In digital image processing, a subcategory of frame processing that transforms pixel brightness and contrast through use of...

After putting a thick photographic emulsion on a front-faced mirror, and exposing the emulsion to monochromatic incident...

An instrument used to detect and measure radiant energy by the formation of a chemical reaction.

A device that samples and quantizes a signal in digital form for storage in memory.

An imaging device whose technology contributes three specific advantages: ability to study large solid specimens that...

The ratio of the intensities of two specified spectral lines of a source having vastly different excitation energies. This...

A guided missile that uses an infrared sensor to detect and home in on an enemy target. The missile is guided by the high...

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a compound made up of gallium (Ga) and nitrogen (N). It is a wide-bandgap semiconductor material...

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

The use of photographic emulsions to detect and determine the amounts of ionizing radiation, such as x-rays and gamma rays,...

The action of a biological system responding to a single or multiple coherent particles of light produced from a laser...

Also known as reversed telephoto lens. A lens consisting of an ordinary objective with a negative component near its front...

The curved mark formed when, in the process of generating, a loose or coarse diamond particle from the generating tool...

In image processing, a morphology operator in which a structuring element or probe of a particular shape is moved over the...

A mirage that consists of an image of an object appearing below its true position as the result of abnormal refraction by...

The reflection in different amounts as a function of wavelength, as a result of absorption and scattering, leading to color...

A network interface card (NIC), also known as a network adapter or LAN adapter, is a hardware component that allows...

A PIN photodiode is a type of photodetector or semiconductor device used to convert light signals into electrical signals....

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

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...

The optical diffraction spectra formed, or the method that produces them, when a light beam is transmitted through a...

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

A permanent joint whose purpose is to couple optical power among two or more ports. Also, a device whose purpose is to...

The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is an optical device used for measuring the wavefront aberrations of an optical system....

Thin layers intended to prevent damage to plastic optics.

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

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

A photovoltaic cell usually sensitive to infrared radiation. It may have a copper base and a film of cuprous oxide. When it...

A crystal that is characterized by its relatively poor electrical conductance.

A bundle of filaments of optical glass or other transparent materials that transmit only light, not optical images. The...

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

The use of a computer to generate a series of interrelated images so that the images give the illusion of movement in space...

A test chart whose luminance changes uniformly in one direction according to a sinusoidal rule. These charts carry groups of...

For any point on a thermal radiator, at thermal equilibrium and for each wavelength, the emissivity in any direction is...

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

Spectrometric analysis of the distinct and characteristic spectra of atoms of elements. The atoms are energized to emit...

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

Also known as an optical diode, an optical isolator is a device that utilizes the Faraday effect to suppress or redirect...

An exposure meter that indicates the amount of light reflected from the subject of interest.

A type of eyepiece, or the modification of an eyepiece, in which a small hole, without a lens, functions as the eye lens;...

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 ability of the two eyes to see an object from two slightly different points of view. This difference allows an...

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

A weapon launched from a ground-based platform and controlled by a two-way fiber optic data link. The fiber is payed out...

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

A type of stereoscopic photography in which the distance between the two view points is greater than the average...

In spectroscopy, the false images arranged symmetrically on both sides of the true line and caused by irregularities in the...

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...

Optical fiber that transmits a greater percentage of input light than does high-loss step-index fiber. Low-loss fiber...

A type of matched filter that responds only to the phase of incoming light; the output has a much greater intensity than...

A filter, pale purple in color, used in black and white photography to display the brightness values of a subject being...

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used in biology and medicine for the quantitative analysis of the physical and...

A feature of some imaging devices, such as digital cameras, that allows them to compensate for different lighting conditions...

The science of producing, recording, storing, transmitting and displaying visual images by any system (photographic, video,...

A set of international standards by which a single telecommunications channel is used to transmit voice and data...

A computer-generated, phase-and-amplitude, off-axis hologram made by a multi-exposure technique that uses three computer...

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

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

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

An analytical technique used to determine, identify and localize impending malfunctions. It is based upon quantitative and...

In optics, the conduction of radiant energy through a medium. Often denotes the percentage of energy passing through an...

The distance between the base and the vertex before the edging of a prism.

The ratio between the focal length of a lens having a longer focal length than that of the standard lens used with a camera,...

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

Spectroscopy characterized by the Mossbauer effect - recoilless emission and absorption of nuclear gamma radiation- which...

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

A projecting beam or other structure supported only at one end.

The arc formed when the rare gas xenon is excited electrically and emits a brilliant white light. Xenon is used to fill...

The effect whereby a light beam is deflected by a birefringent prism when its polarization is changed by voltage applied to...

A gelatinous fluid that can be used as a porous thin-film coating for optical components, including laser beam collimators,...

In gradient index optics, a gradient profile in which the refractive index varies along the direction of light propagation,...

Lenses that have identical flange focal distances and can be interchanged.

In television system specifications, the number of parallel horizontal black and white lines of equal thickness, that can be...

In a mechanical system, any lost motion between driving and driven elements due to clearance between parts.

A step before fusion splicing that involves cleaning the fiber end with low-current electricity.

Also called proximity focus image intensifier. A compact image intensifier that utilizes a microchannel plate...

Two 30° prisms that are used to produce constant deviation when rotated by equal and opposite angles.

The coherent wave used to play back a recorded hologram. It is identical to the reference wave used in the generation of the...

A type of fatigue found in optical fibers, caused by water or another corroding agent.

Separation of incident laser pulses by several seconds so holographic plates can be changed and sandwiched between the...

A sound wave that travels through a piezoelectric material.

The optical form of the crystal fluorspar, calcium fluoride, that is utilized for its low optical dispersion, its low...

That state determining that two waves of like frequency will travel through their maximum and minimum values of the same...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It...

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

A type of camera that has scales or other arrangements by which successive exposures can be lined up and equally spaced on a...

Photographic recording of rapid events at a rate exceeding 106 frames per second.

A rigid or flexible, concentrated assembly of glass or plastic fibers used to transmit optical images or light. See aligned...

A material that can rotate the polarization of light that passes through it. An optically active material exhibits different...

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

That object distance at which a camera must be focused so that the far depth of field just extends to infinity. The near...

An optical mounting device that permits adjustment around two perpendicular and intersecting axes of rotation.

A color-television viewing system with three kinescopes, three lenses and three deflection yokes used to form the red, green...

In photonics, a lattice refers to a periodic arrangement of optical elements or structures, often on a microscopic or...

