The highest frequency at which a laser diode can be driven and still be modulated acceptably that further results in the maximum rate of change (modulation) in output frequency that can be obtained from the laser diode under it's specific modulation...

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a type of electronic image sensor used in various imaging devices, including digital...

An instrument that uses a blackened silver-disc reflector with a shutter to create temperature fluctuations that are...

Magneto-optics refers to the study and manipulation of the interaction between magnetic fields and light (electromagnetic...

The illumination generally used in microscopy, whereby the specimen appears dark against a light background.

Mode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds,...

A straight line connecting the curvature centers of the refracting lens surfaces. In a mechanical sense, a line joining the...

A device that utilizes avalanche multiplication of photocurrent by means of hole-electrons created by absorbed photons. When...

Particle acceleration refers to the process by which charged particles, such as electrons or protons, gain kinetic energy...

In semiconductor physics, the term bandgap refers to the energy range in a material where no electronic states are allowed....

The process in which the normal rate of fluorescent emission from a substance is enhanced by virtue of the optical gain of...

An aspheric mirror is an optical mirror surface that deviates from the shape of a perfect sphere, having a non-spherical...

Lithography is a key process used in microfabrication and semiconductor manufacturing to create intricate patterns on the...

A spectrograph that functions in a vacuum and therefore eliminates any air-absorption of the emission being surveyed.

Line scan refers to a method of capturing images or data by scanning a single line at a time, as opposed to capturing the...

A device containing two opposed quartz wedges of equal angle, one wedge being movable along its length by a micrometer...

Controlled beam technology that introduces beams of sunlight through holes in a roof that are relayed throughout the...

A composite derived from aluminum alloy powder and silicon carbide, used as an optical substrate in air- and spacecraft...

A telescope stand equipped with a polar axis that can be set parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation and a declination axis...

The central peak (including everything interior to the first zero or dark ring) of the focal diffraction pattern of a...

Pertaining to the manner in which light is reflected, as by a mirror or speculum.

Time-lapse optical coherence tomography (OCT) refers to a medical imaging technique that captures a series of sequential OCT...

Low Earth orbit (LEO) refers to a region in space that is relatively close to Earth's surface, typically characterized by...

Medical lasers are devices that produce intense beams of light with specific characteristics and properties, which are used...

A camera equipped with angular scales in altitude and azimuth. The scale readings are imprinted on the film when an exposure...

A substrate refers to a material or surface upon which another material or process is applied or deposited. In various...

An evacuated bulb containing a tungsten filament that is heated by passing an electric current through it. In domestic light...

Ferroelectric materials are a type of dielectric materials that exhibit spontaneous electric polarization, meaning they...

Light diffusion refers to the process by which light is scattered or spread out in various directions as it interacts with a...

A plate containing a uniform pattern of transparent holes in an opaque background, the clear area being nearly equal to the...

Envelopes for cathode-ray tubes are made by blowing glass in the same manner as light bulbs. They have a fairly flat end...

A self-interference effect that generates random patterns; secondary speckle pattern (SSP) typically occurs in diffuse...

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method of secure communication that utilizes principles from quantum mechanics to...

A gauge designed to measure the degree of vacuum in an evacuated vessel. A simple U-tube containing mercury is adequate for...

A ray that lies in the meridional plane; a ray that lies in the plane that contains the optical axis. A tangential ray.

A device that combines electronic and optical techniques to form a monitored infrared signal between 1 and 14 µm. It...

An array or mosaic of optical surfaces. May be a number of lenses closely packed to form multiple images or many parallel...

Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter...

An ocular having two planoconvex lenses that are formed from similar glass and that are separated by a space equal to half...

Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine that focuses on the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the eyes and visual system....

A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue,...

Laser texturing is a manufacturing process that involves using a laser beam to selectively modify the surface of a material,...

A shield of rubber, plastic or metal used to protect the eyes of the observer from stray light and wind, and to maintain the...

Used for high-resolution surface study with subnanometer resolution. XRIM uses interfacial phase contrast with application...

With respect to color photography, the measurement, at a given wavelength, of the way the color film modulates the radiant...

Luminescence is the emission of light that occurs without the involved substance undergoing a significant increase in...

Also known as amplification. 1. The increase in a signal that is transmitted from one point to another through an amplifier....

Pairs of color stimuli that exhibit metamerism as described by colorimetry. Also known as metameters.

A crystal-based device that combines and adjusts the intensities of multiple wavelengths of laser light in order to obtain...

An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet laser that emits short pulses of light in the ultraviolet spectrum. The term...

A defect on or in an optical element that does not appreciably impair the function of the surface.

A fluorographic method whereby the sensitive photographic medium is pressed against a fluorescent screen to form a visible...

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a nonlinear optical process that occurs when two photons with the same frequency combine...

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique that enhances the Raman scattering signal of...

The interval between direction of signal to a light-emitting diode and attainment of 10 percent output current in the...

Van der Waals forces refer to the attractive or repulsive forces between molecules (or parts of molecules) that arise from...

The process of lapping a thin edge of metal over the bevelled edge of a lens to maintain it within its cell.

The ratio of the first focal length of a lens to the refractive index of the medium containing the incident light; the ratio...

An optical experiment carried out conclusively in 1887 that demonstrated that the ether, a hypothetical medium postulated by...

Retroreflection is a phenomenon in optics where light is reflected back toward its source, typically in a direction nearly...

Two oppositely charged particles.

Charged frozen pellets that are rapidly bombarded with a focused high-power laser to form a dense plasma that can be heated...

The point to which the extension of the straight line, reaching from the sun to the observer's eye after penetrating the...

An electrowetting display (EWD) is a type of electronic display technology that utilizes the principles of electrowetting to...

A polariscope used to demonstrate strain inherent in a piece of glass.

A computer whose architecture contains several CPU chips arranged in parallel. Often used in image processing systems.

A camera tube that employs a high-velocity electron beam to scan a photoemissive mosaic and to store electrical charge...

An apparatus, designed for use with a camera, that is used to rapidly open the path from lens to film, to maintain the...

The difference in base up or down prism power at corresponding points located on the two lenses of a pair of spectacles.

A flowmeter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a fluid passing through a particular point in a system....

The amplitude, polarization and phase contained in the field distribution over the aperture.

The ability of an electrical current to destroy superconductivity by means of the magnetic field generated by the current....

Multimode straight fiber capable of transporting linearly polarized light with any incident polarization angle, and in which...

A crystal having the axes of its grains aligned so that they have directional magnetic characteristics.

An instrument in which an image of the sun is scanned by the entrance slit of a monochromator, the exit slit simultaneously...

Handheld optical laser device containing a semiconductor or DPSS source. The output is corrected via internal collimating...

The methods and techniques used to obtain medical photographs of the human eye. To photograph the exterior of the eye,...

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is an advanced optical imaging technique used in microscopy to enhance the...

Radiographic recording and enhancement of the micoscopic details within the structure of thin specimens at a high...

A coherent fiber bundle (CFB), also known as a coherent fiber optic bundle, is an assembly of multiple optical fibers...

A photovoltaic cell, commonly known as a solar cell, is a semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into...

An instrument for measuring the vertical angle of an object. It usually contains an accurately made protractor, a sensitive...

A rotating disc that holds several lenses of differing focal length about a diameter. Used to switch lenses in a system...

Linear receive optics typically refers to the optical components and systems used in the reception (detection) of linearly...

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional...

A cloud chamber designed to maintain the gas within it at a high pressure as a means of reducing the range of the...

A term applied to an electric charge image in a camera tube that remains for a period of a few frames after its initial...

Swept-source optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in...

Liquid crystals are a state of matter that exhibits properties intermediate between those of conventional liquids and solid...

A swept-source laser, also known as a wavelength-swept laser, is a type of laser that rapidly and continuously changes its...

Embedded vision refers to the integration of computer vision technologies into various embedded systems, devices, or...

A device used to measure the opening time of a shutter. The most common devices depend on the charging or discharging of an...

A quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a type of semiconductor laser that operates based on the principles of quantum mechanics....

An imaging system that uses a mosaic of tiny light-sensitive semiconductors (phototransistors) to produce individual outputs...

The physical adaption of the eye lens, by means of ciliary muscle contraction, in order to maintain a clear, in focus image...

A lamp in which the ionization of the inert gas contained in it produces a glow in the space close to the negative electrode.

The property exhibited by certain birefringent crystals in which the degree with which they transmit polarized light is...

An edge-emitting light-emitting diode is a type of LED structure where light emission occurs primarily along the edge of the...

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

1. Also known as near-field diffraction. The field of radiation sent through an aperture in an absorbing screen at large...

A step-by-step method of reducing the amount of data in a digital video signal to transmit or store a high-quality image....

A breakout cable, also known as a fan-out cable or breakout assembly, is a type of cable that combines multiple individual...

Pertaining to a device that responds to optical power, emits or modifies optical radiation, or utilizes optical radiation...

The term "metaverse" refers to a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical...

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

Laser annealing is a process that involves using a laser beam to heat and modify the microstructure of a material, typically...

A Laurent polarimeter is an instrument used in optics for measuring the rotation of plane-polarized light caused by...

An optical interference technique widely utilized as a method of nondestructive testing when determining the ray deflection...

A light-tight box that receives light from an object or scene and focuses it to form an image on a light-sensitive material...

Long-wave infrared (LWIR) refers to a specific range of the infrared spectrum. Infrared radiation is divided into three main...

The formation of microimages for microreduction. The technique is used, for example, in the production of precision reticles...

A reflecting prism that is rhomboidal in shape. It has two parallel transmitting faces, and two parallel reflecting faces;...

Digital signal processing (DSP) refers to the manipulation and analysis of signals, which are representations of physical...

A material used in photodynamic therapy that is retained selectively by tumor tissue when injected into the body; it then...

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a laboratory technique used to detect and measure the presence of specific...

A pathogen is a biological agent, such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, protozoan, or parasite, that causes disease in its...

In the optical field, a piece of glass to which a lens or prism is cemented. The unit is ground and polished as a whole to...

A device that provides means for accurately moving minuscule tools over the surface of a microscopic object. The motion...

Micro-optical coherence tomography (micro-OCT) is an imaging technique that is an adaptation of optical coherence tomography...

A visible laser beam generated coaxially with an infrared or other invisible laser beam to aid in its positioning.

Sizable enough to be perceived by the unaided eye.

Pertaining to electromagnetic radiation as perceived by the eye; that is, with the contributions as wavelengths in the...

An observed effect of the ability of certain atomic particles to pass through a barrier that they cannot pass over because...

A spectroradiometer is a device used to measure the intensity of light at different wavelengths across the electromagnetic...

Measurement of a translation stage's deviation from absolute straightness, that is, its angular motion in both the vertical...

A standard of luminous intensity evaluated as the luminous intensity of 1 cm2 of a blackbody at the melting point of...

A term pertaining to devices (generally optical) designed for use with both eyes viewing through a single exit pupil. The...

An instrument that contains a spectrograph with a grating in which an array of slits, in place of a photographic plate, is...

An electro-optical infrared tracker consisting of a beamsplitter, an illuminating source, an image dissector tube and an...

A dichroic coating, also known as a dichroic filter or dichroic mirror, is an optical coating designed to selectively...

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is a molecular biology technique used to rapidly amplify specific DNA or RNA...

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free...

A mold for glass or plastics often made of stainless steel to prevent pitting or oxidation in service. It is polished to the...

A process by which the ionizing capabilities of a laser beam are used to break initiate conduction between pairs of...

A CCD image sensor, or charge-coupled device image sensor, is a type of electronic device used to convert optical images...

Injecting a gas (usually nitrogen) with a very low moisture content into the body of an optical instrument to create a...

A dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) refers to a type of optical fiber designed to minimize the effects of chromatic dispersion,...

A laser diode in which the beam is confined to the region of the active layer with gain high enough to accomplish such...

The time domain is a concept used in signal processing and analysis to describe signals in terms of their behavior over...

The principle that electronic energy transitions occur at such speeds that the nuclei of the atoms in the molecular system...

Quantum confinement refers to the phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the motion of charge carriers, such as electrons or...

A mappable surface feature arranged in straight or curved lines that is distinguished from surrounding surfaces and is...

A mid-infrared camera is a type of imaging device designed to capture images in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range,...

An InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) camera is a type of imaging device that utilizes InGaAs sensors to capture images in the...

An atomic clock is a highly precise timekeeping device that uses the vibrations or oscillations of atoms as a reference for...

An achromat, in the context of optics, refers to a type of lens or lens system designed to reduce chromatic aberration....

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a miniaturized device that integrates various laboratory functions and capabilities onto a single,...

Also known as TEA laser. A coherent optical source with a wide wavelength range in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet...

The properties of certain materials that cause them to have relative permeabilities that exceed unity. This permeability...

A light ray that has had its direction altered because of its traversing an air-to-glass interface at some angle. In an...

The continuous group of waves that persists for a short time only.

A mount that uses a floating suspension and a motor-driven gyroscope to keep a motion picture or still camera at a set angle...

A structural method of optical character recognition, used where the input media are variable, as in hand-written or...

A fluoroscope equipped with a magnified, fine-grained fluorescent screen to determine the fluorescence emitted by a...

Gain-switching is a technique used in lasers to generate short pulses of light by modulating the gain of the laser medium....

A noncrystalline, inorganic mixture of various metallic oxides fused by heating with glassifiers such as silica, or boric or...

