Photonics Dictionary: C

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.

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.

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...

In a series of amplifiers, amplification by each of the preceding output.

The amplitude modulation through the application of modulating voltage to the cathode circuit.

A plane that lies at right angles to the tube axis that has the deflection center.

An ion carrying a positive charge and thus attracted to the cathode during electrolysis.

In a reflecting telescope, the obstruction of the primary mirror by a secondary mirror which blocks a small amount of the light reflected by the primary mirror and introduces additional diffraction.

In a perfectly centered lens, the mechanical axis (defined by the ground outside the diameter of the lens) is made to be exactly coincident with the optical axis (defined by a line through the...

The radiation produced when a charged particle traverses a medium that has a refractive index considerably greater than unity. The moving particle has a velocity that exceeds the velocity of light in...

The breakdown of the bonds in polymer chains caused by illumination.

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.

A charge-injection device (CID) refers to a class of devices that manipulate and detect electrical charge within a semiconductor material. Charge-coupled devices are a specific implementation of this...

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment refers to a class of specialized apparatus used in the process of chemical vapor deposition, a technique for depositing thin films of various materials onto...

Chemical vapor deposition is a process of applying dopants to a glass bait by flame reactions of gaseous compounds. See also outside vapor-phase oxidation; inside vapor-phase oxidation.

The binding of gas to a surface or in matter by chemical activity.

A laser whose pulses are expanded, using gratings and optical fibers, before amplification and compressed to increase beam intensity without damage to the optical train.

Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies without causing damage to the amplifying medium. The method was first...

Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a lens or optical system, leading to a failure to focus all colors to the same...

Change of sensitivity of the eye leading to changed color perception.

The image of a point source that appears as a circle of finite diameter because of defocusing or the aberrations inherent in an optical system.

Best point of focus for an image in a beam of light at the smallest cross section of the beam.

For a laser, the maximum exposure time that the laser design allows; 0.25 seconds for a Class 2 laser.

A television system that does not broadcast television signals but transmits them over a closed circuit.

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...

A numerical representation of the rate at which a material will exhibit dimensional changes as a direct result of changes in temperature.

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser produces an optical wave that is modulated in amplitude, phase or frequency by...

Radiation in which the phase relationship between any two points in the radiation field has a constant difference, or is exactly the same in either the spatial or the temporal mode throughout the...

A means of illumination from which the infrared component has been removed by absorption or reflection filters within the condenser system.

Category inclusive of all radiation that is incited electronically, except laser radiation, as a function of the application of laser power to a system.

The solid angle of a detector or system pupil as seen by the source.

Radiation in which every ray from any given object point can be considered to be parallel to every other. This is never completely the case: The light from a star is really diverging, and all...

1. The process of aligning the optical axes of optical systems to the reference mechanical axes or surfaces of an instrument. 2. The adjustment of two or more optical axes with respect to each other....

The broadening of spectral lines due to the collision of radiating particles with one another and the resulting interruption of the radiative process.

A method of lasing in which free electrons in a laser-produced plasma collide with neonlike ions to excite electrons to states that decay at different speeds, producing a population inversion.

A filter that serves to alter the color temperature and the mired value of the radiation emitted by a source.

The reduction in longitudinal, lateral and secondary chromatic aberrations in a lens or lens system.

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...

Equipment for testing an observer's color vision. Some tests require the identification or ordering of colored samples. The commercially available examples include: the Ishihara plates, on which...

A television system that is capable of producing an image whose colors approximate the colors of the original, by the use of additive color mixing of the three primary colors.

Aspect of vision permitting the observer to distinguish among stimuli by their hue, saturation, and brightness or lightness.

Situation in which the observer requires fewer than three independent stimuli to make color matches. Dichromats require only two stimuli and are classified as protanopes and deuteranopes (both...

A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical instruments to determine pulse code, repetition frequency and wavelength.

A method of producing large volumes of plastic optical components in which powdered or sheet plastic is pressed between heated dies.

The use of a computer to generate a series of interrelated images so that the images give the illusion of movement in space and time.