In a dual-ring local area network, a node that is connected both to the primary, active ring and also to a secondary ring...

The binding of gas to a surface or in matter by chemical activity.

Operation in which the dispersion of a pulse limits the distance between repeaters in optical systems. Waveguide and...

A measuring instrument composed of a microscope and reticle, and mounted on a calibrated slide mechanism. May be used...

A fiber optic bundle split along its length with the ends of the fibers extending separately to illuminate different points...

An optical filter so constructed that the density increases progressively from one end to the other, or angularly around a...

A microscope to which a beamsplitter and illuminated reticle have been added to measure the radius of curvature of a...

The auxiliary electrode in a photomultiplier that gives rise to secondary emission and amplification when bombarded by...

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

A transducer composed of more than one high-pass, bandpass, low-pass or band-elimination filter.

An assembly of optical fibers that will not transmit coherent images or information because the relationship of the fibers...

Ray oriented and assumed to propagate orthogonal to the optical axis

Optical manufacturing tools and machinery encompass a wide range of equipment, instruments, and systems used in the...

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

In plano work, that property of a surface determining that it is convex and contacts a flat test glass at its center.

The angular relation between two light rays that originated at the same object point. Sometimes used to indicate the angle...

A laser that emits energy in a series of short bursts or pulses and that remains inactive between each burst or pulse. The...

The constant outward flow of weakly magnetized plasma from the sun that is deflected by the magnetic field of the earth and,...

A scale attached to a microscope eyepiece that is seen superimposed on the image and that is used to measure the dimensions...

A vibrational transition refers to a change in the vibrational energy of a molecule. Molecules consist of atoms that are...

1. A prism used in some instruments to bend light 90° before it enters the objective. 2. A dispersing prism located in...

An ion carrying a positive charge and thus attracted to the cathode during electrolysis.

The area of optics in which quantum theory is used to describe light in discrete units or "quanta" of energy known as...

A compound lens consisting of two negative lenses of flint glass. A double-convex lens of crown glass is cemented between...

A cylindrical lens that may be rotated to distort a bundle of light originating at a point source, to form a line image.

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

A device, either visual or electronic, that emits signals to identify set positions for use in the navigation of aircraft...

A technique for measuring fiber attenuation or distortion by performing two transmission measurements. One is at the output...

The process of grinding the convex surface of a convexo-concave meniscus.

A device used to take turbidimetric or nephelometric measurements by considering the contrast between a constant brightness...

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

Glass designed to absorb most infrared and ultraviolet radiation while transmitting most of the visible region.

The visual perception of motion when fixed stimuli are exposed in rapid temporal and spatial succession.

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

In image processing, machine vision and television, discrete brightness values quantized for a group of pixels. They can...

Device consisting of a laser diode, beam-correcting optics and collimating optics in a single housing. Also called a...

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

A mode that is confined by virtue of a lower-index medium surrounding the cladding. Cladding modes, in the terminology of...

An eyepiece used in a polariscope or polarizing microscope to give a comparison view of the same object under illumination...

A convex or positive lens that serves to collect energy and direct it into subsequent system optics.

The measurement and analysis of color using a photoelectric instrument having three filters with broad spectrum bands.

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

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

The stationary state of an ion, atom or molecule, above the ground state that is produced by the interaction with the...

The study and measurement of spectra and their components.

A secondary halo whose movement counterpoints the behavior of the Becke line.

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

Also known as a white-light interferometer. Measures surface texture and shape from nanometer-scale roughness to...

In gradient index optics, a gradient profile in which the refractive index varies symmetrically about a point.

Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This...

The use of photographs taken from the air to construct graphic maps and charts of ground surfaces.

Designation for the fundamental mode of an optical fiber.

The concept of the de Broglie wavelength exploits the wave-particle duality of quantum physics by associating all matter (of...

Describing a surface that is coated with a film of metal of such thickness that it transmits about one-half of the incident...

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...

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

A shutter consisting of a ring of interweaving blades that open outward and allow light to pass when they are pivoted at...

A constant equal to the universal gas constant divided by the Avogadro number. It is approximately equal to 1.38 x 10-23 J/K...

The light formed by visible radiation that, in traveling from light source to object, undergoes one or more reflections. In...

1. A lens formed to a desired curve and used to form a polisher. 2. A piece of glass included in a block to fill out the...

A method used in integrated optics; formed by growing an epitaxial layer of active material, removing it from its base and...

A hyperspectral imaging camera is a sophisticated imaging device capable of capturing and processing data across a wide...

1. The negative electrode of a device in an electrical circuit. 2. The positive electrode of a primary cell or storage...

Directional and coherent radiation pulses that result from an ensemble of coherently prepared states in an optical medium.

A high-speed cine camera used to record, on a continuously moving film, very brief events such as a flash of light. The...

The removal of sharp edges by grinding.

In laser pumping, parasitic absorption that occurs at certain wavelengths, decreasing pump efficiency and gain.

A method for remote measurement of the temperature of moving surfaces in harsh environments by using a laser to stimulate...

1. In optics, the bending of rays away from each other. 2. In lasers, the spreading of a laser beam with increased distance...

An erecting prism that inverts and reverses the image. It displaces the optical axis but does not deviate it.

The qualities of color associated with hue and saturation, but not brightness or lightness.

One lumen-second, the SI unit of the quantity of light.

A junction between semiconductors that differ in their doping level conductivities but not in their atomic or alloy...

Unit of illuminance equal to one lumen per square foot. (fc).

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

The surface of an element of a compound lens that will produce the cemented interface. The curves of this interface are...

The method used to measure the index profile of an optical fiber by placing it in an interferometer and illuminating the...

A lens with one surface convex and the other concave, the latter having the greater curvature. It also is known as a...

Distance between the front vertex of a lens and the object.

A standard direct-readout vidicon tube linked by fiber optics to an intensifier for increased sensitivity.

The occurrence of very large rotations in transparent materials at weak magnetic fields as predicted in the classical...

The measurement of first- and higher order properties of a lens and its formed image, including effective focal length, back...

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

An anastigmatic lens with a thick meniscus construction that flattens the field and corrects chromatic and spherical...

Carbonization is a process in which organic materials are heated in the absence of air, leading to the decomposition of the...

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

The property of a phosphor that determines its ability to emit light for a time after the stimulus has been extinguished....

A highly stable heavy-metal fluoride glass made from the fluorides of zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum and sodium.