Micro-LED (micro-light-emitting diode) refers to a technology that involves the use of very small light-emitting diodes to...

Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) is a technique used in the fabrication of optical fibers. It is a specialized form...

The arrangement of two Porro prisms so that the inverted image formed by certain types of optical instruments is the same as...

Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser...

A disc whose surface contains recorded digital data at high-packing densities arranged in concentric rings. The data,...

In interlaced television scanning, an effect in which the lines of one field fail to fall exactly within the lines of the...

Any organic substance, that when dissolved in appropriate liquid based solvents will absorb and emit electromagnetic...

Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry to obtain IR spectra of samples....

In laser damage testing, the exposure of many sites of a sample to different intensities of laser irradiation to discover...

A temperature-controlled container used to stabilize the temperature and resonant frequency of a crystal found in a...

Pertaining to materials having the property of reflecting a part and transmitting a part of the incident radiation.

The angular spectrum approach is a mathematical and computational technique used in the field of optics to analyze and...

Optoacoustic, or photoacoustic, refers to a phenomenon and related techniques that involve the generation of acoustic waves...

The combination of the organic dye in a stained specimen and the antibodies produced that is detected by exposure to light.

A microdisplay is a miniature electronic display technology that is designed to project visual information onto a small...

A viewer that uses the transmittance of polarized light through glass or a similar medium to examine strained regions. See...

A cryogenically cooled component incorporated into the Dewar of an infrared detector assembly to maintain the sensing...

Superresolution refers to the enhancement or improvement of the spatial resolution beyond the conventional limits imposed by...

1. The focal point. 2. To adjust the eyepiece or objective of a telescope so that the image is clearly seen by the observer....

The use of chemicals or radiation to induce a desired change in a substance; e.g., some optical adhesives are set by...

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape...

An astronomical mirror, also known as a telescope mirror or primary mirror, is a key component of a reflecting telescope. It...

A point cloud is a set of data points in a three-dimensional coordinate system, where each point represents a specific...

The lifetime of a laser pulse, generally defined as the time interval between the halfpower points on the leading and...

A measure of the optical path length for light traveling from the sun or other celestial source through Earth's atmosphere...

A calcium indicator is a molecule that is sensitive to changes in calcium ion (Ca2+) concentrations in biological systems....

In optics, the term image jump refers to a displacement or shift in the apparent position of an image when a change occurs...

An optical fiber's absorption of electromagnetic waves due to hydroxyl ions remaining after contact with water.

A naturally occurring crystalline mineral that has the property of polarizing transmitted light. It is little used now that...

In the context of imaging, particularly digital imaging and printing, "orange peel" refers to a texture or visual distortion...

Remote inspection refers to the process of inspecting, evaluating, or monitoring assets, equipment, infrastructure, or...

Characteristic of an object so small in size or so fine in structure that it cannot be seen by the unaided eye. A...

Volumetric imaging refers to the capture, visualization, and analysis of three-dimensional (3D) information from a volume of...

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a therapeutic approach that utilizes the combination of light, a photosensitizer, and...

The metal tube that maintains the optical components of a lens in proper relationship. Some lenses are mounted in metal...

A two-mirror lens design used in astronomical telescopes, the primary being a parabola, the secondary a smaller hyperbola....

The force that stimulates the emission of an electrical current when photovoltaic action creates a potential difference...

Chemical vapor deposition is a process of applying dopants to a glass bait by flame reactions of gaseous compounds. See also...

Certain color centers in the alkali halides have been optically pumped to produce efficient tunable pulsed and...

A galvanometric scanner, also known as a galvanometer scanner or galvo scanner, is a type of optical scanning device used to...

The computer module whose circuitry interprets instructions and guides the actions of the peripherals. Also known as the...

The imaging of two photographs of a stereo pair, in complementary colors, for the preparation of contour maps.

The face of a cathode-ray tube (CRT) that has a fiber optic sheet attached to its surface. The sheet's fibers are at right...

LiFi, short for light fidelity, is a wireless communication technology that utilizes visible light or infrared light to...

The radiation spectrum of matter found in condensed states, liquid or solid, that is continuous and not a line spectrum. The...

An opaque inclusion in glass that contains undissolved or crystalline material. Also known as a seed.

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that involves the use of artificial neural networks to model and solve complex...

A microring resonator is a compact optical device that utilizes the resonant behavior of light within a small ring-shaped...

The fraction of incident light power in an optical modulator that is available to the output beam.

In astronomy, the main lobe of an antenna pattern that has a small angular extent in two mutually perpendicular directions....

The analysis of the photographs taken from the radar display of a survey aircraft and used when recording terrain that is...

1. A faint second image caused by reflection that is sometimes seen when observing through an optical instrument. 2. With...

Plates of glass containing as many heavy metal oxides as can be dissolved in the glass without causing devitrification. The...

A visual system including a tiny television tube and imaging optics, all contained in a helmet to be worn by pilots in...

Short-lived molecular or atomic particles, with an unpaired electron, that play an important part in many photochemical...

The effect that the optical losses in a medium can grow when the medium is irradiated with light at certain wavelengths.

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials...

A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to...

A process of color photography in which colors are added one to another in the form of light, rather than as colorants, to...

Prediction based on observations of nuclear masses in the valley of stability that indicates the maximum number of electrons...

A development aimed at extending the life of a tungsten filament. The iodine vapor in the lamp envelope combines with the...

An emission spectrum is a graphical representation or a characteristic pattern of the wavelengths or frequencies of light...

An optical instrument designed to displace the line of sight in a vertical direction. For submarines and other military uses...

A device used to maintain near-absolute temperatures for experimental procedures.

Chirality is a property of certain molecules and objects in which they are non-superimposable on their mirror images. In...

A dichroic mirror, also known as a dichroic beamsplitter or interference filter beamsplitter, is an optical device that...

That layer in a semiconductor injection laser or light-emitting diode that provides optical gain.

Phase shift in electromagnetic signals caused by daily variations in the ionosphere, often during sunrise or sunset.

A colorimeter is a device used to measure and quantify the color characteristics of an object or a light source. It provides...

The angular field of view that is seen by the eyes when fixed on a point straight ahead. The normal binocular visual field...

A type of tubing used to protect optical fiber cables, consisting of a wire spiral of aluminum, galvanized steel or...

Also known as constant angle or constant deviation fringes. The interference fringes observed with dense flat plates near...

Q-switched operation, or q-switching, is a technique used in lasers to produce short and intense pulses of light. The term...

The reversible change in the absorption spectrum of certain compounds upon irradiation with a given wavelength of light.

A small bulb containing a conducting gas, an arc being formed between a metal ring and a tiny zirconium electrode near the...

A device consisting of an airtight quartz tube that holds the material to be analyzed. When a high-frequency electrostatic...

A formulaic description of the linear change of the reciprocal optical dielectric tensor with either stress or strain.

A laser in which the transition involved in stimulated emission of radiation takes place between two levels of an ionized...

Pixel binning, also known as pixel merging or pixel combining, is a technique used in digital imaging and camera technology....

A solid with a structure that exhibits a basically symmetrical and geometrical arrangement. A crystal may already possess...

An electric cell having two electrodes of unlike metals immersed in a solution that chemically affects one or both of them,...

A transducer is a device or component that converts one form of energy into another. It is commonly used in various fields,...

An optical table, also known as an optical bench or an optical breadboard, is a specialized platform used in optics...

Medical diagnostic (x-ray) imaging using laser printers to produce high-resolution digital hard copy instead of film exposed...

Multiple, interconnected circuit elements, contained on or in a common substrate, that function as a unit and not separately.

A multidimensional array of values that is commonly used in programming to describe a time series of image data. Each...

The liquid used in microscopy to fill the space between the high-power objective lens and the microscope slide in order to...

A device having a pair of decentered lenses, one for each eye, that focuses on a single object as a magnifier. It is often...

Raman spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry and physics to study vibrational, rotational, and other...

Rare earth dopants refer to elements from the lanthanide series, also known as rare earth elements, that are intentionally...

A phenomenon that causes the details in an image to appear at a spatial frequency higher than that at which the contrast...

A device used to rapidly change the Q of an optical resonator. It is used in the optical resonator of a laser to prevent...

The maintenance of the same scanning relationship between the transmitting scanning spot and receiving scanning spot for...

Low-insertion-loss fiber coupler fabricated from a sheet of light-sensitive material laminated onto a fused quartz substrate...

A mirror employed with a very high incidence angle to form a pair of coherent light sources by reflection, and therefore...

A high-speed motion camera, also known as a high-speed camera or slow-motion camera, is a specialized imaging device...

An autocollimator is an optical instrument used for measuring small angular deviations with high precision. It operates on...

The ratio of the size of the image of an object to that of the object. The ratio of the linear size of the image to that of...

The frequency domain is a concept used in signal processing and analysis to represent signals and data in terms of their...

A disc contained within an electronic cell counter for regulating light transmission.

Spatial resolution refers to the level of detail or granularity in an image or a spatial dataset. It is a measure of the...

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nanolithography technique used for fabricating nanoscale patterns on a substrate. It is a...

Mod Method of obtaining precise temporal mode characteristics.

In optics, "mode beating" refers to an interference phenomenon that can occur in laser systems with multiple longitudinal...

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a type of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that uses a high-power...

A measurement in optical thin-film coating processes whereby the gases remaining in the vacuum chamber after coating are...

In a laser, the voltage necessary to sustain a constant operating current, somewhat less than that needed for start-up.

Collisional absorption of energy that occurs in inertial confinement fusion systems when hydrodynamic expansion of the...

One of the constants h, k, f or I, used to demonstrate any set of parallel planes in a crystal of the hexagonal system.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive analytical technique that uses the near-infrared region of the...

The continuous record containing the series of pictures formed by chronophotographic methods.

Process that occurs when a polymerized soft plastic rod with higher refractive index is placed in a bath of a lower...

Abbreviated SoC. A single chip containing all the electronic circuits required for a complete, working product. SoCs are...

An optical element located at an image plane, containing a pattern that assists in pointing an instrument or measuring...

An astronomical telescope is a type of optical instrument designed to gather and magnify light from distant celestial...

Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (such as...

The fluorescent emission spectrum emitted by certain substances following the irradiation of one of these substances with...

A method of measuring flow velocity by seeding the flow with neutrally buoyant particles and using a pulsed laser to...

An endoscope is a medical device used for visualizing and examining the interior of hollow organs, body cavities, or...

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a nondestructive analytical technique used to investigate the optical properties...

Deep ultraviolet (DUV or deep-UV) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet light with shorter wavelengths than those in the...

A CMOS camera refers to an imaging device that employs a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to...

The transport of molecules in a cell which requires the use of a cell's internal energy. The energy used in the cell may be...

Rayleigh scattering is a phenomenon that occurs when light waves interact with particles or molecules that are much smaller...

A set of rays through a lens originating at a common point and contained in one plane.

A material used as a protective layer on an aluminized or silvered mirror. It is evaporated on the mirror as a thin layer,...

An instrument that uses a beam of light to scan a color transparency, and three differently filtered photosensors to record...

A polariton is a quasiparticle resulting from the strong coupling between photons (light particles) and certain types of...

Autofluorescence refers to the natural emission of fluorescence exhibited by certain biological structures or molecules when...

A technique for obtaining improved resolution of images produced by large telescopes and distorted by the effects of...

The resistance of individual grains of an abrasive to breaking down under pressure. If the grains break down under...

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is an advanced imaging technique that provides information about the lifetime of...

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) refers to a phenomenon in wave physics, particularly in optics, where waves, such as light or...

The partially reflective mirror at the end of the laser cavity that is the source of the beam. It controls the coupling...

A photometer having a pair of Nicol prisms introduced into the beam from the brighter of two sources to be compared. Turning...

The focusing of an electron beam by a magnetic field that permanently retains the majority of its magnetic properties.

The production of a positron-electron pair by a photon having energy greater than one mega-electron-volt, whereby some of...

Defines the minimum operational standards for a self-sustaining fusion reactor as equivalence between energy released per...

Law relating the illuminance (or irradiance) of a surface to the cosine of the angle, q, between the normal to the surface...

A flanged or plain ring with a restricted aperture, located in an optical system at any of several points, that cuts off...

High dynamic range (HDR) refers to a technology that allows for a broader and more dynamic range of luminosity in visual...

The study of crystal growth from the molten stage utilizing a holographic system wherein interferometric techniques record...

A precise telescope set on a pair of rotation axes, the horizontal and vertical axes equipped with two divided circles. One...

A laser that has a surface-emitting semiconductor gain element coupled to an external mirror designed to complete the laser...

The thin, transparent film made up of specific substances applied to glass-air surfaces for the purpose of decreasing the...

The ratio of the velocities of light in two adjacent media, neither of which is air.

Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) is a semiconductor alloy composed of gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), and phosphorus (P). It...

Coating carried out in a sealed chamber evacuated by a mechanical pump in series with an oil diffusion pump to a pressure...

Topology is a branch of mathematics that focuses on the properties of space that are preserved under continuous...

A metal, alloy or compound that loses its electrical resistance at temperatures below a certain transition temperature...

An instrument in which visible light beyond the critical angle from a metallurgical microscope is focused on a reference...

A current-source thermal detector used to detect and study the pulses obtained from particular lasers.

Similar to LASCR, except that all four regions are available.

