Search
Menu
QPC Lasers Inc. - QPC Lasers is LIDAR 4-24 LB
Esco Dictionary Terms

Galilean telescope
A refracting telescope that yields an erect image by the use of a positive lens for its objective and a negative lens for...
Dall-Kirkham telescope
A telescope similar to the customary Cassegrain telescope, but having a primary mirror that is ellipsoidal and a secondary...
lens blank
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...
drift curve
A technique used in astronomy that requires a radio telescope to be directed at a point in the sky west of the object under...
alidade
An old name for the rotating arm moving about an axis of rotation over a divided circle used to measure angles. Now the term...
Cassegrain lens system
A two-mirror lens design used in astronomical telescopes, the primary being a parabola, the secondary a smaller hyperbola....
coronagraph
A telescope in which a mask occults the solar disk, generating an artificial eclipse and allowing observation and recording...
visual binaries
A pair of stars (double star) that can be seen separately with a telescope, generally by setting a filar micrometer for the...
radio telescope
An instrument designed to collect naturally formed extraterrestrial electromagnetic radiation within the radio frequency...
liquid crystal light valve
A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the...
achromat
An achromat, in the context of optics, refers to a type of lens or lens system designed to reduce chromatic aberration....
aspheric mirror
An aspheric mirror is an optical mirror surface that deviates from the shape of a perfect sphere, having a non-spherical...
modulation transfer function analysis/measurement equipment
MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer...
chromatic aberration
Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a...
magnifying power
The ability of an optical system to make an object appear larger. An optical element or optical system causing an object to...
sniperscope
A high-power riflescope specifically intended for sighting and shooting distant targets.
pointing interferometer
A device attached to the end of an alignment telescope that detects and calculates a plane mirror's rotation axis that is...
cosmic ray telescope
A system consisting of two or more Geiger-Müller counters, connected in coincidence with their centers on an axis. The only...
focus
1. The focal point. 2. To adjust the eyepiece or objective of a telescope so that the image is clearly seen by the observer....
optical assembly
An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a...
panoramic telescope
A telescope so manufactured that the image remains erect and the position of the eyepiece is unchanged as the line of sight...
collimating telescope
Newtonian telescope
A telescope with a concave paraboloidal objective mirror and a small plane (diagonal) mirror that reflects rays from the...
objective
The optical element that receives light from the object and forms the first or primary image in telescopes and microscopes....
Amici prism
Also known as roof prism. A type of prism designed by G.B. Amici. It consists of a roof edge produced upon the long...
concave
Concave is an adjective used to describe a surface or shape that curves inward or has a hollow or recessed appearance. In...
Gauss lens
A telescope objective with excellent spherochromatic correction, consisting of a meniscus crown and a meniscus flint, both...
telephotometer
An instrument used to measure the luminance (brightness) of a distant object. The object is viewed through a small...
Erfle eyepiece
A telescopic eyepiece comprising five or six simple lenses in the form of three doublets or two doublets and a singlet.
spot meter
A telescopic light-sensing meter used to measure illumination levels of small regions at a distance of many feet; it is used...
astronomical mirror
An astronomical mirror, also known as a telescope mirror or primary mirror, is a key component of a reflecting telescope. It...
spatial light modulator
A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of...
tracking system
A controlled motion system that may use a telescope, camera or antenna to follow accurately a satellite, missile, vehicle or...
equatorial telescope
A telescope that is mounted on an equatorial mount.
altazimuth
A type of telescope mount that permits direct azimuth and elevation adjustments.
astronomical telescope
An astronomical telescope is a type of optical instrument designed to gather and magnify light from distant celestial...
flexible imagescope
 field of view
The field of view (FOV) refers to the extent of the observable world or the visible area that can be seen at any given...
auxiliary telescope
A low-power telescope placed at the eyepiece of an optical system to increase overall magnification. Most often used to...
simultaneous dual field of view
A passive infrared system that uses two line-of-sight telescopes to generate both narrow and wide field-of-view images of...
mirror mount
A mirror mount is a mechanical device used to secure and precisely position mirrors in optical systems. Mirrors are...
telescopic sight
clinometer
An instrument for measuring the vertical angle of an object. It usually contains an accurately made protractor, a sensitive...
theodolite
A precise telescope set on a pair of rotation axes, the horizontal and vertical axes equipped with two divided circles. One...
dialyte
An airspaced achromatic doublet telescope objective.
off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirror
Off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirrors are specialized optical components used in various optical systems, particularly...
kinescope
A cathode-ray tube that serves as a picture tube in a television receiver. The signal representing the picture intensity is...
fiber optic imaging bundle
A fiber optic imaging bundle is a specialized optical device composed of multiple optical fibers bundled together. Each...
empty magnification
Magnification that is above the level of maximum useful magnification and does not contribute useful resolving power. In a...
metascope
