Photonics Dictionary

The pattern of lines traced by rectilinear scanning in display systems.

A display in which regeneration takes place serially at a fixed speed in a set pattern through the scan lines.

Raster scanning is a technique used in imaging and scanning systems to systematically capture and process information from a two-dimensional area or surface. It involves moving a sensor or scanning...

The vertical or horizontal distance between two addressable points on a display screen; indicates the basic resolution element of a terminal.

A read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) is an electronic device used in imaging systems, particularly in infrared (IR) and other sensing technologies. It is designed to interface with an array of...

Also known as display primaries. Colors formed by a television receiver that are of constant chromaticity and variable luminance, and that, mixed in certain proportions, form other colors. Red, green...

RGB stands for red, green, blue, which are the primary colors of light used in additive color mixing. The RGB color model is widely used in various electronic displays, such as computer monitors,...

A display device, such as a cathode-ray tube, that is located at some distance from the source generating the displayed information.

Sapphire crystal refers to a transparent, single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) known as corundum. It is one of the hardest known materials, second only to diamond on the Mohs scale of...

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The scanning takes place inside the television tube as electrons, guided by...

A type of color-generating cathode-ray tube that uses a shadow mask, a thin perforated electrode, located close to the display screen. Each hole in the mask coincides with a triad of three phosphor...

A form of liquid crystal in which flow does not take place in the usual manner. When examined with polarized light, the substance often forms drops that display a series of fine lines. X-ray...

Spatial resolution refers to the level of detail or granularity in an image or a spatial dataset. It is a measure of the smallest discernible or resolvable features in the spatial domain, typically...

A scanning device used to cyclically tune through a given frequency range to determine the amplitude-frequency distribution of the signals present, usually by displaying output on a chart or...

Structural color refers to coloration in materials that is not caused by pigments or dyes but is instead a result of the physical structure of the material. In structural color, the interaction of...

A liquid crystal display using the material in its supertwisted nematic phase; the birefringence of the liquid crystal results in a characteristic yellow or blue color, unless corrected.

A form of liquid crystal in which the 90° twist of the twisted nematic phase has been increased to 180° or more, resulting in higher contrast and a wider viewer angle in the display.

Surface-mount LEDs (SMD LEDs) are light-emitting diodes designed for mounting directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards (PCBs) without the need for leads or wires. Unlike traditional...

The use of head-mounted displays and body-operated remote actuators to control distant machinery. Provides a virtual environment for humans to control devices, robots, etc., in a hostile real...

A television display system in which the television signal is converted to an image that is projected onto either a front or rear projection screen.

Thermal imaging is a technology that detects infrared radiation (heat) emitted by objects and converts it into an image, known as a thermogram, which displays temperature variations in different...

A display device having a thermoplastic film as the control layer medium. The film, moving from a playoff reel, is scanned by an electron gun and melted by an RF heating unit. Deformation of the film...

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical, electrical, or mechanical properties. These coatings are composed of thin...

Thin-film deposition is a process used to deposit a thin layer of material onto a substrate surface, typically ranging from nanometers to micrometers in thickness. These thin films are utilized in...

1. The process of following an object's movement; accomplished by focusing a radar beam on the reticle of an optical system on the object and plotting its bearing and distance at specific intervals....

The characteristic of displaying three colors when observed in as many separate directions.

A form of liquid crystal widely used in displays, achieved by sandwiching a liquid crystal material between two substrates whose inside surfaces have been prepared with a special coating that aligns...

A highly accurate cathode-ray tube used to display information with the utmost efficient stability and resolution. The information is viewed as a series of points, particularly suited for...

The formation and display of three-dimensional images by ultrasonic energy. In one technique, the energy pulses from an ultrasonic transducer scan the object through a liquid medium and, receiving...

In a cathode-ray tube, the region wherein a display on the tube keeps 70 percent or more of its luminance at the center of the viewing area.

The video graphics array (VGA) is a display resolution standard introduced by IBM in 1987 for displaying graphics on computer monitors. It quickly became the de facto standard for personal computers...

A filter, pale purple in color, used in black and white photography to display the brightness values of a subject being recorded on film.

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment or experience that can be interacted with and explored by an individual using electronic devices, such as a...

The use of miniature scanners to project raster-scanned video images directly onto the surface of the human retina, eliminating the need for a projection surface.

An electron tube that stores and visually displays information by means of a cathode-ray-beam-scanning and charge-storage mechanism.

Volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) are specialized optical elements that consist of periodic variations in refractive index throughout the volume of a transparent material, typically a photosensitive glass...

X resolution is a measure of the number of pixels or data points along the horizontal axis of an image or display. It quantifies the level of detail that can be displayed horizontally, representing...