Photonics Dictionary: C

Optical elements that have been coated with one or more layers of dielectric, or metallic material. These coatings serve to reduce or increase reflection from the surface, and to protect the surfaces...

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 plane mirror mounted on a polar axis that lies parallel to the plane of the mirror. When the mirror is rotated once in 48 hours, celestial objects can be made to appear stationary and are...

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser produces an optical wave that is modulated in amplitude, phase or frequency by...

A coherent fiber bundle (CFB), also known as a coherent fiber optic bundle, is an assembly of multiple optical fibers arranged in a specific geometric pattern to maintain the spatial coherence of...

The use of phase conjugation or other methods to increase the power density of a laser beam under adverse atmospheric conditions.

Radiation in which the phase relationship between any two points in the radiation field has a constant difference, or is exactly the same in either the spatial or the temporal mode throughout the...

An optical instrument used to determine the distance to a target being viewed. Two similar optical systems view the target via 45° mirrors at the ends of a fixed baseline. One system creates the...

Cold atoms refer to atoms that have been cooled to extremely low temperatures, typically in the microkelvin (µK) to nanokelvin (nK) range, close to absolute zero (0 Kelvin or -273.15°C). At...

A means of illumination from which the infrared component has been removed by absorption or reflection filters within the condenser system.

Collaborative Robot (Cobot): Unlike traditional autonomous robots, which usually work by themselves, a collaborative robot is programmed to work with humans, such as a guide or an assistant. They can...

A ring dye laser that uses prisms and a saturable absorber within the laser cavity to shape and shorten the pulses generated. Counterpropagating modes oscillating simultaneously in the ring...

1. The process of aligning the optical axes of optical systems to the reference mechanical axes or surfaces of an instrument. 2. The adjustment of two or more optical axes with respect to each other....

A particle that will not normally diffuse through animal or vegetable membrane. Larger than most inorganic compounds, colloids will remain suspended indefinitely.

A polariscope used to demonstrate strain inherent in a piece of glass.

The attribute of visual experience that can be described as having quantitatively specifiable dimensions of hue, saturation, and brightness or lightness. The visual experience, not including aspects...

A test used to measure the degree of fading of different colored materials, especially those involving organic dyes, which tend to fade when exposed to bright sunlight, to a damp atmosphere or to...

A color center, in the context of materials science and condensed matter physics, refers to a specific type of crystallographic defect in a crystalline structure that introduces color to the...

1. A device used in chemistry to compare the colors of solutions held in flat-bottomed tubes and viewed along the length of the tube. Often a solid glass plunger is moved along one of the tubes to...

The recording of three or more separate holograms having a different color on a medium, so that illumination with a tricolor beam yields three separate wavefronts, each representing one of the...

An instrument providing a continuous measure of color.

The entire range of colors a specific color model can produce, represented as a three-dimensional solid.

A thermogram in which temperature values are displayed in discrete thermal bands, each band possessing a distinct color.

Aspect of vision permitting the observer to distinguish among stimuli by their hue, saturation, and brightness or lightness.

Situation in which the observer requires fewer than three independent stimuli to make color matches. Dichromats require only two stimuli and are classified as protanopes and deuteranopes (both...

A colorimeter is a device used to measure and quantify the color characteristics of an object or a light source. It provides objective and standardized color information, typically expressed in terms...

Colorimetry is the science and technology of quantitatively describing and measuring colors. It involves the precise evaluation of color attributes such as hue, saturation, and brightness, using...

The chromatography method in which the stationary phase is supported in or on an inert packing in a column, through which the mobile phase passes.

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

A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical instruments to determine pulse code, repetition frequency and wavelength.

An electrical problem that occurs when voltage is not the same with respect to ground at every node of a system, causing current to circulate between nodes.

A deliberately nonlinear amplitude modulation that strengthens weak signals and reduces strong signals for transmission.

1. An eyepiece or magnifier with a scale at its image plane. That scale is placed in contact with an object, permitting direct measurement of its size. 2. Also called traveling stage and traveling...

Two microscopes that are coupled on a common stand, the two images being projected side by side in the field of view of a single eyepiece for comparison.

A lens made up of a number of lens elements arranged into two or more groups.

1. A constituent part. It may consist of two or more parts cemented together, or with near and approximately matching surfaces. 2. The projection of a vector on a certain coordinate axis or along a...

A transducer composed of more than one high-pass, bandpass, low-pass or band-elimination filter.

A lens composed of two or more separate elements of optical glass that may or may not be cemented together. The surfaces of the elements are shaped to reduce or eliminate the aberrations inherent in...

A semiconductor made up of two or more elements, in contrast to those composed of a single element such as germanium or silicon. In a III-V semiconductor, for example, one or more elements having...

A center-opening shutter made up of several identical leaves that are mounted symmetrically around the optical axis of the lens.

A method of producing large volumes of plastic optical components in which powdered or sheet plastic is pressed between heated dies.