Photonics Dictionary: C

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

A technique used to store wavefront information on thin polarization information-recordable materials by controlling the polarization angle of a small illuminating spotlight in each sampling cell on...

Computer vision enables computers to interpret and make decisions based on visual data, such as images and videos. It involves the development of algorithms, techniques, and systems that enable...

The use of computer analysis in the calculation of diffraction patterns for information on the design of optical systems. In this method, the electric field amplitude and phase in the aperture are...

The process of linking optical fiber end to end.

A partially filled or empty energy band through which electrons can move easily. The material can therefore carry an electric current. The term is usually applied to semiconductors.

A type of laser welding of thin materials using a defocused or low-power carbon dioxide laser beam. The energy is absorbed by the material through conduction and melts the material to produce an edge...

The dispersion of a light ray striking the surface of a biaxial crystal, in which the resulting rays are reflected in a conical manner.

A parabolic, elliptical, hyperbolic or circular section created when a solid cone is intersected by a plane.

The principle that states that optical instrumentation cannot increase the radiance of a source; the radiance of an image cannot exceed that of the object.

That property of certain optical devices, e.g., a penta prism, that maintains the angular relationship between the entering and the emerging rays traversing the system regardless of the orientation...

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...

A large-scale, precise drawing of the contours of a perfect mechanical part, often with plus and minus tolerances drawn or indicated. For quality control decisions, enlarged images of mechanically...

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

An image-enhancement technique in which each pixel is subjected to a mathematical operation that groups it with its nearest neighbors and calculates its value accordingly.

The group of adjacent pixels on which the convolution process is carried out.

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...

The combination of two or more different small-molecule monomers into a polymer.

In rangefinders and height finders, a rotatable or sliding wedge-shaped element used to divert the line of sight precisely to correct errors in the optical system.

An optical wedge of very small angles that admits light while sealing out moisture and dirt and that may be rotated to compensate for the errors in the entire system. Correction windows are sometimes...

Law relating the illuminance (or irradiance) of a surface to the cosine of the angle, q, between the normal to the surface and the direction of the incident wave.

The ongoing expansion of the universe based on observations of the recession of distant galaxies from each other as evidenced by the redshift in their spectral lines.

That wavelength at which the absorption of a given element or system begins to demonstrate an inconstant value.

The fusion frequency of flicker that is needed just to produce complete fusion and to assure the visual sensation of continuous illumination measured in cycles per second.

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

Recombination of only the light that is correctly dispersed by the first stage of a polychromator through its wide intermediate slit (common during Thomson scattering experimentation), which is...

Calculation of the probability of an interaction between two types of particles, such as light absorption, excitation or energy transfers. The probability that one incident particle will interact as...

A signal-averaging technique that improves signal-to-noise ratio by comparing a sampled signal with a reference signal bearing some known relation to the received signal.

A method of resampling in which a 16-pixel neighborhood around a given pixel from the original image is used to calculate the final brightness value of that pixel in the corrected image.

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

A lens aberration in which the focal length varies radially outward from the center of the field. It has the effect of making a straight tangential line in the object appear curved in the image,...

1. Attribute of a visual sensation that permits a judgment to be made of the amount of pure chromatic color present. 2. The portion of a composite video signal that carries the chrominance values,...

CID, or charge injection device, camera refers to a type of imaging device that utilizes a specific kind of solid-state image sensor technology. CID cameras are capable of capturing images in a...

A standard lens interface initially made for 16mm movie cameras and now used primarily on closed-circuit television cameras. It is a 1-in.-diameter, 32-thread-per-inch interface with a...

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

A mercury vapor discharge lamp that has cadmium added to emit radiation in the red region as a complement to the mercury vapor's blue and green radiation.

The three lines in the spectrum of cadmium that have the purest radiations and that were first used by Michelson to calculate the standard meter.

The narrowest line of the cadmium spectrum; the red line has the purest radiation.