Definitions

A bevel produced by grinding with a cup-shaped tool.

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape resembling a cylinder. Unlike spherical lenses, which have the same...

A condenser that forms a hollow cone-shaped beam of light with its focal point in the plane of the specimen. If it is used with an objective having a numerical aperture lower than the minimum...

A tool made by imbedding small particles of diamond in the working edge. In the optical field, the most commonly used diamond tools are glass saws, cup-shaped tools for curve generators, and diamond...

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce high-quality optical surfaces and components with extremely tight tolerances. It...

Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and mirrors, from materials such as metals, plastics, and crystalline materials...

In image processing, a morphology operator in which a structuring element or probe of a particular shape is moved over the input image; wherever at least one pixel of the probe touches the boundary...

A general term referring to the situation in which an image is not a true-to-scale reproduction of an object. The term also is used to connote the temporal alteration of the signal's waveform shape....

A diverging lens is a type of lens that causes parallel rays of light to spread out or diverge. It is thinner in the center than at the edges and is commonly referred to as a concave lens. The most...

A type of streak camera that uses film wrapped around a drum, which moves at a constant speed to record the changing shape of a short-lived event, such as a lightning flash.

Process for growth of solar cells that results in rectangular shapes consisting of many interconnected cells in a series or series-parallel arrangement. EFG cells show increased efficiency with...

Any material of a macromolecular nature that can stretch at room temperature to more than twice its length and return to approximately its original shape when stress is released.

An electron-beam lithography (EBL) system is a sophisticated nanofabrication tool used in the semiconductor industry and research laboratories to pattern extremely fine features with sub-micrometer...

An electron-gun system is an assembly used to generate and control a focused beam of electrons. Electron guns find applications in various fields, including cathode ray tubes (CRTs), electron...

The entrance slit, also known simply as the slit, is an essential component in optical instruments such as spectrometers and monochromators. It is a narrow opening or aperture through which light...

In image processing, a morphology operator in which a structuring element or probe of a particular shape is moved over the input image. Where the probe fits completely within the boundaries of a...

A pattern on an oscilloscope display that consists of a string of shapes that resemble eyes. Because the pattern becomes more closed with increasing distortion and interference, an open eye diagram...

A FAC lens, or fast axis collimation lens, is an optical component used in laser diode systems to collimate the fast axis of laser emission. Laser diodes emit light in two main axes: the fast axis,...

In image processing and machine vision, the process in which an initial measurement pattern or some subsequence of measurement patterns is transformed to a new pattern feature. In image pattern...

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic communications to transmit and receive data over optical fibers. It integrates both a...

An aperture located at an image plane of an optical system that determines the size and shape of the image.

The process whereby the shape of an optical surface is altered by polishing.

Filoviruses are a family of viruses that are responsible for severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fevers in humans and non-human primates. The name "filovirus" is derived from their filamentous...

A slab-shaped, very low profile package for electronic components; often used when printed circuit boards must be closely stacked together.

A flexible display refers to a type of electronic visual display that is designed to be bendable, foldable, or rollable, allowing for unconventional form factors and enhanced portability. Unlike...

In various fields such as fluid dynamics, microfluidics, and biotechnology, a flow channel refers to a defined pathway through which a fluid (liquid or gas) flows. The channel can be of various...

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric shapes, such as spheres or paraboloids. Unlike conventional mirrors, which...

Freeform optics refers to the design and fabrication of optical surfaces that do not follow traditional symmetric shapes, such as spheres or aspheres. Unlike standard optical components with...

A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin piece of transparent material, typically plastic or glass. This design...

The full width at half maximum (FWHM) is a measure used in various fields, particularly in spectroscopy, signal processing, and imaging, to characterize the width or extent of a distribution, peak,...

Functional materials refer to materials that possess specific properties or functionalities that make them suitable for particular applications or purposes. These materials are designed and...

Optical fibers fused together to form a solid, vacuum-tight assembly in the form of a slab or rod. Discs or rectangular shapes having ground and polished surfaces perpendicular to the fiber lengths...

The position and shape of the image of a point source, as predicted by geometric optics alone. The geometric image is to be differentiated from the diffraction image, which is determined from...

A noncrystalline, inorganic mixture of various metallic oxides fused by heating with glassifiers such as silica, or boric or phosphoric oxides. Common window or bottle glass is a mixture of soda,...

A furnace, generally electrically heated, with a control system capable of following a cam by which the temperature can be made to go through a definite cycle over a period of days, or even weeks, if...

A crystal of microscopic size having no definite plane faces and having a globular shape. At the time the crystal is formed, the strong surface tension influences the formation of the plane faces.

The process in the manufacture of an optical system that gives it the required geometric shape.

Machinery used to grind and finish a component, such as a lens or prism, to a desired precision. Usually such machines carry a cup-shaped or flat tool (lap) into close contact with the part. An...

A halogen lamp, also known as a tungsten halogen, quartz-halogen, or quartz iodine lamp, is an incandescent lamp that uses a tungsten filament surrounded by a small amount of halogen gas, such as...

Holography is a technique used to capture and reconstruct three-dimensional images using the principles of interference and diffraction of light. Unlike conventional photography, which records only...

Any arrangement of a bundle of optical fibers that alters the shape of the image. For example, by systematic regulation of the spacing of the fibers from the entrance end to the exit end, a...

A direct method of measuring refractive index that works best with flat-surfaced samples (i.e., those that are not dependent on special prism shapes) and produces data that are uniquely sensitive to...

A Kerr soliton refers to a specific type of soliton, a self-reinforcing wave packet, that arises in nonlinear optical systems due to the Kerr effect. The Kerr effect is the phenomenon where the...