Photonics Dictionary

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

The holographic recording of sequences of high-speed phenomena. With a multiple beam laser, multiple holograms that depict rapid events can be formed on a single medium.

A high-speed motion camera, also known as a high-speed camera or slow-motion camera, is a specialized imaging device designed to capture fast-moving events or phenomena at extremely high frame rates....

A camera designed to record at rates exceeding 50 fps. For frame rates up to about 500 fps, an ordinary pull-down mechanism can be used. From 500 to 1000 fps, the film must be moved continuously, the...

Photography involving the recording of events that occur too fast to be perceived by the human eye or recorded by conventional photographic techniques. See high-speed movie camera; high-speed...

A method of producing x-ray exposures as short as 0.03 µs; the primary application is in ballistic radiography.

A shutter actuated by means other than mechanical springs for timings on the order of nanoseconds. The shutter is used in the photography of rapid moving objects or events.

A still camera with a shutter capable of opening for a time as short as a fraction of a microsecond. An electronically operated Kerr cell often is employed.

A camera that uses an image converter tube in such a way that voltage waveforms applied to internal electrodes cause the original image to be switched on and off very rapidly, thus offering time...

Also known as f number, lens speed is commonly represented as the ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the lens. Lower f numbers produce brighter images.

The picture area scanned per second.

A device used to measure the opening time of a shutter. The most common devices depend on the charging or discharging of an electrical condenser, or on the production of a curve of open area against...

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

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

A 3D profile sensor, also known as a 3D profiling sensor or 3D depth sensor, is a technology that is used to capture and measure the three-dimensional shape or profile of an object or a scene. These...

The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum divided by the speed of light in the medium.

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) refers to a set of safety features and technologies designed to assist drivers in the driving process and enhance overall vehicle safety. These systems use...

An APD detector, or avalanche photodiode detector, is a type of photodetector used to detect light or optical signals by converting incoming photons into electrical current. It operates based on the...

A gas, such as oxygen, that improves the speed and efficiency of a laser cutter or welder when applied to the work surface, or an inert gas, such as argon, that helps to clean or shield the work...

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

A unit of speed of transmission or receipt of a signal, roughly equal to bits per second; common baud rates are 300, 1200, 2400, 4800 and 9600.

The use of a short-duration electron beam to record high-speed events that occur in microscopic objects made of materials that emit visible fluorescence during electron bombardment. The method is...

The high-speed electrons and positrons emitted by radioactive materials.

Birefringence is an optical property of certain materials that causes them to exhibit different refractive indices for light of different polarizations. In other words, when light passes through a...

A cosmic phenomenon in which the mass and density of a star pass a critical point so that the escape velocity matches the speed of light. For this reason, light and matter are "captured'' by the...

A portion of computer memory that is used for temporary storage of frequently accessed data. Substantially increases computer speed.

Camera Link HS (high speed) is a standard developed for high-speed digital data transmission in machine vision and industrial imaging applications. It is an evolution of the original Camera Link...

A light-tight box that receives light from an object or scene and focuses it to form an image on a light-sensitive material or a detector. The camera generally contains a lens of variable aperture...

An instrument consisting of a high-voltage vacuum tube used to form hard x-rays or high-speed ion beams. By partitioning the tube into separate sections, the total voltage is divided.

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,...

A rotating chamber that can be spun at different speeds to generate great radial forces used to simulate different gravity loads.

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a type of electronic image sensor used in various imaging devices, including digital cameras, camcorders, and scientific instruments. It consists of an integrated...

An optical instrument used to track and image a test vehicle (target) throughout its flight. The cinesextant frequently includes multiple devices such as high-speed video and film cameras as well as...

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...

CoaXPress (CoaXPress or CXP) is a standardized digital interface and communication protocol used primarily in machine vision and industrial imaging applications. It enables high-speed data...

A method of lasing in which free electrons in a laser-produced plasma collide with neonlike ions to excite electrons to states that decay at different speeds, producing a population inversion.

Computer numerically controlled (CNC) grinding is a manufacturing process that utilizes computerized controls and precision machining tools to remove material from a workpiece. In CNC grinding, a...

Method of disk rotation used for optical disk drives, in which the spindle motor decreases the speed of the disk's rotation as the head moves from the inner tracks to the outer, so that the radial...

The maximum number of users who are using a given communication channel. Typically, the number of users at any given time is below this maximum, with the contention rate representing a worst case...

Solar regions characterized by low density and open magnetic fields where high-speed solar wind streams originate. Originally believed to be "M'' regions, coronal holes are the precursors of the...

A detector array refers to a collection of individual detector elements arranged in a two-dimensional grid or matrix format. Each element within the array is capable of detecting electromagnetic...

A digital camera is a device that captures and records still images or video in digital format. Unlike traditional film cameras, which use photographic film to capture and store images, digital...

The logarithmic method of determining emulsion speeds developed by the German standards organization, Deutscher Normenausschuss, in which the speed of the emulsion is doubled for each increase of...

Also called DLIP, a high-speed, high-resolution processing technique that uses high-power, pulsed laser systems to directly ablate micro- and nanoperiodic structures with different features on large...

Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often associated with military and technological applications where energy, typically...