the moiré pattern is a pattern...

One of the first lasers to find practical application. Generally, the pumping mechanism is an electric discharge, although...

A classification of particular regularities that occur in the spectra of many atoms.

In vacuum deposition, a device that removes contaminants from the vacuum chamber.

Time-lapse optical coherence tomography (OCT) refers to a medical imaging technique that captures a series of sequential OCT...

In a fiber optic guided missile, the point at which the optical fiber pays out from the bobbin on which it is wound.

The large, usually flat surface onto which an image is projected for viewing. May be reflecting or transmitting (rear...

An angstrom, symbolized by the Ångström or Å, is a unit of length used to express atomic and molecular...

Glass designed to absorb most infrared and ultraviolet radiation while transmitting most of the visible region.

A statistical analysis of facts obtained when the intensity of x-ray diffraction is calculated at different angles. In this...

Also known as OCT-A, optical coherence tomography angiography is an imaging technique that uses light waves to measure...

The electrical power used to stimulate any light source. Power supplies may be step-up or step-down transformers; rectifiers...

The combination of the organic dye in a stained specimen and the antibodies produced that is detected by exposure to light.

In a microscope, the diaphragm located between the Bertrand lens and the eyepiece, which is closed during conoscopic viewing...

A curve expressing an optical fiber's total transmitted power as a function of its launch angle at the input.

A device used to project a reference spectrum next to a spectrum to be analyzed to provide visual comparison.

Usually consists of a set of filters that attenuate specific wavelengths but transmit as much visible radiation as possible.

A photovoltaic cell usually sensitive to infrared radiation. It may have a copper base and a film of cuprous oxide. When it...

The measure used in vacuum technology to quantify the total pressure capacity of the ferrofluidic seal before it fails.

The radiation produced when a charged particle traverses a medium that has a refractive index considerably greater than...

The desensitization of the first photographic exposure after it has been subjected to high-intensity radiation.

A device that converts an analog signal, that is, a signal in the form of a continuously variable voltage or current, to a...

A tube containing mercury vapor and lined with a phosphor. When current is passed through the vapor the strong ultraviolet...

A device for extracting a portion of the optical signal from a fiber.

The binding of gas to a surface or in matter by chemical activity.

A high-speed network or subnetwork that provides a connection between servers and data storage devices.

Optical components, usually reflectors, produced using proprietary techniques that transfer the precision of a master to a...

The illumination generally used in microscopy, whereby the specimen appears dark against a light background.

An antigen is any substance that is capable of triggering an immune response in an organism. Antigens are typically proteins...

In a single-mode optical fiber, the wavelength that causes material dispersion and waveguide dispersion to cancel each...

An optical image having a brightly lit background.

The superposition of satellite or aerial images with a map in order to process and remove distortion. Uses reference points...

A telescope that corrects dispersion and spherical aberration through the use of one or more lenses, usually smaller than...

A furnace, generally electrically heated, with a control system capable of following a cam by which the temperature can be...

A variation in propagation delay caused by differences in group velocity among modes of an optical fiber. Also called...

The formula that indicates the total radiation at all wavelengths from a perfect blackbody. W Total = 5.67 x 10-12 T 4(W/cm2)

A pixel-based computer graphics system that simulates the tools of an artist.

In optics, the geometrical form of an optical surface.

1. A constituent part. It may consist of two or more parts cemented together, or with near and approximately matching...

A device designed to enlarge the image of a microscopic object by television process. It may be a flying spot scanner that...

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or...

A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to...

1. Calculated distance between two exactly opposed points on a beam at a chosen fraction of peak power (typically 1/e2). 2....

A soft, malleable, stable rare-earth element. Holmium laser systems are used in surgical procedures involving the cutting...

In morphological image processing, a series of erosions followed by the same number of dilations.

A negatively charged elementary particle. See electron.

A small erect-image telescope for use as a sighting device on a rifle. The chief requirement is a long eye relief to avoid...

Free of coma.

A compound lens so constructed that its overall length is equal to or less than its effective focal length.

A device used to compare the luminous intensities of two sources by comparing the illuminance they produce.

A photodetector in which an electrical charge is produced when incident photons change electrons within the detecting...

In imaging technology, a device that converts raster or line-scan data to pixel form for further processing.

Alphanumerical description of color according to Munsell hue, value and chroma.

The area of optics in which quantum theory is used to describe light in discrete units or "quanta" of energy known as...

The decrease in the energy of a photoelectric emission as a result of the simultaneous incidence of radiation having lower...

The process or device by which more than one signal can be sent over a single channel by using different time intervals for...

A thin layer of a substance deposited on an insulating base in a vacuum by a microelectronic process. Thin films are most...

A solid-state video detector consisting of a single row of light-sensitive semiconductor devices, used in linear-array...

The measurement of heat energy as determined from absolute zero as the zero point on the scale. Increments are identical to...

Hyperspectral imaging is an advanced imaging technique that captures and processes information from across the...

In an astigmatic grating, the image of the entrance slit located at the primary focus.

A group of lenses, or any combination of lenses, mirrors and prisms, so constructed as to refract or reflect light to...

The absorption spectrum of an element influenced by a magnetic field in the same direction as the transmitted light, which...

An infrared device used in satellites and rockets to determine a heat horizon for the Earth at altitudes (above 200 miles)...

In the spectral sense, an optical source that emits one or more spectrally narrow lines as opposed to a continuous spectrum....

A digital twin refers to a virtual representation or digital counterpart of a physical object, system, or process. This...

GigE, short for gigabit Ethernet, refers to a standard for high-speed Ethernet communication, capable of transmitting data...

Optical source intended to reduce bleeding as well as to abet wound or vessel healing through cauterization, used in eye...

In the optical field, a tube to which a lens is fastened for centering.

A spectroradiometer is a device used to measure the intensity of light at different wavelengths across the electromagnetic...

Two lenses, separated by a distance equal to the sum of their focal lengths, and retroreflecting mirror assemblies, one of...

A photovoltaic cell designed so that light travels through the front electrode and a semiconductor before it comes to the...

In the context of electronics and optics, an isolator refers to a device that allows the transmission of signals in one...

Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In...

In optics, an octave typically refers to a range of frequencies or wavelengths that spans a factor of 2. In other words,...

The lateral distance between a vertical line drawn through the geometrical center of the distance portion of a multifocal,...

The removal of a sharp edge on an optical element by grinding, to prevent accidental chipping of that edge during subsequent...