A sensing or image-forming detector that serves to convert infrared rays into visible signals for communication purposes....
finderscope
A low-power telescope with a wide field of view, typically attached to a higher power telescope with a narrower field of...
phase screen
A phase screen, in the context of optics and wave optics, refers to a surface or medium that introduces a phase delay to an...
trinoscope
A color-television viewing system with three kinescopes, three lenses and three deflection yokes used to form the red, green...
phototheodolite
A camera equipped with angular scales in altitude and azimuth. The scale readings are imprinted on the film when an exposure...
coelostat
A plane mirror mounted on a polar axis that lies parallel to the plane of the mirror. When the mirror is rotated once in 48...
picture monitor
A kinescope used to survey the details of television video transmission.
Baker corrector
A two-mirror corrector for a parabolic primary mirror that provides anastigmatic performance for large astronomical...
Ross lens
A corrective lens system that is placed near the focal plane of a Newtonian telescope to increase its effective field of...
Mills cross (telescope)
The Mills Cross telescope is a two dimensional radio telescope in which the two antenna arrays are positioned perpendicular...
lens
A lens is a transparent optical device that focuses or diverges light, allowing it to pass through and form an image. Lenses...
imagescope
 Michelson stellar interferometer
An interferometer constructed to be positioned on a telescope to measure the angular separation of the components of double...
cathetometer
A type of comparator with a telescope equipped with a cross wire mounted on a vertical sliding column. It is used to measure...
optical coatings
Optical coatings are thin layers of materials applied to optical components, such as lenses, mirrors, filters, and prisms,...
Judas optics
A small defocused Galilean telescope mounted in a hole in a door. Viewed from inside through the positive lens, a wide-angle...
objective grating
A coarse diffraction grating that is used to form a scale of intensities to determine the relative magnitudes of stars. The...
surveyor's level
A small telescope mounted on a tripod and free to rotate about a vertical axis. A spirit level is mounted over the telescope...
multi-axis alignment
Multi-axis alignment refers to the process of aligning or adjusting components or systems in multiple spatial dimensions or...
infrared telescope
A telescope that transmits, enlarges and converts infrared images.
borescope
A device for the internal inspection of hard-to-get-at mechanical parts, such as rifle barrels, sewer pipes, oil wells, or...
cinesextant
An optical instrument used to track and image a test vehicle (target) throughout its flight. The cinesextant frequently...
alignment telescope
An optical tooling instrument consisting of an objective lens, a focusing lens, an optical micrometer, a reticle and an...
high-resolution visible sensor
A satellite-borne remote sensing device capable of transmitting images at 10 and 20 m resolution from an altitude of 830 km,...
point spread function
The point spread function (PSF) is a fundamental concept in imaging that describes the response of an imaging system to a...
optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter...
spectroscopic binaries
Two stars so close together that they cannot be resolved by telescopes. They are proved to be double stars by the doubling...
parallax
The optical phenomenon that causes relative motion between two objects when the eyepoint is moved laterally. When parallax...
reflecting telescope
A telescope that uses a reflecting objective to focus an image of a distant object at a focal point.
Gregorian telescope
A telescope with an ellipsoidal secondary concave mirror that reflects rays from a parabolic primary mirror through an...
very long baseline interferometry
Consists of a pair of radio telescopes concentrated on a single celestial object. This technique creates a single radio...
power
With respect to a lens, the reciprocal of its focal length. The term power, as applied to a telescope or microscope, often...
measuring wedge
A wedge in a rangefinder or heightfinder used to displace the image produced by one telescope so that it coincides with that...
elbow telescope
A refracting telescope that uses a prism to bend the line of sight 90°.
adaptive optics
Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of...
optical cements and adhesive
Optical cements and adhesives are specialized materials used in the assembly and bonding of optical components in optical...
active optics
Technology that corrects the shape of reflective optics; primarily applied in large telescope systems, in order to...
dispersion
Dispersion refers to the phenomenon where different wavelengths (colors) of light travel at different speeds when passing...
orthoscopic eyepiece
A telescopic eyepiece that produces a field of view between 40° and 50°. The eyepiece consists of a single element...
central obstruction
In a reflecting telescope, the obstruction of the primary mirror by a secondary mirror which blocks a small amount of the...
diamond-turned optic
Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and...
autoguider
A CCD sensor that provides feedback to the motion control system for a telescope, allowing the telescope to follow a...
concave and convex spherical mirror
Concave and convex spherical mirrors are types of curved mirrors that have surfaces shaped like segments of spheres. These...
aplanatic surface
An aplanatic surface is an optical surface that is specifically designed or shaped to minimize spherical aberration and...
telescope mount
The base used to hold an astronomical telescope. It may be either altazimuth, with horizontal and vertical axes of rotation,...
Ritchey-Chretien telescope
A form of Cassegrain telescope having a concave hyperbolic primary and a convex hyperbolic secondary. This form permits the...
photon sieve
A photon sieve is an optical device used in the field of optics and imaging. It's designed to focus and shape light,...