Calculates the exponential growth of the least stable spatial frequency in a laser beam, and is the numerical equivalent of...

Also known as real holographic image. The indistinct, highly distorted image produced on the side of the hologram closest to...

An image converter that produces a visible image based on the infrared emittance of the object. The infrared energy is...

An endoscope used for the visual examination of the bladder.

In image processing, methods of reducing image defects that result from false data. Techniques include sampling, linear...

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

An instrument for detecting and analyzing repetitive signals. Using a fixed time delay or "gate," the input signal...

A crystal consisting of a substance that has the ability to become electrically polarized and has strong piezoelectric...

When light is transmitted through matter, part of the light is scattered in random directions. A small part of the scattered...

A material, often a liquid or cement, whose refractive index is nearly equal to the fiber's core index, used to reduce...

Also known as gas focusing. The introduction of an inert gas into a cathode-ray tube for the concentration of the electron...

A line formed by the principal (center) ray of an oblique bundle of rays.

The induction of an electric field in a semiconductor by an incident laser beam. The technique has rapid response time at...

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

A critical image parameter in applications where object position may change dynamically relative to the imager; this is a...

An interferometer formed by two similar concave spherical mirrors arranged with the center of one sphere on the other...

The fundamental tool of microdensitometry, the microdensitometer is an instrument used for the precise measurement of...

The storage surface of an electron beam tube that is scanned by an electron beam to generate an output-signal current...

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

A computer-generated kinoform used for data processing because of its use of incoherent light and its wide field of view,...

A microscopic crystal found in an intricately crystallized substance that is only visible under a microscope.

A compound lens, the dimensions and materials of which have been so chosen that the lens is appreciably free of aberrations.

Transmission loss in optical fibers caused by packaging processes; it is considered a power-coupling effect from the guided...

The array of methods used in the transmission and reception of pictures and images with a three-dimensional appearance.

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

The specular reflection of individual parts of a surface.

Standard light source representative of the quality of specified natural or artificial illumination.

A method of analysis in which a pulsed laser beam is used to heat a particle, producing a plasma, or laser spark. As the...

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

A molded lens is an optical lens manufactured using a molding process, typically involving the shaping of a material, such...

A bench with instrumentation including a collimator, a microscope, positioners and a nodal slide used to rotate a lens about...

A method of studying the chemical and physical properties of atoms and molecules (typically living tissue and chemical...

The error inherent in spectral energy or spectrophotometric quantity due to the finite dimension of the entrance and exit...

A transparent plate ruled with black lines and equal, clear spaces. It is used as a multiple knife-edge for testing a...

The power, expressed in prism diopters, that is the linear displacement, in centimeters, produced by the prism one meter...

An instrument capable of precise measurements of the Earth's gravity. This permits the detection of small changes in local...

Indication of emission brightness with degree of emission from an optical source.

The term used in reference to vacuum systems using oil and diffusion pumps, describes the migration of pump fluids and their...

A spectral phenomenon in which the degree of the photoresponse of an illuminated semiconductor is determined by the...

The optical element that receives light from the object and forms the first or primary image in telescopes and microscopes....

The fusion frequency of flicker that is needed just to produce complete fusion and to assure the visual sensation of...

Referring to compound semiconductor materials combining one element that has three valence electrons with one or more that...

The study of flames by means of a laser emitting blue light and a spectrometer to measure the green fluorescence created by...

A broadband filter is an electronic or electromagnetic device designed to pass a range of frequencies or signals within a...

A furnace used to heat glass materials. It may be a small laboratory-type furnace for small-scale experiments or large...

A type of motor that acts as the control element in a servomechanism. It is powered by an amplifier circuit and drives the...

The underexposed collodion that is present on a glass negative as a positive when backed with material.

Rockwell hardness (Rc) refers to a method for measuring the hardness of a material, primarily metals, using an indentation...

An excited energy state of an atom or atomic system that has a longer lifetime than the ordinary excited state and typically...

In a laser, the optical resonator formed by two coaxial mirrors, one totally and one partially reflective, positioned so...

A type of conducting surface or material used to reflect radiant energy.

A device that enables visual tracing of a fiber optic cable to check for breaks and defects by coupling visible light into...

In the field of optics and imaging, a mesoscope refers to an optical instrument that is designed to observe and capture...

The angle formed between a ray of light striking a surface and the normal to that surface at the point of incidence.

A group of lenses, or any combination of lenses, mirrors and prisms, so constructed as to refract or reflect light to...

A printing process of electrostatic electrophotography that uses a photoconductive insulating medium, in conjunction with...

Spectra can be conveniently recorded on photographic film or plates. The portions that are occupied by regions of the...

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

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

The point at which short-wavelength transmission is cut off.

A group of solar cells that are electrically contacted and physically arranged so that they may be oriented in the direction...

An immersion liquid used to treat polarizing filters to eliminate the effects of surface variations and to minimize the...

The displacement of spectrum lines, as determined by the increasing distance between, and the relative velocity of, the...

That property of a substance that determines that there will be a decrease in conductivity when exposed to light radiation.

Light-absorbing material that is applied to the back support of any bright image under inspection to prevent the formation...

A change in the refractive index of an optical fiber caused by variation in the length of the fiber core in response to...

A phenomenon in which high optical power, encountering an imperfection in an optical fiber, destroys the fiber's core and...

The use of a small ultrastable master oscillator (a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser) to achieve single-frequency operation of a...

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

Totally coherent radiation is produced by a purely monochromatic point source. In the real world the energy will have a...

In a microscope, the optical assembly that focuses light on the specimen and into the objective.

The optical Fourier transform is a mathematical operation applied to optical signals that involves transforming a spatial...

An instrument devised by Nichols and Hull for use in the measurement of radiation pressure. The device has two small...

A very uncommon lamp in which a tungsten electrode is heated to incandescence by a radio-frequency electrical current.

The incident ray, the normal to the refracting surface at the point of incidence of the ray at the surface, and the...

The area of low-level luminance lying between the cathode and the negative glow in a glow-discharge, cold-cathode tube.

A device consisting of a disc with a spiral arrangement of holes that is used to convert visible patterns into electrical...

A system that uses infrared detectors and related instrumentation to determine when abnormal amounts of infrared radiation,...

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

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 sheet of plastic material containing microscopic crystals of herapathite or some other similar substance that transmits...

A function of the intensity distribution in an image aberrated by a quadratic curvature wavefront distortion.