A cable assembly containing both optical fibers and copper electrical conductors in the same jacket.

A phage, short for bacteriophage, is a type of virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. Phages are composed of...

A positive after-image that is maintained for a minute or more.

Phototoxicity refers to the harmful effects caused by exposure to light, particularly intense or ultraviolet (UV) light, on...

A lens blank is a piece of optical material in a raw, unfinished state, typically in the form of a disk or block, from which...

A laser that generates a succession of pulses at a high enough repetition rate to appear continuous. The pump source is...

The interaction between a photon and an energetic electron, caused by collision, that transfers energy from the electron to...

A phase screen, in the context of optics and wave optics, refers to a surface or medium that introduces a phase delay to an...

A variation from standard physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating techniques, magnetron sputtering is a plasma coating...

A ground-based navigation beacon that emits pulsed signals which are picked up by aircraft making an instrument (blind)...

A linear image sensor is a type of solid-state electronic device used to capture and convert light into electrical signals....

It is often necessary to estimate the value of what a pixel would be between neighboring pixels. This is accomplished by...

A hologram produced by a pair of radiation beams, each carrying information.

The term "Rydberg atom" refers to an atom in a highly excited state where one or more of its electrons are in a Rydberg...

A relay that opens or closes an electrical circuit depending on the intensity of the light incident to a photoelectric...

A laser diode with an output beam contained in the active layer by means of a built-in refractive index profile formed in...

An optical testing instrument is a device or system used to evaluate and measure the performance, quality, and...

The process by which a substance, usually a solid, attracts and retains on its surface the molecules of another substance.

Propagation of electromagnetic waves through the Earth's atmosphere in a path that conforms to the curvature of the Earth...

In polarization-preserving optical fibers, the element used to induce birefringence. The SAP is highly doped to provide a...

Consisting of, containing, pertaining to or yielding carbon.

A form of laser output noise that is caused by thermal, mechanical, or acoustical disturbances of the cavity length. Mode...

Double-clad fiber (DCF) is a specialized optical fiber that features two concentric cladding layers surrounding a core. The...

The maximum distance at which the stereoscopic effect may be observed. With respect to the unaided human eye, it has been...

A small mass spectrometer used to find leaks in a vacuum system by detecting the presence of helium. Using a magnetic...

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is a spectroscopic technique that involves using a laser to excite molecules or atoms,...

A technique of using dyes during endoscopy to improve tissue differentiation. Dyes such as methylene blue, Toluidine blue...

Contains elements which produce lasing., e.g. gain medium, oscillator mirrors as well as housing.

Equipment for testing an observer's color vision. Some tests require the identification or ordering of colored samples. The...

In the context of electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, a wafer refers to a thin, flat disk or substrate made of a...

Optical fibers fused together to form a solid, vacuum-tight assembly in the form of a slab or rod. Discs or rectangular...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in medical and scientific fields to capture...

An otoscope is a medical device used by healthcare professionals, particularly ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists,...

This term literally means "to lag behind.'' It is quite often used to describe the residual effect that remains after...

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) refers to a set of safety features and technologies designed to assist drivers in...

Custom lapping and polishing services involve specialized processes used to improve the surface finish and dimensional...

A long-pass filter is an optical filter that allows longer wavelengths of light to pass through while blocking or...

1. A constituent part. It may consist of two or more parts cemented together, or with near and approximately matching...

A molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can...

The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where...

The simultaneous exposure of two holographic plates with emulsions facing the object. After deformation, a second pair of...

Histology is the branch of biology and medicine that involves the study of the microscopic structure of tissues and organs...

A thin-film device containing miniature optical components connected via optical waveguides on a transparent dielectric...

Optical coatings are thin layers of materials applied to optical components, such as lenses, mirrors, filters, and prisms,...

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are remotely...

A support device in which a column or chamber of air permits the free travel of a mobile part. In optical mounting and...

Remote sensing is a method of data collection and observation where information about objects, areas, or phenomena on...

Backscatter refers to the phenomenon in which radiation or waves are scattered backward, opposite to the direction of the...

The term reflective is an adjective that describes the ability of a surface or material to reflect light or other forms of...

A collimator having, at one end of a tube, an objective lens, and at the other, a reticle with a pair of spaced lines...

Phase distortion refers to a change in the phase relationships between different frequency components of a signal. In the...

A YAG crystal refers to a solid-state crystal made of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), which is a synthetic crystalline...

A femtosecond laser is a type of laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of femtoseconds,...

Structural color refers to coloration in materials that is not caused by pigments or dyes but is instead a result of the...

Resonance can be defined in various contexts, including physics, chemistry, and music. Here are definitions for resonance in...

An image, real or virtual, whose spatial orientation is identical to that of the object. The image obtained at the retina...

The process whereby a rotating wheel carries grains of an abrasive, suspended in a vehicle, across the surface of the...

A type of mosaic detector array that combines features of scanning and staring sensors by using a small rapid scanning...

A solid-state device similar to an ordinary transistor except that incident light on the PN junctions regulates the response...

Hydrophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or do not readily interact with water. The word...

A photovoltaic device that consists of multiple p-n junctions to produce a greater efficiency when in use than that of...

A 2D profile sensor is a type of sensor used in various industrial and technological applications to measure and capture...

An infrared source, set in a stationary position, that is used as a reference in certain navigational systems.

A neutral-colored gelatin wedge, cast between glass plates, that is used as an intensity scale in certain types of...

The total fusion and sealing of materials, or usually an enclosure, to ensure that they are airtight.

Machine learning (ML) is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on the development of algorithms and...

Convex is an adjective used to describe a surface or shape that curves outward, bulges, or has a rounded and outwardly...

A substance that transmits the infrared, but which is too delicate or fragile to be used in the form of a single crystal....

An instrument usually consisting of a very long interferometer, 3 to 800 m, and a laser light source for the study and...

The interferometric analysis of a complex object by utilizing the three-dimensional hologram. By causing a laser beam to...

Mode hopping in the context of lasers refers to a phenomenon where a laser system abruptly switches from one longitudinal...

An imaging process in which the single opening of a simple pinhole camera is replaced with many openings called,...

A device that serves to emit light of the same wavelength as the input light, only with an increase in intensity. It may be...

Any ray through an optical system that is not a meridional ray. The plane created by a refracted skew ray does not contain...

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

The determination of the degree to which a manufactured component can deviate from its ideal specifications of material and...

A stimulus that contains equal energy at each wavelength in the visible region of the spectrum.

In optics and photolithography, a phase mask refers to a device that modifies the phase of light waves passing through it....

The basic process of color photography whereby colors are subtracted from white light by means of filters, making all colors...

A sensor generally used for infrared imaging. It consists of two chambers separated by a thin, blackened membrane. An...

The spontaneous emittance of electromagnetic radiation by the nucleus of certain radioactive elements during their quantum...

A valve that serves to release air into an evacuated system.

Computer vision enables computers to interpret and make decisions based on visual data, such as images and videos. It...

A beam instability, induced by index of refraction inhomogeneities and component damage of dirt and dust particles, that...

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology that is used to convert printed or handwritten text into...

The movement of particulate material by flowing gas or liquid.

Histochemical staining is a laboratory technique used in biology and medicine to visualize specific chemical components...

A photodetector in which an electrical charge is produced when incident photons change electrons within the detecting...

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or...

Pertaining to the measurement of the intensity of light.

A wedge in a rangefinder or heightfinder used to displace the image produced by one telescope so that it coincides with that...

Videography refers to the process of capturing moving images and recording them in a digital format. It involves the use of...

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of...

Abbreviated PAI. An imaging modality with a hybrid technique based on the acoustic detection of optical absorption from...

An image that can be studied three-dimensionally through a pair of complementary color filters composed of two superimposed...

Lensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and...

A gauge designed to measure high degrees of vacuum. It consists of a glass bulb attached to the vacuum vessel, the...

A type of recording in which the recording line remains fixed and the recording medium is fed past the recording device.

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a mechanism describing the transfer of energy between two closely spaced...

Nonlinear optics is a branch of optics that studies the optical phenomena that occur when intense light interacts with a...

Neuromorphic refers to the design and development of computing systems or devices that are inspired by the structure and...

Compilation of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories that contains values of the line parameters of the 1-0 bands of...

A GRIN (gradient index) lens is a type of optical lens that utilizes a gradient in refractive index across its volume rather...

The ray that has an isotropic speed and maintains a uniform polarization in all propagation directions when traveling in a...

In compact disc and CD-ROM technology, the portion of the drive that projects the laser light onto the surface of the media...

A device that detects radiation by utilizing the influence of light in forming an electrical signal. It may be a phototube;...

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in...

A form of photometric measurement, often used with light sources that are transparent or fluctuating, in which a...

Ratiometry is a technique used in various scientific fields, particularly in analytical chemistry and biochemistry, to...

A technique in photometry that uses an oxyhydrogen or oxyacetylene flame to optically excite a solution containing the...

A resin obtained from the balsam fir, Abies balsamea, used as a lens cement.

Flow chemistry, also known as continuous-flow chemistry, is a chemical manufacturing process where reactions take place in a...

An artificial star used to aid in adaptive optics imaging of the sky. The guide star is provided from a telescope system on...

Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the manipulation and control of very small fluid volumes, typically...

The number of unique ways in which a part can move in an alignment system. In static alignment, there are six: one in the...

In astronomy, the relative brightness of a celestial body. Originally a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 represented the brightest...

A traveling microscope or an automatic microdensitometer used to measure the spectrum plate obtained in a spectrograph.

A form of liquid crystal in which flow does not take place in the usual manner. When examined with polarized light, the...

A Ti:Sapphire laser is a type of solid-state laser that utilizes a titanium-doped sapphire crystal as the gain medium. The...

An aerial reconnaissance system that can transmit, in near real time, image data recorded by IR and visual-spectrum sensors,...

An image intensifier, also known as an image intensification tube or image intensification device, is a specialized...

The application of photography, with the exception of radiography, to obtain pictures of parts or the whole of a patient to...

Characteristic of optical correlators in which invariance to more than one distortion parameter per axis of the processor is...

A stain in a glass surface.

A group of photosensors arranged in a grid-like pattern covering the entire field of view, enabling them to record it all at...

A vacuum chamber is a sealed enclosure from which air and other gases are removed to create a low-pressure environment,...

In a linear stage, any deviation from the desired translation across a flat, straight line.

Polarization refers to the orientation of oscillations in a transverse wave, such as light waves, radio waves, or other...

Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity, based on the notion that electrons with opposite momentum and spin...

An accurate metal prism or plane parallel plate that is cemented to an optical element and remains with it during a series...

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of...

Exhibiting the characteristic of materials that are electrical insulators or in which an electric field can be sustained...

The pattern of microwave field intensity that can be obtained by detecting the minute expansion of a microwave absorber slab...

A solution containing colloidal silica particles.

A diode laser is a type of laser that uses a semiconductor diode as the active medium to generate coherent light....

A vacuum tube with an electron gun at one end and a fluorescent screen at the other. Electrons emitted from a heated...

This type of miniaturized system, referred to as CMOS qPCR, combines microfluidic technology with an ultralow-light CMOS...

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or...

Sapphire can refer to either a gemstone or a specific type of crystalline material commonly used in various industrial...

A physical variable that is proportionally similar to another variable over a specified range. An analog recording contains...

An optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) is a specialized instrument used in optical fiber communications to characterize...

The numerical definition of the ability of an observer to perceive fine detail. The average value may be taken as one...

In image processing and machine vision, the process in which an initial measurement pattern or some subsequence of...

In the fabrication of an optical fiber, a layer that can be used to create a boundary against OH-ion diffusion into the core.

A laser using a dye solution as its active medium. Its output is a short pulse of broad spectral content and its achievable...

A cryogenic cooler device that is an intermittent Joule-Thomson refrigerator with a passive radiator serving as the...

The active control of various aspects (optical element position, airspace thickness, etc.) of an optical system that...

An image-processing device that scans in a straight line parallel to the axis of a rotating cylinder to which the material...

1. In optics, the housing, usually cylindrical, that contains the lenses and iris diaphragm of a camera. 2. In fiber optics,...

Primarily the measurement of photographic sensitivity of certain materials such as photographic film. It refers to the...

Ultraviolet reflectance refers to the ability of a material or surface to reflect UV light. Ultraviolet light is...

A lens aberration in which the focal length varies radially outward from the center of the field. It has the effect of...

A photometer screen that contains a diaphragm of paper or parchment with a translucent central spot of oil or paraffin.

Essentially, a hologram of a hologram, in which the first-generation hologram is masked with a narrow slit. During image...

Broadband dielectric mirrors, also known as broadband mirrors, are optical coatings designed to efficiently reflect or...

The prevailing temperature in the immediate vicinity of the object; the temperature of its environment.

The amount of energy required to raise the energy level of an atom; a necessity if the atom is to radiate energy. High...

Interferometric modulator display (IMOD) is a type of display technology used in electronic devices, known for its energy...

A material consisting of very small colorless particles imbedded in a clear glass matrix. It is available in two forms:...

The use of two lasers as a master-slave pair in order to control frequency and prevent chirp. When light from the master is...

A tough, durable, heat- and cold-resistant optical quality plastic used in injection-molded items such as streetlight...

The lowest anode voltage at which a gas tube can sustain a discharge.

A device for the internal inspection of hard-to-get-at mechanical parts, such as rifle barrels, sewer pipes, oil wells, or...