Analysis of the reflection spectrum that allows the determination of the experimental dielectric function.

A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in...

In image processing and machine vision, the process in which an initial measurement pattern or some subsequence of...

A photonic crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL) refers to a type of laser diode that emits light from its surface rather...

The naturally occurring crystalline form of silicon dioxide. It is slightly birefringent and exhibits rotary dispersion of...

A technique that uses a solid-state laser and a detector to determine an object's relative distance to the system. The laser...

A polishing material that has a quicker polishing action than rouge (ferric oxide) and that is cleaner to handle.

1. In optics, the ability of a lens system to reproduce the points, lines and surfaces in an object as separate entities in...

A wave that is polarized elliptically or circularly polarized and in which the electric field vector — observed while...

A lens used in the optical testing of an aspheric surface. It converts a spherical wavefront into one that precisely matches...

RTSP, or real-time streaming protocol, is a network control protocol designed for controlling streaming media servers. It is...

A technique for detecting and measuring atmospheric pollution, in which an oscillating mirror directs half the incoming...

1. The process of aligning the optical axes of optical systems to the reference mechanical axes or surfaces of an...

The phenomenon that makes nonlinear the mathematical expression for the electrical polarization of a medium through which...

The spectroscopic analysis of interference patterns using a monochannel spectrometer, spectrograph or multichannel...

A type of paper chromatography that produces a chromatogram that is horizontal instead of vertical.

Directional and coherent radiation pulses that result from an ensemble of coherently prepared states in an optical medium.

Law relating the illuminance (or irradiance) of a surface to the cosine of the angle, q, between the normal to the surface...

That point in the electromagnetic spectrum at which an optical system focuses the most chemically effective rays.

A technique used for noncontact inspection of semiconductor wafers. The material is illuminated by an excitation source that...

A hygroscopic powder used in the photographic process.

An optical system with object and image points at infinity. Literally, "without a focal length."

The processes in which luminous energy incident on the eye is perceived and evaluated.

The difference between any color and a reference color having equal luminance and a specified chromaticity.

A quantitative measurement of the coherence of a light source; equal to the visibility (V) of the fringes of a two-beam...

Also referred to as the width of the dark pulse. This is the time interval between the instant the particle approaches the...

The number of electrons that each pixel of a charge-coupled device can hold without overflowing and causing blooming.

A standard for fiber optic telecommunications interfaces, with a 1300-nm data link operating over single-mode fiber at data...

A continuous-wave dye laser that uses a circulation pump and nozzle to provide an optically flat stream of dye across the...

In a fiber optic communications network, a circuit that connects two switching centers and does not branch off to terminal...

In an optical system, the aperture size at which the lens gives its best overall performance.

CID, or charge injection device, camera refers to a type of imaging device that utilizes a specific kind of solid-state...

A photoreceptor material used in solar cells and in drums for laser printers and high-speed copiers because of its high...

Also referred to as differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy; Nomarski microscopy is a unique form of microscopy...

A means of testing optical fiber for macrobending losses by wrapping the fiber once at very low tension around a mandrel,...

The unit solid angle subtended at the center of a sphere by an area on its surface equivalent to the square of the radius;...

An electronic flash tube in which the flash recurs at a frequency extending to many thousands per second. A stroboscopic...

1. A prism used in some instruments to bend light 90° before it enters the objective. 2. A dispersing prism located in...

3D Laser Triangulation - A technology that allows sensors to probe the surroundings. Laser triangulation systems have an...

The process whereby a blank or disc is heated to a sufficiently high temperature to sag into a mold having a desired...

The region at the PN junction in a semiconductor radiation detector where the potential energies of the two materials create...

The generation of a grating on a flat surface by means of a series of interference fringes formed by a holographic process....

An instrument for detecting or measuring small electric currents.

A television format with enhanced vertical resolution (400 lines as compared with the standard 330) that, unlike...

Optoacoustic, or photoacoustic, refers to a phenomenon and related techniques that involve the generation of acoustic waves...

An optical channel monitor (OCM) is a device used in optical communication systems to monitor and analyze the performance of...

Common name for a variety of adhesives used for lens bonding, fiber optic splicing and other photonics applications. The...

A point cloud is a set of data points in a three-dimensional coordinate system, where each point represents a specific...

An engine in which work is performed by the expansion of a gas at high temperature; heat for the expansion is supplied...

Power modulation refers to the intentional variation of power levels in a signal, often in the context of electronic...

A statistical method of dealing with a series of values where each value is squared, the sum of these squares is calculated...

An instrument for measuring the vertical angle of an object. It usually contains an accurately made protractor, a sensitive...

A junction between semiconductors that differ in their doping level conductivities, and also in their atomic or alloy...

An optical-quality polymer used in birefringent retarders.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution,...

Also known as cathodic etching. Surface etching achieved by bombarding an evacuated surface with gas ions.

The decrease in the refractive index at the center of a fiber's core, caused by certain fabrication techniques. Also called...

The operation of a laser diode or other component prior to its use in its intended application, as a means of testing and...

A cathode-ray tube that generates symbols for use in other displays. The tube operates by scanning specific characters on...

In optics, the double refraction that is produced when stress is applied to a transparent material. Plastics, which are...

Any photographic medium that, when chemically developed, produces an exact photographic reproduction of the original.

A discharge tube filled with various gases and used as a source in spectroscopy.

An optical waveguide having a silica core and a plastic cladding.

Exhibiting the quality of dichroism.

A lamp that yields a nonluminous flame; used in the spectroscopic analysis of radiation emitted by a substance placed in the...

The use of photonic devices rather than electronic devices to make connections within and between integrated circuits.

A high-speed, narrow-field lens consisting of two achromats spaced about the aperture stop. Its uses include portrait...

Birefringence is an optical property of certain materials that causes them to exhibit different refractive indices for light...

The process of forming a polisher by pressing it with an optical surface.

The range of image distances that corresponds to the range of object distances covered by the depth of field.

The determination of distance based upon the known size of an object and the size of its image at the image plane of an...

The photographic recording of an image formed by the alteration in electrical properties of the sensitive materials and...

Referring to compound semiconductor materials combining one element that has three valence electrons with one or more that...

A fluid having three components: a carrier fluid, magnetite particles suspended by Brownian motion and a stabilizer to...

The action of a biological system responding to a single or multiple coherent particles of light produced from a laser...

