A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is a compact and integrated device that incorporates multiple photonic components and...

The spectroscopic study of the radiation emitted by the lifetime of phosphorescence.

An instrument designed to place nongraphic information, usually generated by a computer, onto photographic film. The...

In a microscope, the diaphragm located between the Bertrand lens and the eyepiece, which is closed during conoscopic viewing...

A variation of tomography in which several photographs of a patient are taken at different angles, and back-projection of...

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

The recording of the information contained in a modulated electron beam onto photographic or silicon resin-coated materials....

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

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It...

A multifaceted holographic disc that is rotated by a motor to deflect incident light to a scanning system's lens.

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set...

A type of receiver that uses a local oscillator at a frequency deliberately offset from that of the incoming signal. It is...

Mode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds,...

A spectrograph in which the refracted beam returns almost along the path traveled by the incident beam, and is brought to a...

Laser surgery by means of a low-power laser system using a synthetic sapphire scalpel that transmits the laser light while...

A blue diode laser is a type of semiconductor laser that emits light in the blue wavelength range of the electromagnetic...

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

A device that uses electromagnetic fields to separate electrically charged particles according to their masses. As a beam of...

The frequency domain is a concept used in signal processing and analysis to represent signals and data in terms of their...

The direct computation of the Fourier transform of the space variant system output of an optical processor with a single...

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

A phase-modulated sensor is a type of sensor that uses modulation of the phase of a signal to measure changes in a physical...

A spectrophotometer having a prism or, more frequently, a grating for the study and recording of infrared spectra. It...

Also known as electronic photometer. A photometer with a photocell, phototransistor or phototube for measuring the intensity...

Prediction based on observations of nuclear masses in the valley of stability that indicates the maximum number of electrons...

An interferometer formed by two similar concave spherical mirrors arranged with the center of one sphere on the other...

A wide-field camera based on the classic Schmidt optical system used to photograph Earth-orbiting satellites.

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) refers to a technology that converts heat energy into electricity using the principles of...

Optical source intended to reduce bleeding as well as to abet wound or vessel healing through cauterization, used in eye...

In digital data transmission, the representation of a bit by change in amplitude of the outgoing signal. Amplitude shift...

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

A symmetrical, very wide-angle lens. Well-corrected for spherical aberration and color, the Topogon can cover fields up to...

Noise generated in the flow of current in the photomultiplier, produced by the intentional or controlled application of...

An aberration that remains after primary color is corrected. Primary color causes the back focus of a lens to vary with...

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

A method for obtaining the optical absorption spectra of solids, semisolids, liquids and gases. PAS is inherently...

Very small phosphor particles present on the screen of a picture tube.

Complex devices, often involving a computer, in which a photograph is scanned by a point of light, the amplitude of the...

The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a...

An apochromat, often referred to as an apochromatic lens or apochromatic objective, is a type of optical system designed to...

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

A relay that opens or closes an electrical circuit depending on the intensity of the light incident to a photoelectric...

Also known as aplanatic lens. A lens corrected for spherical aberration and coma.

The ability to see over large angles of view.

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

A null optic in the form of a concave spherical mirror; used for the test and evaluation of a hyperboloidal aspheric surface.

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

A negative lens used to increase the effective focal length of a telescope objective.

Graphic evaluation of the operation of a steam thermodynamic cycle of a solar energy system on which enthalpy is plotted...

Liquid crystals are a state of matter that exhibits properties intermediate between those of conventional liquids and solid...

Also known as constant angle or constant deviation fringes. The interference fringes observed with dense flat plates near...

A photometer used to measure sky brightness and polarization associated with zodiacal light, background starlight, F-region...

An isotope of cesium that emits negative beta particles and has a half-life of 2.19 years; its applications include...

A free-electron laser (FEL) is a type of laser that generates coherent, high-intensity electromagnetic radiation by using a...

A transparent sphere that has an index of refraction that is different from that of the medium surrounding it; used in...

Chirality is a property of certain molecules and objects in which they are non-superimposable on their mirror images. In...

Ion-beam sputtering (IBS) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used for depositing thin films onto substrates. It...

A quantitative measurement of the coherence of a light source; equal to the visibility (V) of the fringes of a two-beam...

A form of photometric measurement, often used with light sources that are transparent or fluctuating, in which a...

A well plate, also known as a microplate or microtiter plate, is a flat plate with multiple small wells or depressions...

A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly...

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

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

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

1. The term used to describe any of the many instruments used to remotely record physical dimensions, such as strain,...

MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer...

Topological photonics is a branch of physics and optics that explores the application of topological concepts to the...

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

Present in photocurrent burst, it is the low frequency pulse that corresponds to the light scattered from the beams in the...

The imaginary line passing through both the centers of curvatures of the optical surfaces of a lens or mirror; the optical...

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

The use of photographs to record astronomical objects and phenomena for purposes of physical observation and measurement of...

In image processing, a morphology operator in which a structuring element or probe of a particular shape is moved over the...

An instrument used to measure the luminance (brightness) of a distant object. The object is viewed through a small...

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

The imaging of two photographs of a stereo pair, in complementary colors, for the preparation of contour maps.

A phase reflection scanner that eliminates the need for a complex translation device while maintaining a high-energy-density...

The current that flows in a photodetector when there is no optical radiation incident on the detector and operating voltages...

The maintenance of a fixed-phase relationship across the full diameter of a cross section of a laser beam.

With respect to photography, the process used to increase the effective speed of an emulsion between manufacture and...

Two plane mirrors that are not wholly located in the same plane. When light from a point source or slit reflects from the...

A medical technology that uses lasers or other light sources in combination with photosensitizing drugs to treat cancerous...

1. Attribute of a visual sensation that permits a judgment to be made of the amount of pure chromatic color present. 2. The...

A photovoltaic cell usually sensitive to infrared radiation. It may have a copper base and a film of cuprous oxide. When it...

Photography involving the recording of events that occur too fast to be perceived by the human eye or recorded by...

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

The physical length of the light path in a substance divided by the refractive index of that substance. See also equivalent...

A room that is light-tight, permitting total darkness or illumination with a safelight when working with photosensitive...

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged...

A television system that uses a slow rate of horizontal scanning to increase its reproduction and transmittance accuracy of...

A motion-picture camera that can be advanced one frame at a time, either randomly or at set intervals. Used in animation and...

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used in biology and medicine for the quantitative analysis of the physical and...

Functional materials refer to materials that possess specific properties or functionalities that make them suitable for...

A system mounted a few inches above a moving plane that consists of a light source, lenses and one or more phototubes. In...

One of various types of fluorescent screens used to detect x-ray radiation. Photographic film is mildly sensitive to x-rays,...

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

A tube containing mercury vapor and lined with a phosphor. When current is passed through the vapor the strong ultraviolet...

Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal...

1. A contour map of a photographic deposit consisting of lines and curves that join points of equal density. 2. The...

Used for high-resolution surface study with subnanometer resolution. XRIM uses interfacial phase contrast with application...

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

A layer between the corona and the photosphere of the sun; its emission is overwhelmed by light emitted by the underlying,...

An image processing device that displays pseudocolor images by assigning colors to the gray scales according to look-up...

An LED, or light emitting diode, is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs...

A graph used in photography to portray the increase of a film's density as its time of exposure increases.

Geometrical partition possible with a sphere that can be four, six, eight, 12 or 20 solid-angle wedges. Each platonic mass...

The movement of particles or ions in a solution toward the electrode having the opposite sign because of the application of...

A near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer is an analytical instrument used to measure the absorption, transmission, or reflection...

A method used to generate graphics within a computer system. Rather than dots or lines, fractal graphics work with...

The measurement of the responsivity of photographic media and of the relations between exposure and density of developed...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution,...

An instrument for determining the sensitivity of a photographic film to light. The film is given either a stepped exposure...

An optical element having plane-inclined surfaces. Usually the faces are inclined toward one another at very small angles....

Two-photon polymerization (TPP) is a technique used in additive manufacturing, specifically in the field of 3D printing. It...

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 factor derived by equating the incident light on the subject to the required incident light for suitable photography. The...

An instrument consisting essentially of a tube 160 mm long, with an objective lens at the distant end and an eyepiece at the...

A technique used in radiography to determine a crystal's structure by obtaining radiographs of it in powder form, normally...

A measure of the optical path length for light traveling from the sun or other celestial source through Earth's atmosphere...

The photographic recording of images on a medium sensitive to infrared radiation, using a source capable of emitting in the...

A device that measures the intensity of photochemically active radiation, particularly from the sun. One form of this...

An optical instrument containing a gimballed sighting telescope, used to measure angular relationships in horizontal and...

In a microscope, the physical distance between the focal points of the objective lens and the eyepiece. The standard tube...

An instrument that is used to chart x-ray diffraction patterns, such as an x-ray spectrometer having photographic or other...

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide...

A photocathode that receives radiation from one side and emits a photoelectric current from the opposite side.

The study and the interpretation of the infrared emittances of celestial bodies and phenomena.

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

A fiber optic bundle split along its length with the ends of the fibers extending separately to illuminate different points...

Photolithography is a key process in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, and...

The point at which infrared transmission is cut off.

Conceptual formulas that characterize both the transmittance functions of lenses and propagation in the Fresnel zone.

The transform defining that, if a reference beam is a divergent spherical wavefront, then the reconstructed image will be...

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

A compound lens consisting of two negative lenses of flint glass. A double-convex lens of crown glass is cemented between...

A photograph transmitted by radio waves.

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

A device for automatic exposure control in which a motor-driven diaphragm adjusts the aperture in response to a signal from...

An instrument that divides a single laser beam in two and uses one half as a sensing beam and the other as a reference beam,...

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

Automated optical inspection (AOI) is a technology used in manufacturing processes, particularly in electronics, to...

An instrument similar to the spectroheliograph, but having a scanning method that is performed by a pair of rapidly...

Superresolution refers to the enhancement or improvement of the spatial resolution beyond the conventional limits imposed by...

Optical design software refers to specialized computer programs used by optical engineers, physicists, and designers to...

A lens used in the optical testing of an aspheric surface. It converts a spherical wavefront into one that precisely matches...

The effect that the optical losses in a medium can grow when the medium is irradiated with light at certain wavelengths.

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

An aerial photograph produced when the optical axis of the camera is perpendicular to the surface below.

Hydrophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or do not readily interact with water. The word...

Phototheranostics, a portmanteau of "photo" (light), "therapy," and "diagnostics," refers to an emerging field that combines...

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

Videography refers to the process of capturing moving images and recording them in a digital format. It involves the use of...

Gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes (GaN-based LEDs) are semiconductor devices that emit light when an electric...

The study of the reflection or transmission properties of specimens as a function of wavelength after they have been excited...

A method for detecting vibration amplitudes analogous to image holography, except that the film emulsion is replaced by a...

A vibrational transition refers to a change in the vibrational energy of a molecule. Molecules consist of atoms that are...

Output noise in a laser beam resulting from acoustic disturbances of mirror separation or orientation. Such disturbances may...

A metalens, short for "metasurface lens," is a type of optical lens that uses nanostructured materials to manipulate light...

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

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

An electro-optic system using, in general form, an evacuated glass envelope with a semitransparent photocathode at one end...

A receiver for optical communications systems consisting of a symmetric binary, pulse-code-modulated transmitter, a...

A technique in photometry that uses an oxyhydrogen or oxyacetylene flame to optically excite a solution containing the...

A computer-generated, phase-and-amplitude, off-axis hologram made by a multi-exposure technique that uses three computer...

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

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

The hollow electrode used in emission spectroscopy to hold the material to be examined and, using an arc or spark source, to...

A type of color-generating cathode-ray tube that uses a shadow mask, a thin perforated electrode, located close to the...

A single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is a specialized type of photodetector designed to detect extremely weak optical...

A device that uses nematic liquid crystals sandwiched between fused silica substrates to change the phase of polarized...

A well controlled thin films technique for growing films with good crystal structure in ultra high vacuum environments at...

A lensless photographic camera that uses a small sharp-edged hole as its aperture. The light passed by this aperture onto...

A flowmeter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a fluid passing through a particular point in a system....

Laser annealing is a process that involves using a laser beam to heat and modify the microstructure of a material, typically...

A mid-infrared camera is a type of imaging device designed to capture images in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range,...

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

An optical clock is a highly precise and advanced timekeeping device that relies on the oscillations of electromagnetic...

In the context of thin film deposition processes such as evaporation or sputtering, masks are used to selectively deposit...

The area of optics that deals with the interaction of light with a given material. The optical properties of material are...

A camera system used for microphotography that has a structure, such as a cylinder or surveyor belt, to rotate the documents...

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

Brillouin scattering is a phenomenon in physics where an incident electromagnetic wave (usually light) interacts with...

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

A part of the spectrochemical analysis of a sample that deals with the excitation of that sample by flame analysis.

Holographic tomography is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and tomography to provide three-dimensional...

A dichroic coating, also known as a dichroic filter or dichroic mirror, is an optical coating designed to selectively...

Also referred to as physical optics - the area of optics in which the wave nature of light is essential when defining its...

Substances that exhibit the characteristics of both acids and bases and are capable of both P- and N-type conductivity.

An instrument using a Michelson interferometer, a beamsplitter, two plane mirrors and a detector to give Fourier analysis of...

A modified form of an image-retaining panel that can be used in subdued daylight. This is achieved by adding a layer of zinc...

Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays passing through a lens or curved optical surface...

A semiconductor is a type of material that has electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. In...

An alexandrite laser is a solid-state laser that utilizes a synthetic crystal made from the rare earth element alexandrite...

An energy transition concerned with photons alone.

A liquid crystal display using the material in its supertwisted nematic phase; the birefringence of the liquid crystal...

The formation of a hologram by single reference-beam interferences with waves that are diffracted or scattered from a small...

A fiber-coupled photoconductive antenna (FCPA) is a type of optoelectronic device that combines a photoconductive antenna...

For a particular mode in a waveguide, the ratio of the angular frequency to constant phase.

Spectrophotometry in which radiation of two separate wavelengths, usually one in an absorption band and the other not, pass...

Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and...

A television camera tube in which a low-velocity electron beam scans a photoactive mosaic that has been created by an...

Film that produces color negatives or transparencies by the use of three emulsions, one coated over the other, that are each...

A device, also called a fluorescence lifetime instrument, that measures decay curves of fluorescing samples. It generally...

A closely spaced series of well-known chemicals having a refractive index lying between 1.33 for water and 1.95 for a...

A fluorographic method whereby the sensitive photographic medium is pressed against a fluorescent screen to form a visible...

The chemical method of separating compounds dissolved in one phase (usually mobile) through its equilibration with a second...

An optical instrument designed to displace the line of sight in a vertical direction. For submarines and other military uses...

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

A camera system in which the image formed on the fluorescent screen of an image converter tube in the system is recorded by...

Photoresist is a light-sensitive material used in photolithography processes, particularly in the fabrication of...

