Photonics Dictionary

A small fiber optic endoscope used in laser surgery.

A structural method of optical character recognition, used where the input media are variable, as in hand-written or multifont documents. A series of questions (such as "Does the character contain a...

A process used in document copying and printing that involves the visible rendering of an invisible electrostatic image on a photoconductive material by its treatment with oppositely charged pigment...

An endoscope is a medical device used for visualizing and examining the interior of hollow organs, body cavities, or confined spaces within the body. It consists of a flexible or rigid tube equipped...

An image processing device that displays pseudocolor images by assigning colors to the gray scales according to look-up tables defined by the user.

A family of lenses commonly used in scan systems for reading or printing documents. The lens must be designed such that the image height is proportional to the scan angle (Theta), not the tangent of...

An automatic camera that can record reduced images of documents at a rate of up to 30,000 documents per hour by having the film and documents move synchronously in opposite directions.

The photographic recording of a subject that exhibits luminescence only for an extremely short time (10-8 s) after the exciting source is removed. In the process, the subject may be illuminated by...

Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape and...

Line scan refers to a method of capturing images or data by scanning a single line at a time, as opposed to capturing the entire image simultaneously. This technique is commonly used in various...

A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to capture images one line or row of pixels at a time, rather than a full...

A linear image sensor is a type of solid-state electronic device used to capture and convert light into electrical signals. Unlike area image sensors (such as CCD or CMOS sensors), which capture an...

Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement, including the development of measurement standards, techniques, and...

A small card (10 x 15 cm) that has been treated with a photographic emulsion to record and store the microimages of documents and graphic information projected on it by a microfilm camera. A...

A camera used to reduce originals onto film for easy storage. There are two basic types: one in which the film is fixed during exposure, and one in which the film is exposed while moving past an...

A device used to view microfilmed documents where the image on film is projected, in magnified form, onto a rear projection screen for viewing.

Founded by professor Albert Munsell. In the field of colorimetry, the Munsell color system is a color space that identifies a given color based on three different color measurements. These...

An opaque projector is a device used for enlarging and projecting images from opaque objects such as printed pages, photographs, or three-dimensional objects onto a screen or surface. Unlike a...

Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine that focuses on the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the eyes and visual system. Ophthalmologists are medical doctors who specialize in the diagnosis,...

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology that is used to convert printed or handwritten text into machine-readable text. OCR software and systems are designed to recognize and extract...

Also known as OCT-A, optical coherence tomography angiography is an imaging technique that uses light waves to measure changes in the reflectance characteristics, enabling the the quantitative...

Optical design and engineering services involve the development, customization, and optimization of optical systems and components to meet specific performance requirements and application needs....

An optical scanning system found in most computer scanners that can read documents, often in many type styles, and convert the document text into digital information to be stored, and displayed by a...

A document-transmitting process that uses a cylinder that rotates the document to be scanned and detected by a photoelectric cell. The cell transforms the light into electrical energy that may be...

A camera system used for microphotography in which the document to be recorded is on a flat bed, perpendicular to the lens axis. The camera head is located above the copyboard on a column and may be...

A point cloud is a set of data points in a three-dimensional coordinate system, where each point represents a specific location in space. These points are typically obtained through various sensing...

In image processing, generating a color image from monochrome data by assigning a color to each of the gray levels.

A camera system used for microphotography that has a structure, such as a cylinder or surveyor belt, to rotate the documents to be recorded. The image is fixed relative to film motion and exposure is...

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in ophthalmology, to visualize and analyze the internal structures of biological...

An approach to character recognition based on the structure of the character to be identified (number of straight lines, bays, holes, etc.); used where simple matching is not viable, as in...

Videography refers to the process of capturing moving images and recording them in a digital format. It involves the use of video cameras, lighting equipment, and audio recording devices to create...