The term for an image captured by a detector and from which a dark frame, bias frame and/or flat-field frame can be...

A crystal consisting of a substance that has the ability to become electrically polarized and has strong piezoelectric...

A scintillation crystal, also known simply as a scintillator, is a material that emits light when it interacts with ionizing...

The condition of the numerical aperture or beam diameter of the laser, LED, or other optical source being larger than the...

A condition in which an emergent ray is perpendicular to the normal of the emergent surface of a medium.

Automated optical inspection (AOI) is a technology used in manufacturing processes, particularly in electronics, to...

With respect to the crystal, the decrease in energy that follows the process whereby the ions, separated from each other by...

Fluorescence microscopy is a specialized optical imaging technique used in biology, chemistry, and materials science to...

A numerical representation of the rate at which a material will exhibit dimensional changes as a direct result of changes in...

A plate of glass, usually a photograph, on which there is a central spot surrounded by concentric annular zones, alternately...

An erecting prism that inverts and reverses the image. It displaces the optical axis but does not deviate it.

A calcium indicator is a molecule that is sensitive to changes in calcium ion (Ca2+) concentrations in biological systems....

A rigid medium, generally a polycarbonate substrate coated with a reflective aluminum layer, that stores information (such...

A manufacturing process used to construct substrates for large optical components. Used with IR materials, planform bonding...

In a multicrystalline material, the meeting point between crystallites.

The incident ray, the normal to the refracting surface at the point of incidence of the ray at the surface, and the...

A type of photoconductive detector in which germanium, usually doped with boron, gallium and indium, serves as a...

A rangefinder used to determine the height or altitude of aerial targets by means of optical triangulation. The device...

An image intensifier that uses electrostatics to amplify and focus the electronic image.

A device to hold and locate a workpiece as it guides, controls or limits a cutting tool.

A laser rangefinder is a device that uses laser technology to measure the distance between the device and a target. It...

Quotient of total luminous flux divided by total radiant flux; lumens per watt. (For a source, quotient of total luminous...

An early type of nonvacuum photocell consisting of a layer of copper oxide on a metallic substrate, with a thin transparent...

A photometric instrument used to measure the illumination falling on a surface. It may be photoelectric or visual.

A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the...

An echelon in which the dihedral angle between the faces of the groove is 90°.

Black and white film that is sensitive to green, blue and violet light but not to red light.

A signal-averaging device that improves signal-to-noise ratio by comparing a sampled signal with a time-delayed form of...

An instrument used to record rapidly varying currents or voltages. An oscillograph may consist of a cathode-ray tube...

The simplest lens in which all primary aberrations may be corrected. It consists of two positive crown elements on either...

A very high bandwidth communication line often used in fiber optics.

The process of producing a visible two-dimensional image of a scene that is dependent on differences in thermal or infrared...

The photographic recording of an action by taking a series of still pictures at regular intervals throughout the action.

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free...

Fiber optic cable in which the arrangement of fibers within the bundle has been made random so that output light will be...

A transmission interference microscope that produces interference patterns of a sample by using birefringent plates that...

The process of perforating a silicon or ceramic substrate with a series of tiny holes along which it will break. Nd:YAG or...

A prism resembling a Nicol prism but having faces normal to the axis and the two parts divided by a glycerine film. Also...

See gimbal mount; kinematic mount; lens mount.

A component used to modify light rays by diffraction; the HOE is produced by recording the interference pattern of two laser...

Condition in which a perpendicular surface can be discovered for every ray in a group. This condition is commonly observed...

A prism used in a photometer for the adjacent comparison of separate luminance.

That part of the science involved in the study of the theory and interpretation of spectra that uses the unique...

1. The near total absorption of plane-polarized light by a polarizer that has an axis perpendicular to the plane of...

A laser system consisting of a planar PN junction within a single crystal of gallium arsenide. The pair of parallel,...

1. In raster scan television, one of the two scans that are interlaced to make up a frame. 2. See field of view.

The constant outward flow of weakly magnetized plasma from the sun that is deflected by the magnetic field of the earth and,...

Equipment that supports microscopic live-cell imaging by managing the gas, media perfusion, temperature and other factors to...

A numerical value representing the degree of contrast in a television picture: the exponent of the power law used to...

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in...

The technique of generating ultrashort -- down to subpicosecond -- pulses by pumping a dye laser with mode-locked laser...

The emission of radiant energy produced by the passage of an electrical current through an appropriate electrolyte in which...

Luminous flux incident per unit area of a surface; luminous incidence. (The use of the term "illumination" for...

Periodic interruptions of a light beam incident on an absorbing medium that produce heat, expansion and acoustic wave...

A modulator is a device or component that modifies a carrier signal in order to encode information for transmission over a...

A method for measuring the index profile of an optical fiber by measuring the reflectance as a function of position on the...

A laser in which stimulated emission is triggered by the absorption by electrons of light from an auxiliary source such as a...

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than...

For an electromagnetic field mode varying sinusoidally with time at a given frequency, the logarithmic rate of change, with...

Optical glass containing zirconium fluoride that results in special characteristics such as improved transmission.

The process by which a vitreous or amorphous substance forms a crystal structure at a specified temperature.

A convex, concave or flat cast iron form that is used to shape a soft mold block of optical components.

A device for which the output electric field is linearly proportional to the input electric field, and no new wavelengths or...

A high-speed motion camera, also known as a high-speed camera or slow-motion camera, is a specialized imaging device...

Freeform optics refers to the design and fabrication of optical surfaces that do not follow traditional symmetric shapes,...

The phenomenon that can render an optical resonator the equivalent of a semiconductor flip-flop. A bistable device will...

The color process that is used to form positive color cine films by dye transfer or imbibition, based on the use of separate...

The dispersion attributable to the wavelength dependence of the refractive index of the material used in any optical...

A device that consists of two types of mode converters, one of which must be magnetic. It is nonreciprocal because the...

Electromagnetic energy that is capable of producing photochemical activity.

A device for obtaining very low crosstalk in a crosspoint by arranging two simple switches along different arms of a passive...

A blank having basic surface curves attained by forming heat-softened glass that is pressed in a mold.

A polishing machine with a lens mounted on a wooden stick, allowing a very wide sweep. It is used to polish hemispherical or...

A method of fabricating an optical waveguide by melting the core and clad glasses in two suitably joined concentric...

The entire range of colors a specific color model can produce, represented as a three-dimensional solid.

Photochromic refers to a property exhibited by certain materials, typically organic compounds or dyes, which undergo...