An exciton is a quasiparticle that represents the bound state of an electron and a hole in a solid-state material, typically...

See optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR).

1. A compound lens consisting of two elements. If there is an air space between the elements it is called an...

The optical reconstruction of image information contained in a sound field. First the diffraction pattern, formed by an...

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical...

The absorption of a photon raising an electron across the forbidden gap from valence to conduction band of the semiconductor...

When uncontrolled laser energy leaks from a laser cavity prematurely, it causes serious damage to optical components and...

Anisotropy refers to the property of exhibiting different values or characteristics when measured in different directions....

Epitaxial equipment refers to a set of specialized tools and systems used in the process of epitaxy, which is the growth of...

The length of optical waveguide needed to attain equilibrium mode distribution for a specified excitation condition.

An APD detector, or avalanche photodiode detector, is a type of photodetector used to detect light or optical signals by...

A measuring eyepiece with a screw-micrometer-driven crosshair used to measure the size of the image.

A halogen lamp, also known as a tungsten halogen, quartz-halogen, or quartz iodine lamp, is an incandescent lamp that uses a...

The luminosity that remains in a rarefied gas after an electrodeless discharge has traversed the gas.

A photographic objective that uses the thick meniscus principle to obtain its power. It is designed to photograph small...

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are substances or compounds used to enhance the thermal conductivity between two surfaces...

An aggravated form of fog in a polished surface caused by the scattering of light. The defects causing haze are larger than...

The phenomenon whereby certain crystals exhibit spontaneous electric polarization. It is analogous with ferromagnetism.

A monitoring technique used to measure the oxygen saturation levels in the brains of patients, commonly in operating room...

The process of determining, with the aid of plane-polarized light, the stress distribution in materials under complex...

Also known as display primaries. Colors formed by a television receiver that are of constant chromaticity and variable...

An EMCCD (electron-multiplying charge-coupled device) camera is a type of scientific camera specifically designed for...

Filoviruses are a family of viruses that are responsible for severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fevers in humans and...

The indistinct rainbow that may sometimes be observed outside the distinct primary bow and that has its colors in opposite...

The interaction between electrical and mechanical stress-strain factors in a material. When piezoelectric crystal is...

A method of depositing crystalline films one molecular layer at a time, by dipping the substrate into water containing a...

1. A mechanism that permits the focusing of an optical system.2. A means of obtaining the sharpest image from a cathode-ray...

Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is a technique used in photon counting applications, particularly in the...

The angular width of a radiation beam. With respect to a conical beam of light, it is the vertex angle of the cone. The...

A strong, heat-resistant glass that contains a minimum of 5 percent boric oxide.

An optical fiber that can be used to amplify an optical input. Erbium rare earth ions are added to the fiber core material...

A cell filled with a transparent material that, when placed in a strong electrical field, exhibits double refraction. Since...

An electrophoretic display, often referred to as an electronic paper display or e-paper display, is a type of electronic...

Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy, also known as Nomarski interference contrast microscopy, is an optical...

RTSP, or real-time streaming protocol, is a network control protocol designed for controlling streaming media servers. It is...

Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies...

Birefringence is an optical property of certain materials that causes them to exhibit different refractive indices for light...

A metalens, short for "metasurface lens," is a type of optical lens that uses nanostructured materials to manipulate light...

Optical glass containing zirconium fluoride that results in special characteristics such as improved transmission.

The Casimir force is a quantum phenomenon that results in an attractive force between two closely spaced uncharged...

An emulsion in which grains of the photosensitive material silver halide are deposited. Each grain, when exposed to light,...

In an optical rangefinder, the system of wedges that rotate in opposite directions to aid in the detection of deviation in...

An instrument that uses a photoelectric system to determine the size and volume of dust particles in a given unit of air.

Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and...

A loss of resolution or detail in a television signal caused by the size of the electron scanning beam.

The gas of charged particles that begins approximately 50 km above the surface of the Earth and contains a sufficient...

A rangefinder similar to a pair of binoculars with a long base, a dot or other wander mark provided in each eyepiece field,...

Metabolic imaging refers to the visualization and quantification of metabolic processes within living organisms, tissues, or...

The material that produces stimulated emission from within a laser oscillator. Laser gain media may vary from...

An optical channel monitor (OCM) is a device used in optical communication systems to monitor and analyze the performance of...

Die bonding is a critical process in semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics assembly, where a semiconductor die or...

Sets of paired lines carefully designed to give the most accurate pointing possible for various lengths of sight.

A coating applied to a neutral density glass that is designed to reduce the amount of light evenly across the transmitted...

In the context of optical materials, the term "impurity level" refers to the presence of foreign atoms or molecules within...

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a precision optics polishing technique used for shaping and finishing optical surfaces...

Pertaining to electromagnetic radiation, with the contributions at all wavelengths of interest weighted equally.

A CCD camera, or charge-coupled device camera, is a type of digital camera that utilizes a CCD image sensor to capture and...

A physical constraint, often a lens retainer, that limits the diameter of the axial light bundle allowed to pass through a...

A densitometer having a receiver that indicates when a desired radiation level has been attained.

Filtering procedures aimed at estimating the original image by removing the blurring and noise suppression that occur during...

Contour mapping technique that involves positioning a grating close to an object and observing its shadow on the object...

Of or pertaining to the methods of the French philosopher Rene Descartes. Refers to the standard orthogonal X-Y-Z coordinate...

A system that is complete and self-contained, needing no further additions to permit its operation.

A straight line, real or imaginary, passing through a body and indicating its center; a line so positioned that various...

A method for obtaining the optical absorption spectra of solids, semisolids, liquids and gases. PAS is inherently...

One surface of a nonconducting plate that is coated with many minute particles of photoemissive material that are insulated...

A technique used in radiography to obtain an unblurred image of a moving object by the use of very short x-ray exposures,...

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a method of achieving nuclear fusion, a process where two atomic nuclei combine to...

A laser with a gain medium consisting of an organic dye, which is carbon-based. The dye is mixed with a solvent, allowing...

A photonic cavity, also known as an optical cavity, is a structure that confines electromagnetic radiation within a certain...

A window made of glass containing a high percentage of lead or other dense material known to absorb x-rays readily.

An optical clock is a highly precise and advanced timekeeping device that relies on the oscillations of electromagnetic...

An infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED) is a semiconductor device that emits infrared light when an electric current...

A spectrum having some lines that are darker than others or that contrast against a light, continuous-spectrum background.

Gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes (GaN-based LEDs) are semiconductor devices that emit light when an electric...

Sputtering equipment is machinery used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering....

A camera with a very high aperture lens or mirror system for photographing x-ray fluorescent screen images, mainly to save...

A combination 80-column computer card containing a 35-mm microfilm frame. Reference data can be punched onto the card to...

In microscopy, the chamber that is contained on a microscope slide to hold a certain amount of fluid. It is calibrated...

A ghost image that has the reverse lightness relations of the original image. This phenomenon is a common optical illusion...

Decrease in cosmic ray activity that is observed approximately 24 hours after a solar flare, attributed to a shielding...

The circle that contains the slit, grating and primary astigmatic focus of a concave diffraction grating.

A wide-angle lens is a type of camera lens that has a shorter focal length than a standard or normal lens, allowing it to...

In compact disc systems, the two principal frame formats for data storage. Mode 1 devotes 2048 bytes to user data, reserving...

A blank having basic surface curves attained by forming heat-softened glass that is pressed in a mold.

The measure used in vacuum technology to quantify the total pressure capacity of the ferrofluidic seal before it fails.

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that integrates digital information, typically in the form of computer-generated...

An infrared detector is a device that is used to detect and measure infrared radiation, which lies beyond the visible...

A high-resolution imaging instrument that can detect and measure the positions of individual atoms on the surface of a...

A display device that contains an inert gas that gives off orange light when a high voltage is applied to ionize the gas.

A display device having a thermoplastic film as the control layer medium. The film, moving from a playoff reel, is scanned...

The gain that occurs between light intensity incident on a CCD given by the photocurrent produced.

Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is an optical microscopy technique that belongs to the category of quantitative...

A crystal that is devoid of any mosaic structure and that can reflect x-rays, relative to the Darwin-Ewald-Prins law.

The generation of a difference in electric potential between two electrodes when radiation is incident on one of them.

A Nernst glower, also known simply as a Nernst lamp or Nernst filament, is a type of incandescent lamp or radiant heater...

The standard unit used to express gain or loss and relative power levels. The decibel (dB) = 10 log (P2/P1).

A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical...

The area of optics in which the propagation of light is described by geometrical lines (or rays) governed by Fermat's...

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) refers to a proposed method of generating electricity by harnessing the energy released from...

In a crystal, its subdivision into polyhedral blocks of macroscopic sizes, with discontinuities contained in the lattice...

A Babinet compensator that contains the controlled motion of one prism with respect to the other. This idea was introduced...

A lens made from transparent plastic material. Lenses over 31/2 in. in diameter are usually machined, ground and polished....

In astronomy, the method of deliberately viewing objects with peripheral vision to take advantage of the eye's greater...

Typically represented by the Greek letter μ, magnetic permeability is the measure of a material's ability to generate and...

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a non-invasive imaging technique that allows for high-resolution, in vivo imaging...

The study of the diffraction of beams of a wave by matter to ascertain the structure of the matter.

An electron tube whose current flow is affected by the pressure on the gas or vapor contained in the tube.

A noncontact form of electromodulation in which modulation of the electric field is caused by photo-excited electron-hole...

Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its...

An electromagnon is a quasiparticle excitation that combines aspects of both magnetism and electric polarization in a...

The angle measured between the focal surface containing the image and a plane normal to the optical axis.

A type of electroluminescent display that will record and maintain an irradiated image on its phosphor screen, provided a DC...

A type of mirage that creates a distorted vertical image of relatively flat objects so that they appear as mountains,...

A modified form of an image-retaining panel that can be used in subdued daylight. This is achieved by adding a layer of zinc...

A hydrogel is a three-dimensional network of polymer chains that are hydrophilic, meaning they have a strong affinity for...

An antigen is any substance that is capable of triggering an immune response in an organism. Antigens are typically proteins...

A type of birefringent polarizing prism that transmits the extraordinary ray and removes the ordinary ray through total...

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a...

Gram-positive bacteria are a group of bacteria that have a thick cell wall composed primarily of a substance called...

Brillouin scattering is a phenomenon in physics where an incident electromagnetic wave (usually light) interacts with...

A pixel, short for "picture element," is the smallest controllable element of a digital image or display. It is a...

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to measure and analyze the optical...

An approach to optical character recognition based on matching the input character against a set of stored prototypes.

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment or experience that can be...

A lens assembly containing several movable elements to permit changing of the effective focal length (EFL). Unlike a zoom...

Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the...

The slits in a spectrograph that form images of spectral lines. Slits may be bilateral or unilateral, and generally close...

An early type of nonvacuum photocell consisting of a layer of copper oxide on a metallic substrate, with a thin transparent...

A photocathode that exhibits maximum sensitivity in the blue and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. The sensitivity is...

Quantum-enhanced metrology refers to the use of quantum mechanics principles and techniques to enhance the precision and...

An aplanatic surface is an optical surface that is specifically designed or shaped to minimize spherical aberration and...

An atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) is an analytical instrument used to determine the concentration of specific chemical...

Thermography is a technique that involves the use of an infrared imaging device, called a thermal camera or infrared camera,...

A diagram that uses special symbols called logic symbols to represent the detailed functioning of electronic logic circuits....

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that belongs to the powder bed...

Plastic in which the polymer chains become irreversibly joined during molding. The cross-linking can be achieved by heating,...

Device which determines particle velocity through the measurement of scattered interference of a beam pair from a single...

Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and digital image processing...

An alexandrite laser is a solid-state laser that utilizes a synthetic crystal made from the rare earth element alexandrite...

STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence...

An optical filter is a device that selectively transmits or blocks specific wavelengths, or colors, of light. Optical...

A monolithic device containing both photonic and electronic sources, detectors, modulators, etc., on a single semiconductor...

A technique that combines two or more imaging processes in order to minimize the disadvantages within each of the...

A method used in facsimile scanning that sweeps the elemental area across the copy in a spiral motion as the result of the...

A flexible display refers to a type of electronic visual display that is designed to be bendable, foldable, or rollable,...

Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement,...

An electroradiographic process that uses ionization of air by x-rays as a basis for forming electrostatic images.

Single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) is a group of super-resolution microscopy techniques that surpass the...

The deposition of a metallic coating, usually nickel, on a component by chemical means rather than by electroplating; the...

A blank whose basic surface curves are attained by heating and forming a given weight of raw glass; a rough glass blank...

A magnon is a quasiparticle representing a quantized spin wave in a magnetic material. In other words, it is a collective...

Fluorescence is a type of luminescence, which is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other...

Introduced into the laser beam from localized fluctuations in current density within the plasma itself. These fluctuations...

Quantum sensing refers to a class of sensing technologies that leverage principles from quantum mechanics to enhance the...

A man-made satellite that orbits 35,680 km from the Earth at a rate of one orbit per 24-hour period, thereby retaining its...

The coupled pairs of electrons that carry supercurrents through the body of a superconductor, relative to a coherent...

Phase contrast microscopy is an optical microscopy technique that enhances the contrast of transparent and colorless...

A device utilizing an electron beam for the observation and recording of submicroscopic samples with the aid of photographic...

