Photonics Dictionary: I

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...

Metamerism that occurs when the light source is changed.

In optics, an image is the reconstruction of light rays from a source or object when light from that source or object is passed through a system of optics and onto an image forming plane. Light rays...

An image intensifier, also known as an image intensification tube or image intensification device, is a specialized electronic device used to amplify low-light-level images to make them visible to...

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,...

The emission of light by thermal radiation of a temperature high enough to render the source of radiation visible.

The light formed by visible radiation that, in traveling from light source to object, undergoes one or more reflections. In microscopy, it is the light that falls on the object at right angles to the...

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) refers to a proposed method of generating electricity by harnessing the energy released from the fusion of light atomic nuclei, typically isotopes of hydrogen, through a...

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...

An infrared source combined with reflecting projection optics to illuminate a target making it visible when observed through an infrared viewing device.

A semiconductor diode operating in either a coherent or incoherent mode that is used as a near-infrared or visible source in triggering light-activated devices.

Also known as integrated exposure. A measurement of light from sources that vary rapidly with time, defined as the integral of instantaneous power and time and expressed as units per second.

Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a sensor collects and accumulates incoming light or signal. It is a crucial...

The spectrum produced by the interference of light provided that the source used to create the interference has a broad enough emittance to form a spectrum.

An instrument that employs the interference of lightwaves to measure the accuracy of optical surfaces; it can measure a length in terms of the length of a wave of light by using interference...

A spectroscopic technique in which an excitation band absorbs laser energy resulting in an electronic transition. The isotopic species may then be measured using a time of flight mass spectrometer....