The point on a cutting line that will become the geometrical center of the cut lens.

A laser having a rare-earth chelate within a plastic host as the lasing material. The chelate laser is easily pumped and has...

A type of fiber optic sensor that responds to a change in the intensity of received light caused by the displacement or...

A set of rays through a lens originating at a common point and contained in one plane.

The photographic image of a thin specimen having a radioactive isotope that, formed through contact between the specimen and...

A dark-field microscope used to view extremely small objects. These objects are suspended in a gas or liquid in an enclosure...

A type of fatigue found in optical fibers, caused by water or another corroding agent.

Lasers based on neodymium-doped yttrium or gadolinium vanadate crystals. These include yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4),...

The light ray leaving a reflecting surface, indicating the path of light after reflection.

Having the property of color.

An impurity in a material that is capable of inducing electrical conduction in that material by transferring an electron to...

A heterochromatic photometric process using successive comparison of similar chromaticities and the calculation of relative...

With respect to television, that part of a color television circuit that combines the I, Q and Y signals, and changes them...

The photographing of objects within generally inaccessible areas using endoscopes with camera attachments.

The tendency of charge carriers to spiral about an axis in a direction identical to that of an applied magnetic field that...

The optical process, following grinding, that puts a highly finished, smooth and apparently amorphous surface on a lens or a...

Ion-beam sputtering (IBS) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used for depositing thin films onto substrates. It...

A Michelson-type interference microscope used to produce interference patterns of reflective specimens through the...

The use of light to initiate the lasing process. See optical pumping.

A field of physics that deals with light as if it truly were composed of rays diverging in various directions from the...

The wavelength at which the radiant intensity of a source is maximum.

Molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid or tube. Also called buckyballs....

E.I. duPont's trade name for a polyester film. The most practical beamsplitter for use beyond the 15-µm wavelength...

coma, fifth order aberration with on-axis focal point variation with incident off axis ray height position

Holmium lasers are a type of medical laser that utilizes holmium-doped crystals as the gain medium. The term holmium laser...

An optical instrument for forming the spectrum of a light source and recording it on a film. The dispersing medium may be a...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, single-stranded RNA molecules, typically consisting of about 19 to 24 nucleotides,...

A semiconductor material that is used as an infrared detector for light up to 5 µm in wavelength.

A large telescope mirror fabricated from several smaller sections.

An electromagnetic wave lying within the region of the frequency spectrum that is between about 1000 MHz (1 GHz) and 100,000...

Radiation that occurs perpendicular to the plane of the radiation device.

A cryogenically cooled component incorporated into the Dewar of an infrared detector assembly to maintain the sensing...

A process during which no heat enters or leaves the system.

The characteristic of displaying three colors when observed in as many separate directions.

The angle between the light input propagation vector and the optical axis of an optical fiber or fiber bundle.

A system that consists of a spectrophotometer with a photoelectric detector for measurement of radiant energy.

A profile of an optical component, usually a fiber, in which the core is of uniform refractive index and the cladding or...

A beamsplitter is an optical device for dividing a beam into two or more separate beams. A simple beamsplitter may be a very...

An electrophoretic display, often referred to as an electronic paper display or e-paper display, is a type of electronic...

An instrument designed to produce very hard x-rays by the acceleration of electrons in a varying magnetic field.

A cosmetic defect on the surface of an optical element. A dig is nearly equal in terms of its length and width. The size is...

A dielectric ceramic material used in laser capillary tubes because of its high electrical resistivity and high thermal...

An instrument consisting essentially of a photoelectric cell filtered to respond to a specified wavelength region, an...

A variable focal length lens system that retains the object in focus as one or more lenses move as a unit along its optical...

A laser skin-resurfacing method that creates microscopic thermal wounds referred to as microscopic treatment zones (MTZs),...

For each mode in an optical waveguide, the term used to describe the process by which an electromagnetic signal is distorted...

The creation of a chemical reaction in a substance when radiation is directed to it.

For an optical table, the amount of displacement that occurs when a heavy load is placed or moved on the surface. To measure...

Any lens with at least two lens elements, each of which can be used singly or in combined configurations.

Embedded vision refers to the integration of computer vision technologies into various embedded systems, devices, or...

The study of the optical properties of living tissue. Increased understanding of the behavior of light in this varied,...

Nanopositioning refers to the precise and controlled movement or manipulation of objects or components at the nanometer...

The element that resembles a lightweight metal, but when very pure, has a very high electrical resistance and is transparent...

In a microscope, the physical distance between the focal points of the objective lens and the eyepiece. The standard tube...

In spectroscopy, the false images arranged symmetrically on both sides of the true line and caused by irregularities in the...

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce...

Structural color refers to coloration in materials that is not caused by pigments or dyes but is instead a result of the...

A flat cylindrical device generally used to polish terminated ends in fiber optic connections.

The effect discovered by Faraday in 1845 whereby nonoptically active materials or substances become capable of rotating the...

Housing that resembles a small metal can for a semiconductor component, photodetector or similar device.

In the context of electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, a wafer refers to a thin, flat disk or substrate made of a...

In display technology, an expression of resolution given by the number of pixels in both the horizontal and the vertical...

In a laser, the series resistance necessary for a stable electrical discharge.

Derived from "self-focusing,'' Nippon Sheet Glass Co. (NSG) of Japan's trade name for graded-index fiber rods with parabolic...

Usually a dielectric coating on glass or plastic optics; a coating that is comparable in hardness to glass itself.

MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer...

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged...

A system of elements which rotates the optical image with respect to the optical axis by a factor of pi radians.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are remotely...

Two electrodes that shift the electron beam vertically on a cathode-ray tube screen using electrostatic deflection.

A junction between semiconductors that differ in their doping level conductivities but not in their atomic or alloy...

A measure of image quality produced by an optical system. May be specified in terms of cycles per millimeter, referencing a...

In data communications, the simultaneous operation of a circuit in both directions is known as full duplex; if only one...

A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is...

The photographic recording of a visible image formed by the impact of invisible radiation on a fluorescent screen.

Gram-positive bacteria are a group of bacteria that have a thick cell wall composed primarily of a substance called...

The departure of an optical surface from its required tolerance or figure.

A flanged or plain ring with a restricted aperture, located in an optical system at any of several points, that cuts off...

Any device that is used to sense and measure light. See exposure meter; photoelectric exposure meter; photoelectric...

