Photonics Dictionary

A type of liquid-crystal display in which each display element contains an active component, such as a thin-film transistor, to maintain its state between refresh scans.

When applied to LCD grids, the active matrix is a means of supplying power to pixels by use of a transistor and capacitor. The transistor functions with leads in operation with its respective row and...

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two thin-film transistors (TFTs) to control the on-current at each OLED cell or...

A luminous display of numbers and the letters of the alphabet.

Dispersion that occurs when the medium's index of refraction decreases as the frequency of the propagating light increases. For a given medium, some wavelength ranges may produce anomalous dispersion...

Displacement in a direction perpendicular to that of the intended displacement, as in a translation stage with simple flexures that experiences vertical displacement during horizontal motion; it is...

A matrix-controlled display that has information storage at the display surface, and requires that an element be addressed only once to assure that it is on or off.

A cathode-ray tube, driven by a computer, that receives impulses of information from the computer and displays it in a series of lines, circles, curves or other graphic forms to be viewed by the user.

Recombination of only the light that is correctly dispersed by the first stage of a polychromator through its wide intermediate slit (common during Thomson scattering experimentation), which is...

An accurate cathode-ray tube display used to provide visual representation stored in a computer for the interpretation and evaluation of the data.

A prism or series of prisms used to disperse a beam of radiant energy of mixed wavelengths into its spectral components.

Dispersion refers to the phenomenon where different wavelengths (colors) of light travel at different speeds when passing through a medium. This variation in the speed of light for different colors...

A complex filter that uses polarization and interference to transmit light that is nearly monochromatic.

All formulas that present the index of refraction as a function of a wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. Also called dispersion equation, Cauchy formula, Hartmann formula.

A type of glass optical fiber that provides low pulse dispersion over a broad portion of the light spectrum and as a result can operate at 1300-nm and 1550-nm wavelengths simultaneously.

Operation in which the dispersion of a pulse limits the distance between repeaters in optical systems. Waveguide and material dispersion can make recognition of a pulse impossible.

A dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) refers to a type of optical fiber designed to minimize the effects of chromatic dispersion, which is the phenomenon where different wavelengths of light travel at...

A measure of the dispersive properties of a glass. The relative dispersion is defined as: where C, D, and F refer to the material's index of refraction at the three chief Fraunhofer lines in the...

The observable illustration of an image, scene or data on a screen such as a console or cathode-ray tube, seen as a graph, report or drawing.

A visual display used with a computer to give access to the many elements of data as an array of points. With the display console, an operator may check information in the computer and change it if...

A display format consisting of small light-emitting elements arranged as a two-dimensional array. Various elements are energized to depict a character. The typical matrix is 5 x 7 dots.

Type of solid-state display tube in which the readout surface is coated with a material that changes color when positively or negatively charged.

The utilization of the light produced when electrical energy is directly converted into light within devices used for visual readout displays or as complex logic-circuit elements. With EL lighting,...

An electrophoretic display, often referred to as an electronic paper display or e-paper display, is a type of electronic visual display technology used in electronic devices for the purpose of...

An electrowetting display (EWD) is a type of electronic display technology that utilizes the principles of electrowetting to control the behavior of colored oil droplets on a hydrophobic surface....

Enhanced picture archiving and communication system (PACS) display (ePAD) is a software tool used in medical imaging to view, manipulate, and analyze radiological images, such as x-rays, CT scans,...

An X-Y electrically addressable series of arrays with individual electron emitters bombarding a phosphor-coated transparent plate. The phosphor is induced into luminescence, similar to traditional...

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 flexible display refers to a type of electronic visual display that is designed to be bendable, foldable, or rollable, allowing for unconventional form factors and enhanced portability. Unlike...

A display device that contains an inert gas that gives off orange light when a high voltage is applied to ionize the gas.

An optical system that superimposes a synthetic display providing navigational or weapon-aiming information on a pilot's or driver's field of view. The system includes a cathode-ray tube, collimating...

A compact optical projection system, mounted on or built into a helmet, and used to project data or a scene directly into the eyes of the wearer. Also called visually coupled display.

Laser cavity bounded by a plane mirror and a concave spherical mirror with the plane mirror located at the center of curvature of the concave mirror.

Interferometric modulator display (IMOD) is a type of display technology used in electronic devices, known for its energy efficiency and ability to produce high-quality reflective color displays....

The process whereby white light is separated into its component wavelengths. Light beams of different wavelengths are separated from each other by undergoing a different angular deviation. Prisms and...

An alphanumeric display formed by a layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched between two sheets of glass; a transparent conductive coating on the glass is etched to form the character segments. An...

The dispersion attributable to the wavelength dependence of the refractive index of the material used in any optical application.

A display that is formed in an X-Y manner; i.e., two inputs allow control of X2 elements.

A microdisplay is a miniature electronic display technology that is designed to project visual information onto a small screen. Unlike traditional displays, microdisplays are typically very compact...

Synonym for multimode distortion. Also called mode dispersion.

Synonym (regarded by some as erroneous) for multimode distortion, which see.

A matrix-controlled display that has no information storage at the display surface.

Multispectral imaging is a technique that involves capturing and analyzing images at multiple discrete spectral bands within the electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike hyperspectral imaging, which acquires...