Photonics Dictionary

1. In optics, the housing, usually cylindrical, that contains the lenses and iris diaphragm of a camera. 2. In fiber optics, a device for coupling two connectors.

The second adjustable iris diaphragm in an optical system. In the common microscope condenser system, it usually is located beneath the substage condenser on a transmitted light microscope. When the...

A device for automatic exposure control in which a motor-driven diaphragm adjusts the aperture in response to a signal from a photocell detecting ambient light.

A photometer screen that contains a diaphragm of paper or parchment with a translucent central spot of oil or paraffin.

A flanged or plain ring with a restricted aperture, located in an optical system at any of several points, that cuts off marginal light rays not essential to image formation. Diaphragms are used as...

A shutter consisting of a ring of interweaving blades that open outward and allow light to pass when they are pivoted at their outer edges.

In a microscope, the diaphragm located between the Bertrand lens and the eyepiece, which is closed during conoscopic viewing to restrict the interference figures to that of a crystal lying on the...

A mechanical device designed to smoothly vary the effective diameter of a lens, thereby controlling the amount of light allowed through.

The adjustable membrane located just in front of the crystalline lens within the eye. The iris gives the eye its color. See also iris diaphragm.

A two-stage illuminating system for a microscope in which the source is imaged in the aperture of the substage condenser by an auxiliary condenser, and the substage condenser in turn forms an image...

The metal tube that maintains the optical components of a lens in proper relationship. Some lenses are mounted in metal cells, which in turn are screwed to the front and rear of a shutter or lens...

A mask-alignment microscope used to produce and inspect microcircuits in the electronics industry. It provides flat-field, distortion-free images at all magnifications with a high-intensity vertical...