The mathematical evaluation of an optical system to determine and quantify its basic optical properties and image quality...

The removal of the zero-order component of the Fourier spectrum distribution of an object with a small, opaque absorber or...

The mechanical structure that holds a number of individual lens elements.

An approximated measure of the smallest change in color temperature detectable by the human eye, defined as the reciprocal...

An optical system in which the only image-forming elements are curved-surface mirrors; e.g., a Cassegrain lens system.

A handheld, light-sensitive device that is used with a display console to directly change, measure or erase the visual...

A YAG crystal refers to a solid-state crystal made of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), which is a synthetic crystalline...

The photographic filming of the action of x-ray images recorded on a fluorescent screen by means of large lens apertures and...

Geometrical partition possible with a sphere that can be four, six, eight, 12 or 20 solid-angle wedges. Each platonic mass...

Formulaic compensation to correct laser ranging data for the effects of horizontal refractivity gradients; it requires the...

A camera mounted on an optical bench with an easel to hold the material to be copied. Magnification can be varied over a...

A tabulation of predicted positions that have been calculated for one or more celestial bodies or orbiting satellites.

A device that provides simple and reliable laser power and energy measurement. Essentially a heat flux sensor producing an...

Basically, a hydrogen atom with two alterations, positronium is the lightest atom in the universe and has an extremely light...

The vertical deflection of an image on a cathode-ray tube screen.

A light absorbing material applied to ground optical surfaces during the process of making that surface non reflective. Such...

The recording of the information contained in a modulated electron beam onto photographic or silicon resin-coated materials....

Modulator/demodulator. An electronic device that modulates and demodulates signals transmitted over communications lines.

A biomarker, short for biological marker, refers to a measurable and quantifiable indicator of a biological condition,...

A thin film of absorbing or nonabsorbing layers in which the absorption of radiation at any point is directly proportional...

In optical emission spectroscopy, the reduction in radiant power in the central portion of spectral lines arising from the...

Quantum-enhanced metrology refers to the use of quantum mechanics principles and techniques to enhance the precision and...

A 3D profile sensor, also known as a 3D profiling sensor or 3D depth sensor, is a technology that is used to capture and...

A unit of metric measurement, equal to 0.001 m. 25.4 mm equal 1 inch.

A graphic depiction of the loci of all points in space relative to a laser transmitter at a specific altitude.

A device having electrical resistance and used in an electric current for purposes of protection, operation or control of...

Noise generated in the flow of current in the photomultiplier, produced by the intentional or controlled application of...

A lens aberration, resulting from different magnifications in the various lens zones, that occurs in that part of the image...

A specific type of storage in which the material to be written on is heated above its transition temperature and switched in...

Pertaining to electromagnetic radiation, with the contributions at all wavelengths of interest weighted equally.

The dispersion of a light ray striking the surface of a biaxial crystal, in which the resulting rays are reflected in a...

Term used to describe an optical surface that contacts the test glass only at its edges.

Often referred to as the geometric center of a given image or image plane, the centroid of an image is a fixed point located...

Pertaining to the measurement of the intensity of light.

The exact mathematical description of the interactions of matter and intense electromagnetic fields, such as those that...

A support device in which a column or chamber of air permits the free travel of a mobile part. In optical mounting and...

The material that has the lowest possible constant melting point of any possible combination of the same components.

Device consisting of a laser diode, beam-correcting optics and collimating optics in a single housing. Also called a...

Dewetting is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where a thin film or coating spontaneously undergoes a process of...

The angle between a light ray emerging from an optical system and the optical axis of that system.

A type of glass used in telescope mirrors, formed by adding a nucleating agent to standard glass and then heating it until...

A fish-eye lens designed to photograph cloud formations over the entire visible sky.

Electron released in photoelectric activity.

Consists of a pair of radio telescopes concentrated on a single celestial object. This technique creates a single radio...

A photographic camera designed to produce reproduction film of visual information (pictures, line drawings, graphs) for...

A device designed to measure linear or rotary motion by detection of the movement of markings on a transparent medium past a...

In laser damage testing, the exposure of many sites of a sample to different intensities of laser irradiation to discover...

A theoretical instrument conceived of as a box that receives a beam of radiation of any arbitrary polarization angle and...

On a chromaticity diagram, the line on which fall the chromaticities of the pure spectrum colors.

Light present in the environment around a detecting or interpreting device, especially a machine vision system, and...

The British term for reticle.

A small convergent lens, located between the objective and eyepiece of a microscope, that focuses an image of the upper...

Electronic circuit capable of distinguishing the pulses emitted by separate counters in a given time phase and determining...

The determination of the degree to which a manufactured component can deviate from its ideal specifications of material and...

A system employing a dark trace tube in which the opacity of the screen is varied as a function of the power of the beam.

A semispherical or conical lens created directly on the core of an optical fiber to focus light from a laser into the fiber...

A method of measuring flow velocity by seeding the flow with neutrally buoyant particles and using a pulsed laser to...

Numerical scale of chroma devised by A.H. Munsell and exhibited in the Munsell Book of Color.

A technique proposed for studying the atomic structure of crystals by measuring the interference pattern generated when the...

A photorefractive material used in image processing, holography and optical switching.

An ocular having two planoconvex lenses that are formed from similar glass and that are separated by a space equal to half...

The natural log of the ratio of absorbed intensity over the total intensity which gives a constant value assuming a stable...

A spectrograph in which the refracted beam returns almost along the path traveled by the incident beam, and is brought to a...

A semitransparent mirror in an optical system that combines two or more output beams into a single coaxial beam.

A device with a limited number of possible output values (sometimes able to be selected) that can translate an incoming...

A device using a parametric amplifier inside a resonant optical cavity to generate a frequency-tunable coherent beam of...

The study of and classification of rocks.

Anisotropy refers to the property of exhibiting different values or characteristics when measured in different directions....

A system of modular mechanical components for building precision optical systems. The basic equipment includes a variety of...

A device similar to the ordinary spectrophotometer but containing particular modifications to provide for the comparison of...

A photonic cavity, also known as an optical cavity, is a structure that confines electromagnetic radiation within a certain...

The lowest anode voltage at which a gas tube can sustain a discharge.

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of...

The number of molecules in one gram mole of a substance, numerically approximated by 6.02 x 1023.

Left- and right-hand circularly polarized beams that are produced at different velocities by passing plane-polarized light...