A phosphor, such as sulfide or selenide, that can be excited to luminescence by incident infrared radiation simultaneous to...

A large tank filled with liquid hydrogen, with a flat window at one end and complex optical devices for observing and...

Lens aberration resulting in image size variation as a function of wavelength. See also chromatic aberration.

The interval between direction of signal to a light-emitting diode and attainment of 10 percent output current in the...

The direct influence of light on the magnetic susceptibility of particular materials.

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

A mechanical or electrical-electromagnetic device for periodically interrupting or blocking abeam of light for a brief known...

In photography, the technique of taking multiple pictures of the same subject at different exposures to compensate for...

Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is an optical microscopy technique that belongs to the category of quantitative...

A GaAlAs laser is a type of semiconductor laser diode that emits light in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic...

The coupling of two circuits by the use of a light pipe through which photons are transmitted.

A spectrophotometer that makes use of filters to isolate narrow bands of the spectrum.

A spectrograph that functions in a vacuum and therefore eliminates any air-absorption of the emission being surveyed.

A measure of the dispersive properties of a glass. The relative dispersion is defined as: where C, D, and F refer to the...

See eye test apparatus; ophthalmic instruments.

1. In a cathode-ray tube, the glow surrounding a bright spot that appears on the fluorescent screen as the result of the...

The film used in photographic dosimetry to record the types and amounts of ionizing radiation, such as x-rays and gamma...

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

The collection and detection of x-rays by virtue of their ionizing properties. The ionization may be perceived directly by a...

The difference in electrokinetic potential between the stationary liquid connected to a solid phase surface and the mobile...

Thermography is a technique that involves the use of an infrared imaging device, called a thermal camera or infrared camera,...

This results from the simultaneous absorption of two photons, each having half the energy needed for excitation and...

A range of wavelengths within which radiation transmitted through the atmosphere suffers relatively little absorption by...

The instrument used to collect thermal radiation information on an object by scanning. It consists basically of a detector,...

Van der Waals forces refer to the attractive or repulsive forces between molecules (or parts of molecules) that arise from...

A blur circle refers to the out-of-focus region in an image captured by an optical system. When an object in a scene is not...

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where two or more particles become correlated to such an extent...

A printing process of electrostatic electrophotography that uses a photoconductive insulating medium, in conjunction with...

For each mode in an optical waveguide, the term used to describe the process by which an electromagnetic signal is distorted...

In an avalanche photodiode, the gain multiplied by the signal frequency in MHz.

With respect to a crystal, the characteristic of possessing two ends symmetrical with each other.

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

Also called sine wave response and contrast transfer function. The modulation transfer function is the ratio of the...

The photographic recording that uses ultraviolet radiation to irradiate the microscope sample being examined and to form an...

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

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

The basic process of color photography whereby colors are subtracted from white light by means of filters, making all colors...

A near-infrared (NIR) camera is an imaging device designed to capture images in the near-infrared region of the...

A photoconductive cell having greatest sensitivity in the infrared region. The photosensitive material of the cell is lead...

A mass spectrometer used to detect ions formed by photo- and charge-exchange ionization of gases, such as those in the lunar...

Housing that resembles a small metal can for a semiconductor component, photodetector or similar device.

The second adjustable iris diaphragm in an optical system. In the common microscope condenser system, it usually is located...

An optical instrument consisting of a well- corrected objective lens or mirror with a light source and or object/image (i.e....

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

The creation of a planned sequence of data input that is obtained while airborne for use in aerial photogrammetry and other...

The halo phenomenon of a brightly colored arc having the colors of the rainbow and lying parallel to the horizon.

A technology that uses electrically activated holograms stored within specially developed crystals to route information in...

A nonradiative transition refers to a process in which an electron or an atom undergoes a change in its energy state without...

Observed phenomenon of a small developed image with higher density than a larger image because of variation in photographic...

Epitaxial deposition is a process used in semiconductor manufacturing and materials science to grow a thin crystalline...

A type of fiber optic sensor that responds to a change in the intensity of received light caused by the displacement or...

A method of polishing an aspheric surface by mechanically distorting the optic while polishing the surface to a perfect...

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

The optical Fourier transform is a mathematical operation applied to optical signals that involves transforming a spatial...

Anisotropy refers to the property of exhibiting different values or characteristics when measured in different directions....

A device containing an electro-optic crystal and using the Pockels effect. A voltage applied across the crystal generates...

Designating any instrument in which both eyes can be used to view the image to achieve a stereoscopic effect, or merely to...

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

A hologram in which diffraction is produced by the silver image, resulting in a dimmer image than in a phase hologram, where...

A filter designed to improve contrast in an imaging system. For visual and black and white photosystems, a yellow filter is...

A fluorophore is a molecule or a portion of a molecule that has the ability to emit light upon excitation by an external...

A microscope that can be used to observe and magnify microscope specimens while they are being centrifuged. The objective...

A method of fabricating an optical waveguide by melting the core and clad glasses in two suitably joined concentric...

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

A graph of the intersections of a fan of rays with the final image plane, plotted as a function of the positions of the rays...

A vacuum chamber is a sealed enclosure from which air and other gases are removed to create a low-pressure environment,...

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle...

A type of geometrical distortion that brings about a trapezoidal display of a nominally rectangular picture. Usually...

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

Also called proximity focus image intensifier. A compact image intensifier that utilizes a microchannel plate...

A camera system used to form a high-precision hologram of the subject on a photographic plate. It contains a high-power...

The electron stream emitted by a phototube when the cathode is exposed to light.

A telescope with an ellipsoidal secondary concave mirror that reflects rays from a parabolic primary mirror through an...

In the context of imaging, particularly digital imaging and printing, "orange peel" refers to a texture or visual distortion...

The fundamental tool of microdensitometry, the microdensitometer is an instrument used for the precise measurement of...

The principles and techniques involved in the use of telephotometers to measure atmospheric extinction.

A tool used to determine the curvature of a lens surface in terms of dioptric power. See lens watch; spherometer.

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

That state determining that two waves of like frequency will travel through their maximum and minimum values of the same...

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

Collaborative Robot (Cobot): Unlike traditional autonomous robots, which usually work by themselves, a collaborative robot...

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite characterized by its standardized size and modular design. CubeSats are...

A tabulation of predicted positions that have been calculated for one or more celestial bodies or orbiting satellites.

A small section of the surface of a sensor corresponding to a single pixel in the image.

A hygroscopic powder used in the photographic process.

A photoanalytical instrument for analysis of jaundice conditions in infants that measures bilirubin (a breakdown product of...

A device that serves to emit light of the same wavelength as the input light, only with an increase in intensity. It may be...

Specified curved optic intended for maximum collection of light, including off-axis rays, before leaving the exit aperture.

The coefficient termed by Callier as the ratio between the density of photographic negatives measured by parallel light and...

The observable illustration of an image, scene or data on a screen such as a console or cathode-ray tube, seen as a graph,...

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

A scintillation detector is a radiation detection device that utilizes scintillation crystals to detect and measure ionizing...

A calcium indicator is a molecule that is sensitive to changes in calcium ion (Ca2+) concentrations in biological systems....

Flow chemistry, also known as continuous-flow chemistry, is a chemical manufacturing process where reactions take place in a...

A 30-60-90° spectrograph prism that is coated on the surface opposite the 60° angle with a reflecting film.

The function that characterizes the quality of an optical system by denoting the modulation and spatial phase shift of the...

A color filter, generally used in photography, to emphasize certain color tones and to modify others in a picture for a more...

A PIN photodiode is a type of photodetector or semiconductor device used to convert light signals into electrical signals....

An infrared detector is a device that is used to detect and measure infrared radiation, which lies beyond the visible...

A device to modulate spatially a collimated coherent beam of light with input data in optical data processing. It uses a...

Refers to the characteristic hue of the ocean according to the presence and concentration of specific minerals or...

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

A hydrogel is a three-dimensional network of polymer chains that are hydrophilic, meaning they have a strong affinity for...

The underexposure caused by the diffraction of light passing through small openings spaced closely together in masks used in...

A photodiode having a conducting grid that covers the surface of the photodiode junction and intercepts and wastes some of...

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

An image converter that produces a visible image based on the infrared emittance of the object. The infrared energy is...

The apparent surface of the sun or a star from which light appears to radiate.

STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence...

Nanopositioning refers to the precise and controlled movement or manipulation of objects or components at the nanometer...

Astronomical detector consisting of a photocathode isolated from the target by a coin value from which electrons are focused...

A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing and quantum information...

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

A color center, in the context of materials science and condensed matter physics, refers to a specific type of...

A lateral shearing interferometer is an optical device used in interferometry to measure phase differences between two beams...

The process by which the light from the images of photographic film is encoded into electrical signals for video...

Observed electroluminescence of zinc sulfide phosphors when excited by an electric field. This effect is the basis for the...

A Laurent polarimeter is an instrument used in optics for measuring the rotation of plane-polarized light caused by...

Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent...

A digital camera is a device that captures and records still images or video in digital format. Unlike traditional film...

The photographic record of the diffracted beams formed when heterogeneous x-rays emerging from a pinhole or slit impinge...

1. In raster scan television, one of the two scans that are interlaced to make up a frame. 2. See field of view.

A type of photoconductive detector in which germanium, usually doped with boron, gallium and indium, serves as a...

A method of producing disks for erasable optical data storage. Information is recorded by a laser beam that generates pits...

A device that detects radiation by utilizing the influence of light in forming an electrical signal. It may be a phototube;...

In optics, the term denoting the lack of a fixed phase relationship between two waves. If two incoherent waves are...

The study of the effects of light on the growth and development of various plants.

A photorefractive material used in image processing, holography and optical switching.

A type of motion-picture camera in which single frames are photographed either automatically at a predetermined rate (as...

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

Backscatter refers to the phenomenon in which radiation or waves are scattered backward, opposite to the direction of the...

A dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) refers to a type of optical fiber designed to minimize the effects of chromatic dispersion,...

When a lens system with a circular aperture is free of aberrations, the image of a point object will appear as a disc of...

In image processing, a morphology operator in which a structuring element or probe of a particular shape is moved over the...

Swept-source optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in...

An image intensifier tube in which the photocathode and the output of the microchannel plate are proximity-focused on the...

A spectrometric instrument that detects radiation simultaneously in multiple channels, sorts it spectrally from the deep...

The graphic recording of physical changes vs. time, in electrical quantities, using an oscilloscope.

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

1. A stereoscope that has adjustable scales to allow the determination of distances and dimensions from stereoscopic...

In image processing, the study of structure or form of objects in an image.

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

The photographic recording of images produced by the electrons from an electron microscope. The electron beam carries the...

A technique used for noncontact inspection of semiconductor wafers. The material is illuminated by an excitation source that...

Also known as reversed telephoto lens. A lens consisting of an ordinary objective with a negative component near its front...

Technique in which the polarization rotation of light, and its relationship to the magnetic field strength can be analyzed...

Attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy (APAP) is an advanced technique in ultrafast spectroscopy that allows...

A synchrotron is a type of particle accelerator that uses magnetic fields to steer charged particles, typically electrons or...

Epitaxial equipment refers to a set of specialized tools and systems used in the process of epitaxy, which is the growth of...

A straight line, real or imaginary, passing through a body and indicating its center; a line so positioned that various...

A small card (10 x 15 cm) that has been treated with a photographic emulsion to record and store the microimages of...

A hyperspectral imaging camera is a sophisticated imaging device capable of capturing and processing data across a wide...

A pathogen is a biological agent, such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, protozoan, or parasite, that causes disease in its...

Optical aberration such that image magnification varies with ray distance from the optical axis in a radial distortion.

The stereo image that is recorded by the lenticular, stereo photographic process.

A camera tube similar in design to the iconoscope. However, the image formed in the image iconoscope is projected on a...

A technique for detecting and measuring atmospheric pollution, in which an oscillating mirror directs half the incoming...

A type of photometer calibrated in luminance units (candles per square unit, or lamberts). In photography an exposure meter...

A type of internal photonic connection in an integrated circuit in which a holographic grating is used to focus light at...

Seidel aberrations refer to a set of monochromatic aberrations in optical systems, named after the German mathematician and...

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

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

A machine vision lens is a specialized optical lens designed for use in machine vision systems, which are used for automated...

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

The technique of producing spectrograms in wavelengths beyond 120 nm by the use of a diffraction grating and a Schumann...

A light-tight box that receives light from an object or scene and focuses it to form an image on a light-sensitive material...

A cathode principally designed to emit a photoelectric current.

The necessary increase of a photograph's exposure time as the result of the additional absorption of light by the filter...

A crystalline material with a high electro-optic coefficient, capable of operating at short wavelengths, with applications...

A system that generally uses a photodetector to decode punched cards for information, or for input to a computer, by sensing...

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

A diagnostic instrument that uses a photocathode design to see a broad range of x-ray radiation by streaking the...

A Peltier cooler, also known as a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) or thermoelectric module, is a solid-state device that uses...

A waveguide is a physical structure or device that is designed to confine and guide electromagnetic waves, such as radio...

In coherence theory, an optical law put forth by physicist Emil Wolf that explains the behavior of light as it travels away...

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

Ultraviolet reflectance refers to the ability of a material or surface to reflect UV light. Ultraviolet light is...

An etalon is an optical device that consists of two parallel reflecting surfaces separated by a precise and known distance....

A photosensitizing drug used in conjunction with photodynamic therapy.

A laser dye whose absorption coefficient drops at high levels of incident radiation. The phenomenon is often called...

A form of prism invented by H.W. Dove. It resembles half of a common right-angle prism in which a ray entering parallel to...

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

The term "metaverse" refers to a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical...

Participates in a reaction only in the presence of light and radiant energy. Besides 3D printing, photoreactive agents also...

A photographic camera and processing system used to form a usable record of the subject in a short time, usually a few...

In a lens or lens system, that surface at which the projections of an entering and exiting ray intersect. Also known as the...

Rolling shutter artifacts are distortions or visual anomalies that can occur in images or videos captured by cameras with...

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

A photoconductive cell that uses thallium oxysulfide as the light-sensitive medium.

The technique of making motion pictures.

A camera accurately aligned to a weapons system to provide a photographic record of system performance.

The study of highly ionized gases. Many phenomena not exhibited by uncharged gases are associated with plasma physics.

A device for detecting visual and infrared radiation using a photoconductor as the principle sensing element.

The optically pumped, solid-state laser that uses sapphire as the host lattice and chromium as the active ion. The emission...

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

A device that determines the lens shape in the cutting or edging phase of fabrication. It also is used to denote the...

The law stating that the illuminance (or irradiance) from a point source varies as the inverse square of the distance...

A shutter actuated by means other than mechanical springs for timings on the order of nanoseconds. The shutter is used in...

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

Also referred to as a funduscope, an ophthalmoscope is a specialized instrument used by ophthalmologists for observing and...

A fish-eye lens designed to photograph cloud formations over the entire visible sky.