prism binoculars
A pair of telescopes with prismatically erected images, mounted side by side with the eyepieces at the interocular distance...
equatorial mount
A telescope stand equipped with a polar axis that can be set parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation and a declination axis...
jig transit
An optical instrument containing a gimballed sighting telescope, used to measure angular relationships in horizontal and...
objective prism
1. A prism used in some instruments to bend light 90° before it enters the objective. 2. A dispersing prism located in...
optical phase distortion
Optical phase distortion refers to a phenomenon where the phase of an optical wavefront is altered as it propagates through...
double vision
A defect of a binocular instrument causing two images to be seen separately instead of being fused. It is caused when the...
Barlow lens
A negative lens used to increase the effective focal length of a telescope objective.
terrestrial telescope
A telescope that produces an erect image. Erection is achieved either by a lens (for a long instrument) or a prism (for a...
line of sight
The line of vision; the optical axis of a telescope or other observation system. The straight line connecting the object and...
laser guide star
An artificial star used to aid in adaptive optics imaging of the sky. The guide star is provided from a telescope system on...
coudé
A set of mirrors along a telescope's polar axis designed to redirect light to a fixed position without being affected by the...
apparent field
The angular subtense of the field of view in the image space of a telescope, as differentiated from that in the object space...
optical testing instrument
An optical testing instrument is a device or system used to evaluate and measure the performance, quality, and...
dialytic telescope
A telescope that corrects dispersion and spherical aberration through the use of one or more lenses, usually smaller than...
electron telescope
An instrument that serves to produce an enlarged electron image on a fluorescent screen by focusing an infrared image of a...
observatory dome
A hemispherical covering that is rotatable about a central axis. There is a slit opening along one side wide enough to allow...
Keplerian astronomical telescope
A simple form of astronomical telescope that uses a fixed objective and a focusable eyepiece. The objective forms an...
reflecting objective
An image-forming system that uses mirrors rather than lenses. Such objectives are frequently used for astronomical...
aspheric lens
An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical...
glass-ceramic
A type of glass used in telescope mirrors, formed by adding a nucleating agent to standard glass and then heating it until...
ring micrometer
A flat, round micrometer that is placed in the focal plane of a telescope to measure difference in right ascension and...
astronomical spectroscopy
The process of using a spectrograph with a telescope to acquire information on an astronomical object's speed and physical...
freeform optics
Freeform optics refers to the design and fabrication of optical surfaces that do not follow traditional symmetric shapes,...
zenith telescope
A telescope that is fixed or has a limited degree of movement in a vertical plane; primarily used to determine the position...
Wolter telescope
A grazing incidence mirror telescope with concentric conic surfaces having a single common point: a paraboloid-hyperboloid...
telescope
An afocal optical device made up of lenses or mirrors, usually with a magnification greater than unity, that renders distant...
disc telescope
 optical dynameter
A small low-power microscope or magnifier with a scale that is used to measure the exit pupil diameter and eye relief on...
mosaic mirror
A large telescope mirror fabricated from several smaller sections.
freeform mirrors
Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric...
mirror blank
A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly...
field glass
A handheld binocular telescope that is commonly of the Galilean type.
speckle imaging
A technique for obtaining improved resolution of images produced by large telescopes and distorted by the effects of...
telescope exit pupil
The image of the aperture stop, usually the objective lens, that is produced by the eye lens. When the exit pupil of the...
sextant
A handheld navigational instrument used to measure the elevation angle of celestial bodies such as the sun. An image of the...
surveying instruments
Instruments used for measuring angles and occasionally lengths on the ground. The principal surveying instruments are the...
riflescope
A small erect-image telescope for use as a sighting device on a rifle. The chief requirement is a long eye relief to avoid...
antireflection coating
An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to...
image optics
Any form of lens, optical system (camera, telescope, microscope, etc.), or opto-electronics utilized for the purpose of...
Wynne-Rosin telescope
A Cassegrain telescope having a parabolic primary mirror, a spherical secondary mirror and a zero-power doublet in the...
dioptometer
A telescopic system having an eyepiece, a reticle and an objective. The instrument measures wavefront power in diopters.
binocular collimation
The adjustment of a binocular instrument so that the lines of sight of both telescopes are parallel.

(138 results found)

Explore Our Content
News
Features
Latest Products
Webinars
White Papers
All Things Photonics Podcast
Videos
Our Summits & Conferences
Industry Events
Bookstore
Join Our Community
Subscribe
Advertise
Become a member
Sign in
Contribute a Feature
Suggest a Webinar
Submit a Press Release
Mobile Apps

About Us
Our Company
Our Publications
Contact Us
Career Opportunities
Teddi C. Laurin Scholarship

Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)



©2024 Photonics Media
100 West St.
Pittsfield, MA, 01201 USA
[email protected]
We use cookies to improve user experience and analyze our website traffic as stated in our Privacy Policy. By using this website, you agree to the use of cookies unless you have disabled them.