Image enhancement operations that involve altering gray-scale values. For instance, brightness sliding involves adding or...

The holographic recording of a microscopic specimen whereby magnification is achieved by alteration in a wavelength or...

A semiconductor device that functions as an electrically controlled switch for AC loads.

A measure of an optical system's ability to produce an image which separates two points or parallel lines on the object. See...

1. A device used in chemistry to compare the colors of solutions held in flat-bottomed tubes and viewed along the length of...

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through...

The degree to which a pair of fine lines can be aligned to each other. A normal observer will demonstrate an accuracy of 10...

The use of optical or electronic recording systems to extract information from the terrain, while aloft, for reconnaissance...

The range of angle or solid angle values by which light may enter an optical system.

An infrared-transmitting optical fiber with a hollow core; it can be square, round or rectangular in cross section. Capable...

An optical reflector with the reflective coating applied to the front surface of the substrate. This eliminates the ghost...

The indistinct, less luminous portion lying immediately outside an electric arc whose spectrum often differs from that of...

A method of manufacturing polycrystalline infrared-transmitting optical fiber by heating a single halide crystal billet and...

A type of multiple-pass amplifier in which no optical leakage is allowed until a finite number of passes has occurred; at...

A photodiode having a conducting grid that covers the surface of the photodiode junction and intercepts and wastes some of...

A reflecting grating ruled on a concave spherical surface that not only disperses the light but focuses the spectrum. The...

The scattering of electromagnetic waves by free electrons, whereby the incident radiation and the scattered radiation are of...

A system consisting of two or more Geiger-Müller counters, connected in coincidence with their centers on an axis. The only...

A microscope that uses a reflecting objective; often used with ultraviolet or infrared radiation.

The angle measured between the focal surface containing the image and a plane normal to the optical axis.

A type of surface-emitting laser diode that uses dielectric mirrors to produce surface emission. The laser cavity is...

gas laser using ionized argon as the active medium and applying electronic excitation in order to produce the laser light

A broadband, visible picosecond probe pulse capable of measuring an entire absorption spectrum in one shot.

Also known as corner-cube reflector or retrodirective reflector. Three reflecting surfaces, perpendicular to each other,...

An image whose left side appears to be the right side, and vice versa.

An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other...

A polarizer that consists of dichroic polarizing material embedded in a plastic sheet, and that transmits light that is...

In atomic fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence emitted by an atom at a spectral line of a wavelength identical to that of...

A defect in the cleaved end face of an optical fiber in which a portion of the edge has broken away; the complement of lip.

An array of active optical devices (modulators, laser diodes and/or detectors), each of whose electrical inputs or outputs...

A camera that consists of a concave spherical mirror with an aspheric plate situated at the center of curvature of the...

The pattern used as a probe in morphological image processing to manipulate the size and shape of objects in an image.

Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is an advanced fluorescence microscopy technique that leverages the...

A gas laser having a mixture of gases that makes it useful in the lab. The mixture of gases flows through a pressure and...

A flowmeter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a fluid passing through a particular point in a system....

Integrated photonics is a field of study and technology that involves the integration of optical components, such as lasers,...

A lens assembly made up of three lens elements that may or may not be cemented.

A system that determines whether an image is in or out of focus by means of a source of illumination at the conjugate focal...

The photographic record of the diffracted beams formed when heterogeneous x-rays emerging from a pinhole or slit impinge...

A polarizing prism formed from calcite that is like the Nicol prism but has the two parts divided by a thin air-film and cut...

An optical switch that controls conduction paths into and out of a junction in fiber optic and integrated optical circuits.

An assembly of fibers in which the coordinates of each fiber are the same at the two ends of the bundle. Also called...

In photolithography, an opaque material used in masks that has a lower optical density and grainier composition than chrome.

A mirror employed with a very high incidence angle to form a pair of coherent light sources by reflection, and therefore...

The physical thickness times the refractive index.

A device where each pixel in the detector array is mated with a preamplifier on a single silicon chip, providing sensing and...

The degree to which a laser beam is aligned parallel to the housing axis.

A coating having pigments that change color when exposed to heat. This effect has been widely used to monitor hot spots in...

Solid-state laser geometry in which the standard rod is replaced by a slab of laser material. Often called...

A device for detecting visual and infrared radiation using a photoconductor as the principle sensing element.

One of the electrodes used to focus the electron beam of a cathode-ray tube. As the electrode's voltage is changed, its...

The holographic recording of sequences of high-speed phenomena. With a multiple beam laser, multiple holograms that depict...

An analytical technique used to determine, identify and localize impending malfunctions. It is based upon quantitative and...

A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It...

The average length in a specific material in which a relativistic charged particle will lose 67 percent of its energy by...

A fiber-coupled photoconductive antenna (FCPA) is a type of optoelectronic device that combines a photoconductive antenna...

A kind of spectrograph in which some form of detector, other than a photographic film, is used to measure the distribution...

A local area network topology in which all nodes are tapped off a single cable, and all hear every transmission on the cable.

Refers to transistors in which the working current flows through two types of semiconductor material: N- and P-type. In...

A device that varies the amplitude and phase of a light beam; e.g., from a laser or by sound waves. Also known as a Bragg...

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite characterized by its standardized size and modular design. CubeSats are...

Optical fiber that transmits a greater percentage of input light than does high-loss step-index fiber. Low-loss fiber...

In a laser, the voltage necessary to initiate electrical discharge, somewhat higher than that needed to sustain it.

With respect to crystals, having three mutually rectangular axes, only two of which are equal.

A bolometer that serves to record. The photographic record formed by the bolometer may be called bolograph or bologram.

In hybrid or monolithic integrated circuits, the laser ablation of a portion of resistor material to achieve the design...

A lack of resolution in a television image as a result of smear ghosts or an insufficiently high video-frequency response....

One of the two principal types of optical glass, the other being flint glass. Crown glass is harder than flint glass, and...

The diffraction of a particle by a standing lightwave.

The device, usually made of glass or a similar material, that contains the resonant cavity and optics of a gas laser.

The process by which the light from the images of photographic film is encoded into electrical signals for video...

Laser sintering is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that involves using a laser to selectively fuse...

A surgical procedure for correcting vision by reshaping the outer surface of the cornea through the use of a laser system.

A two-fiber optical cable containing two single-fiber cables that are connected by a strip of jacket and that can easily be...

The process of making an abrupt break in a spherical surface on a spectacle lens so that a new center of curvature is set...