A form of Cassegrain telescope having a concave hyperbolic primary and a convex hyperbolic secondary. This form permits the...

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 mirage that consists of an image of an object appearing below its true position as the result of abnormal refraction by...

Power modulation refers to the intentional variation of power levels in a signal, often in the context of electronic...

The spectrographic analysis of matter that is in a cooled state. Generally, a mechanical refrigerator is used to lower the...

Scalar diffraction theory is a simplified approach used to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly...

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is the 400- to 700-nm region (visible light) of the electromagnetic spectrum that...

Also referred to as the opposition surge, the opposition effect is a photometric phenomenon in which a rough retroreflective...

An edge-emitting light-emitting diode is a type of LED structure where light emission occurs primarily along the edge of the...

An electron system using the effect of a constant magnetic field on electron paths to differentiate electrons that have...

A record formed when the luminous trace or image produced by an oscilloscope is photographed.

Laser-powered telephone device for analog communications that employs a vibrating plastic membrane as a transmitter to...

The average luminous intensity of a point light source measured over all directions.

Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies...

An early graphic scheme of colors in which saturated spectral colors are plotted around the circumference of a circle....

In optics, the double refraction that is produced when stress is applied to a transparent material. Plastics, which are...

A type of glass that includes phosphorus pentoxide and that, unlike silica-based glass, is resistant to hydrofluoric acid.

A swept-source laser, also known as a wavelength-swept laser, is a type of laser that rapidly and continuously changes its...

A graphic representation of a distribution function such as frequency by means of rectangles whose widths represent the...

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

Light consisting of a single wavelength or a very narrow band of wavelengths.

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

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

Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) is a technique used in the fabrication of optical fibers. It is a specialized form...

Spectral repeatability refers to the consistency and reproducibility of spectral measurements across multiple trials or...

An acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is a device that utilizes the interaction between sound waves and light waves to modulate...

The force that stimulates the emission of an electrical current when photovoltaic action creates a potential difference...

Near the boundary or edge of the field of an optical system; the outer fringe.

A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to...

A photoconductive cell having cadmium sulfide as its photoconducting material for the production of a very high dark-light...

A shower of cosmic rays whereby a high-energy electron produces one or more photons that convert into electron pairs, the...

Photoconductivity due to the addition of impurities or external causes.

Complex devices, often involving a computer, in which a photograph is scanned by a point of light, the amplitude of the...

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

A lens aberration, resulting from different magnifications in the various lens zones, that occurs in that part of the image...

The slits in a spectrograph that form images of spectral lines. Slits may be bilateral or unilateral, and generally close...

Horizontal concentrations that comprise the dominant factor in atmospheric gradient correction. The range bias near due...

In gradient index optics, a gradient profile in which the refractive index varies along the direction of light propagation,...

A device used to create a light output that exceeds light input, the energy being provided by an electric field. It consists...

For a particular mode, the reciprocal of the rate of change of the phase constant with respect to angular frequency.

Gain-switching is a technique used in lasers to generate short pulses of light by modulating the gain of the laser medium....

The responsivity of a photocathode to luminous energy equal to the ratio of the photoelectric emission to the incident...

A special form of microscope that utilizes interference for observing and measuring the phase and optical thickness in...

The axes of symmetry in a crystal structure. See also biaxial crystal; uniaxial crystal.

An LED (light-emitting diode) is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs...

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

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

Electronic circuit capable of distinguishing the pulses emitted by separate counters in a given time phase and determining...

A measure of the relative difference in refractive index between two optical materials. Most commonly used in fiber optics...

Calculation of gas and aerosol transmission and emission characteristics for several model atmospheres, including two model...

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

The angle at which photoelectric sensors are aligned to prevent light from being reflected back to the sensor from the...

A method of measuring total hemispherical emissivity of the plane surface of a solid that consists of thermally isolating a...

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

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

The graph of a curve describing the spectral irradiance of extraterrestrial sunlight.

A quantum well is a structure in quantum mechanics that confines particles, such as electrons or holes, in one spatial...

A diffraction pattern sampling unit composed of a 32-element monolithic silicon photodiode array and a readout unit. The...

A molecule that is the mirror image of another molecule. The two mirror-image molecules have the same chemical properties;...

A mold for glass or plastics often made of stainless steel to prevent pitting or oxidation in service. It is polished to the...

Entirely analogous to color photography, but inclusive of light bands that do not appear in the visible spectrum.

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

A polymer produced as a result of photochemical processes.

A GRIN (gradient index) lens is a type of optical lens that utilizes a gradient in refractive index across its volume rather...

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

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

Also known as analog thermogram. The resultant photograph, illustrating, in tones ranging from black to white, the spatial...

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

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a specialized technique in biophysics and molecular...

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

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

Electron released in photoelectric activity.

The apparent difference in brightness between light and dark areas of an image. For a light target against a dark...

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 linear positioning stage, also known as a linear stage or translation stage, is a precision mechanical device used to...

An infrared detector in which radiation passes through a doped germanium crystal, creating a voltage drop that can be...

A photonic cavity, also known as an optical cavity, is a structure that confines electromagnetic radiation within a certain...

A semispherical or conical lens created directly on the core of an optical fiber to focus light from a laser into the fiber...

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

The combination of two waves having the same frequency and amplitude and traveling in opposite directions. Standing waves...

The use of computer analysis in the calculation of diffraction patterns for information on the design of optical systems. In...

A cosmic phenomenon in which the mass and density of a star pass a critical point so that the escape velocity matches the...

A type of phase-shift keying using a one-bit delay line.

Also referred to as fundus photography, ophthalmoscopy is the dioptrical study of the various interior components of the eye...

A photographic process using x-ray radiation or the g-rays of radioactive materials.

The analysis of the atomic structures within crystals by means of x-ray diffraction.

In computer graphics, a character generator that produces alphabetical and numerical characters with some punctuation and...

One area of image enhancement, accomplished by spatial filtering schemes, that usually involves attenuation of phase changes...

Techniques used in biology to produce microradiographs of cells, tissues or small organisms.

The transformation of incident radiant energy into a photoelectric emission current.

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

A paraboloidal surface on which the image is located when there is no astigmatism.

A holographic camera, also known as a holographic imaging system or holographic recorder, is a specialized device used to...

An early type of nonvacuum photocell consisting of a layer of copper oxide on a metallic substrate, with a thin transparent...

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

Also referred to as the V number in fiber optics; the normalized frequency is a dimensionless quantity, denoted by the...

A telescope in which a mask occults the solar disk, generating an artificial eclipse and allowing observation and recording...

A direct recording photometer that is designed to scan a photographic negative to determine its points of isodensity.

An optical crystal that possesses a strong nonlinear dielectric response function to optical radiation. A material with a...

FMCW lidar stands for frequency-modulated continuous wave lidar. It is a type of lidar (light detection and ranging)...

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

A technique used to generate a phase shift between reference and sample light beams. The phase shift can be performed...

A laser in which the transition involved in stimulated emission of radiation takes place between two levels of an ionized...

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

A light-sensitive resistor in which resistance decreases with increase in light intensity when illuminated. The device...

A process of color photography in which colors are added one to another in the form of light, rather than as colorants, to...

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

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

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free...

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

Abbreviated SoC. A single chip containing all the electronic circuits required for a complete, working product. SoCs are...

The branch of science that treats light as a wave phenomenon wherein light propagation is studied by wavefronts rather than...

An instrument that reads alphabetic, numerical and special characters by means of a photosensor that measures the varying...

A double-surfaced catadioptric spherical mirror whose spherical first surface consists of a negative meniscus (concave) lens...

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

That property of a material that determines its ability to release electrons when absorbing photons.

A photomask, also known simply as a mask or reticle, is a key component in the photolithography process used in...

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or...

The photomicrographic recording of Schlieren effects, irregular refractions of light from optic surfaces or areas of thin,...

A detector-Dewar assembly typically refers to a combination of a detector and a Dewar flask used in scientific instruments,...

A reflecting grating ruled on a concave spherical surface that not only disperses the light but focuses the spectrum. The...

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

The recording of three or more separate holograms having a different color on a medium, so that illumination with a tricolor...

An atomic force microscope (AFM) is a high-resolution imaging and measurement instrument used in nanotechnology, materials...

Medical diagnostic (x-ray) imaging using laser printers to produce high-resolution digital hard copy instead of film exposed...

That portion of the telecommunications network that runs from a local central telephone to the subscriber premises.

An avalanche photodiode in which the light-absorbing area is a low-bandgap material and the PN junction is placed in an area...

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...

The product of exposure time and irradiance or illuminance.

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

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

A graphic depiction of the loci of all points in space relative to a laser transmitter at a specific altitude.

An arc discharge tube having a grid that is used to start the discharge through an atmosphere of inert gas or vapor at low...

Polarization refers to the orientation of oscillations in a transverse wave, such as light waves, radio waves, or other...

A device that uses a photoelectric cell to determine the level of oxygenation in the blood.

1. A solid figure whose base is a circle and whose sides taper upward evenly to a point or apex. Light rays diverging from...

In physics, the law of reversibility is often associated with the concept of reversibility in thermodynamics. The law...

Anisotropic is a term used to describe a material or substance that exhibits different properties or behaviors in different...

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

A noncrystalline, inorganic mixture of various metallic oxides fused by heating with glassifiers such as silica, or boric or...

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

The phenomenon in which alkali metals are transparent to ultraviolet radiation.

A lightproof box used for storing photosensitive materials.

The creation of topographical maps and charts from a stereographic record produced through the overlapping of consecutive...

A term referring to the pre-exposed hologram of the subject used in holographic interferometry.

Discipline within optical physics that addresses sound vibration, phonon effects and their influencing behavior within...

A photographic recording of interference patterns between a plane wave and a spherical wave on a high-resolution...

The control of free electron movement through the use of electrical or magnetic fields, and use of this electron movement in...

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

In computer imaging, a value representing opacity.

A photocathode that exhibits maximum sensitivity in the blue and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. The sensitivity is...

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The...

The cause of some forms of laser injury in which tissue absorbs incident laser light and experiences a damaging rise in...

Photon flow created by imaging of light into a detector array; IPD is the electrical signal used by the image processor in a...

Device which measures the index of refraction of glass as well as the dispersion over visible range.

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

With respect to a traveling plane wave at a known frequency, the space rate of decrease of phase of a field component in the...

1. An instrument used to determine the visual range in an environment. 2. A type of photometer that artificially reduces an...

Phototoxicity refers to the harmful effects caused by exposure to light, particularly intense or ultraviolet (UV) light, on...

The photographic recording of an action by taking a series of still pictures at regular intervals throughout the action.

The luminescence displayed when particular minerals are irradiated with β-rays and g-rays, after being exposed to...

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

Line scan refers to a method of capturing images or data by scanning a single line at a time, as opposed to capturing the...

Label-free refers to a technique or method that does not require the use of additional labels, tags, or markers to detect or...

A ruggedized scintillation counter used in oil well logging. The cylindrical housing contains a gamma ray source, a...

The process by which a vitreous or amorphous substance forms a crystal structure at a specified temperature.

In the context of materials science and semiconductor physics, doping refers to the intentional introduction of impurities...

The photographic image of a thin specimen having a radioactive isotope that, formed through contact between the specimen and...

A small television tube originally developed for closed-circuit television. It is about 1 inch in diameter and 5 inches...

Two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) is a nonlinear optical method that allows imaging of biological cells and living...

Generic term for read-only optical data storage, source of the Philips-Sony term CD-ROM.

Photogrammetry is a technique used to obtain accurate three-dimensional measurements of objects and environments through the...

A common aberration in lenses covering large fields of view; it results in images of objects near the edge of the field...

An instrument that uses a photocell to detect and measure the intensity of incident light.

The optical phenomenon that causes relative motion between two objects when the eyepoint is moved laterally. When parallax...

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

The application of aerial photographs as a means of measurement in map making and surveying.

Separation of incident laser pulses by several seconds so holographic plates can be changed and sandwiched between the...

A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the...

Photogrammetric compensation for incidental camera movement (which prevents attainment of true vertical photographs) whereby...

A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in...

The process of determining, with the aid of plane-polarized light, the stress distribution in materials under complex...

The term "Rydberg atom" refers to an atom in a highly excited state where one or more of its electrons are in a Rydberg...

Resonance can be defined in various contexts, including physics, chemistry, and music. Here are definitions for resonance in...

An emission spectrum is a graphical representation or a characteristic pattern of the wavelengths or frequencies of light...

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

Short-lived molecular or atomic particles, with an unpaired electron, that play an important part in many photochemical...

An interferometric method for describing the surface shape of large coated or uncoated optical flats. The procedure uses a...

A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into...

The process of grinding the concave surface of a single-vision spherical lens.

The use of light to initiate the lasing process. See optical pumping.

An early form of photographic media consisting of glass plates coated with an emulsion.

An automatic scanning instrument that is used to study a substance's fluorescence over a wide range of wavelengths. It...

Nondestructive measurement of the delta and alpha of clad optical fibers that involves interferometry with the fiber...

Literally, neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet. A cylindrical rod of yttrium-aluminum-garnet doped with neodymium that is the...

Any of a number of instruments that uses a flame to vaporize a solution of the chemical being analyzed so that light may be...

Compilation of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories that contains values of the line parameters of the 1-0 bands of...

A unit of pressure, one-thousandth of a bar, equivalent to 100 Pascal and 0.75 torr. One atmosphere equals 1013 mbar.

A Kerr soliton refers to a specific type of soliton, a self-reinforcing wave packet, that arises in nonlinear optical...

Brightfield refers to a type of microscopy and imaging technique in which the specimen is illuminated with a white light...

A lens, usually having one or more cylindrical surfaces, used to produce distorted images and later to restore them to true...

A photographic emulsion of the silver-halide type that is used to record the path of a charged traveling particle. The...

The process whereby white light is separated into its component wavelengths. Light beams of different wavelengths are...

Lines of equal atmospheric attenuation in a laser beam.

In the context of optics and lasers, a transverse mode refers to a specific spatial pattern of the electric field within the...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that builds three-dimensional objects...

A device used to evaluate the luminance of a surface by determining the number of photons emitted from a sample surface area.

A method of reducing dark current in charge-coupled devices by holding all the clocks at negative voltage during the...

Visual equivalence of physically (usually spectrally) different stimuli.

An instrument that measures several optical parameters, such as optical power and wavelength, with a single measurement...

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

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

Also known as OCT-A, optical coherence tomography angiography is an imaging technique that uses light waves to measure...

The study of the physics of x-rays, where the x-rays exhibit properties similar to those of lightwaves. Also called Roentgen...

A spectrograph in which the flux density transmitted through the entrance aperture is regulated by an optical wedge or...

An imaging system that uses a mosaic of tiny light-sensitive semiconductors (phototransistors) to produce individual outputs...

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

A fiber laser is a type of laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth ions such as...

Structural color refers to coloration in materials that is not caused by pigments or dyes but is instead a result of the...