A telescope so manufactured that the image remains erect and the position of the eyepiece is unchanged as the line of sight...

Also referred to as differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy; Nomarski microscopy is a unique form of microscopy...

A night-vision device that uses one or more infrared transducers to scan a scene in the 3- to 5-µm or 8- to...

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical,...

Phototherapy is a medical treatment that involves the use of light to treat various conditions, particularly those related...

An etalon is an optical device that consists of two parallel reflecting surfaces separated by a precise and known distance....

A gas laser in which the energy-state transitions between vibrational and rotational states of CO2 molecules give emission...

A sapphire window refers to a transparent optical component made from sapphire crystal. Sapphire is a single-crystal form of...

The technique that uses light to detect and analyze the antibodies produced by a specimen stained with an organic dye.

A polishing machine in which the rouge slurry is contained in a bowl and is constantly diverted mechanically so that it...

Straight line travel. This denotes the fact that light travels in a straight line when traveling through a medium with a...

In data transmission, a self-checking code using a separate bit (the parity bit) to assure that all bytes of transmitted...

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

The process of subjecting glass to temperature cycling to produce physico-chemical reactions that alter its properties....

1. A solid figure whose base is a circle and whose sides taper upward evenly to a point or apex. Light rays diverging from...

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is...

With respect to microscopy, also called dispersive staining, optical staining the projection of colors through areas of a...

A shutter in which the opening and closing times for a large aperture setting occupy a substantial fraction of the total...

MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer...

Epitaxial deposition is a process used in semiconductor manufacturing and materials science to grow a thin crystalline...

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) refers to a technology that converts heat energy into electricity using the principles of...

Aplanatic points refer to specific points in an optical system where certain aberrations, such as spherical aberration or...

An imaging device originally created to image whole mouse brain volumes at microscopic resolution. The main component of the...

In optics, the mechanical tension, compression or shear in optical glass due to internal stress caused by improper cooling...

The radiography of small objects having detail too fine to be seen by the unaided eye. The resulting negative, when...

The visual examination by a trained observer of the image of a point source. Any coloring or departure from the Airy disc...

In a dual-ring local area network, a node that is connected only to the primary, active ring and not to the secondary ring...

That image remaining on the detector after the primary stimulus has been removed. In the visual system, the after-image...

A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in...

Laser sintering is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that involves using a laser to selectively fuse...

Spectral repeatability refers to the consistency and reproducibility of spectral measurements across multiple trials or...

Functional materials refer to materials that possess specific properties or functionalities that make them suitable for...

Inquiry made to gain access by a master station in a token ring network.

A reflector having a surface that has been superpolished to reduce residual sleeks and scratches and microroughness so that...

Ray tracing is a rendering technique used in computer graphics to simulate the way light interacts with objects in a scene....

An instrument incorporating an infrared detector assembly, used to analyze carbon dioxide gases and in medical applications...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that builds three-dimensional objects...

A group of four cameras loaded with different combinations of filters and film (one is usually an infrared color film) to...

A laser output that occurs when the cavity resonator Q is first kept very low, using rotating mirrors or saturable...

A technique used in radiography to determine a crystal's structure by obtaining radiographs of it in powder form, normally...

Relative to a light source, the frequency at which the source appears to fluctuate in light intensity half the time and...

Positioning generally refers to the determination or identification of the location or placement of an object, person, or...

The method by which photographic film is scanned by an electron beam. One technique uses the uniform light of a television...

A CMOS image sensor, short for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, is a type of semiconductor device used...

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It...

In optics, an octave typically refers to a range of frequencies or wavelengths that spans a factor of 2. In other words,...

Thin-film deposition equipment refers to machinery and tools used in the process of depositing thin layers of material onto...

Off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirrors are specialized optical components used in various optical systems, particularly...

Also called complementary dominant wavelength. On a chromaticity diagram, the wavelength on the spectrum locus that lies on...

1. A device generally used in a cathode-ray or camera tube to emit a stream of electrons moving at uniform velocity in a...

That angle found between a pair of adjacent faces of a crystal.

The term quantum refers to the fundamental unit or discrete amount of a physical quantity involved in interactions at the...

In image processing, the result of a sampling frequency that is too slow to preserve the spatial frequencies of the image....

Two essential pieces of equipment used in connection with the microfilming process: a camera capable of producing, on film,...

Optical cements and adhesives are specialized materials used in the assembly and bonding of optical components in optical...

Pertaining to the possession of photoelectric characteristics as a result of the properties of the true crystal and not of...

An avalanche photodiode in which the light-absorbing area is a low-bandgap material and the PN junction is placed in an area...

Total number of characters available to each position of a digital numeric system.

In aerial photography, the geometric method of indicating the three-dimensional location of ground points from a pair of...

The higher throughput obtained with an FTIR device compared with traditional spectrometers that need slits to achieve...

The term sometimes used to describe the sequential arrangement of components in a video system -- from transmitter to...

The plane shared by the pair of axes in a twin crystal.

A high-speed, narrow-field lens consisting of two achromats spaced about the aperture stop. Its uses include portrait...

A kinescope used to survey the details of television video transmission.

Design and engineering consulting services refer to professional services provided by specialized firms or individuals to...

Laser marking is a process in which a laser beam is used to mark or engrave a surface by altering its properties or...

A statistical means of characterizing the failure of a fiber or device as related to strain or time. Results are plotted on...

The rainbow exhibition of colors, usually caused by interference of light of different wavelengths reflected from...

The term photochemical pertains to chemical processes or reactions that are initiated or influenced by the absorption of...

Pertaining to radiation or particle emission, whereby the emission is produced with minimal energy spread.

A handheld navigational instrument used to measure the elevation angle of celestial bodies such as the sun. An image of the...

The process of reducing the size of an image by removing a certain proportion of the samples produced from the original...

A device employed to identify toxic agents lingering on the ground or in the air from up to three miles away, by using laser...

A semiconductor device with the property of conducting current more easily in one direction than the other. It has two...

A phase reflection scanner that eliminates the need for a complex translation device while maintaining a high-energy-density...

Photogrammetric compensation for incidental camera movement (which prevents attainment of true vertical photographs) whereby...

A method of cleaning and drying coated optical components. The cooled parts are placed in a container above a boiling...

Optical glass refers to a type of glass specifically engineered and manufactured for use in optical components and systems,...

A spectrophotometer having a pair of identical collimators with two Glan polarizing prisms, one fixed in azimuth and the...

A technique for polishing silicon in which an alkaline suspension containing silicon dioxide particles creates a soft layer...

The apparent difference in brightness between light and dark areas of an image. For a light target against a dark...

That term pertaining to the spectral region that can be perceived by the eye.

Any structure having the ability to guide the flow of radiant energy along a path parallel to its axis and to contain the...

A fiber laser is a type of laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth ions such as...

The study and photographing of microscope specimens in ultraviolet light; using an optical microscope containing fluorite...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics and biomedical research to obtain...

Attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy (APAP) is an advanced technique in ultrafast spectroscopy that allows...

A Huygenian eyepiece containing a pointer at its focal plane that is used -- when viewing an object through the eyepiece --...

A device similar to the ordinary spectrophotometer but containing particular modifications to provide for the comparison of...

A camera containing an electronic image sensor that converts the image to an electronic signal suitable for television...

The space between diffracting centers of an ultrasonic wave that is forming certain light diffraction spectra.

A variable focal length lens system that retains the object in focus as one or more lenses move as a unit along its optical...

A type of comparator with a telescope equipped with a cross wire mounted on a vertical sliding column. It is used to measure...

A means of achieving higher peak powers and more efficient harmonic generation by narrowing the pulse width and thus...

A moving group of fluid-suspended biological species directed through separate channels by which the population is isolated....

A binocular microscope designed for the viewing of stereo pairs. As these stereoscopic image pairs are seen through a...

A two-fiber optical cable containing two single-fiber cables that are connected by a strip of jacket and that can easily be...

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that measures changes in hemoglobin...

A modulator is a device or component that modifies a carrier signal in order to encode information for transmission over a...

A device that prevents electrons from a saturated pixel in a CCD imaging device from spilling into an adjacent pixel. The...

An instrument consisting essentially of a photoelectric cell filtered to respond to a specified wavelength region, an...

The term half bandwidth (HBW) generally refers to the width of a spectral band or frequency range at half of its maximum...

Any of the constants that relate the tendency of the director to remain parallel to restoring torques throughout the media....

Pixel pitch refers to the distance between the centers of two adjacent pixels on a display screen or imaging sensor. It is...

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two...

An aptamer is a short, single-stranded DNA or RNA molecule that can bind to a specific target molecule with high affinity...

An electron tube that is used as a camera tube for a television system. When the picture to be transmitted is focused on a...

A quantum well is a structure in quantum mechanics that confines particles, such as electrons or holes, in one spatial...

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment refers to a class of specialized apparatus used in the process of chemical vapor...

Edge enhancement technique that accentuates all edge details in an image without discriminating as to spatial orientation.

The use of optical or electronic recording systems to extract information from the terrain, while aloft, for reconnaissance...

Observed when alterations in the luminous sterance at the contour of an object create the illusion of the outer zones...

A gas laser having a mixture of gases that makes it useful in the lab. The mixture of gases flows through a pressure and...

Lens testing equipment refers to a range of specialized tools and instruments used to evaluate the optical performance,...

With respect to color photography, the measurement of the way the color film modulates the radiant flux in the optical...

An atomic force microscope (AFM) is a high-resolution imaging and measurement instrument used in nanotechnology, materials...

A mixture of ionized gas and metal vapor generated by impingement of the laser beam onto a material being welded or a weld...

The region of a ferroelectric crystal where spontaneous polarization is uniformly directed.

Piezoresistance is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where the electrical resistance of a material changes in...

Fluid used to aid in examination of semifinished blanks.

A radioactive element that is placed or injected into a system to obtain an autoradiogram of the system. It is used in a...

Photolithography is a key process in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, and...

Process of synthesizing long molecular chain materials (polymers) by reaction of many small molecules (usually thousands)...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution,...

An emission spectrum consisting of bright bands against a dark background.

In the context of electronics and optics, an isolator refers to a device that allows the transmission of signals in one...

A cold-cathode tube containing neon and designed to visually determine a potential difference or field.

A traveling wave tube (TWT) containing a photocathode and window that, receiving a laser beam, produces a modified...

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser...

Pushbroom scanning is a technique used in remote sensing and imaging systems, particularly in satellite and aerial sensors,...

A camera system used to form a high-precision hologram of the subject on a photographic plate. It contains a high-power...

A light therapy that utilizes nonionizing light sources, including lasers, LEDs, and broadband light, in the visible and...

That plane in an optical system containing its optical axis and the chief ray. Also called the tangential plane.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an analytical technique that combines the principles of Raman spectroscopy...

A solar simulator is a device used to replicate the spectrum and intensity of sunlight in a controlled environment for...

The process by which laser emission is used in measuring fluid velocity and, more specifically, the detection of air and...

A terahertz spectrometer is a scientific instrument used to measure and analyze the properties of materials in the terahertz...

Topological photonics is a branch of physics and optics that explores the application of topological concepts to the...

Laser drift typically refers to a phenomenon where the frequency or wavelength of a laser source gradually changes over...

A mirror composed of liquid, taking advantage of the parabolic shape of a spinning liquid and the fact that the mirror's...

An operate mode in which the sensor is programmed to perform a task such as generating output when the light level falls...

A factor, F, indicating the increase in shot noise in an avalanche photodiode as compared with the ideal multiplier, which...

The internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of interconnected physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other objects...

A neuromorphic vision sensor is a type of imaging device designed to mimic the structure and functioning of the human visual...

1. A measure of absorbed dose, equal to the energy imparted by ionizing radiation to a mass of matter corresponding to 1 J...

A pair of telescopes with prismatically erected images, mounted side by side with the eyepieces at the interocular distance...

A scintillation crystal, also known simply as a scintillator, is a material that emits light when it interacts with ionizing...

An erasable data recording and storage medium that uses a laser to heat the crystalline surface of the disc to a certain...

An infrared camera, also known as a thermal imaging camera or IR camera, is a device that captures and visualizes the...

A color center laser whose output is coupled to an external control laser cavity and then fed back to the main laser cavity...

A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It...

A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into...

A statistical analysis of facts obtained when the intensity of x-ray diffraction is calculated at different angles. In this...

Supercontinuum refers to a broad spectrum of light that spans a wide range of wavelengths, typically from the visible to the...

A scientific CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) camera is a type of digital camera specifically designed for...

A scintillation detector is a radiation detection device that utilizes scintillation crystals to detect and measure ionizing...

The simplest, most inexpensive type of camera, which is shaped as an oblong or square box, containing the simplest lens,...

Microscopy is a scientific technique that involves the use of microscopes to observe and study objects that are too small to...

A holographic camera, also known as a holographic imaging system or holographic recorder, is a specialized device used to...

In a straight line. When applied to a lens, it indicates that images of straight lines formed by the lens are not distorted.

A pair of waveguides with axes normal to the plane and that guide uniform cylindrical waves.

Contains the light or beam path within a laser device. The oscillator uses reflective optical components that are oriented...

Three-photon microscopy is an advanced imaging technique that belongs to the family of multi-photon microscopy methods. It...

1. A generic term for detector. 2. A complete optical/mechanical/electronic system that contains some form of radiation...