Photonics contract manufacturing refers to the outsourcing of the production of photonics-related components, devices, or...

Pertaining to optics and the phenomena of light.

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

The coupling of laser or light beams via nonlinear optical techniques such as four-wave mixing to achieve spatial variation...

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

Azadioxatriangulenium is a type of organic compound with a unique triangular molecular structure. It is often abbreviated as...

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

Ratio of the molecular diffusion coefficients of momentum in terms of heat; used in convection studies.

A facility designed for the observation and recording of astronomical phenomena.

A polarizing beamsplitting prism similar in design to the Rochon prism. However, the Senarmont transmits the extraordinary...

A hologram having an object wave that has been transmitted through the transparent object media to a mirror, reflected again...

An electric discharge lamp in which the conducting vapor is that of metallic sodium instead of the usual mercury. It emits a...

This results from the simultaneous absorption of two photons, each having half the energy needed for excitation and...

A thermionic tube that has a velocity-modulated electron stream and that may be used as a microwave amplifier or oscillator.

The use of phase conjugation or other methods to increase the power density of a laser beam under adverse atmospheric...

The logarithmic method of determining emulsion speeds developed by the German standards organization, Deutscher...

The mathematical evaluation of an optical system to determine and quantify its basic optical properties and image quality...

A microcircuit whose passive components consist of a ceramic-metal combination deposited on a given substrate by screening...

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

In an optical waveguide, a ray for which geometric optics would predict total internal reflection at the core boundary, but...

Two plane mirrors that are not wholly located in the same plane. When light from a point source or slit reflects from the...

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

The plane in which the axis of maximum radiation and the electric vector are contained.

A unit of measurement in a rangefinder corresponding to 12 s of arc in the apparent field.

A multilayer antireflective thin-film coating, so called because its reflectance rises steeply at wavelengths above and...

The amount of x-rays used to penetrate and diffuse a target sample undergoing electron-probe microanalysis.

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 custom optic refers to an optical component that is designed, manufactured, and tailored to meet specific requirements or...

A test for spherical aberration, coma or astigmatism in which incident rays from a point source are isolated by small holes...

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

Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In...

The combination of two waves having the same frequency and amplitude and traveling in opposite directions. Standing waves...

An optical system of variable focal length, the focal plane remaining in a fixed position. This result is achieved by moving...

Mathematical definition for the changes that occur between potential and kinetic energy. These formulas express wave motion.

Alphanumerical description of color according to Munsell hue, value and chroma.

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

An electronic flash tube in which the flash recurs at a frequency extending to many thousands per second. A stroboscopic...

A spectrophotometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the intensity of light at various wavelengths in the...

The recording of the information contained in a modulated electron beam onto photographic or silicon resin-coated materials....

A condition causing variation in output power that is eliminated by mode locking.

A convex lens that brings an incident bundle of rays to a focus to produce intense heat at the focus.

The radiation emitted in semiconductors when electrons in the conduction band recombine with holes in the valence band. If...

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

That portion of physics concerned with motion in the abstract, such as of points or space figures, and separated from its...

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

Referred to as SWCNTs, these cylindrical nanostructures composed of a folded sheet of graphene can be used as near-infrared...

Instruments used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to study the eye. There are, for instance, the ophthalmoscope to...

An optical cable that is connector terminated. Generally, an optical cable that has been terminated by a manufacturer and is...

A rotating mirror coupled with a distant mirror and used in a system by Foucault to compute the velocity of light. Light...

The radiation emitted from a group of charged particles that does not depend on the temperature of the source in which those...

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

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

A spectrophotometer in which the beam emitted by the radiation source is split into beams that travel through the sample and...

Abbreviated TEA CO2 laser. A gas laser that provides shorter pulses and higher peak powers than conventional CO2 lasers. The...

An instrument used to measure the temperature of a source through the use of photoelectric cells to detect and measure the...

A system in which a sequence of direct measurements of the target position is fed into a tracking filter that may produce...

A type of glass used in telescope mirrors, formed by adding a nucleating agent to standard glass and then heating it until...

Irregular waves; e.g., light waves, having little coherence and a broad spectrum of frequencies.

A fiber-coupled LED (light-emitting diode) refers to an LED device that is optically coupled to an optical fiber for the...

The projection of the image beam by a cathode-ray tube through a mask, where it is deflected through the suitable character...

A type of spectroscopy used extensively in the analysis of biological samples. Because most biologically synthesized...

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

The full width at half maximum (FWHM) is a measure used in various fields, particularly in spectroscopy, signal processing,...

A thin layer of a substance deposited on an insulating base in a vacuum by a microelectronic process. Thin films are most...

Angular tracking measurement estimated from the properly normalized image second-moment tensor.

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

The power that gives rise to the production of energy at the rate of 1 joule per second.

In optics, the term denoting the lack of a fixed phase relationship between two waves. If two incoherent waves are...

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

A MEMS fiber optic switch is a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device designed to selectively route optical signals...

The reduction in luminance of a light beam due to absorption and scattering as it passes through the atmosphere.

In the dye laser, the molecule that takes out energy from the triplet state during collisions between the dye and quencher...

The term light field refers to the spatial distribution of light rays traveling in all directions through a given space. It...

A stationary noise that occurs for visible light photodetection when a steady light source, such as a heterodyne reference...

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

The superimposition of a pilot object on each hologram. The fixed relative position of the scanning and pilot beam during...

1. In the eye, the opening in the iris that permits light to pass and be focused on the retina. 2. In a lens, the image of...

The unwanted and unpredictable fluctuations that distort a received signal and hence tend to obscure the desired message....

A geometric representation of a light path through an optical device; a line normal to the wavefront indicating the...

A device that permits only electrons within a narrow velocity range to pass through it, while rejecting those above and...

A conical or cylindrical package of light rays emanating from a common point on the object.

A photoconductive cell having greatest sensitivity in the infrared region. The photosensitive material of the cell is lead...

In optics and photonics, "phase" refers to a property of electromagnetic waves, such as light, that describes the position...

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

Operation in which the minimum detectable signal has its limits set by the thermal noise of the detector, the load...

In image processing and elsewhere, generally an adjective to describe an assembly-line arrangement for performing a task....

An adhesive used for bonding optical elements or for holding devices.

The intermolecular attraction between two surfaces, as between a substrate and a coating; it is an important factor in the...

A combination of a polarizer and an analyzer that is used to detect birefringence or rotation of the plane of polarization...