The method by which interferograms are produced.

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

A device designed to detect microwave modulation and to mix modulated and unmodulated laser beams. It consists of a...

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

Having human characteristics or behavior.

In an interlaced scanning electro-optical system such as television, the system resolution will be less than the number of...

Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by...

A luminous display of numbers and the letters of the alphabet.

The face of a cathode-ray tube (CRT) that has a fiber optic sheet attached to its surface. The sheet's fibers are at right...

Two essential pieces of equipment used in connection with the microfilming process: a camera capable of producing, on film,...

A system in which the electrical signal embedded within an audio input signal is converted to a modulated light pattern and...

Array used in coded-aperture imaging experiments with two-beam CO2 lasers that provide an artifact-free process, faithful...

A graphic reproduction of an object formed by a microscope or another optical system. Also an instrument used to make tiny...

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

Optical elements that have been coated with one or more layers of dielectric, or metallic material. These coatings serve to...

Harmonic generation refers to a nonlinear optical process in which incoming photons interact with a material and produce new...

A type of stereoscopic photography in which a pair of lenses focuses a pair of images, relative to the positions of the two...

That part of an infrared detector-Dewar assembly that limits the solid angle viewed by the sensor; it is maintained at a...

A cathode-ray tube, driven by a computer, that receives impulses of information from the computer and displays it in a...

A compact high-pressure light source in which an electrical discharge between electrodes spaced no more than 12 mm apart...

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

The organ of vision or light sensitivity.

Hyperchromic shift refers to an increase in the absorption of light, leading to a higher absorbance, often observed in...

A sensitometer having a continuously controlled monochromator to measure spectral sensitivity and contrast of photographic...

A phase-shift interferometer used to detect the relative angular speeds or positions of two concentric rotors.

A field of physics that deals with light as if it truly were composed of rays diverging in various directions from the...

The average intensity of a light source measured over all directions.

1. A device designed to convert the energy of incident radiation into another form for the determination of the presence of...

A lens that exhibits spherical aberration when used at large aperture settings, and that forms an image with a slightly...

One surface of a nonconducting plate that is coated with many minute particles of photoemissive material that are insulated...

The light-sensitive cells on the retina of the eye that are responsible for low-resolution, peripheral vision.

A hollow sphere coated internally with a white diffusing material and provided with openings for incident beam, specimen and...

Direct conversion of a photon from one wavelength to a lower energy photon of another wavelength(s) due to inelastic...

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of...

In a cylindrical lens, the meridian parallel to the generating lines of the cylindrical surface. In a toric lens, the...

The study and utilization of interference phenomena, based on the wave properties of light.

The photographic filming of the action of x-ray images recorded on a fluorescent screen by means of large lens apertures and...

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

A device used in measuring the attenuation of multimode optical fibers. A short reference length of fiber when combined with...

The spectroscopic analysis of interference patterns using a monochannel spectrometer, spectrograph or multichannel...

A diverging lens is a type of lens that causes parallel rays of light to spread out or diverge. It is thinner in the center...

A general term referring to the situation in which an image is not a true-to-scale reproduction of an object. The term also...

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nanolithography technique used for fabricating nanoscale patterns on a substrate. It is a...

The holographic recording of sequences of high-speed phenomena. With a multiple beam laser, multiple holograms that depict...

Image processing peripheral that converts video images from cameras into digital format and transfers these digital images...

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

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

The process of aligning the crystallites in a piezoelectric material by placing a large DC field across the element at an...

A type of adsorption in which the adsorbed layer is attached to the adsorbent surface by an attractive force between the...

A tachometer consisting of a light source, rotating perforated wheel and phototransistor to measure the rates of rotation of...

Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement,...

A mirror that supplies equal reflectance for both the S-polarization and the P-polarization of a laser for a defined angle...

A spectrophotometer having a pair of identical collimators with two Glan polarizing prisms, one fixed in azimuth and the...

A set of rays through a lens originating at a common point and contained in one plane.

A telescope stand equipped with a polar axis that can be set parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation and a declination axis...

A camera designed to record at rates exceeding 50 fps. For frame rates up to about 500 fps, an ordinary pull-down mechanism...

Typically used for the examination of manufactured or engineered parts, an optical gauging device, in which a backlight is...

A heterochromatic photometric process using successive comparison of similar chromaticities and the calculation of relative...

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

Any irregular motion, variation in intensity or change in color that arises because of atmospheric turbulence during the...

The simultaneous exposure of two holographic plates with emulsions facing the object. After deformation, a second pair of...

A photodetector mounted in the same package as a laser diode that is positioned to monitor the output from the rear facet of...

A dark region created by spherical aberration of an eyepiece's exit pupil. Because of the aberration, an observer's eye must...

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method of secure communication that utilizes principles from quantum mechanics to...

A type of interferometer in which two coils of optical fiber are arranged so that light from a single source travels...

1. In optics, the housing, usually cylindrical, that contains the lenses and iris diaphragm of a camera. 2. In fiber optics,...

A machine vision system is an integrated combination of hardware and software components designed to capture, process, and...

See inside vapor-phase oxidation; outside vapor-phase oxidation.

An instrument used to measure the light from a scene to be photographed and to indicate the camera lens and shutter settings...

Hyperspectral resolution refers to the level of detail or granularity in the spectral information captured by a...

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

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 light absorbing material applied to ground optical surfaces during the process of making that surface non reflective. Such...

A system that consists of a spectrophotometer with a photoelectric detector for measurement of radiant energy.

A scanning technique in optical character recognition in which an array of photocells is used to scan each character to...

Optoacoustic, or photoacoustic, refers to a phenomenon and related techniques that involve the generation of acoustic waves...

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

The gas of charged particles that begins approximately 50 km above the surface of the Earth and contains a sufficient...

The study of crystal growth from the molten stage utilizing a holographic system wherein interferometric techniques record...

Lenslike composition of stacked glass cylinders through which a spot of light appears as a streak perpendicular to the...

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

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

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

The term light field refers to the spatial distribution of light rays traveling in all directions through a given space. It...

The state of optically excited luminescence. Luminescence refers to the light emitted by excited atoms or ions as they decay...

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

A spectroscopic technique in which an excitation band absorbs laser energy resulting in an electronic transition. The...

1. An eyepiece or magnifier with a scale at its image plane. That scale is placed in contact with an object, permitting...

The acoustical holographic process in which the hologram consists of slight elevations in a liquid surface, in the areas of...

That radiation emitted by an atom or molecule that has the same frequency as that of an incident particle; e.g., a photon....

The laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by...

The phenomenon that can render an optical resonator the equivalent of a semiconductor flip-flop. A bistable device will...

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is an advanced imaging technique that provides information about the lifetime of...

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

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

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

Illumination in which the light source is imaged at the object.

The optical phenomenon in which white light dispersed by small particles in suspension appears blue when viewed through a...

A lens aberration that causes a flat object surface to be imaged onto a curved surface rather than a plane.

Deep ultraviolet (DUV or deep-UV) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet light with shorter wavelengths than those in the...

An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to...

A monitoring technique used to measure the oxygen saturation levels in the brains of patients, commonly in operating room...

Off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirrors are specialized optical components used in various optical systems, particularly...

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

A digital twin refers to a virtual representation or digital counterpart of a physical object, system, or process. This...

Distortion caused by variations in the rate of change of phase shift with frequency over the signal's necessary bandwidth.

An ocular having two planoconvex lenses that are formed from similar glass and that are separated by a space equal to half...

An optical system that superimposes a synthetic display providing navigational or weapon-aiming information on a pilot's or...

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

A flanged or plain ring with a restricted aperture, located in an optical system at any of several points, that cuts off...

In photography, the layer of light-sensitive material (usually a suspension of silver halide crystals) that coats the film...

In semiconductor physics and materials science, the term "III-V materials" refers to compounds composed of elements from...

The minimum value of luminance for vision. The value may vary with age as well as dark adaption period. (Measured range...

A spectrograph that uses a diffraction grating as its dispersive element in place of a prism, and yields greater resolving...

A formulaic description of the linear change of the reciprocal optical dielectric tensor with either stress or strain.

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

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

Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a...

Thin-film deposition equipment refers to machinery and tools used in the process of depositing thin layers of material onto...

The simplest lens in which all primary aberrations may be corrected. It consists of two positive crown elements on either...

The study of chemical reactions stimulated by the properties of light.

The nonthermal conversion of electrical energy into light in a liquid or solid substance. The photon emission resulting from...

A surface that envelops a bundle of rays or bundle of normals to the wave surface. It may be observed as a hollow, luminous...

A chemical substance that exhibits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet radiation, x-rays or an electron beam. The...

Denoting a phase shift of 90°.

A unit of energy equal to the amount of energy absorbed by one molecule of material undergoing a photochemical reaction, as...

The distance from the final optic within a system to the rear image point of the system. See focal length.

The range of frequencies over which a particular instrument is designed to function within specified limits. See also fiber...

A camera equipped with a lens and a long length of perforated film, the latter being moved intermittently between exposures...

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

The use of photographs taken from the air to construct graphic maps and charts of ground surfaces.

An electroradiographic process that uses ionization of air by x-rays as a basis for forming electrostatic images.

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology that is used to convert printed or handwritten text into...

An instrument designed to calculate the amplitude and phase of the different harmonic elements of a radiation wave utilizing...

A wave whose surfaces of constant phase are infinite parallel planes normal to the direction of propagation.

Etaloning is an optical phenomenon that occurs in imaging systems, particularly in devices such as spectrometers,...

A pair of telescopes with prismatically erected images, mounted side by side with the eyepieces at the interocular distance...

A microscope that uses a flying spot scanner, directed through the eyepiece, as a light source to determine the features of...

A plate of glass, usually a photograph, on which there is a central spot surrounded by concentric annular zones, alternately...

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

The decrease in the energy of a photoelectric emission as a result of the simultaneous incidence of radiation having lower...

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

The change in refractive index that occurs as acoustic vibrations are transmitted through an optical material.The index...

A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a powerful microscopy technique that uses a beam of electrons to create...

Interaction of a magnetic field with a photoconductive substance exposed to light to create a potential difference.

A set of photodiodes with no gaps between them that can sense the displacement of a spot of light anywhere on the sensing...

Exhibiting the characteristic of materials that are electrical insulators or in which an electric field can be sustained...

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor...

A microscope that uses an extremely fine x-ray focal point to produce an enlarged photographic image of a sample. Also known...

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

Retroreflection is a phenomenon in optics where light is reflected back toward its source, typically in a direction nearly...

The process of using a spectrograph with a telescope to acquire information on an astronomical object's speed and physical...

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

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) is a medical treatment approach that combines elements of phototherapy and immunotherapy to target...

In compact disc and CD-ROM technology, the portion of the drive that projects the laser light onto the surface of the media...

The interferometric analysis of a complex object by utilizing the three-dimensional hologram. By causing a laser beam to...

A camera with a very high aperture lens or mirror system for photographing x-ray fluorescent screen images, mainly to save...

The phenomenon that makes nonlinear the mathematical expression for the electrical polarization of a medium through which...

A dielectric sphere with an index of refraction that varies with distance from the sphere center. A parallel beam of rays is...

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

A technique used in holography that involves the mixing of lasers of different wavelengths to produce a beam of shorter...

An opaque projector is a device used for enlarging and projecting images from opaque objects such as printed pages,...

In photography, the density gradient across an edge separating light from darkness, a physically measurable quantity that...

Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its...

The length of the small space within which the atmosphere exhibits coherence, particularly in relation to an observer on...

A technique, involving spectrophotometry in the ultraviolet, that is designed to determine the colors of thin-layer...

A spectroscopic process that detects and analyzes the discharge from an extrinsic surface with less than bandgap light. This...

The focal length of a lens is the distance between the lens's optical center (or principal point) and the image sensor or...

Laser active elements typically refers to the substances or materials within a laser system that play a critical role in the...

A type of matched filter that responds only to the phase of incoming light; the output has a much greater intensity than...

A pixel-based computer graphics system that simulates the tools of an artist.

A long-pass filter is an optical filter that allows longer wavelengths of light to pass through while blocking or...

A microscope equipped with a polarizer, an analyzer and a Bertrand lens to focus on the upper focal plane of the objective....

The production of a positron-electron pair by a photon having energy greater than one mega-electron-volt, whereby some of...

A galvanometric scanner, also known as a galvanometer scanner or galvo scanner, is a type of optical scanning device used to...

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The...

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

An optical system having two sets of components separated by an air space, while successive lenses in each set are cemented...

A photograph reduced to the microscopic scale and stored on a microfilm as seen with microfiches for the purpose of storing...

A detector sensitive only to signals close to or at a particular frequency that is the same as the frequency of a control...

An acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Predecessor to the laser, the maser or...

The method that, by measuring the absorption along an atmospheric path at wavelengths ranging from two to a continuum, can...

A method of creating real three-dimensional models by using lasers driven by CAD software. In contrast to the normal...

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

A photometer screen that contains a diaphragm of paper or parchment with a translucent central spot of oil or paraffin.

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

A type of recording material, usually a photodielectric polymer, offering in situ development mechanisms because of its...

Lens testing equipment refers to a range of specialized tools and instruments used to evaluate the optical performance,...

A refracting telescope that yields an erect image by the use of a positive lens for its objective and a negative lens for...

A solid-state laser that is continuously tunable in the wavelength region from 700 to 1100 nm. It is suitable for both...

A hologram that is formed on a recording medium by changing the phase of the illuminating wave in correspondence with the...

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a miniaturized device that integrates various laboratory functions and capabilities onto a single,...

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric...

In fiber optic cable, containment of the fiber or fibers within an outer protective tube in which they can move to some...

Machinery used to grind and finish a component, such as a lens or prism, to a desired precision. Usually such machines carry...

A phage, short for bacteriophage, is a type of virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. Phages are composed of...

A group of related lines that represent transitions between two spectroscopic terms, each of which may be complex. Also in...

A biomarker, short for biological marker, refers to a measurable and quantifiable indicator of a biological condition,...

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

A filter that creates spherical aberration resulting in an image with a soft outline.

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two...

An EMCCD (electron-multiplying charge-coupled device) camera is a type of scientific camera specifically designed for...

Photochromic refers to a property exhibited by certain materials, typically organic compounds or dyes, which undergo...

The letter form used on visual performance test charts. The overall letter height is equal to five times the thickness of...

An acid used to etch the surfaces of particular materials. For glass, hydrofluoric acid is used either as a liquid or a...

A microscope to which a beamsplitter and illuminated reticle have been added to measure the radius of curvature of a...

Light diffusion refers to the process by which light is scattered or spread out in various directions as it interacts with a...

Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the...

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

The amplitude, polarization and phase contained in the field distribution over the aperture.

The application of ultraviolet, x-ray, infrared and conventional photography to law enforcement.

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

A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin...

A photovoltaic cell, commonly known as a solar cell, is a semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into...

The disordered, glassy solid state of a substance, as distinguished from the highly ordered crystalline solid state....

