Photonics Dictionary: I

An infrared lens is an optical component specifically designed and optimized for transmitting, focusing, or manipulating infrared (IR) radiation within the infrared spectrum. These lenses are used in...

A lens that has a mount, usually bayonet or screw type in design, that can be used on a camera in place of lenses with the same mounting. This allows one camera body to be used with lenses of...

A lens that is implanted within the eye to replace the eye lens, which has been removed because of cataract or other defect.

An instrument in which an object's image, produced by a lens of known focal length, is used to determine the object's distance from the instrument when its size is known, or the object's size if the...

A magnifying lens fitted with a battery-operated lamp by which an object can be conveniently illuminated during observation.

The distance from the last surface of a lens system to the image. For a thin lens system, this distance is equivalent to the distance from the rear nodal point of a lens to the image.

In optics, the term image jump refers to a displacement or shift in the apparent position of an image when a change occurs in the optical system. This phenomenon is often observed in certain types of...

Any form of lens, optical system (camera, telescope, microscope, etc.), or opto-electronics utilized for the purpose of producing an image of a given object.

A camera tube widely used in television broadcasting. It consists of three sections within a single vacuum envelope. 1. A photosensitive film sometimes called the photocathode. The scene to be...

A plane in which an image is formed. A real image formed by a positive lens would be visible upon a screen located in this plane.

A hologram in which the image of an object, or the object itself, is located near the hologram recording plane, for optimum image reconstruction. Because the images are close to the hologram plane,...

A measure of the closeness with which an optical image is capable of resembling the original object. The factors that affect image quality are lens aberrations, diffraction, dirt and stray light...

Any arrangement of a bundle of optical fibers that alters the shape of the image. For example, by systematic regulation of the spacing of the fibers from the entrance end to the exit end, a...

The distance between the last vertex of a lens and the image.

A radiation detector with its active medium mounted within a lens that focuses the radiation signal. The improvement in detector performance is a function of the indices of refraction of the lens...

Term synonymous with refractive index liquid, but related more to tank or chamber immersion of crystals, fibers, lenses, photoelastic models, etc.

An oil required by oil-immersion objectives that is applied between the exterior of the objective lens and a cover glass or appropriate specimen.

In the context of optical materials, the term "impurity level" refers to the presence of foreign atoms or molecules within the material that deviate from its regular or intrinsic composition. These...

In vivo is a Latin term that translates to "within the living." In scientific contexts, particularly in biology and medicine, it refers to experiments or observations conducted within a living...

A ray of light that falls upon or strikes a surface of an object such as a lens. It is said to be incident to the surface.

The ratio of the velocity of light in a vacuum to the velocity of light in a refractive material for a given wavelength.

A semiconductor material that is used as an infrared detector for light up to 5 µm in wavelength.

An InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) camera is a type of imaging device that utilizes InGaAs sensors to capture images in the near-infrared (NIR) spectrum. InGaAs is a semiconductor material that is...

Indium phosphide (InP) is a compound semiconductor material composed of indium (In) and phosphorus (P). It belongs to the III-V group of semiconductors, where elements from groups III and V of the...

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a method of achieving nuclear fusion, a process where two atomic nuclei combine to release energy. In the case of inertial confinement fusion, the fusion reaction...

An infrared camera, also known as a thermal imaging camera or IR camera, is a device that captures and visualizes the infrared radiation emitted by objects, revealing temperature variations across...

An infrared detector is a device that is used to detect and measure infrared radiation, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of light. These detectors are utilized in various applications,...

A filter exhibiting transparency, absorption or reflectance characteristics specifically for spectral control of wavelengths longer than 700 µm.

An infrared light source is a device that emits light in the infrared spectrum, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of light. Infrared light has longer wavelengths than visible light and is...

An infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED) is a semiconductor device that emits infrared light when an electric current passes through it. Similar to standard LEDs that emit visible light, IR LEDs are...

Infrared optics refer to optical components and systems designed to manipulate and control infrared (IR) light, which lies beyond the visible spectrum. These components are crucial for various...

The range of materials that, unlike glass, may be used in the infrared. Water-soluble salts, such as cesium iodide, and other substances such as arsenic sulfide, selenium, thallium bromide-iodide and...

A phosphor, such as sulfide or selenide, that can be excited to luminescence by incident infrared radiation simultaneous to or following its excitation by visible radiant energy.

An impurity-doped silicon detector array sensitive to long infrared wavelengths, installed in optical collecting systems capable of detecting the presence of infrared-emitting objects at extensive...

Photographic recording that uses infrared radiation as the light source to form an image of a microscopic object and a system of lenses and objectives that are transparent to the radiation. The image...

Any object that emits radiation of a wavelength lying between about 0.75 to 1000 µm. A calibrated secondary source usually is a heated cavity (blackbody) or a filament lamp rated in wattage...

A device that combines electronic and optical techniques to form a monitored infrared signal between 1 and 14 µm. It contains an internal modulator to amplitude-modulate the output signal, an...

Infrared (IR) refers to the region of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths longer than those of visible light, but shorter than those of microwaves. The infrared spectrum spans wavelengths...

An InGaAs photodiode refers to a photodetector device that is constructed using a semiconductor material composed of a combination of indium (In), gallium (Ga), and arsenic (As). The term InGaAs...

A process by which a plastic cell is molded around a glass lens or lenses to create a mount, eliminating the metal barrel and the need for glass-to-metal seals.

In a camera, the movement of one or more lenses behind the front lens, rather than of the front lens itself, to bring the subject into focus. Because internal focusing does not require the front lens...

The horizontal distance between the 90° meridian of a bifocal lens and the geometrical center of the segment.

Instantaneous field of view (iFOV) is a term commonly used in the context of remote sensing, imaging systems, and optical instruments. It refers to the specific portion of a scene that an optical...