In chemistry, a halide refers to a chemical compound containing one or more halogen atoms bonded to another element. The...

The behavior of microscopic solid particles suspended in a fluid, first observed by botanist Robert Brown in 1827 as a...

Label-free refers to a technique or method that does not require the use of additional labels, tags, or markers to detect or...

An instrument that uses electromagnetic fields to sort out the relative masses of atoms and molecules.The same way an...

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

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

A relatively hard crystal, highly resistant to excessive energy radiation, that is frequently used for optical windows,...

Computerized lens design algorithm that permits the lens MTF characteristic to be included and controlled during the...

A charge-injection device (CID) refers to a class of devices that manipulate and detect electrical charge within a...

In fiber optics, the condition in which each fiber of a bundle carries a separate channel.

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

A phonon is a quantum of vibrational energy associated with the periodic motion of atoms or molecules in a crystalline...

A process, either naturally occurring or mechanically induced, whereby water is changed from its liquid state into a vapor.

Also called Geiger-Müller counter. An instrument designed to detect and measure radioactivity through the use of a...

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

The values of the three standard or matching stimuli necessary to provide a match with the light under trial, in a specified...

A well plate, also known as a microplate or microtiter plate, is a flat plate with multiple small wells or depressions...

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

The line of vision; the optical axis of a telescope or other observation system. The straight line connecting the object and...

Transparencies that represent progressive steps in the amount of transmitted radiation for administering predetermined...

A plate made of a double-refracting crystal having such a density that a phase difference of one-quarter cycle is formed...

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

Formulas designating the relationships between image distance, object distance, focal length, refractive index, etc., of a...

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

E.I. duPont's trade name for a material used in the jacket of fiber optic cables. It is flame-retardant, thermally stable...

The hardware for reading (and writing in devices so equipped) an optical mass data storage disk.

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

The hollow electrode used in emission spectroscopy to hold the material to be examined and, using an arc or spark source, to...

A laser, usually employing helium-neon or other gases as the active medium, used for alignment in industrial applications.

The bands of spectral lines representing the electronic transition in a molecule.

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce...

Having three unequal angles perpendicular to each other.

A technique that uses a solid-state laser and a detector to determine an object's relative distance to the system. The laser...

Data communications network in a clearly defined geographical location, and extending no more than a few miles in length. It...

A type of fluorescence spectroscopy in which an excimer laser, a dye laser and a frequency-doubling device are used to...

Sharp and narrow absorption lines found in the spectra of stars. They result from the absorption of a part of a star's...

A blank to which a piece of glass of a different refractive index will be fused to form a multifocal lens.

1. In a photonic interconnect, the number of detectors in a given area. Detectors spaced too closely may give rise to...

The process whereby sound waves are employed to form a three-dimensional image of an object. The process involves generally:...

The constant equal to the unit stress divided by unit deformation, relative to all values and a substance's proportional...

Array used in coded-aperture imaging experiments with two-beam CO2 lasers that provide an artifact-free process, faithful...

Wide-field, low-magnification device that consists of two compound microscopes focused on a single object, producing an...

In an optical fiber or waveguide communications system, an optoelectronic device or module that receives an optical signal,...

Calculation of peak and average transmission power at a given point along an optical fiber or cable.

A small card (10 x 15 cm) that has been treated with a photographic emulsion to record and store the microimages of...

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

Sometimes referred to as the surface normal or 'surface norm'; the normal is an axis that forms right angles with a surface...

The alteration and reduction of color with the addition of white light. The perceived color shift that occurs as the...

Germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) refers to a specific range of UV radiation that has disinfectant properties capable of killing...

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

Theoretical calculation of the cross section for a nuclear reaction given in the vicinity of a single resonance level in the...

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

Measure of a detector's signal during exposure to radiation of a constant power level and varying wavelength.

Describing the standard television method of raster scanning in which the image is the product of two fields, each of which...

A machine vision lens is a specialized optical lens designed for use in machine vision systems, which are used for automated...

The image distortion produced by a panoramic camera with a swinging lens or a swinging mirror in front of a fixed lens. The...

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set...

A theoretical instrument conceived of as a box that receives a beam of radiation of any arbitrary polarization angle and...

The transparent fluid that fills the portion of the eye between the eye lens and the retina (the posterior chamber).

A system for fabricating optical fiber, consisting of a furnace that heats the materials, a polymer coating stage, a...

A mirror used to manipulate the beam in a laser system.

A display that allows the observation and measurement of the altitude and range of airborne objects.

The letter form used on visual performance test charts. The overall letter height is equal to five times the thickness of...

A polygonal mirror, also known as a multifaceted mirror or facet mirror, is a type of optical component used in various...

An instrument used to measure the refractive index of solids and liquids. Several types exist, the most common being the...

Fiber in which both core and cladding are made of plastic.

A simple form of astronomical telescope that uses a fixed objective and a focusable eyepiece. The objective forms an...

The angular difference in the direction of an object as seen from two points of observation. The angle subtended at the...

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a widely used molecular biology technique used to amplify a specific segment of DNA...

A detector-Dewar assembly typically refers to a combination of a detector and a Dewar flask used in scientific instruments,...

With respect to waveguides, the continuous change in the direction of the axis of the wavelength, during which the axis is...

A system of Japanese origin that utilizes Fresnel lenses and a fiber optic network to transmit sunlight to otherwise...

A bevel produced by grinding with a cup-shaped tool.

A measure of image quality produced by an optical system. May be specified in terms of cycles per millimeter, referencing a...

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

A panel of photoconductive and electroluminescent layers used as either a positive or negative image intensifier, depending...

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

A laser that sends data from the source to the distribution node.

A camera equipped with a lens and a long length of perforated film, the latter being moved intermittently between exposures...

An instrument used to measure the duration of fluorescence emanating from a biological sample to monitor and evaluate its...

The multiple storage of a single image.

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

A contraction of "excited dimer." The term refers to an excited species made by combination of two identical atoms...

An electron system using the effect of a constant magnetic field on electron paths to differentiate electrons that have...

A light source, such as the sun or an incandescent lamp, that freely penetrates ordinary glass bulbs and emits in the...

One class of nonlinear space-invariant transformation processes used for processing convolved and multiplied signals.

A dielectric sphere with an index of refraction that varies with distance from the sphere center. A parallel beam of rays is...

A device used to evaluate the quality of fiber optic splices made in the field by injecting light into the cladding of the...