The efficiency of scattering by an atom in a particular direction, expressed as: where AA is the amplitude of the wave from...

The concept of the de Broglie wavelength exploits the wave-particle duality of quantum physics by associating all matter (of...

An infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED) is a semiconductor device that emits infrared light when an electric current...

The spectroscopic analysis of optical line shapes and frequency shifts, using the technique of light beating; i.e., the...

Sapphire can refer to either a gemstone or a specific type of crystalline material commonly used in various industrial...

A YAG crystal refers to a solid-state crystal made of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), which is a synthetic crystalline...

The metal tube that maintains the optical components of a lens in proper relationship. Some lenses are mounted in metal...

The total optical power loss caused by the insertion of an optical component such as a connector, splice or coupler into a...

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

A laser that has a surface-emitting semiconductor gain element coupled to an external mirror designed to complete the laser...

Also known as TEA laser. A coherent optical source with a wide wavelength range in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet...

A photoconductor that demonstrates increased conductivity during its exposure to infrared radiation.

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

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

An optical experiment carried out conclusively in 1887 that demonstrated that the ether, a hypothetical medium postulated by...

Also called DLIP, a high-speed, high-resolution processing technique that uses high-power, pulsed laser systems to directly...

Pertaining to the possession of photoelectric characteristics as a result of the properties of the true crystal and not of...

A phototube in which the primary photoemission current, before being extracted at the anode, is multiplied many times.

A network interface card (NIC), also known as a network adapter or LAN adapter, is a hardware component that allows...

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

Light measurement by comparison of the luminances of unlike chromaticities.

Attenuation refers to the gradual loss or reduction of intensity, force, or magnitude of a particular property as it...

A precision lens designed to convert the plane wavefront output of an interferometer to a spherical wavefront for the...

A hologram in which the image of an object, or the object itself, is located near the hologram recording plane, for optimum...

Calorimetry is a branch of science that involves the measurement of heat flow in physical or chemical processes. It...

The utilization of photometric measurement to determine the relative magnitudes of the heavenly bodies.

Alphanumerical description of color according to Munsell hue, value and chroma.

A filter, pale purple in color, used in black and white photography to display the brightness values of a subject being...

A system that satisfies the Abbe sine condition, and is free from spherical aberration and coma.

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

An optical projection device designed to project positive color transparencies onto a screen for viewing.

The scanning of photographs or transparencies of images, either by a vidicon camera or flying spot scanner, for the...

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

Gram-positive bacteria are a group of bacteria that have a thick cell wall composed primarily of a substance called...

A filter, partially opaque to near-ultraviolet, visible and infrared radiation, that may be made by exposing and processing...

The action of a biological system responding to a single or multiple coherent particles of light produced from a laser...

The ejection of electrons from the surface of a solid by the absorption of a sufficient amount of photons.

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

In a laser diode, the photocurrent produced by a photodiode that detects the emission from the rear facet of the...

A photographic objective that uses the thick meniscus principle to obtain its power. It is designed to photograph small...

A fiber optic cable assembly refers to a complete unit consisting of optical fibers, connectors, protective jackets, and...

The recording of patterns by the production and use of latent electrostatic charge patterns. See electrostatic process.

Propagation of electromagnetic waves through the Earth's atmosphere in a path that conforms to the curvature of the Earth...

A metal tool used to grind lenses with loose abrasive (see diamond cutting tool). The functional surface of the lap is...

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

Bohr's formulation that every new theoretical principle must correspond to the salient classical predecessor. The principle...

A small incandescent lamp whose intense beam is focused on the optical soundtrack of a motion picture film. The soundtrack...

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical...

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

An infrared light source is a device that emits light in the infrared spectrum, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of...

A dome-shaped structure used for some optical instruments in place of a flat window. The transparent material should be of...

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

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

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

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

The property of a phosphor that determines its ability to emit light for a time after the stimulus has been extinguished....

A component used to modify light rays by diffraction; the HOE is produced by recording the interference pattern of two laser...

A camera that consists of a concave spherical mirror with an aspheric plate situated at the center of curvature of the...

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

Topology is a branch of mathematics that focuses on the properties of space that are preserved under continuous...

An electronic tube instrument in which the anode current varies with the intensity of light incident on the cathode.

The unit solid angle subtended at the center of a sphere by an area on its surface equivalent to the square of the radius;...

In computer graphics, intersection of a plane with a three-dimensional object to create a sectional view.

The displacement of spectrum lines, as determined by the increasing distance between, and the relative velocity of, the...

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

The absorption of part of the photon energy by a molecule through which there is a slight energy change and the energy...

A photoelectrically controlled, alphanumeric reading device that converts characters to audible or sorting signals which can...

Luminescence produced by the bombardment of radiant energy such as x-rays, radioactive waves or alpha particles.

Optical elements that use diffraction to control wavefronts. Diffractive optical elements include diffraction gratings,...

Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser...

A type of electroluminescent display that will record and maintain an irradiated image on its phosphor screen, provided a DC...

A material used in photodynamic therapy that is retained selectively by tumor tissue when injected into the body; it then...

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

A source of light will not cast a distinct shadow of an interfering, opaque object, but will cast a shadow having two parts:...

A point cloud is a set of data points in a three-dimensional coordinate system, where each point represents a specific...

Ray tracing is a rendering technique used in computer graphics to simulate the way light interacts with objects in a scene....

Pixel binning, also known as pixel merging or pixel combining, is a technique used in digital imaging and camera technology....

Polymers are large molecules composed of repeating structural units called monomers. These monomers are chemically bonded...

Component that is externally controlled via electronic or photon signal.

The degree to which a pixel in a digital image represents the analog brightness of the corresponding point in the original...

An electron-gun system is an assembly used to generate and control a focused beam of electrons. Electron guns find...

A device used to scan, with a small, intensely bright spot, portions of a picture surface and to transform the original...

A lithography method that allows the transfer of fine-pitch gratings from a phase mask into photoresist. The exposure takes...

Laser surgery refers to a medical procedure in which a laser, or focused beam of light, is used as a precision tool to cut,...

A photodetector in which an electrical charge is produced when incident photons change electrons within the detecting...

A lens that distorts an optical image.

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

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

In morphological image processing, a series of dilations followed by the same number of erosions.

A reference incandescent light source having a luminous intensity that is used in photometry for comparison of other light...

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

A refracting telescope that uses a prism to bend the line of sight 90°.

The measurement of surface temperature by a thermograph that forms a pattern of the heat radiated by the surface on a...

Colorless crystals used in photoelectric cells and for photosensitive material in cathodes.

A photoconductive cell consisting of a layer of selenium on a substrate whose electrical resistance varies with the...

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

A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of...

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a nonlinear optical process that occurs when two photons with the same frequency combine...

A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to...

Generation of an acoustical signal by a sample exposed to modulated light.

The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where...

A method used in imaging to detect subtle differences between two apparently similar pictures. It can be achieved by...

The pattern of lines traced by rectilinear scanning in display systems.

An instrument in which visible light beyond the critical angle from a metallurgical microscope is focused on a reference...

Extraction of three-dimensional measurements from a stereo pair of photographs.

The total range of wavelengths, extending from the shortest to the longest wavelength or conversely, that can be generated...

An optical instrument for forming the spectrum of a light source and recording it on a film. The dispersing medium may be a...

Photographic recording that uses infrared radiation as the light source to form an image of a microscopic object and a...

Molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid or tube. Also called buckyballs....

A molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can...

The determination of the relative phase shift of an image as a function of frequency. A phase change of 180° with...

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

A chart, either printed on paper or prepared photographically on glass plates or film, that consists of 3-bar resolution...

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

The nondestructive analysis and recording of industrial components based on the absorption of relatively low-energy neutrons...

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

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce...

A sputtering target is a solid material used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering....

A two-electrode, radiation-sensitive junction formed in a semiconductor material in which the reverse current varies with...

3D Laser Triangulation - A technology that allows sensors to probe the surroundings. Laser triangulation systems have an...

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

Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the...

A laser having a Q-switching method that allows separate parallel volumes of the lasing material to act independently of...

The area of optics in which the wave nature of a particle is exploited to carry out very accurate interferometry and other...

Reflectance spectroscopy is a technique used to analyze the reflective properties of materials across various wavelengths of...

Used to detect radiation from the infrared region. The functional process includes absorption of infrared radiation, which...

A contour mapping technique that uses electronic scanning and sampling techniques instead of a reference grating (see moire...

A beamsplitter is an optical device for dividing a beam into two or more separate beams. A simple beamsplitter may be a very...

The computer module whose circuitry interprets instructions and guides the actions of the peripherals. Also known as the...

A fiber optic sensor is a device that uses optical fibers to detect and measure physical, chemical, biological, or...

A silicon photodiode is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It is a type of photodetector...

An optical instrument used to isolate a narrow bandwidth of optical radiation using a diffraction grating as the dispersive...

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

The absorption of a photon raising an electron across the forbidden gap from valence to conduction band of the semiconductor...

Electromagnetic radiation detectable by the eye, ranging in wavelength from about 400 to 750 nm. In photonic applications...

The term photochemical pertains to chemical processes or reactions that are initiated or influenced by the absorption of...

A device used to measure the opening time of a shutter. The most common devices depend on the charging or discharging of an...

1. A device used in chemistry to compare the colors of solutions held in flat-bottomed tubes and viewed along the length of...

The recording achieved when a surface, illuminated by a signal-controlled light beam, emits electrons or reacts in some...

A photometer for measuring gloss by comparing the specular reflectance to that from a perfect specular reflector.

A reagent is a substance or compound that is used in a chemical reaction to bring about a specific transformation or to...

Remote sensing is a method of data collection and observation where information about objects, areas, or phenomena on...

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

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

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

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

A measurement technique used to determine the spatial distribution profile of an electrical or optical quantity of interest...

An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet laser that emits short pulses of light in the ultraviolet spectrum. The term...

The generation of a grating on a concave spherical blank by the holographic process. In this way, ghost images and intense...

An array of lines in the infrared region of the emission spectrum of atomic hydrogen. Their wave numbers are expressed by...

Gas detection measurement technique that uses a built-in capacitative microphone to calculate the amount of absorbed laser...

A lens consisting of two or more elements, usually of crown and flint glass, that has been corrected for chromatic...

The use of photoetching techniques to produce small tools, parts and dies from sheet metal.

The ray refracted by a sphere of transparent material that travels back as closely as possible to the original path formed...

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

A unit of pressure of 1 mm Hg, equivalent to 133 P. One atmosphere = 760 torr. (t).

Extremely small organic and inorganic systems of molecules within a substance. In general, systems are colloidal size in...

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

A vacuum tube in which a magnetic field is superimposed onto the tube's electrical field. When the two fields are aligned,...

A method that produces low-loss optical fibers. A glass tube rotates while reactants pass through the tube and heat is...

In optics, the Pockels effect refers to the phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an...

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

An organizational method used in optical design computer programs. The technique produces one number (merit function) to...

1. The reduction in the developable density of a photographic emulsion that has been extremely overexposed. 2. In a laser...

Surface analysis by means of photon induced electron emission. PEM methods provide high lateral resolution of the observed...

An instrument designed to record the duration and intensity of solar radiation.

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

A measure of the ability of a photographic system to record fine detail. Usually stated in terms of cycles per millimeter on...

A specific form of phase shifting interferometry - commonly referred to as multiple wavelength phase shifting interferometry...

A chemical solution that changes the silver salts (latent image) of exposed photographic film into black metallic silver...

Short-distance scattering of light in holography caused by random index inhomogeneities and the developing index that...

A laser cavity, also known as an optical cavity or resonator, is a fundamental component of a laser system. It is a confined...

A process involving the interaction (absorption, emission or both) of two or more photons with a molecular entity.

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

An advanced magnetic device used in x-ray lithography to beam x-rays onto the surface of silicon wafers used for...

A vapor-phase oxidation process for fabricating graded-index optical fibers. It differs from outside vapor phase deposition...

A technique used in photolithography of computer chips to compensate for errors caused by the proximity effect, which...

A group of photosensors arranged in a grid-like pattern covering the entire field of view, enabling them to record it all at...

An electrophoretic display, often referred to as an electronic paper display or e-paper display, is a type of electronic...

Any instrument or system carried by a balloon to the upper atmosphere to measure and record atmospheric information, such as...

A lens blank is a piece of optical material in a raw, unfinished state, typically in the form of a disk or block, from which...

A tiny lens (as small as 100 µm in diameter) used to focus light on charge-coupled devices, formed by heating a...

A photographic recording instrument that measures deviation from the vertical of a drilled well or mine.

1. In the geometric sense, an abbreviation for the term "sagitta,'' the height of a curve measured from the chord. ...

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

Spatial resolution refers to the level of detail or granularity in an image or a spatial dataset. It is a measure of the...

A shutter consisting of a ring of interweaving blades that open outward and allow light to pass when they are pivoted at...

A telephoto lens form noted for its lack of distortion.

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

Computer output in the form of pictorial representation (graphs, charts, drawings, etc.) that is displayed visually.

A method used in surface quality testing for accurate positioning and rotation of metal spheres about an axis or fixed point...

Also known as mesosphere. A level of the atmosphere, extending from the stratosphere to the ionosphere, that is noted for...

A device used in measuring attenuation in optical fiber. The loss caused by the bends in a short reference length of fiber...

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

The emission of an electron from a surface that occurs when a photon impinges upon the surface and is absorbed. This effect...

An atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) is an analytical instrument used to determine the concentration of specific chemical...

A prism used in a photometer for the adjacent comparison of separate luminance.

A projection printer that is capable of reproducing a multiplicity of images from a master transparency on a single support...

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

A device used to measure the intensity of radiant energy.

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

The law expressing the condition under which a crystal will reflect a beam of x-rays with the greatest amount of distinction...

A measurement method for reflectance by gas ionization in which light passes through a vapor before and after reflection....

A method of measuring flow velocity by seeding the flow with neutrally buoyant particles and using a pulsed laser to...

Laser drift typically refers to a phenomenon where the frequency or wavelength of a laser source gradually changes over...

A traveling wave tube (TWT) containing a photocathode and window that, receiving a laser beam, produces a modified...

The surface curvature designed to reduce the marginal error found in the periphery of a spectacle lens.

Dispersion refers to the phenomenon where different wavelengths (colors) of light travel at different speeds when passing...

The smallest amount of photon energy to pass a detector window and be counted.

A circuit that uses feedback to synchronize the phase of a voltage-controlled oscillator with the phase of an incoming or...

A cylindrical convex viewing mirror used for viewing distorted pictures formed by photographing the reflections of the...

A solid-state device similar to an ordinary transistor except that incident light on the PN junctions regulates the response...

Positioning generally refers to the determination or identification of the location or placement of an object, person, or...

1. A method of photographing distant objects with a lens of long focal length. 2. The reproduction of photographs over a...

A custom optic refers to an optical component that is designed, manufactured, and tailored to meet specific requirements or...

