Photonics Dictionary: C

A system that uses both reflection and refraction to achieve its focal power. While the relative powers of the lenses and mirrors vary from system to system, the use of the reflective surfaces to...

An imaging process in which the single opening of a simple pinhole camera is replaced with many openings called, collectively, the aperture. The recorded picture, which consists of many overlapping...

A test used to measure the degree of fading of different colored materials, especially those involving organic dyes, which tend to fade when exposed to bright sunlight, to a damp atmosphere or to...

Also known as convergent lens or convex lens. A lens that converges an incident bundle of rays to a focus.

A converging lens with one convex and one concave surface.

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

A mercury vapor discharge lamp that has cadmium added to emit radiation in the red region as a complement to the mercury vapor's blue and green radiation.

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...

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...

Name originally given to the sun's infrared radiation by Sir William Herschel in his Philosophical Transactions of 1800.

Calorimetry is a branch of science that involves the measurement of heat flow in physical or chemical processes. It encompasses various techniques and instruments used to quantify heat transfer,...

Camera Link HS (high speed) is a standard developed for high-speed digital data transmission in machine vision and industrial imaging applications. It is an evolution of the original Camera Link...

Primary image memory that is built into a digital camera and stores the digital images generated by the camera's image sensor. figure

The use of the photographic process to produce precision copies of an original image that are many times smaller in size. One of its many applications is in microcircuitry.

The electron beam tube of a television camera that converts an optical image into a pattern of electrostatic charges and then scans the pattern to produce a corresponding electronic signal for...

A light-tight box that receives light from an object or scene and focuses it to form an image on a light-sensitive material or a detector. The camera generally contains a lens of variable aperture...

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.

A gas laser in which the energy-state transitions between vibrational and rotational states of CO2 molecules give emission at long IR, about 10 µm, wavelengths. The laser can maintain...

Carbonization is a process in which organic materials are heated in the absence of air, leading to the decomposition of the material and the production of carbon-rich residue. During carbonization,...

Carrier injection refers to the process of introducing charge carriers (either electrons or holes) into a semiconductor material. Semiconductors are materials with electrical conductivity between...

A two-mirror lens design used in astronomical telescopes, the primary being a parabola, the secondary a smaller hyperbola. The image formed is free of spherical aberration and color and is located...

In electronics, the coupling of power from stage to stage by the use of an input or output element in the cathode.

Cathode radiant sensitivity refers to the ability of a photocathode to convert incident radiant energy, typically in the form of light, into an electrical signal. Photocathodes are components used in...

A vacuum tube with an electron gun at one end and a fluorescent screen at the other. Electrons emitted from a heated filament are accelerated by a series of annular anodes at progressively higher...

A surface that envelops a bundle of rays or bundle of normals to the wave surface. It may be observed as a hollow, luminous cusp in a turbid medium.

A CCD camera, or charge-coupled device camera, is a type of digital camera that utilizes a CCD image sensor to capture and record images. CCD cameras are widely used in various applications,...

A CCD image sensor, or charge-coupled device image sensor, is a type of electronic device used to convert optical images into electronic signals. It is a key component in digital cameras, camcorders,...

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.

1. A single unit in a device for changing radiant energy to electrical energy or for controlling current flow in a circuit. 2. A single unit in a device whose resistance varies with radiant energy....

That viewpoint at which the angular subtenses of points in the picture are identical to angular subtenses of the original points in the scene, at the camera lens.

The surface curvature designed to reduce the marginal error found in the periphery of a spectacle lens.

1. Mounting a lens or mirror so that its optical axis is coincident with the optical or mechanical axes of other portions of the system. 2. The machining (edging) of the outside diameter of a lens...

A phototube having a cesium-coated cathode that has its greatest sensitivity in the infrared region.

A photocathode that exhibits maximum sensitivity in the blue and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. The sensitivity is obtained by the exposure of a thin layer of antimony to cesium vapor at an...