Photonics Dictionary

In a remote sensing system, nadir refers to the point on the ground located vertically below the center of the system. In astronomy, the nadir is the vertical direction that points towards the force...

An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as...

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nanolithography technique used for fabricating nanoscale patterns on a substrate. It is a high-resolution, high-throughput process that involves the mechanical...

An LED (light-emitting diode) is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs are commonly used for lighting, displays, and indicators. A NanoLED is on the...

A unit of length in the metric system equal to 10-9 meters. It formerly was called a millimicron.

A small object that behaves as a whole unit or entity in terms of it's transport and it's properties, as opposed to an individual molecule which on it's own is not considered a nanoparticle.....

Nanoparticle photonic resonator absorption microscopy is a microscopy technique that combines the principles of photonic resonators and nanoparticle imaging to visualize and study biological samples...

Nanophotonics is a branch of science and technology that explores the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, typically at dimensions smaller than the wavelength of light. It involves the study and...

Nanopositioning refers to the precise and controlled movement or manipulation of objects or components at the nanometer scale. This technology enables the positioning of objects with extremely high...

A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization converters which ultimately alter the way light propagates through and is...

The use of atoms, molecules and molecular-scale structures to enhance existing technology and develop new materials and devices. The goal of this technology is to manipulate atomic and molecular...

A nanotube, also known as a nanotubule or simply a tube-like structure, is a nanoscale cylindrical structure composed of various materials, including carbon, boron nitride, or other compounds....

A defect in infrared systems that appears as a dark circular area on a displayed image, caused by radiation reflecting into a detector. It can be reduced by low-reflective coatings or by altering the...

An imaging system designed to highlight small deviations in a planar reflective object such as a mirror. The system can be used to detect minute flaws or to image faint marks that are made in the...

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

The code used to describe the United States system of color telecasting.

The light emitted from tissues without the use of fluorescent dyes as markers. Because cancerous tissues and normal tissues have differing emission spectra, the native fluorescence can be used to...

Image of a uniform source through the sample of a microscope image system. Light from the sample plane is reimaged by the objective into the image plane.

The minimum value of luminance for vision. The value may vary with age as well as dark adaption period. (Measured range approximately log luminance -3 through 2.) About 10 -2 ml at the fovea, 10 -5...

A bulk crystalline optic which permits the propagation of light through a volume of index altered material. The variation in refractive index along the material volume is due to a piezoelectric...

The luminance of a mixture of lights is the sum of the luminances of the component lights in the mixture.

An aerial reconnaissance system that can transmit, in near real time, image data recorded by IR and visual-spectrum sensors, providing day, night and foul-weather intelligence.

The use of optical or electronic recording systems to extract information from the terrain, while aloft, for reconnaissance applications.

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

An image that can be studied three-dimensionally through a pair of complementary color filters composed of two superimposed views.

A physical variable that is proportionally similar to another variable over a specified range. An analog recording contains data that is similar to the source.

Information presented as a continuously variable relationship between a signal and a standard.

A signal in the form of continuously variable voltage or current.

An analog method of moving a cathode-ray tube beam across a display screen face, commonly used in high-performance vector and character generators.

A device that converts an analog signal, that is, a signal in the form of a continuously variable voltage or current, to a digital signal in the form of bits.

The use of mathematical analysis to derive solutions in the science of photogrammetry.

The use of photographs -- motion picture or still -- to establish if a particular event exists.

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

An optical device, such as a Nicol prism, capable of producing plane-polarized light, and used for detecting the effect of the object on plane-polarized light produced by the polarizer.

A term used to denote a difference in magnification along mutually perpendicular meridians. Anamorphic systems are basically image-distorting systems, such as those used in motion pictures, that...

A type of distortion in which the magnification varies in different orientations, the directions of maximum and minimum magnification being orthogonal.

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

An optical system with different focal lengths or magnification levels in perpendicular planes to the optical axis.