Extraction of three-dimensional measurements from a stereo pair of photographs.

An Er:YAG laser is a type of solid-state laser that uses a crystal made of erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet...

A container designed to hold recording material (film, video- and audiotape) so that when it is loaded into a recording...

A device using the Kerr effect to read back the signals from mechanically recorded tapes and discs. It consists of a light...

When a stereo pair of images is switched so that the right eye sees the left image and the left eye the right, the stereo...

An absorption peak refers to a sharp increase or spike in the absorption of electromagnetic radiation at a particular...

Micro-robotics refers to the field of robotics that involves the design, development, and application of miniature robotic...

An instrument designed to produce an x-ray spectrum of a material as an aid in identifying it. This technique is...

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

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric...

An instrument used to record the emittance or reflectance of an object by scanning with discrete spectral resolution over a...

A laser system consisting of a planar PN junction within a single crystal of gallium arsenide. The pair of parallel,...

A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the...

The use of photoelectric sensors to detect and measure the intensity of a light source. This application, as compared to...

An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a...

A method for characterizing a fiber wherein an optical pulse is transmitted through the fiber, and the resulting light...

In biology, particularly genetics and evolutionary biology, the phenotype refers to the observable characteristics or traits...

A tube containing mercury vapor and lined with a phosphor. When current is passed through the vapor the strong ultraviolet...

A filter that polarizes light passing through it. It is possible to fabricate sheets of plastic or gelatin that contain...

Optical phase distortion refers to a phenomenon where the phase of an optical wavefront is altered as it propagates through...

Fresnel reflection refers to the reflection of light at the interface between two different media with different refractive...

A desklike apparatus with an opal glass surface illuminated from beneath by fluorescent tubes. It is equipped with roll...

An aberration that remains after primary color is corrected. Primary color causes the back focus of a lens to vary with...

An optogenetic technique that embeds genetically-engineered proteins to the heart to aid in terminating arrhythmias. After...

An instrument designed to measure angles in azimuth; used in general topographic work and military gunnery.

E.I. duPont's trade name for a polyester film. The most practical beamsplitter for use beyond the 15-µm wavelength...

Also known as cathode-ray tube grid or shield. A cylindrically shaped electrode that, containing the cathode of a...

Triggering a laser at a predetermined time by pumping it to a level just below its threshold and then using an auxiliary...

The law stating that the amount of chemical change produced is proportional to the amount of light absorbed. Actually, the...

The small central portion of the human retina that is responsible for providing the clearest, and most distinct aspects of...

Extended period exposure photographs of a laser light created with various patterns within full image (laser graffiti).

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the...

A hologram having an object wave that has been transmitted through the transparent object media to a mirror, reflected again...

A color filter, generally used in photography, to emphasize certain color tones and to modify others in a picture for a more...

Radiation from the sun that is made up of a very wide range of wavelengths, from the long infrared to the short ultraviolet...

A flexible fiber cable with a small diameter that transports light from the excitation laser to the target. Used in Raman...

Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication,...

A set of algorithms used to study the structural and spatial characteristics of objects in a digitized image for...

A device similar to distributed feedback lasers in construction and operation, but in which the period grating that produces...

A solid-state panel of the photoconductor-electroluminescent type. The photoconductive layer, sensitive to x-rays, is coated...

QLED stands for quantum dot light-emitting diode. QLED is a display technology that utilizes quantum dots, which are...

Optical manufacturing tools and machinery encompass a wide range of equipment, instruments, and systems used in the...

Standard maintained by the International Commission on Radiological Units as a unit of radioactivity defined as the quantity...

Laboratory experiments that focus on demonstrating new capabilities of a certain technology or device, usually without...

In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such...

A type of solar eclipse that occurs when the sun is at perihelion and the moon is at apogee. Because the apparent size of...

A contraction for "texture element." A base unit used in computer graphics that defines the surface of three-dimensional...

A diode electron tube that contains a heated cathode.

A large telescope mirror fabricated from several smaller sections.

Minimum object distance, often abbreviated as MOD, refers to the closest distance at which a camera lens or optical system...

A Risley prism, also known as a Risley prism pair or Risley rotating prism, is an optical device used for controlling the...

A countermeasure used against heat seeking missiles to reduce their effectiveness. Normally it involves the emittance of...

A nitrogen vacancy (NV) refers to a specific type of defect or impurity in a crystal lattice where a nitrogen atom replaces...

The criterion maintaining that if light follows a specific path through an optical system, it will, if reversed, traverse...

A specially designed microscope for observing the etched surface of a polished metal specimen. The specimen is often laid...

A photodetector composed of a photoconductive material that, when exposed to radiation, conducts without the aid of added...

An interference filter in which a very thin metal foil with a periodic array of square holes (inductive mesh) or a thin...

Optical design and engineering services involve the development, customization, and optimization of optical systems and...

A type of semiconductor diode used in voltage-limiting circuits; when voltage reaches a certain value, the device becomes a...

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) is a medical treatment approach that combines elements of phototherapy and immunotherapy to target...

The term applied to the geometrical structure of radiometry or of the propagation of any quantity that is conversed and that...

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by the presence of suspended particles. These...

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through...

The equation devised by Sir G.B. Airy for the analysis of light diffraction near a caustic surface: (d2f/dz2) - zf = 0 where...

Flux per unit solid angle leaving a surface in any direction is proportional to the cosine of the angle between that...

The masking of all openings of an optical transform -- except the hole at the symmetrical center -- with a thin wire gauze...

The ability of an optical system to make an object appear larger. An optical element or optical system causing an object to...

The figure seen through or imaged by an optical system. It may contain structures, natural or artificial, or it may be the...

1. The faintly hued ring that is seen to surround a light source viewed through fog or light clouds. The size of scattering...

A scattering photometer using scattered light in the solid angle 4.51+0 19° with respect to the forward direction, and...

The laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by...

The plane diagram produced by plotting one of the three chromaticity coordinates (X,Y,Z) against another. The most common...

An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to...

The physical area containing an assembly of computer graphics equipment for presenting generated images and allowing...

A quantitative measure of the amount of radiation given off by an instrument, expressed in roentgens per unit of free air.

Laser lithotripsy is a medical procedure that uses laser energy to break down or fragment stones in various parts of the...

Indium phosphide (InP) is a compound semiconductor material composed of indium (In) and phosphorus (P). It belongs to the...

A type of glass containing barium oxide, which is added to increase the refractive index while maintaining a relatively low...

1. A strainmeter capable of measuring the change in the relationship between two reference points, provided that the points...

Technique that uses high-pass filtering to reduce the local average to zero for all regions of the picture and then applies...

A Kerr soliton refers to a specific type of soliton, a self-reinforcing wave packet, that arises in nonlinear optical...

Instantaneous field of view (iFOV) is a term commonly used in the context of remote sensing, imaging systems, and optical...

A ruggedized scintillation counter used in oil well logging. The cylindrical housing contains a gamma ray source, a...

A type of compound microscope that uses three visible wavelengths to translate details produced by invisible radiation.

A Cassegrain telescope having a parabolic primary mirror, a spherical secondary mirror and a zero-power doublet in the...

The physical length of the light path in a substance divided by the refractive index of that substance. See also equivalent...

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light...

End-fire coupling refers to a method of coupling energy into or out of a waveguide, transmission line, or antenna, where the...

A form of an element that cannot demonstrate optical activity as a result of dextrogyrate and levogyrate effects that are...

In a laser, the voltage necessary to initiate electrical discharge, somewhat higher than that needed to sustain it.

A fiber optic cable assembly refers to a complete unit consisting of optical fibers, connectors, protective jackets, and...

A technique developed by British Telecom in which the viscous drag of air is used to install optical fibers in narrow...

A reflecting or refracting surface contained within an optical system.

A device used to detect and measure small amounts of rotation. The rotating object contains a reflecting surface from which...

1. The value on either the leading or the trailing edge of a laser pulse at which the power is one-half of its maximum...

The electrical power used to stimulate any light source. Power supplies may be step-up or step-down transformers; rectifiers...

CID, or charge injection device, camera refers to a type of imaging device that utilizes a specific kind of solid-state...

The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a...

That point in a Gaussian beam where the wavefront has a curvature of zero and the beam diameter is a minimum.

Tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) is a powerful technique that combines Raman spectroscopy with the enhanced spatial...

A measure of the ability of a photographic system to record fine detail. Usually stated in terms of cycles per millimeter on...

Optical glasses containing the oxides of rare earths such as lanthanum to impart a very high refractive index combined with...

A crystal, glass, or quartz slicing and cutting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used in the manufacturing...

The slope of the curve when output is plotted against input for quantum efficiency in a device.

Wide-field fluorescence microscopy uses either naturally occurring structures or staining with fluorescent tags that are...

An approximated measure of the smallest change in color temperature detectable by the human eye, defined as the reciprocal...

A glass that is heated, then chilled (usually by an air blast) to set up internal stresses so that the surfaces are under...

In present usage, especially for spectroscopic identification, an arc between electrodes that serves as a radiation source....

A gyroscope is a mechanical device consisting of a spinning disk or wheel mounted on a spinning axis in such a way that its...

In an avalanche photodiode, the gain multiplied by the signal frequency in MHz.

Array used in coded-aperture imaging experiments with two-beam CO2 lasers that provide an artifact-free process, faithful...

An optical system that superimposes a synthetic display providing navigational or weapon-aiming information on a pilot's or...

The creation of a planned sequence of data input that is obtained while airborne for use in aerial photogrammetry and other...

A fiber optic end plate constructed by drawing a bundle of parallel fibers embedded in glass and cutting it into thin...

Optical elements arranged with no spaces between, so that the light travels only through glass, not air.

A helium-neon (HeNe) laser is a type of gas laser that emits visible red light at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. It operates...

Scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) refers to a type of image sensor technology specifically designed...

The low-refractive-index material that surrounds the core of an optical fiber to contain core light while protecting against...

A technique used in photolithography of computer chips to compensate for errors caused by the proximity effect, which...

Holographic tomography is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and tomography to provide three-dimensional...

A detector-Dewar assembly typically refers to a combination of a detector and a Dewar flask used in scientific instruments,...

A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is...

Phototheranostics, a portmanteau of "photo" (light), "therapy," and "diagnostics," refers to an emerging field that combines...

A lamp, usually incandescent, that has a very compact filament, permitting a greater concentration of emitted light, aided...

MWIR stands for mid-wave infrared, referring to a specific range of wavelengths within the infrared spectrum. Infrared...

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely...

Technology that uses data from an array of sensors, one of which is commonly lidar, to solve the problem of creating a map...

The halo phenomenon of a brightly colored arc having the colors of the rainbow and lying parallel to the horizon.

In a crystalline substance, the spectral range of states of energy that contains the crystal's binding valence electrons.

Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and...

The triangle in a chromaticity diagram joining the chromaticities of the NTSC phosphors, and containing all chromaticities...

An instrument for determining the sensitivity of a photographic film to light. The film is given either a stepped exposure...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It...

Attosecond photonics sources refer to devices or systems that generate extremely short pulses of light on the order of...

A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to...

Anisotropic is a term used to describe a material or substance that exhibits different properties or behaviors in different...

A microcomb, short for microresonator frequency comb, is a novel photonic device that generates a precise series of evenly...

In fiber optic cable, containment of the fiber or fibers within an outer protective tube in which they can move to some...

An imaging system designed to highlight small deviations in a planar reflective object such as a mirror. The system can be...

A television system designed to obtain pictures of objects or scenes beneath the surface of the water. Generally, a...

An InGaAs photodiode refers to a photodetector device that is constructed using a semiconductor material composed of a...

A cooling system used to attain and maintain desired low temperatures in infrared systems. The Stirling type is a mechanical...

A complete unit containing a light source, globe, reflector, housing, socket and other necessary components for lighting.

An optical system of variable focal length, the focal plane remaining in a fixed position. This result is achieved by moving...

A fiber optic sensor is a device that uses optical fibers to detect and measure physical, chemical, biological, or...

A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a powerful microscopy technique that uses a beam of electrons to create...

The process whereby the number of atoms or atomic systems in a set of energy levels is changed by the absorption of light...

A framework or latticework having an even arrangement of rods, or any other long narrow objects with interstices between...

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite characterized by its standardized size and modular design. CubeSats are...

A method of producing an essentially constant output signal from an electronic circuit despite variations in the strength of...

A device having a plane mirror so mounted that it can be set to reflect sunlight into a piece of laboratory equipment. It is...

A figure of merit corresponding to the amount of light seen by a viewer through binoculars. A higher number indicates a...

In a dual-ring local area network, a node that is connected both to the primary, active ring and also to a secondary ring...

An LED, or light emitting diode, is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs...

A process used in the design, repair and customization of integrated circuits. A low-power laser etches a silicon wafer...

An optical system that is corrected for distortion and spherical aberration and therefore forms the image of a straight line...

A device containing two photocells behind deep red and blue filters to measure color temperatures. The amplifier gain is...

In the region of a Gaussian beam focus by a diffraction-limited lens, it is the axial distance from the point of minimum...

An optical coupling device that uses light to bridge the gap between incompatible wire communications systems. It contains...

A biomarker, short for biological marker, refers to a measurable and quantifiable indicator of a biological condition,...

In a microscope, the diaphragm located between the Bertrand lens and the eyepiece, which is closed during conoscopic viewing...

Photovoltaic (PV) refers to a technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity using semiconductors. The term...