A source that attempts to create the characteristics of an ideal blackbody. It consists of a cavity, generally spherical,...

An optical element having plane-inclined surfaces. Usually the faces are inclined toward one another at very small angles....

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

A plate made up of thousands of glass fibers arranged parallel to one another, i.e., in a coherent bundle, and fused...

The distance between the surface of a ferrule and the surface of a fiber end, provided that the ferrule extends above the...

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

The least space between two parallel lines that can be discriminated as a gap to the human eye. It is measured in terms of...

Radiation in which every ray from any given object point can be considered to be parallel to every other. This is never...

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

A low-power telescope with a wide field of view, typically attached to a higher power telescope with a narrower field of...

The site behind the lens system in a camera where photographic media are positioned for exposure.

Optical source intended to reduce bleeding as well as to abet wound or vessel healing through cauterization, used in eye...

In communcations and video signals, the portion of a composite signal between the leading edge of the horizontal blanking...

The spectral transmission window in silica-based fibers between 830 and 850 nm.

Made up of four elements; for instance, gadolinium, scandium, gallium and garnet (GSGG).

The pattern, formed by a character generation cathode-ray tube system, in which the characters are made up of wave shapes...

Also called color blocking. The formation of a block by making optical contact between a number of optical elements and a...

A pair of stars (double star) that can be seen separately with a telescope, generally by setting a filar micrometer for the...

In imaging technology, assigning color to black and white images to differentiate features or convey information. Also...

A television format with enhanced vertical resolution (400 lines as compared with the standard 330) that, unlike...

The series of interference bands that appear in the spectrum when a specified glass plate is inserted into a spectroscope,...

A thermal infrared imaging procedure developed for quality control of printed circuit boards. The thermogram of each board...

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

The measurement of the ability of matter to absorb, transmit or reflect infrared radiation and the relating of the resultant...

In optics, a shape often given to the leading edge of a projectile. In any side view it appears as a pointed arc, while any...

A lens with one plane surface and one concave surface.

A device used in measuring the attenuation of multimode optical fibers. A short reference length of fiber when combined with...

A film or plate that is usually coated on both sides with a very fast emulsion that is sensitive to x-rays, and used to...

A rangefinder on a camera that is integrated with the focusing mechanism so that when an object's range is determined, the...

The energy analysis of electrons released in a secondary step following initial excitation or ionization.

In a gas, the temporary drop in density caused by contact with a sound wave.

A method of creating real three-dimensional models by using lasers driven by CAD software. In contrast to the normal...

Combination of Beer's and Lambert's (absorption) laws.

A thermistor that uses a semiconductor that is sensitive to infrared radiation to measure the radiation's intensity.

Modulator/demodulator. An electronic device that modulates and demodulates signals transmitted over communications lines.

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

The formation of a picture or image in which the density gradients in a volume of flow are rendered visible. The image is...

A photosensitive device used to optically scan and read character data (numbers, letters etc.) and input this data into a...

An instrument that reads alphabetic, numerical and special characters by means of a photosensor that measures the varying...

A flexible fiber cable with a small diameter that transports light from the excitation laser to the target. Used in Raman...

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

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is a type of light-emitting diode (LED) technology that utilizes organic compounds to...

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

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It...

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

The surface from which electrons are ejected by the incidence and absorption of photons.

A series of capacitors and inductors connected to the flashlamp in a pumped Nd:YAG laser system in order to regulate the...

Black and white film that is sensitive to green, blue and violet light but not to red light.

A dome-shaped structure used for some optical instruments in place of a flat window. The transparent material should be of...

A configuration or device mounted at the end of a fiber or cable that is intended to prevent reflection.

The halo phenomenon of a brightly colored arc having the colors of the rainbow and lying parallel to the horizon.

The phenomenon that can render an optical resonator the equivalent of a semiconductor flip-flop. A bistable device will...

The laser damage threshold refers to the maximum level of laser intensity that a material can withstand without experiencing...

A mathematical transformation used in image and video compression that changes two-dimensional representation of data into...

The condition of the numerical aperture or beam diameter of the laser, LED, or other optical source being larger than the...

A transistor designed to respond to either light or electrical signals.

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

A specialized form of diffraction grating consisting of assembled glass plates of equal thickness that resemble a flight of...

Trade name referring to an instrument that determines surface distances by measuring the length of time it takes for a...

A quantitative measurement of the coherence of a light source; equal to the visibility (V) of the fringes of a two-beam...

With reference to absorbance, absorptance, transmittance and the like, the processes occurring within a specimen between the...

A device used in thin-film deposition; the material to be evaporated is placed in a crucible that is heated inductively by...

The analysis of spectra and their components, determined from their measurements.

The strongest light emitted by the Earth's upper atmosphere. It most often can be viewed in the Arctic as the aurora...

A photocell having an alloy junction formed by combining an indium disc with a thin wafer of N-type germanium.

The product of the actual base or baseline of a rangefinder or heightfinder, and the power or magnification of the...

On a display monitor, a small, mobile rectangle, cross-hair or pointer that locates a feature in an image that is the object...

A laser skin-resurfacing method that creates microscopic thermal wounds referred to as microscopic treatment zones (MTZs),...

The determination of what, how much and in what proportions chemicals must be combined to produce the desired reactions and...

The photographic recording of images on a medium sensitive to infrared radiation, using a source capable of emitting in the...

A tool of cast iron or another suitable medium used with a slurry of silicon carbide, aluminum oxide or emery for grinding...

A colorless, crystalline compound whose low refractive index (n = 1.38) makes it effective as a lens antireflection coating...

The study of the effects of light on the growth and development of various plants.

In a color cathode-ray tube, a grouping of three color dots (red, blue and green) that represent one pixel in the final...

A biomarker, short for biological marker, refers to a measurable and quantifiable indicator of a biological condition,...

A prism made of two elements cemented together that, depending on its orientation, inverts or reverts an image. It may be...

The locus of points in a system along a line that remains stationary while the remainder of the system rotates.

A diode with a semiconducting material, such as germanium or silicon, for one electrode, and a fine wire "whisker''...

A glow discharge tube placed on an insulating rod to detect the presence of high-frequency radiation in the vicinity of a...

A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin...

An instrument used for video or computer data storage in which a laser optical head is used to write digital information...

A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is a type of gyroscope that uses laser light to detect and measure changes in orientation. It...

