Photonics Dictionary: S

The successive analysis or synthesizing of the light values or other similar characteristics of the components of a picture area, following a given method.

Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A scanning laser beam is used as a detector, which transmits information...

A light, radar or electron beam used to scan according to a particular method.

Measures by heterodyning interferometry the local slope of a vibrating sample. The method allows the reconstruction of a three dimensional map of the surface in order to determine the slope and...

In field-sequential color television, the rotating tricolor disc placed between the subject and the lens, or between the picture tube and the viewer.

The picture formed by the scanning beam of electrons in a scanning electron microscope.

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials characterization, and various industrial applications. Unlike traditional optical...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the surfaces of solid specimens. SEM achieves this by...

A device composed of a light source and phototube used to scan a moving strip of material in photoelectric side-register control systems.

1. The continuous thin strip marked by the scanning beam. Generally, during return of the scan, the line is blanked out. 2. The thin strip marked by the scanning process and composed of the...

A microdensitometer that contains a scanning stage to provide simultaneous representations of position vs. density.

A contour mapping technique that uses electronic scanning and sampling techniques instead of a reference grating (see moire topography; projection moire topography) to obtain moire fringes, producing...

See atomic force microscope; magnetic force microscope; near-field scanning optical microscope; scanning tunneling microscope.

A spectroradiometer having a means to scan different regions of the light spectrum, providing simultaneous representations of amplitude vs. wavelength of the spectrum.

The picture area scanned per second.

The spot illuminated on a cathode-ray tube by the initial impact of the scanning ray and the screen.

A high-resolution imaging instrument that can detect and measure the positions of individual atoms on the surface of a material. A very fine conductive probe is placed at a distance of 10 to 20...

Raster scanning process like that of television: each line is scanned successively.

A scanning process in which the greatest amount of radiation determines part of a spiral motion rotating in one direction.

The movement of the eye as it focuses on details of a scene. Some imaging systems mimic this movement by small, rapid scanning motions of the sensor.

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The scanning takes place inside the television tube as electrons, guided by...

Image distortion that occurs when the axes of the original image are not perpendicular in the resulting image, making the resulting image appear slanted. Shear can be caused by movement of the...

A television system that uses a slow rate of horizontal scanning to increase its reproduction and transmittance accuracy of printed matter, photographs and illustrations.

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in ophthalmology, to visualize and analyze the internal structures of biological...

An automatic scanning instrument that is used to study a substance's fluorescence over a wide range of wavelengths. It consists of a radiation source, a grating that functions as the monochromator in...

An instrument in which an image of the sun is scanned by the entrance slit of a monochromator, the exit slit simultaneously scanning a photographic plate for analysis of the solar spectral lines. If...

An instrument similar to the spectroheliograph, but having a scanning method that is performed by a pair of rapidly oscillating slits or a rotating glass block located before a pair of fixed slits at...

A scanning device used to cyclically tune through a given frequency range to determine the amplitude-frequency distribution of the signals present, usually by displaying output on a chart or...

Abbreviation of "synchronization.'' In television, the timing signals used to drive the scanning process. Horizontal sync triggers the retracing of the raster line beginning at the left-hand...