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337 terms

Photonics Dictionary: C

A portion of computer memory that is used for temporary storage of frequently accessed data. Substantially increases computer speed.

capacitance

The ability of a conductor to store an electrical charge; its value is given in farads as the ratio of the stored charge on one conductor to the potential difference between it and a second conductor.

capacitor

A device that accumulates and stores electrical energy to introduce capacitance into a circuit. Basically, it is composed of two electrical conductors, separated by an insulating medium.

carbonaceous

Consisting of, containing, pertaining to or yielding carbon.

catacaustic

A caustic formed by reflection.

cathode dark space

The area of low-level luminance lying between the cathode and the negative glow in a glow-discharge, cold-cathode tube.

cathode-ray tube faceplate

A fiber optic end plate constructed by drawing a bundle of parallel fibers embedded in glass and cutting it into thin slices. These slices are assembled in a plane and heated to produce a...

CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory)

An adaptation by Philips and Sony of their audio compact disc technology for optical disc data storage and retrieval. Current capacity of a disc is 0.5 to 0.6 gigabytes of information.

cementing surface

The surface of an element of a compound lens that will produce the cemented interface. The curves of this interface are called inside curves. To facilitate cementing, the two inside curves should...

character generation cathode-ray tube

A cathode-ray tube that generates symbols for use in other displays. The tube operates by scanning specific characters on the target and generating them as video signals to other cathode-ray systems.

character generator

Computer hardware or firmware that accesses character patterns stored in read-only memory and displays them at specific coordinates on a screen.

character read-out system

A photoelectrically controlled, alphanumeric reading device that converts characters to audible or sorting signals which can be fed to a computer, electric typewriter, tapepunch or other machine.

characteristic angle

The angle at which a given mode propagates down an optical fiber.

characteristic curve

A graph used in photography to portray the increase of a film's density as its time of exposure increases.

charge packet -> packet

The finite amount of electrical charge generated in response to incident radiation and transferred from one storage element to the next in a charge-coupled device. Each packet corresponds to a pixel...

chemical actinometer

A light-sensitive detector having a chemical compound that reacts when exposed to light. It is used in photochemistry and relies on the chemical reaction to determine the amount of incident radiation.

CMOS quantitative polymerase chain reaction system

This type of miniaturized system, referred to as CMOS qPCR, combines microfluidic technology with an ultralow-light CMOS bio-optical sensor with LEDs as the optical excitation source to achieve...

color facsimile transmission

The transmission of a color photograph by separating the colors into varying intensities of red, blue and green, and then sending separate transmissions of the three color signals to a receiving...

color space

The entire range of colors a specific color model can produce, represented as a three-dimensional solid.

compact disk read-only memory -> CD-ROM

compact disc read-only memory

compacting

The heat-treating method in which the index of refraction of glass is fixed near or at its maximum value by holding the glass for different periods at suitable degrees of heat below the range of...

computer-calculated diffraction pattern

The use of computer analysis in the calculation of diffraction patterns for information on the design of optical systems. In this method, the electric field amplitude and phase in the aperture are...

computer-integrated manufacturing

The use of computer systems for monitoring and controlling industrial production.

conic refraction

The dispersion of a light ray striking the surface of a biaxial crystal, in which the resulting rays are reflected in a conical manner.

contact blocking

Also called color blocking. The formation of a block by making optical contact between a number of optical elements and a large optical flat.

contact fluid

A liquid, usually of a specific refractive index and dispersion, serving as an interface between two solids to form a complete light transmission system.

contact fluorography

A fluorographic method whereby the sensitive photographic medium is pressed against a fluorescent screen to form a visible image.

contact laser surgery

Laser surgery by means of a low-power laser system using a synthetic sapphire scalpel that transmits the laser light while in direct contact with the tissue.

contact microradiography

The radiography of small objects having detail too fine to be seen by the unaided eye. The resulting negative, when optically enlarged, can be examined.

converging surface

The curved boundary between two optical media of different refractive indices, which causes convergence.

cutback technique

A technique for measuring fiber attenuation or distortion by performing two transmission measurements. One is at the output end of the full length of the fiber. The other is within 1 to 3 m of the...

cyberspace -> virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment or experience that can be interacted with and explored by an individual using electronic devices, such as a...

carcinotron -> backward-wave oscillator

An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure. The electron beam and the electromagnetic wave move in opposite directions...

cathodic etching -> vacuum etching

Also known as cathodic etching. Surface etching achieved by bombarding an evacuated surface with gas ions.

CD/I

A technical specification for a consumer product drawn up by Sony and Philips. CD/I combines audio, video and text recorded as interleaved channels on a disc similar to an audio compact disc. The...

color blocking -> contact blocking

Also called color blocking. The formation of a block by making optical contact between a number of optical elements and a large optical flat.

cresyl violet

Cresyl violet, also known as cresyl violet acetate or cresyl echt violet, is a synthetic organic compound belonging to the class of triarylmethane dyes. It is commonly used in histology and...

curvature loss -> macrobend loss

In an optical waveguide, that loss attributable to macrobending. Macrobending usually causes little or no radiative loss.

centi-; speed of light in a vacuum

C-mount

A standard lens interface initially made for 16mm movie cameras and now used primarily on closed-circuit television cameras. It is a 1-in.-diameter, 32-thread-per-inch interface with a...

clear aperture

cable -> fiber optic cable

A package for an optical fiber or fibers that may include cladding, buffering, strength members and an outer jacket.

calcite

A doubly refracting mineral used to produce polarizing prisms. It is uniaxial negative and in the trigonal division of the hexagonal system of crystals. Its indices are e = 1.486, w = 1.658; its...

calcite interference microscope

A microscope that allows examination of a small crystal and conveniently provides linearly polarized object and reference beams so that, by suitable orientation of an anisotropic crystal, the optical...

calcium fluoride

An optical material used in place of crown glass to produce lenses with extraordinary correction of chromatic aberrations. Its high coefficient of thermal expansion and its tendency to absorb...

calcium indicator

A calcium indicator is a molecule that is sensitive to changes in calcium ion (Ca2+) concentrations in biological systems. These indicators are commonly used in various fields, including cell...

calibrated light source

A lamp whose output can be traced to a standard light source.

calibration reference

Any known value derived from standard analysis that serves as a reference to the accuracy of an instrument or process in determining one or more variables.

Callier coefficient

The coefficient termed by Callier as the ratio between the density of photographic negatives measured by parallel light and that measured by diffuse light, due to scattering effects. This effect is...

calligraphic imager -> stroke pattern

The pattern formed by a character generation cathode-ray tube system, in which the characters are composed of a sequence of line segments (strokes) generated by the electron beam motion with time...

Photonics DictionaryC