A quantum dot is a nanoscale semiconductor structure, typically composed of materials like cadmium selenide or indium...

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive analytical technique that uses the near-infrared region of the...

A solid block of glass-ceramic material with holes drilled the length of all four sides, and mirrors attached to the corners...

Phototherapy is a medical treatment that involves the use of light to treat various conditions, particularly those related...

A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It...

A method for characterizing a fiber wherein an optical pulse is transmitted through the fiber, and the resulting light...

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

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

A light beam whose electric vectors can be broken into two perpendicular elements that have equal amplitudes and that differ...

A visual spectrophotometer with a rhomb located directly before the entrance aperture of a constant-deviation...

A single housing that includes means of recording an image photographically and electronically.

A nanotube, also known as a nanotubule or simply a tube-like structure, is a nanoscale cylindrical structure composed of...

The analysis of the properties of radiation, such as light, when acted upon by variations in the atmosphere. Blue and red...

A contour mapping technique that involves projection of a grating onto an object to produce a shadow grating that is...

That property of a material indicating that it will react when exposed to light energy.

A type of distortion in which the magnification varies in different orientations, the directions of maximum and minimum...

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are substances or compounds used to enhance the thermal conductivity between two surfaces...

The process of grinding the toric surface of a single vision sphero-cylindrical lens.

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

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

Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine that focuses on the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the eyes and visual system....

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

Referred to as SWCNTs, these cylindrical nanostructures composed of a folded sheet of graphene can be used as near-infrared...

A porous ceramic substance that is ground to a given optical form and on which a polished plate of glass is sagged by heat...

A material in which the refractive index varies according to changes in the light to which it is exposed. Lithium niobate is...

A test used to measure the degree of fading of different colored materials, especially those involving organic dyes, which...

Cold atoms refer to atoms that have been cooled to extremely low temperatures, typically in the microkelvin (µK) to...

The condition in which there are more atomic systems in the upper of two energy levels than in the lower, so stimulated...

The negative distortion that causes a square grid pattern to be imaged as barrel-shaped.

The fiber optic connector developed and manufactured by Amphenol Fiber Optic Products.

A phenomenon that occurs in WDM and DWDM systems when three closely spaced signal wavelengths near the zero-dispersion...

A visual, single-unit spectrophotometer with a biprism and a Wollaston prism. The Wollaston prism polarizes coincident...

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

A technique proposed for studying the atomic structure of crystals by measuring the interference pattern generated when the...

A far-field pattern holographically reproduced image that is categorically considered with three-dimensional lensless...

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

A measure of the total light passed by a shutter during an exposure, compared with the light that could be passed by an...

A spectrophotometer that measures the amount of ozone in the atmosphere through a comparison of solar energy at two...

An optical system used to examine the pharynx.

A strip or annulus of glass coated with a semitransparent material such as inconel. The coating thickness, and as a result...

Pertaining to optics and the phenomena of light.

An image-forming instrument in which a strong electrostatic field causes cold emission of electrons from a sharply rounded...

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

A laser-pumped crystal with nonlinear optical properties inside of an optical resonator in which the output generates...

A type of additive color photography using a lenticular structure impressed on a film base and a camera lens with a filter...

An image that can be studied three-dimensionally through a pair of complementary color filters composed of two superimposed...

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

A vidicon that has a photoconductive surface that can be excited by infrared radiation.

An optical element designed to correct each zone of a reflector or refractor for spherical aberration.

An infrared lens is an optical component specifically designed and optimized for transmitting, focusing, or manipulating...

A form of liquid crystal in which the 90° twist of the twisted nematic phase has been increased to 180° or more,...

An instrument that uses optical filtration in order to measure the transmittance for a discrete range or specific number of...

That object distance at which a camera must be focused so that the far depth of field just extends to infinity. The near...

Hyperspectral imaging is an advanced imaging technique that captures and processes information from across the...

1. The photosensitive membrane on the inside of the human eye. 2. A scanning mechanism in optical character generation.

Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors...

A technique used in radiography to obtain an unblurred image of a moving object by the use of very short x-ray exposures,...

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a type of electronic image sensor used in various imaging devices, including digital...

Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In...

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

An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other...

Spherical or chromatic aberration in a lens having a wide aperture. It is present because the refracting power varies for...

A retroreflector that can focus a beam of light, with one planar reflective surface, one spherical and a third that is...

A holographic grating is a type of diffraction grating that is produced using holographic recording techniques. It consists...

An aperture consisting of a semitransparent central region whose amplitude transmittance only is varied, and the relative...

An autocollimator is an optical instrument used for measuring small angular deviations with high precision. It operates on...

A type of receiver utilizing a local oscillator phase-locked to the incoming signal.

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

The method by which photographic film is scanned by an electron beam. One technique uses the uniform light of a television...

The use of photographic recording equipment to measure radiant energy. With this procedure, many measurements of radiant...

A confocal resonator, also known as a confocal cavity or confocal laser resonator, is a type of optical resonator...

An electronic transducer, either fixed or adjustable, that reduces the amplitude of a wave without causing significant...

Modulation transfer function of an optical element when used for transporting images from a lambertian source such as...

A salt of formic acid that can be used to enhance the photosensitivity of silver halide crystals.

A specialized spectrophotometer for use through a microscope on very small areas of an object.

Hydrophilic is a term used to describe substances or materials that have an affinity for water. The word hydrophilic comes...

The study concerned with the stimulation of chemical activity by laser light as a result of the absorption of photons by a...

A set of algorithms used to study the structural and spatial characteristics of objects in a digitized image for...

A photometer that permits visual comparison of the luminance of two surfaces.

When light is transmitted through matter, part of the light is scattered in random directions. A small part of the scattered...

In a telephoto lens, the ratio of the overall length to the focal length of the lens. It is generally about 0.8 to 0.9 in...

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

An impurity-doped silicon detector array sensitive to long infrared wavelengths, installed in optical collecting systems...

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...

The changing of the kinetic energy of a mobile electron into radiant energy, as in formation of x-rays.

A medical imaging method in which gamma camera heads rotate about the patient to detect radionuclides, enabling physicians...

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

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

The storage of data as bits in memory by holographic processes. The laser beam is divided into reference and object beams,...

An InGaAs photodiode refers to a photodetector device that is constructed using a semiconductor material composed of a...

Technique that defocuses activity from surrounding planes by means of the relative motions at the point of interest.

The pattern used as a probe in morphological image processing to manipulate the size and shape of objects in an image.

A system that uses a continuous-wave laser to measure the velocity of an object by focusing the laser beam on the object,...

A form of infrared CCD that utilizes internal photoemission as a photodetection mechanism.

The process, used with a positive photoresist, in which the photoresist is immersed in developing chemicals while being...

A group of solar cells that are electrically contacted and physically arranged so that they may be oriented in the direction...

A collector for photovoltaic power generation that consists of a thin plate that strongly absorbs sunlight striking its...

A system for automatic industrial process control or measurement, consisting of an optical module for image acquisition, a...

RGB stands for red, green, blue, which are the primary colors of light used in additive color mixing. The RGB color model is...

A magnon is a quasiparticle representing a quantized spin wave in a magnetic material. In other words, it is a collective...

The diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasonic energy to probe the body and, with the help of laser beams, a reflecting...

Holography is a technique used to capture and reconstruct three-dimensional images using the principles of interference and...

Any integrated circuit that also makes use of one or more discrete components; frequently used to describe circuits that...

A class of optical phenomena that can be viewed only with nearly monochromatic, directional beams of light, such as those...

A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to...

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

A curve or surface having equivalent light intensity.

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

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

The alteration of electric conductivity produced by the absorption of varying amounts of radiation composed of photons.

A form of liquid crystal in which flow does not take place in the usual manner. When examined with polarized light, the...

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

After putting a thick photographic emulsion on a front-faced mirror, and exposing the emulsion to monochromatic incident...

In holography, the beam of light that is directed from the beamsplitter to the recording medium, where it interferes with...

A coherent fiber bundle (CFB), also known as a coherent fiber optic bundle, is an assembly of multiple optical fibers...

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

In an optical system, noise created by mode-dependent optical losses and variations in the distribution of radiant power...

A quantum of electromagnetic energy of a single mode; i.e., a single wavelength, direction and polarization. As a unit of...

Frame rate refers to the frequency at which consecutive images, or frames, are displayed in a video sequence. It is...

A device small enough to be held in a hand that uses a magnifying lens and a translucent back to permit the viewing of...

In photolithography, an opaque material used in masks that has a lower optical density and grainier composition than chrome.

In a fiber optic cable, the longitudinal length required for the transmission media, wrapped around a central member, to...

Also known as real holographic image. The indistinct, highly distorted image produced on the side of the hologram closest to...

The image formed in electrophotography.

Electromagnetic energy is transmitted in the form of a sinusoidal wave. The wavelength is the physical distance covered by...

A fusion system conductor capable of carrying current in opposite directions in alternating time phases.

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

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

When a block of glass (prism, window, filter, etc.) is placed into a converging light bundle, it increases the physical...

Extended period exposure photographs of a laser light created with various patterns within full image (laser graffiti).

A light source that is capable of producing radiation with waves vibrating in phase. The laser is an example of a coherent...

A mechanical shutter that has had its timing escapement replaced with an electronic timing circuit. This circuit allows a...

A type of piezoelectric translator that uses two thin strips of piezoelectric material, one expanding while the other...

The study of visual perception by the sense of sight.

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment or experience that can be...

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in...

A phonon is a quantum of vibrational energy associated with the periodic motion of atoms or molecules in a crystalline...

A laser having a material, such as ruby, that has an energy state structure of three levels: the ground state (1) wherein...

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

Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often...

The process of mapping the infrared emittance of an area through the use of an infrared detector and related scanning...

A probe card is a testing device used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to evaluate and test the electrical...

A form of liquid crystal with an appearance of moving, threadlike structures, particularly visible when observed in thick...

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level....

A spectrograph having glass as its refracting component and used in cases where speed and high dispersion are not required....

Birefringence is an optical property of certain materials that causes them to exhibit different refractive indices for light...

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

A gas lamp used in the early 1900s as a physical standard for measurement of luminous intensity. The Hefner unit was...

The error inherent in spectral energy or spectrophotometric quantity due to the finite dimension of the entrance and exit...

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

Photocells of various kinds used to measure photometric quantities; i.e., intensity, luminance and illuminance. Meter...

A sensitometer that utilizes an electronic flashtube or a photoflash lamp as both the light source and the shutter for...

The detection and measurement of spectral reflectance, spectral transmittance or relative spectral emittance, relative to...

Ratio of the radiant flux at a particular wavelength lm to that at any other wavelength l, such that both radiations produce...

An instrument consisting essentially of a photoelectric cell filtered to respond to a specified wavelength region, an...

The measurement of the intensity of spectral lines by the examination of a very small area under a microscope and the...

coma, fifth order aberration with on-axis focal point variation with incident off axis ray height position

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

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

Electromagnetic energy that is capable of producing photochemical activity.

A film of material that exhibits varying conductivity based upon its absorption of varying amounts of photon radiation.

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

In image processing, a specially designed programmable computer peripheral that attaches to the host system for the purpose...

A compound lens so constructed that its overall length is equal to or less than its effective focal length.

The production and analysis of spectra with the use of a spectrograph.

Circular dichroism (CD) is a spectroscopic technique used to study the structural characteristics of chiral (asymmetric)...

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

Phrase applied to any noise of extraterrestrial origin, named for the engineer who discovered the phenomenon.

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

Dichroism refers to the property of certain materials to exhibit different colors or absorbance of light depending on the...

A telescope similar to the customary Cassegrain telescope, but having a primary mirror that is ellipsoidal and a secondary...

A laser diode module is a compact device that incorporates a laser diode, optics, and often other components into a single...

Photoconductive antenna (PCA) is a semiconductor element that generates or detects high-frequency electromagnetic signals....

In Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS), an incident photon (usually laser light) interacts with acoustic phonons in a...

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

Any isolated wave that propagates without dispersion of energy. Specifically to photonics, an ultrashort pulse of laser...

Filtered light to which photographic or other photosensitive materials are not responsive; used to illuminate darkrooms when...

A form of lens assembly used in a projection system to maximize efficiency and assure uniform illumination of the object...

Description of a material, such as a water-soluble salt, that will continue absorbing moisture from the surrounding...

A holographic plate coated by photopolymeric mixtures that are composed of one or more monomers and a photoredox catalyst...

There are three types of telecentric lenses: -Image-space telecentric lenses are those in which the aperture stop is...

A substance that increases a material's sensitivity to electromagnetic irradiation. In photodynamic therapy, a drug used to...

Opsins are a group of light-sensitive proteins found primarily in the retinas of vertebrate and invertebrate eyes, as well...

The range of angle or solid angle values by which light may enter an optical system.

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

A factor of an equation of the Faraday effect, which is the rotation of the plane of light polarization by transparent...

Radiation having waves that are out of phase in space and/or time.

An intensity distribution (intensity as a function of radial distance from the beam center) which is given by the Gaussian...

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

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic...

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) refers to a specific range of electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum....

A reflection hologram using multiple color lasers that integrates various graphical techniques to allow the display of...

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely...

Not spherical; an optical element having one or more surfaces that are not spherical. The spherical surface of a lens may be...

A type of optical modulator with potential application in optical switching and displays, in which applied voltage causes a...

That branch of astronomy concerned with the study of the moon's physical characteristics.

A Cassegrain telescope having a parabolic primary mirror, a spherical secondary mirror and a zero-power doublet in the...

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

Chemical vapor deposition is a process of applying dopants to a glass bait by flame reactions of gaseous compounds. See also...

A graphical device used to measure prism power.

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

An electron tube having a photocathode for the emission of a photoelectric current.

Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the...

An optical recording technique that uses light source(s), a beamsplitting cube, light detector(s) and an optical fiber...

Data gathered by a facsimile system and converted into graphic, readable form; generally used in meteorology. Also known as...

In ophthalmic practice, an instrument that determines the boundaries of the field of view. It is composed of a 2-m square of...

A radioactive element that is placed or injected into a system to obtain an autoradiogram of the system. It is used in a...

A calculated function that can be achieved experimentally with interferometric analysis of complex atmospheric altitude;...

In the context of optical materials, the term "impurity level" refers to the presence of foreign atoms or molecules within...

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

An absorption peak refers to a sharp increase or spike in the absorption of electromagnetic radiation at a particular...

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

Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and digital image processing...

Stimulating light used for the production of energy through photosynthesis, solar cell or other light senstitive device.

That portion of physics concerned with motion in the abstract, such as of points or space figures, and separated from its...

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

An optical diffuser is an optical component or material designed to scatter or diffuse light that passes through it. It is...

An advanced technique that allows the detection of one molecule within a crystal or a cell through optical excitation....

Technology that relies on a highly efficient photodetector that can detect incoming light signals at one frequency and...

Also known as a white-light interferometer. Measures surface texture and shape from nanometer-scale roughness to...