A lamp designed to emit a large amount of infrared radiation; used in applications requiring heat.

In a lens, the square of the radius of its aperture divided by the product of the focal length and the wavelength. It...

A common form of high-precision, ceramic-based actuator capable of moving and measuring at the nanometer level.

Relation between a material's transport rate and the material's concentration gradient and the diffusion coefficient.

In polarization-preserving optical fibers, the element used to induce birefringence. The SAP is highly doped to provide a...

A fiber optic device that uses a HeNe laser, beamsplitter, monochromator and photomultiplier to detect trace levels of...

A cathode-ray tube that serves as a picture tube in a television receiver. The signal representing the picture intensity is...

A device consisting of an airtight quartz tube that holds the material to be analyzed. When a high-frequency electrostatic...

The apparent difference in brightness between light and dark areas of an image. For a light target against a dark...

An image intensifier tube in which the photocathode and the output of the microchannel plate are proximity-focused on the...

A robotic process commonly employed by automakers that enables high-speed and flexible production throughput by using...

There are three types of telecentric lenses: -Image-space telecentric lenses are those in which the aperture stop is...

The electric field associated with an electromagnetic wave and thus with a lightwave. The electric vector specifies the...

The difference in electrokinetic potential between the stationary liquid connected to a solid phase surface and the mobile...

A lithography method that allows the transfer of fine-pitch gratings from a phase mask into photoresist. The exposure takes...

A microscope that has an annular stop in the lower focal plane of the condenser, and a quarter-wave retarding and absorbing...

In surface height measurement of optics with steep slopes, the use of two short visible wavelengths to synthesize a longer,...

The number of channels per unit bandwidth handled by a single optical fiber.

A PIN photodiode is a type of photodetector or semiconductor device used to convert light signals into electrical signals....

Stimulating light used for the production of energy through photosynthesis, solar cell or other light senstitive device.

A phase-shift interferometer used to detect the relative angular speeds or positions of two concentric rotors.

An electronic transducer, either fixed or adjustable, that reduces the amplitude of a wave without causing significant...

Measure of the interference fringe pattern produced by the forward scattering of light by an optical fiber; the fringe...

A mathematical transformation used in image and video compression that changes two-dimensional representation of data into...

A very uncommon lamp in which a tungsten electrode is heated to incandescence by a radio-frequency electrical current.

Fiber optic cable that operates at the 1300-nm wavelength.

Colors differing only in chromaticity but not in luminance.

Film that produces color negatives or transparencies by the use of three emulsions, one coated over the other, that are each...

An instrument used for video or computer data storage in which a laser optical head is used to write digital information...

A device for measuring absorption coefficients in which a confined, nonabsorbing gas fills the space inside the cell between...

The changing of the kinetic energy of a mobile electron into radiant energy, as in formation of x-rays.

A method used in facsimile scanning that sweeps the elemental area across the copy in a spiral motion as the result of the...

The term "Rydberg atom" refers to an atom in a highly excited state where one or more of its electrons are in a Rydberg...

A small region within a single crystal where the molecules form a perfect lattice.

When, for example, a beam of monochromatic light passes through a diffraction grating, the emergent rays that have remained...

A display that allows the observation and measurement of the altitude and range of airborne objects.

A moving group of fluid-suspended biological species directed through separate channels by which the population is isolated....

The process of grinding the concave surface of a single-vision spherical lens.

The center of the sphere of which the surface of a lens or mirror forms a portion. Each curved surface of a lens has a...

A monochromator is an optical instrument used to isolate and select a narrow range of wavelengths from a broader spectrum of...

The magnitude of the electric vector of a wave of light. See electric vector; magnetic vector.

An image consisting of an array of pixels that can have more than two values (black and white). Typically, up to 16 levels...

A process in which a mixture of one or more monomers, plus a catalyst, polymerize under exposure to light radiation....

An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a...

The spectrographic analysis of matter that is in a cooled state. Generally, a mechanical refrigerator is used to lower the...

A motion-picture camera that can be advanced one frame at a time, either randomly or at set intervals. Used in animation and...

Concerned with the transmission and reception of both sight and sound. An audiovisual system communicates pictorial images...

A diagnostic instrument that uses a photocathode design to see a broad range of x-ray radiation by streaking the...

A spectrograph in which the flux density transmitted through the entrance aperture is regulated by an optical wedge or...

The detection and measurement of spectral reflectance, spectral transmittance or relative spectral emittance, relative to...

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is an advanced imaging technique that provides information about the lifetime of...

An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure....

The splitting of an element's spectral line as the result of the interactions between the electron spin and the spins of...

A caustic formed by reflection.

The use of computer analysis in the calculation of diffraction patterns for information on the design of optical systems. In...

A scanning technique in which the object is illuminated the entire time, and in which picture elements of the object are...

The degree to which a predetermined or previous setting of a positioning device can be duplicated by observance of the...

In image processing, the assigning of certain portions (or pixels) of an image a constant value of either 0 (black) or 1...

Color vision whereby abnormal proportions of three colors are needed for color matching.

Device that operates by interaction of incident radiation with semiconductor based material in order to produce an...

An interferometer in which interference is produced between wavefronts that are sheared in the sample object by a small...

A camera system used for microphotography that has a structure, such as a cylinder or surveyor belt, to rotate the documents...

Also known as constant angle or constant deviation fringes. The interference fringes observed with dense flat plates near...

A length that denotes the size of the unit cell in a crystal lattice. With respect to the cubic crystal, this is the length...

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is...

The engraving of a surface by acid, acid fumes or a tool; a process extensively used in the manufacture of reticles.

Discharge that results when a doped semiconductor crystal with a PN junction is charged with a low-voltage direct current....

A small mass spectrometer used to find leaks in a vacuum system by detecting the presence of helium. Using a magnetic...

In fiber optics, the condition in which each fiber of a bundle carries a separate channel.

Technology that corrects the shape of reflective optics; primarily applied in large telescope systems, in order to...

A binocular microscope designed for the viewing of stereo pairs. As these stereoscopic image pairs are seen through a...

A cable backbone used to interconnect local area networks at various sites (corporate offices and factories, for example) in...

In photography, the technique of taking multiple pictures of the same subject at different exposures to compensate for...

A crystalline ferroelectric material used primarily as a substrate and an active medium for thin-film optical modulators and...

Characteristic of an object so small in size or so fine in structure that it cannot be seen by the unaided eye. A...

