Photonics Dictionary: S

A scientific CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) camera is a type of digital camera specifically designed for scientific imaging applications. It employs CMOS sensor technology, which...

Scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) refers to a type of image sensor technology specifically designed for scientific and industrial imaging applications. Unlike traditional...

The movement of the eye as it focuses on details of a scene. Some imaging systems mimic this movement by small, rapid scanning motions of the sensor.

A crude area on the polished surface, produced during coarse grinding, that subsequent fine grinding does not remove, owing, to some extent, to coarse grains of grinding sand that mixed with finer...

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...

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is highly transparent in the infrared region of the electromagnetic...

A sapphire window refers to a transparent optical component made from sapphire crystal. Sapphire is a single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is highly prized for its exceptional optical...

Sapphire refers to a crystalline form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is used in various optical and photonic applications due to its exceptional optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Sapphire...

A saturable absorber is a type of optical device that exhibits variable absorption properties depending on the intensity of incident light. In essence, it becomes less absorbent as the light...

1. The decrease of the absorption (or gain) coefficient of a medium near some transition frequency when the power of the incident radiation near that frequency exceeds a certain value. As long as the...

Scalar diffraction theory is a simplified approach used to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly light, as they encounter obstacles or apertures. It is termed "scalar"...

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...

Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A scanning laser beam is used as a detector, which transmits information...

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials characterization, and various industrial applications. Unlike traditional optical...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the surfaces of solid specimens. SEM achieves this by...

A device composed of a light source and phototube used to scan a moving strip of material in photoelectric side-register control systems.

A contour mapping technique that uses electronic scanning and sampling techniques instead of a reference grating (see moire topography; projection moire topography) to obtain moire fringes, producing...

A specific type of filter designed to reduce the amount of light scattered by reflections from the edges of optical components or mounts, or from irregularities on the optical surfaces.

An optical system that records inhomogeneities within a medium by detecting the energy refracted by that portion of the medium in which the inhomogeneity occurs. The image appears in the form of a...

A specific type of photographic plate designed with only a small amount of gelatin to function in the extreme ultraviolet and in positive-ray analysis.

1. The variation in intensity of a light beam as it travels through the atmosphere. 2. In radiation physics, a light flash formed by an ionizing event in a phosphor; a flash formed when rapidly...

A scintillation crystal, also known simply as a scintillator, is a material that emits light when it interacts with ionizing radiation such as gamma rays, x-rays, or charged particles. The emitted...

A scintillation detector is a radiation detection device that utilizes scintillation crystals to detect and measure ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays, x-rays, or charged particles. It consists...

A nonlinear label-free imaging technique commonly used during surgical procedures for the visualization of collagen fibers and muscle tissue (myosin) with submillimeter resolution. During the...

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a nonlinear optical process that occurs when two photons with the same frequency combine within a nonlinear material, resulting in the generation of a new photon...

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to intense light, typically in the realm of optics and photonics. Nonlinear optical...

A self-interference effect that generates random patterns; secondary speckle pattern (SSP) typically occurs in diffuse reflections of a laser on paper, white paint or rough surfaces. By tracking both...

Characteristic of dissimilar metals in thermoelectric solar cells whereby separate junctions exhibiting distinct temperatures transform incident voltage into a current.

In a bifocal spectacle lens, the vertical measurement of distance from the uppermost borderline of the bifocal segment to the lower lens edge.

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...

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that belongs to the powder bed fusion category. SLM is primarily used for metal additive manufacturing, where...

The reflection in different amounts as a function of wavelength, as a result of absorption and scattering, leading to color effects if occurring in the visible wavelength region.

Transmission in different amounts as a function of wavelength, as a result of absorption and scattering, leading to color effects if occurring in the visible wavelength region.

That branch of astronomy concerned with the study of the moon's physical characteristics.

Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam passes through a medium, causing a change in the phase of the light due to its interaction with...

A semiconductor is a type of material that has electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. In other words, semiconductors have properties that are intermediate between...

A type of compensator for use with a microscope and consisting of a quarter-wave plate in a fixed position and a rotatable analyzer.

A polarizing beamsplitting prism similar in design to the Rochon prism. However, the Senarmont transmits the extraordinary ray without deviation and deviates the ordinary ray due to the orientation...

An instrument for determining the sensitivity of a photographic film to light. The film is given either a stepped exposure or a continuously varied exposure; after processing, the density is measured...

A type of motion-picture camera in which single frames are photographed either automatically at a predetermined rate (as slow as one frame per minute or hour), or whenever the operator presses a key....

A mode of data transmission whereby each bit is generated in sequence on a single carrier.

A variation of tomography, which is a means of visualizing any one of a large set of parallel planes in the patient. A series of x-ray pictures taken from different angles results in developed...

A device used in measuring attenuation in optical fiber. The loss caused by the bends in a short reference length of fiber approximates that of a much longer fiber under test.

A type of motor that acts as the control element in a servomechanism. It is powered by an amplifier circuit and drives the load with linear or rotary motion.