Photonics Dictionary: F

The effect discovered by Faraday in 1845 whereby nonoptically active materials or substances become capable of rotating the polarization plane of polarized radiation (light) passed through them when...

A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to transmit light from a source to a spectrometer unit, where the light is...

A fiber-coupled LED (light-emitting diode) refers to an LED device that is optically coupled to an optical fiber for the purpose of efficient light transmission. In this configuration, the LED serves...

An optical instrument consisting of an objective lens, a coherent (usually flexible) fiber bundle and an eyepiece to examine the output of the fiber bundle.

An image-forming instrument in which a strong electrostatic field causes cold emission of electrons from a sharply rounded point or from an object that is located on that point. The electrons are...

1. A lens situated at or near the plane of an internal image to project the aperture of a previous objective or erector upon the aperture of a following lens. 2. A lens at or near the plane of a...

The field of view (FOV) refers to the extent of the observable world or the visible area that can be seen at any given moment through a device, such as an optical instrument, camera, or sensor. It is...

An instrument designed to place nongraphic information, usually generated by a computer, onto photographic film. The information is generally encoded as a series of opaque and translucent spots, or...

An interferometer spectrometer designed to measure thicknesses of thin films or layers by recording the interferogram and by having a computer within the instrument to establish the distance between...

Any of a number of instruments that uses a flame to vaporize a solution of the chemical being analyzed so that light may be passed through the vapor. Monochromation of the transmitted light is...

An instrument designed to give a visual indication to the pilot when the plane has strayed from a specific flight path.

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used in biology and medicine for the quantitative analysis of the physical and chemical characteristics of cells and particles suspended in a fluid. The method...

A device, also called a fluorescence lifetime instrument, that measures decay curves of fluorescing samples. It generally consists of a gated pulsed flashlamp or a cavity dumped dye laser...

Agents used for testing light sources and natural daylight with visual and instrumental assessment using a set of white metameric pairs.

An instrument used to measure the duration of fluorescence emanating from a biological sample to monitor and evaluate its condition.

An instrument used to detect the fluorescence emitted by a source in comparison with a reference.

A scale on an optical instrument that indicates the condition of focus. May indicate the distance to the object or diopter output, or from infinity focus.

An instrument using a Michelson interferometer, a beamsplitter, two plane mirrors and a detector to give Fourier analysis of the detector signal to provide the desired spectrum.

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid, or gas sample. It operates based...