A device consisting of a disc with a spiral arrangement of holes that is used to convert visible patterns into electrical...

Holmium lasers are a type of medical laser that utilizes holmium-doped crystals as the gain medium. The term holmium laser...

Irregularities and disturbances in the atmosphere that are of particular interest because they induce random temporal and...

A light therapy that utilizes nonionizing light sources, including lasers, LEDs, and broadband light, in the visible and...

A spheric lens, also known as a spherical lens, is a type of optical lens with at least one surface that is part of a...

Optical tweezers refer to a scientific instrument that uses the pressure of laser light to trap and manipulate microscopic...

A wide-angle lens is a type of camera lens that has a shorter focal length than a standard or normal lens, allowing it to...

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

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

Optical fiber that transmits a greater percentage of input light than does high-loss step-index fiber. Low-loss fiber...

A quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a type of semiconductor laser that operates based on the principles of quantum mechanics....

A surgical device used to deliver laser light. Specifically,contact tips are made with artificially grown sapphire which is...

A device consisting of a microammeter, a photovoltaic cell and a battery. It is used for the measurement of scene brightness...

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

A hologram formed by reconstruction of multicolor wavefronts. The system used to produce the hologram is designed to combine...

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment refers to a class of specialized apparatus used in the process of chemical vapor...

The application of observed operational processes of sophisticated living organisms to mechanical and electrical systems in...

The transmission of photographic images or pictures by radio waves.

A hemispherical covering that is rotatable about a central axis. There is a slit opening along one side wide enough to allow...

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

An ultrafast laser is a type of laser that emits extremely short pulses of light with durations typically on the order of...

Term applied to radiation composed of particles or photons that will not easily penetrate a material because of their low...

A fiber optic imaging bundle is a specialized optical device composed of multiple optical fibers bundled together. Each...

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

The first nonlinear theory in plasma physics that details the time and space evolution of plasma wave instability from a...

The pattern, formed by a character generation cathode-ray tube system, in which the characters are made up of wave shapes...

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

The effect, present in particular phosphors, that is defined as a transformation in the dielectric constant of a material...

In optics and photolithography, a phase mask refers to a device that modifies the phase of light waves passing through it....

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

Pertaining to the measurement of the intensity of light.

A process and method by which manipulation and orientation of a given number of directed laser beams decreases the motion of...

Holographic recording whereby the object is illuminated by two pulses, separated by a time interval, from a Q-switched laser...

Long-wave infrared (LWIR) refers to a specific range of the infrared spectrum. Infrared radiation is divided into three main...

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than...

A film or plate that is usually coated on both sides with a very fast emulsion that is sensitive to x-rays, and used to...

An X-Y electrically addressable series of arrays with individual electron emitters bombarding a phosphor-coated transparent...

The desensitization of the first photographic exposure after it has been subjected to high-intensity radiation.

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

Dewetting is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where a thin film or coating spontaneously undergoes a process of...

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

A measure of the transmittance through an optical medium. Optical density equals the log to the base 10 of the reciprocal of...

Minimum object distance, often abbreviated as MOD, refers to the closest distance at which a camera lens or optical system...

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

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

An eyepiece consisting of a planoconvex field lens and a cemented doublet as the eye lens.

A blackbody source, often simply referred to as a blackbody, is a theoretical or practical physical object that absorbs all...

Time-lapse optical coherence tomography (OCT) refers to a medical imaging technique that captures a series of sequential OCT...

A polariton is a quasiparticle resulting from the strong coupling between photons (light particles) and certain types of...

A spectrophotometer in which the beam emitted by the radiation source is split into beams that travel through the sample and...

Radiation that is emitted by a source outside the Earth and its atmosphere.

Common name for a variety of adhesives used for lens bonding, fiber optic splicing and other photonics applications. The...

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

Also referred to as differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy; Nomarski microscopy is a unique form of microscopy...

A technique that combines two or more imaging processes in order to minimize the disadvantages within each of the...

A mirror employed with a very high incidence angle to form a pair of coherent light sources by reflection, and therefore...

A photomicrographic recording technique that utilizes dark-field illumination to render an image of an object having a...

Heterochromatic photometry that depends on the elimination of chromatic flicker at a lower frequency than luminance flicker.

A catadioptric lens assembly consisting of a Maksutov corrector and a spherical primary mirror.

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

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

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

A form of mirage where objects near or just below the horizon appear in enlarged or distorted form because of atmospheric...

A camera equipped with angular scales in altitude and azimuth. The scale readings are imprinted on the film when an exposure...

The optical reconstruction of image information contained in a sound field. First the diffraction pattern, formed by an...

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

A family of specialized instruments used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to study a patient's eyes and prescribe...

Equipment for testing an observer's color vision. Some tests require the identification or ordering of colored samples. The...

The incident ray, the normal to the refracting surface at the point of incidence of the ray at the surface, and the...

Hardware installed on fiber cable ends to provide cable attachment to a transmitter, receiver or other cable. Usually a...

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

The technology of manipulating light on a micro scale. In optical communications, this is usually accomplished using two or...

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

The photographic recording of a subject that exhibits luminescence only for an extremely short time (10-8 s) after the...

A two-stage illuminating system for a microscope in which the source is imaged in the aperture of the substage condenser by...

Quantum-enhanced metrology refers to the use of quantum mechanics principles and techniques to enhance the precision and...

A standard source of high-charge-state ions for accelerators that has an external magnetic field oriented perpendicularly to...

Sputtering equipment is machinery used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering....

A lens aberration in which the focal length varies radially outward from the center of the field. It has the effect of...

A reference sphere used to represent all possible states of polarization. All linear polarizations will lie on the equator...

Radiography using the emission of gamma rays to form an image of the structure penetrated by the radiation.

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

Photonic crystals are artificial structures or materials designed to manipulate and control the flow of light in a manner...

With respect to microscopy, also called dispersive staining, optical staining the projection of colors through areas of a...

A forerunner of the modern camera, this instrument had a focusable lens that produced a sharp image on the enclosure...

The creation of a diode laser structure by liquid-phase epitaxy over a grooved substrate.

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

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

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

The control of an instrument or electrical circuit by the current produced by varying radiation incident to a photoelectric...

A lens assembly made up of three lens elements that may or may not be cemented.

A semiconductor material used in photodetectors, sensitive in the infrared up to 5 µm.

Black and white film that has a wavelength sensitivity similar to that of the eye.

Optical fiber optic switches are devices used in optical fiber communication systems to selectively route optical signals...

Photographing of terrain on the ground and objects in the air by cameras mounted in aircraft; utilized in satellites,...

A photovoltaic cell designed so that light travels through the front electrode and a semiconductor before it comes to the...

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through...

A method of producing x-ray exposures as short as 0.03 µs; the primary application is in ballistic radiography.

A microspectroscope equipped with a sensing and recording device, such as a camera, to measure the spectrum formed by...

The noise produced in a photodetector when the photocathode is shielded from all external optical radiation and operating...

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

An anastigmatic lens with a thick meniscus construction that flattens the field and corrects chromatic and spherical...

An imaging technique in which an object moving through an interference field formed in space scatters light and is spatially...

A physical stop that is conjugate to the entrance pupil and is used primarily to reduce diffraction effects at longer...

Calculates the exponential growth of the least stable spatial frequency in a laser beam, and is the numerical equivalent of...

Plasmon ion-assisted deposition (PIAD) is a technique used in thin-film deposition processes, particularly in the production...

A form of image intensifier designed to amplify a weak fluoroscopic image. The image is received at an input phosphor...

An electron-beam lithography (EBL) system is a sophisticated nanofabrication tool used in the semiconductor industry and...

Intentionally alternating the intensity of a display element in a graphic display device.

1. The decrease of the absorption (or gain) coefficient of a medium near some transition frequency when the power of the...

A chart on paper or glass containing a series of sets of lines at progressively smaller spacing and used to ascertain the...

A light-sensitive detector having a chemical compound that reacts when exposed to light. It is used in photochemistry and...

The image of the sun produced by a spectroheliograph.

A photographic or electronic recording of an optical interference pattern.

The physical adaption of the eye lens, by means of ciliary muscle contraction, in order to maintain a clear, in focus image...

The adjustable membrane located just in front of the crystalline lens within the eye. The iris gives the eye its color. See...

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by the presence of suspended particles. These...

The photographic recording of gas bubbles produced when particles traverse liquid hydrogen in a bubble chamber.

A solar spectrograph that uses long focus concave mirrors as its collimator and camera element.

An instrument designed to measure the refractive power and range of accommodation of the eye. See ophthalmic instruments.

With respect to color photography, the measurement of the way the color film modulates the radiant flux in the optical...

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of...

The separation of unpolarized light into two plane-polarized elements by a doubly refracting crystal. When a crystal, such...

An aspheric mirror is an optical mirror surface that deviates from the shape of a perfect sphere, having a non-spherical...

A projector used to project transparencies. A horizontal 8 x 10-in. stage for writing or laying down preformed...

1. In a photonic interconnect, the number of detectors in a given area. Detectors spaced too closely may give rise to...

Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves...

The surface from which electrons are ejected by the incidence and absorption of photons.

The gain that occurs between light intensity incident on a CCD given by the photocurrent produced.

Any device that is used to sense and measure light. See exposure meter; photoelectric exposure meter; photoelectric...

A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric...

A camera tube that employs a high-velocity electron beam to scan a photoemissive mosaic and to store electrical charge...

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

The technology that deals with the interaction of organic materials with light and other forms of radiant energy whose...

An instrument designed to measure angles in azimuth; used in general topographic work and military gunnery.

Characteristic of the relationship between photoelectric activity and the wavelength of incident radiation.

A fast, wide-angle lens used in television and photographic cameras, with excellent overall correction, but subject to...

An intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera is an advanced imaging device that combines the capabilities of both an...

An input device for a computer that detects and reads the data, in the form of punched holes in cards, by light that is...

I/O stands for input/output. In computing, it refers to the communication between a computer system or program and its...

Production of a repeated image of a transmitted beam through a diffractive optical element such as a holographic card or...

The process of subjecting glass to temperature cycling to produce physico-chemical reactions that alter its properties....

Ratio between map or photo linear distance and the actual ground dimensions represented.

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

A high-speed motion camera, also known as a high-speed camera or slow-motion camera, is a specialized imaging device...

A frequency comb is a precise and regular series of equally spaced spectral lines, or frequencies, that are generated with...

A linear image sensor is a type of solid-state electronic device used to capture and convert light into electrical signals....

The process of photographing the retina of the eye.

A specially designed microscope for observing the etched surface of a polished metal specimen. The specimen is often laid...

1. Also known as near-field diffraction. The field of radiation sent through an aperture in an absorbing screen at large...

The use of mathematical analysis to derive solutions in the science of photogrammetry.

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

A gas, such as oxygen, that improves the speed and efficiency of a laser cutter or welder when applied to the work surface,...

Expression of the length of a transmission medium in terms of wavelengths of the propagating wavelength. In general,...

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

Cinematography performed with the use of a microscope to film the actions of microscopic specimens.

An instrument designed to measure radiation indirectly through the use of several phosphors and a photomultiplier tube. The...

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

Radiography using the emission of x-rays to form an image of the structure penetrated by the radiation.

A device for converting sunlight into electrical energy, consisting of a sandwich of P-type and N-type semiconducting...

Mode hopping in the context of lasers refers to a phenomenon where a laser system abruptly switches from one longitudinal...

An electric arc that is formed in mercury vapor through which an electric current flows. The intensity of the illumination...

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

An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a...

Spectra can be conveniently recorded on photographic film or plates. The portions that are occupied by regions of the...

A technique used to store wavefront information on thin polarization information-recordable materials by controlling the...

A monochromator is an optical instrument used to isolate and select a narrow range of wavelengths from a broader spectrum of...

A source made to glow by electrons that are produced either electrically or by isotopes of various elements.

Freeform optics refers to the design and fabrication of optical surfaces that do not follow traditional symmetric shapes,...

A form of photography in which an electronic camera converts an image to an electronic signal that is stored in digital...

A rangefinder similar to a pair of binoculars with a long base, a dot or other wander mark provided in each eyepiece field,...

An optical coupling device that uses light to bridge the gap between incompatible wire communications systems. It contains...

Area scan, in the context of imaging and cameras, refers to a method of capturing an entire two-dimensional image in a...

Quantum efficiency (QE) is a measure of the effectiveness with which a device or system, typically in the context of...

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

A contraction for "texture element." A base unit used in computer graphics that defines the surface of three-dimensional...

Periodic interruptions of a light beam incident on an absorbing medium that produce heat, expansion and acoustic wave...

The study and photographing of microscope specimens in ultraviolet light; using an optical microscope containing fluorite...

Return of radiation by a surface, without change in wavelength. The reflection may be specular, from a smooth surface;...

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

The color of an object when it is illuminated by a nonisophotic source.

Lensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and...

A high-speed, narrow-field lens consisting of two achromats spaced about the aperture stop. Its uses include portrait...

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

A mixture of phosphor with a trace of a radioactive element that emits faint light continually. It is used on watch dials...

A mask-alignment microscope used to produce and inspect microcircuits in the electronics industry. It provides flat-field,...

Study of the reflection or transmission properties of specimens as a function of wavelength.

Aplanatic points refer to specific points in an optical system where certain aberrations, such as spherical aberration or...

A photodetector composed of a semiconductor material whose responsive properties can be altered by the addition of...

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

Metabolic imaging refers to the visualization and quantification of metabolic processes within living organisms, tissues, or...

Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This...

In interferometry, the result of superimposing two wavefronts of identical shape, yielding a uniform intensity interference...

1. The use of an electronic microdensitometer to measure points of equal density on a photographic deposit. 2. A technique...

A physical source of radiation, as contrasted to illuminant. See illuminant.

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a...

A telescope that corrects dispersion and spherical aberration through the use of one or more lenses, usually smaller than...

Phase distortion refers to a change in the phase relationships between different frequency components of a signal. In the...

Micro-LED (micro-light-emitting diode) refers to a technology that involves the use of very small light-emitting diodes to...

The generation of a difference in electric potential between two electrodes when radiation is incident on one of them.

A two-mirror lens design used in astronomical telescopes, the primary being a parabola, the secondary a smaller hyperbola....

Condition in which a perpendicular surface can be discovered for every ray in a group. This condition is commonly observed...

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

An exaggerated depth appearance in stereo photographs caused by the lenses in the camera being farther apart than the eyes...

An instrument for determining the temperature of a hot object by examining the color spectrum of the visible light it gives...

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

A birefringent crystal having two axes along which there is an absence of double refraction. Mica, sulphur and turquoise are...

A high-speed cine camera that produces discrete frames of a continuous event as opposed to the flow photographic record of a...

Film designed especially for the needs and conditions encountered in aerial photography. It is produced in a variety of...

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

A device used to take turbidimetric or nephelometric measurements by considering the contrast between a constant brightness...

