Photonics Dictionary: F

A piece of glass having a crude plano surface on each side.

A polishing machine designed to permit adjustment of the polisher speed and motion for the control of flat surfaces.

A slab-shaped, very low profile package for electronic components; often used when printed circuit boards must be closely stacked together.

An electronic display in which a flat screen is formed by an orthogonal array of display devices, such as electroluminescent devices, light-emitting diodes or liquid crystal cells.

A frame taken with a CCD camera of a surface that is evenly illuminated by diffuse light. This frame shows irregularities in the light-sensing ability of the CCD, such as electronic defects and dust...

A lens that focuses on a flat plane because its field of curvature is close to zero.

An imaging device analogous to a drum scanner, but operating at greater speeds; it uses a row of sensors to traverse an image affixed to a flat surface.

A plate consisting of fused optical fibers with both surfaces ground and polished, and having the entrance surface curved to match the image curvature of the input lens system. The plate transmits to...

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set parallel to one another by spacers so that lightwaves may bounce back and forth...

A highly reflective mirror that is usually flat on one surface and curved on the other, and that has silver, gold or aluminum deposited on glass, providing about 99 percent reflection.

A type of mirage that creates a distorted vertical image of relatively flat objects so that they appear as mountains, cliffs, columns or castles. The nonexistent mountainous region in the Arctic...

A coherent optical fiber bundle in which the configuration is flat rather than round, giving an output in a line.

Fizeau fringes are interference fringes observed in an interferometer, specifically in a Fizeau interferometer. The Fizeau interferometer is named after the French physicist Armand Fizeau, who...

A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin piece of transparent material, typically plastic or glass. This design...