With respect to photography, the change in the density-exposure relations, for small details of the photographic image, that...

An instrument similar to the spectroheliograph, but having a scanning method that is performed by a pair of rapidly...

A technique in which a beam of x-rays is directed against a crystal, the atoms of which, because of their lattice...

A device in which slab geometry internally compensates for thermal-optic distortion; the solid host material -- glass or...

A laser crystal, also known as an active medium or gain medium, is a solid-state material used in the construction of...

A method used to approximate the values of the homogeneous second derivatives at each iteration in the course of lens design...

A technique used in photogrammetry to ensure parallelism during projection printing. Failure to do this will change a...

A thin, stretched plastic membrane cemented to a rigid supporting ring. It may be coated to act as a beamsplitter, for...

Germanium crystal refers to a crystalline form of the element germanium (Ge), which is a metalloid and semiconductor...

Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage, the international commission on illumination.

In image processing, a specially designed programmable computer peripheral that attaches to the host system for the purpose...

A photographic method used to obtain an image of a subject by means of its reflectance of incident ultraviolet radiation. An...

In the context of materials science and semiconductor physics, doping refers to the intentional introduction of impurities...

A surface heat-treating process that produces a highly stressed surface. In case-hardening of glass, a plate of glass is...

A chart on paper or glass containing a series of sets of lines at progressively smaller spacing and used to ascertain the...

A contour mapping technique that uses electronic scanning and sampling techniques instead of a reference grating (see moire...

1. The process by which an atom acquires energy sufficient to raise it to a quantum state higher than its ground state. 2....

A defect on a polished optical surface whose length is many times its width. Block reek is a chainlike scratch formed in...

An airspaced achromatic doublet telescope objective.

Label-free refers to a technique or method that does not require the use of additional labels, tags, or markers to detect or...

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where two or more particles become correlated to such an extent...

Parallel scanning refers to a method of acquiring data or images simultaneously from multiple sources or in parallel, rather...

A blue diode laser is a type of semiconductor laser that emits light in the blue wavelength range of the electromagnetic...

A furnace, generally electrically heated, with a control system capable of following a cam by which the temperature can be...

Camera designed for the imaging of the earth's surface in order to obtain high quality aerial images

A blackbody source, often simply referred to as a blackbody, is a theoretical or practical physical object that absorbs all...

Epitaxial refers to the growth of a crystalline layer on a crystalline substrate in such a way that the orientation of the...

Photographing of terrain on the ground and objects in the air by cameras mounted in aircraft; utilized in satellites,...

A laser whose pulses are expanded, using gratings and optical fibers, before amplification and compressed to increase beam...

Blocking by means of a pitch ring, pitch button or a totally pitched block. Pitch, containing a soft filter, may be used...

The phenomenon observed by A.H. Compton in 1923 -- that some scattered radiation possesses a longer wavelength and...

A form of a stereoscopic microscope having paired objectives, prisms and eyepieces, and invented by H. Greenough.

An optical waveguide in which only the lowest order bound mode, which may consist of a pair of orthogonally polarized...

A fiber-coupled LED (light-emitting diode) refers to an LED device that is optically coupled to an optical fiber for the...

In image processing, the assigning of certain portions (or pixels) of an image a constant value of either 0 (black) or 1...

The term "embedded laser" typically refers to a laser device that is integrated or embedded into a larger system or...

When a lens system with a circular aperture is free of aberrations, the image of a point object will appear as a disc of...

An optical matrix that does not require perfection in both states of the crosspoint, so that all the optical switches can be...

1. In color development, the chemical that combines with certain by-products of the development procedure to form a dye. 2....

Holmium lasers are a type of medical laser that utilizes holmium-doped crystals as the gain medium. The term holmium laser...

A metal tool used to grind lenses with loose abrasive (see diamond cutting tool). The functional surface of the lap is...

Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet radiation with shorter wavelengths than those of visible...

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged...

Quantum efficiency (QE) is a measure of the effectiveness with which a device or system, typically in the context of...

Recombination of only the light that is correctly dispersed by the first stage of a polychromator through its wide...

The point spread function (PSF) is a fundamental concept in imaging that describes the response of an imaging system to a...

Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a...

Silicon carbide (SiC) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are semiconductor devices that emit light when an electric current is...

A three-dimensional grating designed with thin metal sheets to remain opaque to all but one specific and predetermined wave.

A spheric lens, also known as a spherical lens, is a type of optical lens with at least one surface that is part of a...

A form of Cassegrain telescope having a concave hyperbolic primary and a convex hyperbolic secondary. This form permits the...

An accelerometer is a sensor or transducer that measures the rate of change of velocity of an object, or in simpler terms,...

The separation of unpolarized light into two plane-polarized elements by a doubly refracting crystal. When a crystal, such...

A sheet of plastic material containing microscopic crystals of herapathite or some other similar substance that transmits...

In the context of optics and lasers, a transverse mode refers to a specific spatial pattern of the electric field within the...

In image acquisition (and sampling theory), the postulate that the pickup sampling frequency must be a minimum of twice as...

An electron tube containing neon gas that uses the transmission of an electric current through the gas to ionize the neon...

A television camera tube in which a low-velocity electron beam scans a photoactive mosaic that has been created by an...

A device consisting of a microammeter, a photovoltaic cell and a battery. It is used for the measurement of scene brightness...

An optical recording technique that uses light source(s), a beamsplitting cube, light detector(s) and an optical fiber...

A category of systems designed to communicate a photo taken from the air (e.g., aircraft, balloon, satellite) to a ground...

An optical instrument containing a gimballed sighting telescope, used to measure angular relationships in horizontal and...

An optical system having two sets of components separated by an air space, while successive lenses in each set are cemented...

A photodetector employing photoregeneration of carriers in the channel region of an FET structure to provide photodetection...

1. The decrease of the absorption (or gain) coefficient of a medium near some transition frequency when the power of the...

An atom that has gained or lost one or more electrons and, as a result, carries a negative or positive charge.

Dichroism refers to the property of certain materials to exhibit different colors or absorbance of light depending on the...

Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) is a superresolution microscopy technique that enables imaging of...

Developed for use in military reconnaissance systems, it consists of a polygonal mirror, drive motor, interface between...

A method of producing high-quality plastic optics in large volumes by injecting the heated, liquified plastic at high...

Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur...

A silicon photodiode is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It is a type of photodetector...

Reflectance spectroscopy is a technique used to analyze the reflective properties of materials across various wavelengths of...

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of...

Acronym for profile resolution obtained by excitation. In its simplest form, probe involves the overlap of two...

A photomicrographic recording technique that utilizes dark-field illumination to render an image of an object having a...

A camera that uses a rotating mirror to project sequential images onto lenses that are arranged in an arc. The reflected...

A waveguide is a physical structure or device that is designed to confine and guide electromagnetic waves, such as radio...

Hyperspectral imaging is an advanced imaging technique that captures and processes information from across the...

A piezoelectric translator that moves up and down a spindle like a caterpillar. It clamps itself at one end, expands, clamps...

The distortion of an object's true image as the result of abnormal atmospheric disturbances along the path traveled by the...

A relationship between two variables so that when plotted on a graph they yield a straight line.

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...

A short length of optical fiber permanently fixed to a component and used to couple power between it and the transmission...

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to...

The position and shape of the image of a point source, as predicted by geometric optics alone. The geometric image is to be...

An approach to character recognition based on the structure of the character to be identified (number of straight lines,...

The growth of particular grain fragments in a metal or alloy, at the expense of others, that occurs when the metal or alloy...

Computerized lens design algorithm that permits the lens MTF characteristic to be included and controlled during the...

The phenomenon that can render an optical resonator the equivalent of a semiconductor flip-flop. A bistable device will...

Spectral flow cytometry is an advanced flow cytometry technique that expands the capabilities of traditional flow cytometry...

Pertaining to or as a function of wavelength. Spectral quantities are evaluated at a single wavelength.

A type of stereoscopic photography in which a pair of lenses focuses a pair of images, relative to the positions of the two...

A tiny lens (as small as 100 µm in diameter) used to focus light on charge-coupled devices, formed by heating a...

A laser having a rod that is a stacked array of discs immersed in a transparent flowing coolant fluid. In this way, the...

Point at which a laser's material gain is equal to, or greater than, the circuit losses.

A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric...

Polymers are large molecules composed of repeating structural units called monomers. These monomers are chemically bonded...

Photogrammetry is a technique used to obtain accurate three-dimensional measurements of objects and environments through the...

Also called sine wave response and contrast transfer function. The modulation transfer function is the ratio of the...

A laser rangefinder is a device that uses laser technology to measure the distance between the device and a target. It...

An optical barcode reader, commonly known as a barcode scanner, is a device that uses optical technology to capture and...

A mixture of phosphor with a trace of a radioactive element that emits faint light continually. It is used on watch dials...

The use of lasers in tailoring of such components as thin-film resistors. The process improves speed and accuracy.

A term for thermoplastic optical materials; that is, those in which the polymer chains remain linear after heating and...

Pertaining to the human eye.

An optical resonator in which feedback is accomplished by two parallel planes. In diode lasers, the planes are obtained by...

The recording of the information contained in a modulated electron beam onto photographic or silicon resin-coated materials....

A system designed to control the output quantity of a device by returning a portion of its output signal to its input. This...

Circular dichroism (CD) is a spectroscopic technique used to study the structural characteristics of chiral (asymmetric)...

A process for the production of optical fibers. A glass bait is rotated in a traversing flame of a reaction burner....

Irradiation of a cylindrical crystal with an x-ray beam resulting in Bragg diffraction that produces a slightly enlarged...

The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is an optical device used for measuring the wavefront aberrations of an optical system....

A photovoltaic cell usually sensitive to infrared radiation. It may have a copper base and a film of cuprous oxide. When it...

Photochromic refers to a property exhibited by certain materials, typically organic compounds or dyes, which undergo...

That part of an infrared detector-Dewar assembly that limits the solid angle viewed by the sensor; it is maintained at a...

A crude area on the polished surface, produced during coarse grinding, that subsequent fine grinding does not remove, owing,...

An interferometric method for describing the surface shape of large coated or uncoated optical flats. The procedure uses a...

In coherence theory, an optical law put forth by physicist Emil Wolf that explains the behavior of light as it travels away...

An instrument devised by Nichols and Hull for use in the measurement of radiation pressure. The device has two small...

An evacuated, double-walled container for storing liquids at low temperatures. Often made of glass, the vessel resembles a...

A laser that emits energy in a series of short bursts or pulses and that remains inactive between each burst or pulse. The...

In avalanche photodiodes, the point at which an increase in the reverse bias voltage causes the current gain to approach...

An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy due to an electric arc — a continuous, high-current discharge of...

Whole slide imaging (WSI), also known as virtual slide microscopy or digital pathology, is a technology that involves the...

A frequency comb is a precise and regular series of equally spaced spectral lines, or frequencies, that are generated with...

Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain...

Hyperchromic shift refers to an increase in the absorption of light, leading to a higher absorbance, often observed in...

In photolithography, an opaque material used in masks that has a lower optical density and grainier composition than chrome.

A probe card is a testing device used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to evaluate and test the electrical...

In image processing, the range of available gray levels. In an 8-bit system, the gray scale contains values from 0 to 255.

A device containing an electro-optic crystal and using the Pockels effect. A voltage applied across the crystal generates...

The optical Fourier transform is a mathematical operation applied to optical signals that involves transforming a spatial...

A well plate, also known as a microplate or microtiter plate, is a flat plate with multiple small wells or depressions...

Automated optical inspection (AOI) is a technology used in manufacturing processes, particularly in electronics, to...

A rotating plate containing two or more lenses to provide a rapid interchange.

A telescope similar to the customary Cassegrain telescope, but having a primary mirror that is ellipsoidal and a secondary...

The emission of radiant energy produced by the passage of an electrical current through an appropriate electrolyte in which...

Virtual histology refers to the use of digital technology and computational methods to simulate or recreate histological...

The lens located at the object end of a microscope tube. A wide range of objectives is available, including simple...

A mount for an optic element or optics assembly, designed so that all six degrees of freedom are singly constrained. This...

A means of high resolution study through the application of soft and hard x-rays onto a sample surface in order to obtain...

The use of photographs taken from the air to construct graphic maps and charts of ground surfaces.

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It...

A container that prevents spliced fibers from becoming damaged or being misplaced.

A laser skin-resurfacing method that creates microscopic thermal wounds referred to as microscopic treatment zones (MTZs),...

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a widely used molecular biology technique used to amplify a specific segment of DNA...

The locus of points in a system along a line that remains stationary while the remainder of the system rotates.

A lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or...

A photon sieve is an optical device used in the field of optics and imaging. It's designed to focus and shape light,...

A custom optic refers to an optical component that is designed, manufactured, and tailored to meet specific requirements or...

Hyperspectral resolution refers to the level of detail or granularity in the spectral information captured by a...

An area in which airborne particulates can be monitored and controlled so that given size particles do not exceed a...

A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing and quantum information...

Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a...

A linear positioning stage, also known as a linear stage or translation stage, is a precision mechanical device used to...

A particle that will not normally diffuse through animal or vegetable membrane. Larger than most inorganic compounds,...

Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In...

A shower of cosmic rays whereby a high-energy electron produces one or more photons that convert into electron pairs, the...

A laser diode module is a compact device that incorporates a laser diode, optics, and often other components into a single...