A telescope with a concave paraboloidal objective mirror and a small plane (diagonal) mirror that reflects rays from the...

Functional materials refer to materials that possess specific properties or functionalities that make them suitable for...

The analysis of the atomic structures within crystals by means of x-ray diffraction.

Correction of an optical system at four separate wavelengths. This correction, longitudinal and lateral, is possible with...

The line of vision; the optical axis of a telescope or other observation system. The straight line connecting the object and...

The intersection of the principal plane and the optical axis of a lens.

The recording of three or more separate holograms having a different color on a medium, so that illumination with a tricolor...

Plasma-enriched deposition or planar magnetic sputtering that offers increased deposition rates in optical thin-film...

A camera that permits adjustments in the perspective of an image; this is accomplished by the camera design, which permits...

A photoelectrically controlled, alphanumeric reading device that converts characters to audible or sorting signals which can...

Very small phosphor particles present on the screen of a picture tube.

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) refers to a technology that converts heat energy into electricity using the principles of...

Laser-powered telephone device for analog communications that employs a vibrating plastic membrane as a transmitter to...

The color of an object when it is illuminated by a nonisophotic source.

A microscope designed with two eyepieces (oculars), permitting the use of both eyes when viewing through the instrument.

A form of liquid crystal in which flow does not take place in the usual manner. When examined with polarized light, the...

A device that produces brief flashes of light for observing the behavior of an object during a short interval. One of the...

A long-pass filter is an optical filter that allows longer wavelengths of light to pass through while blocking or...

Transparent media which, when placed in front of a light source, change their color as a result of the selective absorption...

Descriptive of an optical fiber having a core refractive index that decreases almost parabolically and radially outward...

The movement of particulate material by flowing gas or liquid.

The diffraction pattern of a source such as a light-emitting diode, injection laser diode or the output end of an optical...

A type of mirage that creates a distorted vertical image of relatively flat objects so that they appear as mountains,...

A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor...

Pertaining to the possession of photoelectric characteristics as a result of the properties of the true crystal and not of...

The inherent laser amplitude noise relative to the average optical power produced by the laser; the RIN decreases rapidly as...

Philips trade name for a lead oxide low-light-level vidicon tube.

The conversion of a still picture into sound waves and its subsequent transmission by radio.

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a specialized technique in biophysics and molecular...

The branch of optics that deals with the study of the refraction of light, particularly by the transmitting medium of the...

A precise telescope set on a pair of rotation axes, the horizontal and vertical axes equipped with two divided circles. One...

A polariton is a quasiparticle resulting from the strong coupling between photons (light particles) and certain types of...

In a charge-coupled device, the disappearance of some of the accumulated charge into the silicon during readout.

A device used to detect radiant energy by means of the thermal expansion of gas.

A glow discharge tube placed on an insulating rod to detect the presence of high-frequency radiation in the vicinity of a...

The time domain is a concept used in signal processing and analysis to describe signals in terms of their behavior over...

A technique of optical storage whereby information is encoded by molecular alterations in the interaction between the...

Numerical scale of lightness devised by A.H. Munsell and exhibited in the Munsell Book of Color.

The optical phenomenon in which right circularly polarized light transmitted by an active medium travels at a different...

Any substance or space through which electromagnetic radiation can travel.

A toric lens generated by rotating a specific cross section about an axis beyond its area and used in the formation of...

The emission of an electron from a surface that occurs when a photon impinges upon the surface and is absorbed. This effect...

Small tungsten lamp used in surgical instruments such as cystoscopes, and for other purposes where space is limited.

GaN (gallium nitride) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers refer to a specific type of semiconductor laser based on Gallium...

A microscope objective designed to be used without liquid between the cover glass and the objective, or, in the case of...

A light ray that has had its direction altered because of its traversing an air-to-glass interface at some angle. In an...

A perfect diffuser that exists only as a concept, or a white with known spectral characteristics used as a reference in...

The portion of light scattered when traveling through a unit thickness of material.

A flexible display refers to a type of electronic visual display that is designed to be bendable, foldable, or rollable,...

The chromatic resolving power of a prism is invariably stated for the case in which parallel rays of light are incident on...

With respect to color photography, the measurement of the way the color film modulates the radiant flux in the optical...

A reference sphere used to represent all possible states of polarization. All linear polarizations will lie on the equator...

A solid-state device similar to an ordinary transistor except that incident light on the PN junctions regulates the response...

A crystal, glass, or quartz slicing and cutting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used in the manufacturing...

A linear computation or algorithm performed on a selected series in the form of an input signal that produces a new series...

A microscope that can be used to observe and magnify microscope specimens while they are being centrifuged. The objective...

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is a type of light-emitting diode (LED) technology that utilizes organic compounds to...

Laser marking is a process in which a laser beam is used to mark or engrave a surface by altering its properties or...

The photographic recording of gas bubbles produced when particles traverse liquid hydrogen in a bubble chamber.

A passive fiber optic coupler that divides light from a single fiber into two or more fiber channels.

The sine of the vertex angle of the largest cone of meridional rays that can enter or leave an optical system or element,...

In rangefinders and height finders, a rotatable or sliding wedge-shaped element used to divert the line of sight precisely...

Complex devices, often involving a computer, in which a photograph is scanned by a point of light, the amplitude of the...

Gas detection measurement technique that uses a built-in capacitative microphone to calculate the amount of absorbed laser...

When light is transmitted through matter, part of the light is scattered in random directions. A small part of the scattered...

A filter that transmits light in a series of sharp, widely spaced wavelength bands by its sandwich construction of...

The law stating that the brightness of an object that is examined through a slotted disc, rotating over a critical...

A wave of radiant energy in which each point of the wave is repeatedly displaced at equal time intervals.

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is a compact and integrated device that incorporates multiple photonic components and...

A straight line, real or imaginary, passing through a body and indicating its center; a line so positioned that various...

In a heterodyne optical receiver, the frequency that is the difference between that of an incoming laser signal and that of...

A device used to count objects that pass a given point by allowing each object to obstruct a beam of light falling on a...

A television system in which the images produced appear three-dimensional.

In an interlaced scanning electro-optical system such as television, the system resolution will be less than the number of...

An electronic device that minimizes short-term drift effects and random measurement error inherent in alternate...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that builds three-dimensional objects...

An electronic device used to encode video and audio signals of a television camera into radio waves that are broadcast to...

An infrared light source is a device that emits light in the infrared spectrum, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of...