A crystal diode whose rectifying activity is determined by the touching of the crystal to a finely pointed wire surrounded...

The physical limit of an optical fiber or cable to withstand an applied force or weight perpendicular to the axis of the...

A measure of film speed sensitivity to light.

A sensitometer that utilizes an electronic flashtube or a photoflash lamp as both the light source and the shutter for...

An exposure meter designed to measure the light striking an object and used at a suitable location in a scene.

A technique of optical storage whereby information is encoded by molecular alterations in the interaction between the...

A double-surfaced catadioptric spherical mirror whose spherical first surface consists of a negative meniscus (concave) lens...

A factor that, when multiplied by the average candlepower emitted by a light source in a specified angular zone, reveals the...

A technique used in astronomy that requires a radio telescope to be directed at a point in the sky west of the object under...

With respect to a television system, a pulse transmitted at the end of each field to break off the cathode-ray beam as it...

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a specialized technique in biophysics and molecular...

An interferometer spectrometer designed to measure thicknesses of thin films or layers by recording the interferogram and by...

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

An extremely powerful microscope that renders individual ionized atoms visible by using an electric field to propel the ions...

A wave in which energy is focused near a boundary separating materials having different properties. Propagation of the wave...

A telescope objective with excellent spherochromatic correction, consisting of a meniscus crown and a meniscus flint, both...

A mode of data transmission whereby each bit of information is generated separately, with some stop/start code to indicate...

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

The cutting of pitch tooling surfaces by an optical technician to permit polishing compounds to flow across the surface of...

A test chamber designed to expose the subject being tested to external conditions, such as heat, shock, pressure and...

A two-lens arrangement intended to image light into a microscope slide sample. The primary aberrations present are red and...

The optical process, following grinding, that puts a highly finished, smooth and apparently amorphous surface on a lens or a...

The luminescence displayed when particular minerals are irradiated with β-rays and g-rays, after being exposed to...

A photograph reduced to the microscopic scale and stored on a microfilm as seen with microfiches for the purpose of storing...

With relation to the equivalent beam candlepower of a searchlight, the candlepower of a bare source that would produce the...

A ferroelectric polycrystalline ceramic material used in optical memories for computers and as a piezoelectric transducer.

A binary semiconductor compound used as a substrate or active layer for diode lasers.

A liquid, usually of a specific refractive index and dispersion, serving as an interface between two solids to form a...

Freeform optics refers to the design and fabrication of optical surfaces that do not follow traditional symmetric shapes,...

Plasmon ion-assisted deposition (PIAD) is a technique used in thin-film deposition processes, particularly in the production...

Harmonic generation refers to a nonlinear optical process in which incoming photons interact with a material and produce new...

The internal transmittance per unit thickness of a nondiffusing material.

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

Any of the five elements astatine, chlorine, fluorine, bromine and iodine, grouped because their chemical properties are...

A laser whose pulses are expanded, using gratings and optical fibers, before amplification and compressed to increase beam...

With respect to the crystal, the decrease in energy that follows the process whereby the ions, separated from each other by...

A diagnostic instrument that uses a photocathode design to see a broad range of x-ray radiation by streaking the...

Rare-earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen chemical elements found in the Earth's crust, characterized by their...

A thermal source that emits less radiation than a blackbody under identical temperature conditions.

Founded by professor Albert Munsell. In the field of colorimetry, the Munsell color system is a color space that identifies...

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

A laser-induced scar on experimental bare glass surfaces usually attributable to threshold damage and indicative of isolated...

The analysis, by x-rays, of the crystalline structure and other properties of metals and alloys.

Family of deterministic models of plant canopy reflectance that provides deterministic formulation for each necessary...

The ratio of reflected flux to incident flux. Unless otherwise specified, the total reflectance is meant; it is sometimes...

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

In a cold-cathode tube, the luminance between the cathode dark space and the Faraday dark space. In a vacuum tube, the...

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

Interruption in the normal flow of a plasma or fluid characterized by sharp rises in velocity, temperature and pressure. As...

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

Hardware installed on fiber cable ends to provide cable attachment to a transmitter, receiver or other cable. Usually a...

An equation that uses the wavelength of light passing through a medium, along with a set of coefficients, to calculate the...

A unit of luminance equal to 1/p candela per square centimeter. (l).

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

I/O stands for input/output. In computing, it refers to the communication between a computer system or program and its...

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

A photographic recording of interference patterns between a plane wave and a spherical wave on a high-resolution...

A method of measuring total hemispherical emissivity of the plane surface of a solid that consists of thermally isolating a...

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

The spot on the retina where the optic nerve is attached; it is incapable of sensing light because of the absence of light...

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

The current that flows in a photodetector when there is no optical radiation incident on the detector and operating voltages...

A small incandescent lamp whose intense beam is focused on the optical soundtrack of a motion picture film. The soundtrack...

The minimum amount of strength characteristic of an optical fiber, as determined by proof stressing; expressed in thousands...

A lack of resolution in a television image as a result of smear ghosts or an insufficiently high video-frequency response....

A device for which the output electric field is linearly proportional to the input electric field, and no new wavelengths or...

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

Of evaporative coatings, a condition resulting when small chunks of material fly from the hot crucible onto the substrate...

The measured wavelength of the most distinct edge of a spectral band.

The simplest lens in which all primary aberrations may be corrected. It consists of two positive crown elements on either...

The equation devised by Sir G.B. Airy for the analysis of light diffraction near a caustic surface: (d2f/dz2) - zf = 0 where...

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

Three proportional coefficients labeled Am, Bmn, and Bnm, that respectively characterize the rate of spontaneous emission,...

The tendency of charge carriers to spiral about an axis in a direction identical to that of an applied magnetic field that...

The photographic recording of the heat radiation emitted from various points on the object as corresponding density...

A hologram facet illumination technique in which the illuminating beam is twice the size of the hologram facet so that full...

A specific, right-angle prism having a transmission grating replicated on its hypotenuse face and used in applications...

Optical artifacts refer to undesired or unintended effects that can occur in optical systems, such as microscopes, cameras,...

A device used to transmit and receive images that have been converted to electrical signals over regular telephone lines; it...

The collection and analysis of data relevant to monitoring the rate and quality of industrial production, either...

Technique using functional optical microscope with the addition of a coherent source collinear with the image path. The...

The radius of curvature that an optical fiber can bend without breaking.

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

A mixed-signal oscilloscope (MSO) is a type of electronic test instrument that combines the capabilities of both a...

