Photonics Dictionary

The partially reflective mirror at the end of the laser cavity that is the source of the beam. It controls the coupling percentage for high output power and maintains correct mode structure in the...

The direct computation of the Fourier transform of the space variant system output of an optical processor with a single spherical lens. The one-dimensional output spectrum appears along a 45°...

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

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

A camera system capable of producing microfilm copies of computerized data presented on a screen.

I/O stands for input/output. In computing, it refers to the communication between a computer system or program and its external environment, including peripherals, storage devices, networks, and...

The laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by several key properties that distinguish lasers from other light sources. These...

A reflecting prism that inverts the image. The image is reflected four times internally and emitted laterally. The prism is cut normal to the optical axis while the image is internally reflected from...

Method of preserving the measured color value and color information as it is translated from differing devices. For example the output of a television display may be measured to have an identical...

A doped or absorbing transparent medium cut or molded into a wedge in order to measure the real and imaginary components of the refractive index. An internally reflected Gaussian beam is interfered...

An accelerometer is a sensor or transducer that measures the rate of change of velocity of an object, or in simpler terms, it measures acceleration. Accelerometers are widely used in various...

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two thin-film transistors (TFTs) to control the on-current at each OLED cell or...

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two thin-film transistors (TFTs) to control the on-current at each OLED cell or...

A device that enlarges and strengthens a signal's output without significantly distorting its original waveshape. There are amplifiers for acoustical, optical and electronic signals.

A method of producing an essentially constant output signal from an electronic circuit despite variations in the strength of the input signal.

A direct reading spectrograph having a photomultiplier assembly in place of a photographic plate. The output from the photomultiplier assembly is received by a microammeter or a pen recorder.

An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure. The electron beam and the electromagnetic wave move in opposite directions...

An electron-beam tube in which the current to an output electrode is regulated by the transverse motion of the tube's electron beam.

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or light beam. The goal is to transform the incoming beam into a desired shape...

A high-frequency pulse-rate laser with an output limited by the heat capacity of the laser medium. Instead of having continuous cooling, the laser operates until the medium reaches a maximum...

A lamp whose output can be traced to a standard light source.

The storage surface of an electron beam tube that is scanned by an electron beam to generate an output-signal current corresponding to the charge-density pattern stored.

In a series of amplifiers, amplification by each of the preceding output.

An image tube that functions in low-light-level conditions by virtue of its series of stacked sections wherein the output of one section becomes the input for the next.

In electronics, the coupling of power from stage to stage by the use of an input or output element in the cathode.

A CCD camera, or charge-coupled device camera, is a type of digital camera that utilizes a CCD image sensor to capture and record images. CCD cameras are widely used in various applications,...

A CCD image sensor, or charge-coupled device image sensor, is a type of electronic device used to convert optical images into electronic signals. It is a key component in digital cameras, camcorders,...

Chip-on-board (COB) lights refer to a type of LED lighting technology where multiple LED chips are directly mounted onto a substrate, typically a printed circuit board (PCB), without the need for...

A CMOS camera refers to an imaging device that employs a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to capture digital images. CMOS cameras have become ubiquitous due to their low...

A CMOS image sensor, short for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, is a type of semiconductor device used to capture visual information and convert it into electrical signals for...

A reticle carrying patterns of various forms that can be rotated in an optical beam to cause variations in the intensity of the beam. It also is used in infrared detectors to scan the object field...

The manifestation of light from scatterers outside the plane of the object in coherent light systems. The output of these systems is often marred by this noise.

A filter that passes a series of wavelength regions that are at equal distances from one another, such that its output resembles the teeth of a comb. In video transmission, a comb filter is used to...

A semitransparent mirror in an optical system that combines two or more output beams into a single coaxial beam.

Computer output in the form of pictorial representation (graphs, charts, drawings, etc.) that is displayed visually.

Technique that uses high-pass filtering to reduce the local average to zero for all regions of the picture and then applies a gain factor equal to the reciprocal of the local standard deviation to...

Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In various contexts, the term is used to describe continuous, uninterrupted...

In a pumped laser system, the ratio of output energy to pump energy.

A powerful and flexible machine-learning approach that can be used in machine vision to help solve difficult problems. Inspired by biological processes, multiple layers of neurons process portions of...

A technique for removing thermal noise and drift from focal plane assemblies by sampling the system output between views of scene elements and then subtracting the resulting value from the subsequent...

The fraction of available output from a radiant source that is coupled and transmitted by an optical fiber.

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