The fraction of available output from a radiant source that is coupled and transmitted by an optical fiber.

A heterochromatic photometric process using successive comparison of similar chromaticities and the calculation of relative...

1. The range of frequencies or wavelengths over which radiations are absorbed or emitted in a transition between a specific...

That property of certain optical devices, e.g., a penta prism, that maintains the angular relationship between the entering...

A sensitometer that utilizes an electronic flashtube or a photoflash lamp as both the light source and the shutter for...

Freeform optics refers to the design and fabrication of optical surfaces that do not follow traditional symmetric shapes,...

An infrared detector that achieves a specified sensitivity through the application of certain cryogenic temperatures.

Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or...

1. The process of wearing down the surface of a softer material by rubbing it under pressure against the surface of a harder...

A specialized form of diffraction grating consisting of assembled glass plates of equal thickness that resemble a flight of...

Short wavelength infrared (SWIR) refers to the portion of the infrared spectrum that encompasses wavelengths roughly between...

A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin...

Chip-on-board (COB) lights refer to a type of LED lighting technology where multiple LED chips are directly mounted onto a...

A characteristic of optical fiber used to calculate the fiber's ability to maintain polarization. The beat length describes...

A process of forming ions within a given molecular species by incident laser light. The molecular species may remain intact,...

A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path...

A device for obtaining very low crosstalk in a crosspoint by arranging two simple switches along different arms of a passive...

Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often...

A piece of glass polished flat on one side, with a pair of polished faces that form an angle close to 180° on the other...

A diffraction grating is an optical component consisting of a surface with a periodic structure of equally spaced, parallel...

That length over which energy in two separate waves remains constant. With respect to a laser, the greatest distance between...

A term used to denote a difference in magnification along mutually perpendicular meridians. Anamorphic systems are basically...

Also called Geiger-Müller counter. An instrument designed to detect and measure radioactivity through the use of a...

The line of vision; the optical axis of a telescope or other observation system. The straight line connecting the object and...

Bearing alternate ridges and grooves; corrugated. Said of some optical surfaces.

Gram-negative bacteria are a group of bacteria that possess a cell envelope composed of a thin layer of peptidoglycan...

Photonic crystals are artificial structures or materials designed to manipulate and control the flow of light in a manner...

Fusion ignition refers to the point in a controlled nuclear fusion reaction where the energy released by the fusion...

Optical design software refers to specialized computer programs used by optical engineers, physicists, and designers to...

Reactive evaporation refers to a process in thin-film deposition where a material is deposited onto a substrate through...

A prism made up of two air-spaced components. It has the ability to revert, and not invert, an image, and can be used in...

The lowest excitation power level at which a laser's output is mainly the result of stimulated emission rather than...

The spatial distribution of incident and collected flux contained in the analysis of reflectance, transmittance or densities.

A laser having a material, such as ruby, that has an energy state structure of three levels: the ground state (1) wherein...

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two...

Opsins are a group of light-sensitive proteins found primarily in the retinas of vertebrate and invertebrate eyes, as well...

A solid-state laser is a type of laser that uses a solid gain medium (as opposed to a liquid or gas) to produce coherent...

Any source that emits radiation of wavelengths between 100 and 300 nm. Instruments used to study these sources must be...

A still or motion-picture camera designed to photograph through a microscope. Photomicrographic equipment usually contains a...

Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties not found in naturally occurring substances. These...

A display that allows the observation and measurement of the altitude and range of airborne objects.

A mixed-signal oscilloscope (MSO) is a type of electronic test instrument that combines the capabilities of both a...

The term gradient-index profile refers to a specific type of refractive index distribution within an optical material. In...

Single wavelength source with a larger linewidth often containing multiple longitudinal modes.

Also known as clear glass or clear filter. The clear glass plate is used to simulate a filter, in converging or diverging...

The maintenance of a fixed-phase relationship across the full diameter of a cross section of a laser beam.

1. The term used to describe any of the many instruments used to remotely record physical dimensions, such as strain,...

A detector array refers to a collection of individual detector elements arranged in a two-dimensional grid or matrix format....

A photometer used to measure sky brightness and polarization associated with zodiacal light, background starlight, F-region...

Germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) refers to a specific range of UV radiation that has disinfectant properties capable of killing...

When, for example, a beam of monochromatic light passes through a diffraction grating, the emergent rays that have remained...

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide...

A hyperspectral imaging camera is a sophisticated imaging device capable of capturing and processing data across a wide...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, single-stranded RNA molecules, typically consisting of about 19 to 24 nucleotides,...

Holography is a technique used to capture and reconstruct three-dimensional images using the principles of interference and...

High-modulus elastic fibers that exhibit the following differences from conventional elastic fibers: Increasing temperature...

A machine vision lens is a specialized optical lens designed for use in machine vision systems, which are used for automated...

A screen with a reflected or transmitted light beam that is confined to a much smaller bundle than was received by the...

A powerful and flexible machine-learning approach that can be used in machine vision to help solve difficult problems....

The analysis of the properties of radiation, such as light, when acted upon by variations in the atmosphere. Blue and red...

Glass containing small quantities of neodymium oxide that is used as a filter plate in color television or as a lasing...

A spectral signature, in the context of remote sensing and spectroscopy, refers to the unique pattern or characteristic...

Dewetting is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where a thin film or coating spontaneously undergoes a process of...

A field of physics that deals with light as if it truly were composed of rays diverging in various directions from the...

A type of photometer calibrated in luminance units (candles per square unit, or lamberts). In photography an exposure meter...

Secondary aberrations remaining after the primary (Seidel) aberrations have been corrected.

A computing paradigm that attempts to process information in a manner similar to that of the brain; it differs from...

The first nonlinear theory in plasma physics that details the time and space evolution of plasma wave instability from a...

An infrared lens is an optical component specifically designed and optimized for transmitting, focusing, or manipulating...

A guided missile that uses an infrared sensor to detect and home in on an enemy target. The missile is guided by the high...

Diffuse light emitted by the atmosphere due to the excitation of particles of atmospheric gas. These excited particles...

A screen composed of a sheet of diffusing plastic material that reveals excellent image detail for close viewing. It is...

A condenser that forms a hollow cone-shaped beam of light with its focal point in the plane of the specimen. If it is used...

The condition in which there are more atomic systems in the upper of two energy levels than in the lower, so stimulated...

The decrease in the refractive index at the center of a fiber's core, caused by certain fabrication techniques. Also called...

A laser cavity, also known as an optical cavity or resonator, is a fundamental component of a laser system. It is a confined...

A single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is a specialized type of photodetector designed to detect extremely weak optical...

Graphic evaluation of the operation of a steam thermodynamic cycle of a solar energy system on which enthalpy is plotted...

A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It...

Also known as analog thermogram. The resultant photograph, illustrating, in tones ranging from black to white, the spatial...

A function used in a convolution filtering operation. The image to be filtered is convolved with the filtering kernel to...

Photoresist is a light-sensitive material used in photolithography processes, particularly in the fabrication of...

Phenomenon caused by an ultrashort and ultra-intense light pulse propagating in a Kerr medium, such as air or water. When...

Laser active elements typically refers to the substances or materials within a laser system that play a critical role in the...

A chemical substance that exhibits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet radiation, x-rays or an electron beam. The...

In a laser, the fraction of plasma volume used by a particular transverse mode of oscillation, a determinant of the gain...

Multi-axis alignment refers to the process of aligning or adjusting components or systems in multiple spatial dimensions or...

The distance, on either side of the object plane focused on, through which satisfactory image definition can be obtained....

An optical system in which the only image-forming elements are curved-surface mirrors; e.g., a Cassegrain lens system.

In laser pumping, parasitic absorption that occurs at certain wavelengths, decreasing pump efficiency and gain.

Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves...

Microscopic investigation of two-dimensional areas of a three-dimensional object that can be quantitatively evaluated by...

The plane in which the axis of maximum radiation and the electric vector are contained.

When a block of glass (prism, window, filter, etc.) is placed into a converging light bundle, it increases the physical...

A sensor module used in advanced pattern recognition systems, containing signal-processing integrated circuits stacked and...

The fundamental tool of microdensitometry, the microdensitometer is an instrument used for the precise measurement of...

A device, either visual or electronic, that emits signals to identify set positions for use in the navigation of aircraft...

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.

A collector for photovoltaic power generation that consists of a thin plate that strongly absorbs sunlight striking its...

An aerial photograph produced when the optical axis of the camera is perpendicular to the surface below.

The Weissenberg method, named after the German physicist Karl Weissenberg, is a technique used in x-ray crystallography for...

The series of rings or bands formed when light beams reflected from two polished, adjacent surfaces, placed together with a...

Pertaining to optics and the phenomena of light.

A polarizing prism formed from calcite that is like the Nicol prism but has the two parts divided by a thin air-film and cut...

A pair of stars (double star) that can be seen separately with a telescope, generally by setting a filar micrometer for the...

Carbonization is a process in which organic materials are heated in the absence of air, leading to the decomposition of the...

Coded image obtained optically with a nonredundant pinhole array imaging aperture.

A semiconductor is a type of material that has electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. In...

The mounting of a concave diffraction grating and a plate holder at the ends of a rigid bar. The ends follow separate...

The alteration and reduction of color with the addition of white light. The perceived color shift that occurs as the...

A single-anode mercury pool tube that is designed to maintain a continuous cathode spot.

A band of light that appears along the outer edge of a transparent material under microscopic investigation and that moves...

A small instrument containing a picture support and a pair of magnifying lenses so arranged that the left eye sees only the...

A color center, in the context of materials science and condensed matter physics, refers to a specific type of...

A metabolite is any small molecule that is a product of metabolism, the chemical processes that occur within living...

A container which secures multiple splice trays and protects the trays and their contents from damage.

The discernment of depth or apparent difference in distance that causes the object to stand out from its background because...

A PIN photodiode is a type of photodetector or semiconductor device used to convert light signals into electrical signals....

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle...

Brightfield refers to a type of microscopy and imaging technique in which the specimen is illuminated with a white light...

A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to...

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer when detector noise prevails, which exceeds...

A pair of long, slender parallel apertures used in experiments on diffraction and interference.

A subsurface imaging technique based upon the polarization of light reflected off an object. The polarization of reflected...

The degree to which a pair of fine lines can be aligned to each other. A normal observer will demonstrate an accuracy of 10...

Equivalent to 10-6 radian, where 1 radian equals 180/pi degrees. A rod 1 km in length will be moved by an angle of 1...

Pitch for polishing mixed with other materials to give it the right viscosity so that it will follow the fine-ground lens...

Consists of a pair of radio telescopes concentrated on a single celestial object. This technique creates a single radio...

On a display monitor, a small, mobile rectangle, cross-hair or pointer that locates a feature in an image that is the object...

A vibrational transition refers to a change in the vibrational energy of a molecule. Molecules consist of atoms that are...

The scanning of a region in a given sequence of slender, straight parallel strips.

In a sequence of laser pulse emissions, the intitial pulse that often helps initiate a reaction at the target surface,...

An instrument that uses an image intensifier to aid in the viewing of subjects in low-light-level environments.

Simulation of radiative transfer in which each photon is generated by a source and its path through the medium is...

Computer numerically controlled (CNC) grinding is a manufacturing process that utilizes computerized controls and precision...

The Lorentz oscillator model is a theoretical model used in physics to describe the response of a charged particle (such as...

A standard for fiber optic data transmission systems being developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and...

A type of liquid-crystal display in which each display element contains an active component, such as a thin-film transistor,...

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor...

A compound lens consisting of two negative lenses of flint glass. A double-convex lens of crown glass is cemented between...

The bending of x-rays by the regular layers of molecules in a crystal acting like a very small diffraction grating. The...

Camera Link HS (high speed) is a standard developed for high-speed digital data transmission in machine vision and...

The Golgi staining technique (also called the black reaction) makes it possible to look at the nervous system by rendering...

A near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer is an analytical instrument used to measure the absorption, transmission, or reflection...

Integrated photonics is a field of study and technology that involves the integration of optical components, such as lasers,...

The device, usually made of glass or a similar material, that contains the resonant cavity and optics of a gas laser.

Biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their physiological or behavioral characteristics....

In a multicrystalline material, the meeting point between crystallites.

In chemistry, a halide refers to a chemical compound containing one or more halogen atoms bonded to another element. The...

Oleophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or resist oils. The word oleophobic comes from the...

Ultraviolet (UV) fiber optics refers to optical fibers that are designed and optimized for the transmission of ultraviolet...

The determination of axially symmetric and asymmetric refractive-index distributions by use of interferometry carried out on...

Formulaic compensation to correct laser ranging data for the effects of horizontal refractivity gradients; it requires the...

In aerial photography, the ratio derived from a stereoscopic pair of photographs that represents the air-base length divided...

A digital twin refers to a virtual representation or digital counterpart of a physical object, system, or process. This...

The ability of a machine to perform certain complex functions normally associated with human intelligence, such as judgment,...

A photovoltaic cell designed so that light travels through the front electrode and a semiconductor before it comes to the...

A PN-PN device with incident light taking the place of gate current; three of the four semiconductor regions are available...

A naturally occurring pigment in tissue that may selectively absorb certain wavelengths and can be used to aid in targeting...

A method of designing lasers whereby the laser rod is cut into elliptical discs and cooled by running water over the disc...

The law stating that when light strikes a surface at such an angle that the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular...