Definitions

In biology, particularly genetics and evolutionary biology, the phenotype refers to the observable characteristics or traits of an organism, resulting from the interaction of its genetic makeup...

Photoelastic equipment and supplies refer to instruments and materials used in photoelasticity, a technique used to analyze stress distribution and behavior in materials. photoelastic equipment...

Photogrammetry is a technique used to obtain accurate three-dimensional measurements of objects and environments through the analysis of photographs or imagery. It involves extracting information...

A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric microstructures, such as microspheres or microcylinders. This phenomenon arises due...

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...

Piezoelectric transducers are devices that utilize the piezoelectric effect to convert electrical energy into mechanical vibrations or vice versa. The piezoelectric effect is a property exhibited by...

Plastic optics refers to optical components or systems that are made from transparent plastic materials, as opposed to traditional optical components made from glass or other materials. Plastic...

The point spread function (PSF) is a fundamental concept in imaging that describes the response of an imaging system to a point source or point object. It characterizes how a single point of light is...

Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its length. Also called polarization-maintaining fiber. The polarization is...

A substance that transmits the infrared, but which is too delicate or fragile to be used in the form of a single crystal. Instead, the pure material is finely ground, pressed to the required shape,...

A polygonal mirror, also known as a multifaceted mirror or facet mirror, is a type of optical component used in various laser systems, optical scanners, and imaging devices. It consists of a flat or...

Polymers are large molecules composed of repeating structural units called monomers. These monomers are chemically bonded together to form long chains or networks, creating a macromolecular...

An accurately produced hole of any size and shape that is used as a masking device in an optical system. Pinhole apertures of accurate diameters often are produced by laser beam penetration or by...

The instrument used to analyze a pulsed electromagnetic wave to determine its time, amplitude, duration and shape, and to display this information in some appropriate form, either visually or...

A series of capacitors and inductors connected to the flashlamp in a pumped Nd:YAG laser system in order to regulate the pulse shape of the current delivered to the lamp at a given operating voltage.

The use of variations in the power supplied to a laser to change the shape of the output pulse. The technique is used in laser welding, for example, to condition a surface by preheating it at a low...

Pyramid error in optics refers to an aberration in the shape of an optical surface, particularly in the context of mirrors. It is a type of distortion that can occur when the surface of a mirror...

The term quantum refers to the fundamental unit or discrete amount of a physical quantity involved in interactions at the atomic and subatomic scales. It originates from quantum theory, a branch of...

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or stimulus is applied at a specific frequency, causing the system to oscillate...

A reticle, also known as a reticule or graticule, is a pattern or set of markings placed in the focal plane of an optical instrument, such as a microscope, telescope, riflescope, or camera, to...

A reflecting prism that is rhomboidal in shape. It has two parallel transmitting faces, and two parallel reflecting faces; the latter are oblique to the former (usually but not necessarily at...

A laser using a dye solution as the active medium whose resonator is formed into a ring (or a triangle or another shape) by means of multiple mirrors.

A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is a type of gyroscope that uses laser light to detect and measure changes in orientation. It operates based on the Sagnac effect, which is a fundamental principle of...

A Risley prism, also known as a Risley prism pair or Risley rotating prism, is an optical device used for controlling the direction of a laser beam or other optical beam by independently rotating two...

An interferometric method for describing the surface shape of large coated or uncoated optical flats. The procedure uses a commercially available small-aperture phase-shifting interferometer for...

A term used to describe a saddle-shaped -- i.e., convex along one axis, concave along the other -- polished surface, generally an error, whose contours are apparent by the shape of Newton's rings.

The shape of the edge of a concave surface when the depth of the bevel plane to the vertex of the surface is controlled to a required distance.

Seidel aberrations refer to a set of monochromatic aberrations in optical systems, named after the German mathematician and physicist Ludwig von Seidel. These aberrations describe deviations from...

The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is an optical device used for measuring the wavefront aberrations of an optical system. It is widely used in adaptive optics systems to correct distortions and...

A crystal, glass, or quartz slicing and cutting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used in the manufacturing process to precisely cut and slice materials such as crystals, glass, and quartz...

An aperture, usually rectangular in shape, with a large length-to-width ratio, and a fixed or adjustable shape through which radiation enters or leaves an instrument. The aperture is generally small...

A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light in two dimensions, typically in the form of an array. SLMs are...

Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays passing through a lens or curved optical surface do not converge or diverge to a single focal point. Instead of focusing to a...

A close-up lens, semicircular in shape, that is mounted in front of a conventional lens focused at infinity. The result is an image made up of two sections; one focused through the split lens on near...

A sputtering target is a solid material used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering. Sputtering targets are typically made of metals, metal alloys, or compounds...

A method of creating real three-dimensional models by using lasers driven by CAD software. In contrast to the normal practice of removing material, this process polymerizes a liquid to quickly...

A method of polishing an aspheric surface by mechanically distorting the optic while polishing the surface to a perfect sphere. When the stress is released, the substrate assumes the desired aspheric...

The pattern used as a probe in morphological image processing to manipulate the size and shape of objects in an image.

A representation of the shape of a surface, including any roughness or other irregularities. The profile can be generated by direct measurements, as by a stylus, or by remote measurement, as by an...

A surface-mount device (SMD) is an electronic component that is mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) rather than being inserted into holes drilled in the board (as with...

In optics, a shape often given to the leading edge of a projectile. In any side view it appears as a pointed arc, while any cross section perpendicular to its long axis appears as a circle.

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is typically a curved, transparent piece of glass or other optical material...

A transparent block shaped accurately to reverse curvatures of the components it is used to test. By contacting an accurately finished negative lens shape with a newly made positive, the conformity...

Topology is a branch of mathematics that focuses on the properties of space that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, crumpling, and bending, but not tearing or gluing....

In interferometry, the result of superimposing two wavefronts of identical shape, yielding a uniform intensity interference pattern with no bands.