Definitions

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light and its interactions with different materials. The term "optoelectronics" is...

Optofluidics is an interdisciplinary field that combines principles from optics and fluidics to create devices and systems that integrate the manipulation of light and fluids. This field focuses on...

A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue, typically neurons, which have been genetically modified to respond to light....

An optical coupling device that uses light to bridge the gap between incompatible wire communications systems. It contains an input amplifier, a light-emitting diode, a photodiode and an output...

Optomechanical refers to the integration of optical and mechanical systems or components. In optomechanical systems, optics (related to the manipulation of light) and mechanics (related to the...

A camera designed with a telecentric optical system and a narrow field of view; the telecentric optical system (placement of the system's stop at its focal point) ensures that the principal image...

An instrument used to record rapidly varying currents or voltages. An oscillograph may consist of a cathode-ray tube oscilloscope with a camera attachment, or a mirror galvanometer with a lamp and...

A system in which a supplied signal causes the deflection of the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube, thus forming a visible trace on the phosphor screen of the tube and providing for examination of...

Opsins are a group of light-sensitive proteins found primarily in the retinas of vertebrate and invertebrate eyes, as well as in other light-sensitive tissues. These proteins play a crucial role in...

An otoscope is a medical device used by healthcare professionals, particularly ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists, primary care physicians, and pediatricians, to examine the ear canal and...

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°...

A lens system that is capable of producing a 360° image, or one that is very close to that. In recording, the image may be formed on a curved strip of film surrounding the lens, resulting in a...

A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...

Parallel scanning refers to a method of acquiring data or images simultaneously from multiple sources or in parallel, rather than sequentially scanning each source one after another. This approach is...

Description of an optical system in which all the elements are aligned on the same axis.

Passive optical components are devices or elements used in optical systems that do not require external power or active control to perform their function. These components manipulate light signals...

A passive optical network (PON) is a telecommunications network architecture that uses optical fibers and passive optical components to provide high-speed broadband services to end-users. In a PON...

The criterion maintaining that if light follows a specific path through an optical system, it will, if reversed, traverse that same path in the opposite direction.

A pathogen is a biological agent, such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, protozoan, or parasite, that causes disease in its host organism. Pathogens have the capability to invade host tissues,...

A Peltier cooler, also known as a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) or thermoelectric module, is a solid-state device that uses the Peltier effect to transfer heat between two electrical junctions. It can...

A theoretical, ideal lens capable of producing perfect images. Used as a lens design and analysis tool to image collimated output from an afocal system.

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

An optical instrument designed to displace the line of sight in a vertical direction. For submarines and other military uses the periscope is a long tube containing prisms at both ends and...

In the SI system, prefix meaning 1015.

An optical system used to examine the pharynx.

Phase distortion refers to a change in the phase relationships between different frequency components of a signal. In the context of signal processing, it occurs when the phase response of a system...

A phase screen, in the context of optics and wave optics, refers to a surface or medium that introduces a phase delay to an incident wavefront passing through it. This concept is often used in the...

A method of coding information in a communications system where the shift in the phase of an electromagnetic wave represents a particular bit or character.

An optical medical instrument that uses an intense, precisely focused beam of light to stop weakened blood vessels from hemorrhaging. The thermal effect of the beam strengthens the weakened vessels...

Material used to integrate photoconductors into electro-optical systems. It should provide low resistance to the flow of charge, avoid recombination of the charge carriers, inject only majority...

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical signal. Photodetectors are widely used in various applications, ranging from...

A photodiode detector is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It operates based on the principle of the photoelectric effect, where photons of light incident on the...

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

A system having a photoelectric detector for the measurement of three quantities related by linear combination to tristimulus values of a sample.

A system mounted a few inches above a moving plane that consists of a light source, lenses and one or more phototubes. In this position, the scanner actuates the control equipment when the quantity...

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

A measure of the ability of a photographic system to record fine detail. Usually stated in terms of cycles per millimeter on the processed film.

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

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) is a medical treatment approach that combines elements of phototherapy and immunotherapy to target and treat specific cells or tissues in the body. The key components of this...

Photolithography is a key process in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). It is a photomechanical process used to transfer...

Photometry is the branch of science that deals with the measurement of light, particularly in terms of its intensity and the way the human eye perceives it. It involves the quantification of visible...

A photomicrograph is an image taken through a microscope, typically using a camera attached to the microscope's eyepiece or an integrated digital imaging system. It captures the magnified view of...

Photon flux refers to the rate at which photons (particles of light) pass through a unit area per unit time. It is a measure of the intensity or brightness of light in a specific region of space or...

A photon sieve is an optical device used in the field of optics and imaging. It's designed to focus and shape light, typically for applications such as imaging or microscopy. The photon sieve...