A CRT screen on which two phosphors differing in color and persistence are deposited.

A photoelectric photometer used to measure the reflectance of a surface.

Measures the refractive indices axially from the fiber profile. Microscopy technique provides an interferogram with high...

A terahertz spectrometer is a scientific instrument used to measure and analyze the properties of materials in the terahertz...

A type of high-speed photographic shutter that uses Faraday rotation to produce exposure times as fast as 1 microsecond. It...

A light beam whose electric vectors are broken into two elements of unlike amplitudes that are perpendicular to each other...

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional...

The interaction between a photon and an energetic electron, caused by collision, that transfers energy from the electron to...

A naturally occurring pigment in tissue that may selectively absorb certain wavelengths and can be used to aid in targeting...

A ghost image that has the reverse lightness relations of the original image. This phenomenon is a common optical illusion...

The reduction in luminance of a light beam due to absorption and scattering as it passes through the atmosphere.

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

Metal used in components of the crystalline semiconductor alloys indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), indium gallium arsenide...

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

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a laboratory technique used to detect and measure the presence of specific...

An electrode used to release photoelectric emission when irradiated, making it then the irradiated negative electrode of a...

A prism with curved faces that collimates, reflects and refracts incident light. Often used in the production of...

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

A spectrophotometer designed for use in the 200- to 380-nm range of the electromagnetic spectrum and equipped with a...

The generation of a grating on a flat surface by means of a series of interference fringes formed by a holographic process....

The distortion in an ophthalmic lens resulting from the refraction of light rays entering the periphery of the lens surface....

Fluorescence microscopy is a specialized optical imaging technique used in biology, chemistry, and materials science to...

A broken circle used as the test object in distinguishing visual acuity. The width of the gap in the circle is equal to the...

Particle acceleration refers to the process by which charged particles, such as electrons or protons, gain kinetic energy...

A document-transmitting process that uses a cylinder that rotates the document to be scanned and detected by a photoelectric...

An electrowetting display (EWD) is a type of electronic display technology that utilizes the principles of electrowetting to...

An instrument that uses a beam of light to scan a color transparency, and three differently filtered photosensors to record...

Terahertz (THz) refers to a unit of frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum, denoting waves with frequencies between 0.1...

The photochemical reaction of light present in the decomposition of a substance.

A photometer having a pair of Nicol prisms introduced into the beam from the brighter of two sources to be compared. Turning...

Envelopes for cathode-ray tubes are made by blowing glass in the same manner as light bulbs. They have a fairly flat end...

Mount attached to a camera or camcorder which allows the user to attach a microphone or flash unit.

A camera that records its images electrostatically on plastic tape; used in situations where radiation would have an adverse...

The holographic recording of a microscopic specimen whereby magnification is achieved by alteration in a wavelength or...

Sparkling granular pattern that is observed when an object diffusely reflects coincident laser light. Speckle appears as an...

A method of measuring complex sequential photosynthetic reactions by varying the pulse time and wavelength of light...

Ferroelectric materials are a type of dielectric materials that exhibit spontaneous electric polarization, meaning they...

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

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

Also known as an eyepiece micrometer. A microscope eyepiece that has a finely divided scale ruled or photographed on a...

A device used to measure directional reflectance, with light collection restricted to a narrow range of angles of which the...

An optical filter is a device that selectively transmits or blocks specific wavelengths, or colors, of light. Optical...

A term used to denote a difference in magnification along mutually perpendicular meridians. Anamorphic systems are basically...

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

A method of demonstration or examination using a point source illumination without the use of any projection lens between...

A phenomenon in which high optical power, encountering an imperfection in an optical fiber, destroys the fiber's core and...

Data communications network in a clearly defined geographical location, and extending no more than a few miles in length. It...

A device used to measure the pressure of gases and vapors, without regard to atmospheric pressure.

A planar photocathode and a planar phosphor screen mounted in a close-spaced parallel configuration in an evacuated...

The formation of a picture or image in which the density gradients in a volume of flow are rendered visible. The image is...

Vision at intermediate levels of luminance between photopic and scotopic vision, where both retinal cones and retinal rods...

Refers to micron-size complex machines that have physical dimensions suitable for the fabrication of optical switches for...

An atmospheric nonlinear process unique to CO2 laser wavelengths, whereby CO2 absorbs 10.6-µm radiation and the CO2...

The effect in which photons are absorbed and excite the electrons; the electrons move from the valence band to the...

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

A sequential scanning device, utilizing a revolving lens, in which the cathode-ray tube image is transformed into a circle...

A Darlington current amplifier consisting of two separate transistors, of which a phototransistor is the input device.

The structure that holds the photographic negative in a proper position that is both flat and parallel to the lens plane, as...

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

The chromatography method in which the stationary phase is supported in or on an inert packing in a column, through which...

Piezoelectric motion systems are mechanical systems that utilize piezoelectric materials to generate controlled motion or...

The reversible change in the absorption spectrum of certain compounds upon irradiation with a given wavelength of light.

Gram-negative bacteria are a group of bacteria that possess a cell envelope composed of a thin layer of peptidoglycan...

An optical table, also known as an optical bench or an optical breadboard, is a specialized platform used in optics...

The substrate upon which a diffraction grating will be ruled. It must be dimensionally stable, and the surface must be...

A compound prism formed by cementing together two 30° prisms, one of right-handed and one of left-handed quartz. It has...

A prism that often is used as a dispersing element in spectrographs and monochromators.

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

The coefficient Å in Angstrom's formula for the dispersing coefficient for dust present in the atmosphere. The formula...

A display standard no longer in use and originally defined for IBM PCs, with 640 3 480 pixels in 16 colors and a 4:3 aspect...

A colorimeter using a spinning disc made of different colored sections for colorimetric analysis.

Multi-axis alignment refers to the process of aligning or adjusting components or systems in multiple spatial dimensions or...

A thermal radiation detector consisting of a small cell with a blackened plastic front face that bulges slightly when heat...

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

The ionization that occurs in gas affected by the action of radiation quanta.

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

The measurement of the spectrum bands formed by a spectroscopic sample, based on the differences between the sample and the...

In optics, "mode beating" refers to an interference phenomenon that can occur in laser systems with multiple longitudinal...

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser...

The soft x-rays used in the industrial radiography of materials having too small a range of densities to produce an image...

A photonic crystal that comprises magneto-optical material such that the optical response of the device depends on the...

Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is an advanced fluorescence microscopy technique that leverages the...

An optical system that is corrected for distortion and spherical aberration and therefore forms the image of a straight line...

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

The power, expressed in prism diopters, that is the linear displacement, in centimeters, produced by the prism one meter...

Attosecond photonics sources refer to devices or systems that generate extremely short pulses of light on the order of...

The degree of angular shift in the phase of incoming polarized light.

One optical element of a multielement lens. See optical element.

An instrument used to measure the coordinates of a point on an object such as a photographic plate.

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to...

Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the manipulation and control of very small fluid volumes, typically...

A device composed of a light source and phototube used to scan a moving strip of material in photoelectric side-register...

A kind of spectrograph in which some form of detector, other than a photographic film, is used to measure the distribution...

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

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

An optical system of variable focal length, the focal plane remaining in a fixed position. This result is achieved by moving...

The method by which Thomas Young in 1802 disproved Newton's corpuscular theory of light by the formation of interference...

Noise created by patterns imaged on a CCD surface. Pixel sensitivity is altered by responsivity during illumination.

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

Laser cavity bounded by a plane mirror and a concave spherical mirror with the plane mirror located at the center of...

PCSEL stands for "photonic crystal surface-emitting laser." It refers to a type of laser diode that emits light from its...

A prism invented by William Nicol in 1828 that is made of calcite, the end faces of which are ground to an angle of 68°...

A technique used to create a series of interrelated holographic images that give an appearance of motion when projected in...

The property exhibited by a substance having electrical conductivity that decreases as the intensity of the incident visible...

An instrument used for viewing in low levels of illumination by means of infrared radiation. A high-aperture lens forms an...

A special laser glass made primarily of fluoride compounds that exhibits extremely low refractive index and allows greater...

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

Piezoresistance is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where the electrical resistance of a material changes in...

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a nondestructive analytical technique used to investigate the optical properties...

In computer graphics, the point on the display screen where the electron beam is located before the display instruction is...

Measurement of the time elapsed during the current output change from 10 to 90 percent in a photoconductor.

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

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

A lens or lens surface that is a combination of a sphere and cylinder.

A device similar to the ordinary spectrophotometer but containing particular modifications to provide for the comparison of...

A photoelectric detector consisting of a glass tube internally coated with a low conductance material. Voltage applied along...

Luminescence is the emission of light from a source that is delayed by more than 10-8 s following excitation.

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

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a method for detecting antigens or haptens in cells of a tissue section by using labeled...

A device used to compare the luminous intensities of two sources by locating a point between the two light sources where the...

The decrease in effect in developable density on a photographic plate formed by a second exposure to radiation having a...

The constant outward flow of weakly magnetized plasma from the sun that is deflected by the magnetic field of the earth and,...

A photoemissive cell having an inert gas added to its envelope. Subsequent ionization of the gas increases the responsivity...

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

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are remotely...

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

A noncontact form of electromodulation in which modulation of the electric field is caused by photo-excited electron-hole...

A system used for gratings that consists of a concave mirror, a grating and a plate holder mounted normal to the grating to...

Photoconductivity that may be extended as far as the microwave region because of the absorption of photons by electrons.

The analysis, by x-rays, of the crystalline structure and other properties of metals and alloys.

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light...

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

Cathode radiant sensitivity refers to the ability of a photocathode to convert incident radiant energy, typically in the...

Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet radiation with shorter wavelengths than those of visible...

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

Optofluidics is an interdisciplinary field that combines principles from optics and fluidics to create devices and systems...

An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy due to an electric arc — a continuous, high-current discharge of...

Equipment used for chemical analysis by investigation of the spectra formed and observed in chemical activity. Of particular...

The optical process, following grinding, that puts a highly finished, smooth and apparently amorphous surface on a lens or a...

The Golgi staining technique (also called the black reaction) makes it possible to look at the nervous system by rendering...

A photodetector employing photoregeneration of carriers in the channel region of an FET structure to provide photodetection...

The graph of the oscillating variations making up a wave, relative to time.

The detection and analysis of the transmission and reflection properties of objects and photographic images.

A process in which a mixture of one or more monomers, plus a catalyst, polymerize under exposure to light radiation....

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

Virtual histology refers to the use of digital technology and computational methods to simulate or recreate histological...

A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that forms at temperatures close to absolute zero. It is named after...

The formation of microimages for microreduction. The technique is used, for example, in the production of precision reticles...

A measure of the time-integrated amount of flux. It has units of lumen-seconds and might be used to describe such things as...

Optical switching refers to the process of controlling the routing or transmission of optical signals within a network using...

Abbreviated PAI. An imaging modality with a hybrid technique based on the acoustic detection of optical absorption from...

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

A small instrument containing a picture support and a pair of magnifying lenses so arranged that the left eye sees only the...

In gradient index optics, a gradient profile in which the refractive index varies symmetrically about a point.

An extremely short, high intensity electronic flash of light, having a duration of about 1 x 10-6 s, used in photographing...

A scanning probe microscope that analyzes the surface of a specimen by recording the intensity of light as it is focused...

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

Specially designed optics for the observation and photographing of hydrogen in a bubble chamber.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in medical and scientific fields to capture...

A photometric instrument used to measure the illumination falling on a surface. It may be photoelectric or visual.

The smallest angle through which light is bent by an optical element or system. In a prism, the angle of deviation is a...

A scattering photometer using scattered light in the solid angle 4.51+0 19° with respect to the forward direction, and...

The study of the arrangement of atoms in a crystal by means of x-rays.

A gas laser wherein the gas mixture is not exhausted into the atmosphere but is continually recycled. It is excited in the...

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

A fiber optic device that uses a HeNe laser, beamsplitter, monochromator and photomultiplier to detect trace levels of...

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

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

A method of projecting integrated circuit patterns on a silicon wafer using x-ray wavelengths focused through a special mask.

The phase change of one of the two split beams of an interference microscope.

Vision by means of retinal cones; color vision. Relatively high levels of luminance are required for photopic vision.

A chart formed by a spectrograph; the record of the spectral range. See spectrograph.

The constant that, multiplied by the frequency of the radiation-producing emission of photoelectrons, determines the amount...

An eyepiece located at the near end of the microscope tube. It often is a simple Huygens eyepiece, but compensating and...

A form of roof prism used to invert an image. The prism has faces cut normal to the optical axis; therefore, the prism may...

The field of photography concerned with the recording of subjects beneath the water with a watertight, water-resistant...

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

A filter fluorometer that uses a photomultiplier tube to detect the fluorescence of a sample.

An instrument that photographs the spectra of an extraterrestrial object.

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

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of...

The analysis of the photographs taken from the radar display of a survey aircraft and used when recording terrain that is...

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

The study of and classification of rocks.

The output of spectral channels written as an integral function of known solar irradiance, atmospheric transmittance and...

The correlation of radiation between the phases of monochromatic radiation emanating from two separate points.

A spectroscopic technique used in the detection of free radicals by virtue of their electronic spectra. In this method, an...

An instrument used to detect radioactive materials: alpha particles or helium nuclei; beta particles or free electrons; and...

A CCD camera, or charge-coupled device camera, is a type of digital camera that utilizes a CCD image sensor to capture and...

Pertaining to the human eye.

A photocell having an alloy junction formed by combining an indium disc with a thin wafer of N-type germanium.

A camera system that uses a fine powder to diffract x-rays from the specimen. A beam of monochromatic x-rays passes through...

Fluorescence lifetime refers to the average time it takes for a fluorophore, a molecule that absorbs light at one wavelength...

The elimination of gases from the surfaces of a vacuum system by heating the surfaces when the pumping phase is occurring.

A prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. It usually has two parallel bases,...

A phototube having increased response due to the addition of a quantity of gas.

A high-frequency approach to the propagation of light in graded-index fibers in which the modal field is represented in...

The electron emission from a substance or instrument whose surface has been bombarded by a suitable amount of radiation.

A device for measuring absorption coefficients in which a confined, nonabsorbing gas fills the space inside the cell between...

Phenomenon caused by an ultrashort and ultra-intense light pulse propagating in a Kerr medium, such as air or water. When...

A metabolite is any small molecule that is a product of metabolism, the chemical processes that occur within living...

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

The rays (such as ultraviolet rays) lying past the visible region of the spectrum.

The phenomenon whereby an electron within a band absorbs radiation by transferring from a low-energy level to an empty...

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

Also known as light beating. The mixing of two narrowband optical components to produce an AC component in the photocurrent...

The central peak (including everything interior to the first zero or dark ring) of the focal diffraction pattern of a...

The restriction of wavefront error to within a quarter of a wavelength of a true spherical surface to assure essentially...

A system that applies a crystal as a diffracting agent to photograph the spectrum.

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