A graphic representation of a distribution function such as frequency by means of rectangles whose widths represent the...

The end of an optical fiber farthest from the source of illumination.

A superthin, highly reflective mirror.

A unit of measurement of luminous intensity based on a physical standard, a set of calibrated carbon filament lamps. The old...

A device with a limited number of possible output values (sometimes able to be selected) that can translate an incoming...

Successive layering of resistive, dielectric and conductive inks on a substrate by a type of screening process.

The central hole running the full length of a laser capillary tube, in which electrical discharge and laser action take...

A photoconductive cell that uses thallium oxysulfide as the light-sensitive medium.

A device used in measuring attenuation in optical fiber. The loss caused by the bends in a short reference length of fiber...

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

An arrangement of optical fibers in a bundle whereby the geometric configuration of the input end differs from that of the...

A display standard no longer in use and originally defined for IBM PCs, with 640 3 480 pixels in 16 colors and a 4:3 aspect...

Housing that resembles a small metal can for a semiconductor component, photodetector or similar device.

A plasma produced by the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a material surface. Production of ionized particle with...

Acronym for self-aligned polysilicon interconnect N-channel. A metal-gate process that uses aluminum for the metal-oxide...

Method of preserving the measured color value and color information as it is translated from differing devices. For example...

In a visual optical system, the axial distance from the last mechanical surface of the eyepiece to the exit pupil.

A type of laser used when a great amount of power is required. Avoiding the bulk of large numbers of optical lenses, this...

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

A power intensity pattern produced by the mutual interference of partially coherent beams that are subject to minute...

A semiconductor device that functions as an electrically controlled switch for AC loads.

A nonoptical surface, within lenses and lens mounts, that contributes largely to flare by reflecting light into the image...

A porous ceramic substance that is ground to a given optical form and on which a polished plate of glass is sagged by heat...

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

Measures the refractive indices axially from the fiber profile. Microscopy technique provides an interferogram with high...

Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often...

A radiation source that, unlike the point source, can be resolved by the naked eye into a geometrical image.

A process used in pyrometry and photothermometry to create a photographic record of a surface's temperature gradients....

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

An apparatus used to determine the degree of adaptation of the eye under different conditions.

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

Fiber optic cable in which the arrangement of fibers within the bundle has been made random so that output light will be...

The reproduction of a picture or image, produced by scanning the image and converting it into electrical signals that carry...

A device designed to measure linear or rotary motion by detection of the movement of markings on a transparent medium past a...

A laser radar application in which a sequence of direct measurements of target position is fed into a tracking filter to...

A prism having several plane polished surfaces, some to transmit light, some to reflect light, and some to serve both...

An infrared light source is a device that emits light in the infrared spectrum, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of...

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

The photographic recording, and later enlarging, of very thin specimens, using an electron beam to form the image.

The field of microscopy as applied to chemical problems and analysis.

That characteristic which makes a weapon system less visible to radar, optical, acousto-optic, infrared and other military...

1. An optical distance finder that depends on triangulation of two convergent beams on an object from disparate view points....

A type of quarter-wave retarder in the form of a glass rhomb; light entering the retarder undergoes two total internal...

The quantity (C) of electricity transported in one second by a current of one ampere.

Optical fiber channel characterization scheme based on three assumptions; the discrete mode spectrum can be replaced by a...

Light striking a surface at an angle perpendicular to the surface.

The lens located at the object end of a microscope tube. A wide range of objectives is available, including simple...

Factor that relates the pulse spread occurring in a graded-index fiber to that of an equivalent step-index fiber having an...

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

The ratio of the active core area of a fiber bundle to the total area at its light-emitting or receiving end.

A type of additive color photography using a lenticular structure impressed on a film base and a camera lens with a filter...

The ratio of the radiant power transmitted to the second surface of a medium to the corresponding radiant power that has...

A nonradiative transition refers to a process in which an electron or an atom undergoes a change in its energy state without...

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

In vivo is a Latin term that translates to "within the living." In scientific contexts, particularly in biology and...

A device used to scan, with a small, intensely bright spot, portions of a picture surface and to transform the original...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, single-stranded RNA molecules, typically consisting of about 19 to 24 nucleotides,...

Cathode radiant sensitivity refers to the ability of a photocathode to convert incident radiant energy, typically in the...

A spectroscopic process that detects and analyzes the discharge from an extrinsic surface with less than bandgap light. This...

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of...

The use of photographs to record astronomical objects and phenomena for purposes of physical observation and measurement of...

The point on the optical axis of a lens that is the image of the nodal points. For any bundle of rays passing through the...

A corner cube, also known as a corner reflector or retroreflector prism, is a type of optical device used to reflect light...

An ultrafast pulsed laser is a type of laser that emits extremely short pulses of light with durations typically on the...

A device small enough to be held in a hand that uses a magnifying lens and a translucent back to permit the viewing of...

Frame rate refers to the frequency at which consecutive images, or frames, are displayed in a video sequence. It is...

Ratio between map or photo linear distance and the actual ground dimensions represented.

Photonic crystals are artificial structures or materials designed to manipulate and control the flow of light in a manner...

Counter propagating beams imaged along the same path in order to detect rotation. Precise rotation is measured through...

The process of adjusting input pixel by pixel at the filter plane to adapt to nondeal phase behavior in an optical...

Combining adjacent pixels into one larger pixel, resulting in increased sensitivity and lower resolution, or, in image...

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

A filter that suppresses a given range of frequencies, transmitting only those above and below that band. Also called...

The area in a 2-D or 3-D microdisplay viewer within which the eye can move and still see the entire image.

The generic term applied to all sources of visible radiation from burning matter to ionized vapors and lasers, regardless of...

The condition in a multimode optical waveguide in which the relative power distribution among the propagating modes is...

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

Method for studying absorption coefficients of low-loss materials, in which a sample is allowed to come to thermal...

The refraction that would take place in an idealized atmosphere where the refractive index is reduced uniformly with height...

A photoemissive detector sensitive to wavelengths up to 1 µm. It has one sharp maximum of sensitivity at 350 nm and a...

The observation and measurement of the flatness of a mirror surface by contacting an optical flat with the mirror. The...

Optical components exceeding 24 in. in diameter. The components are usually glass, acrylic or polystyrene and are used for...

A refracting telescope that yields an erect image by the use of a positive lens for its objective and a negative lens for...

Also referred to as a bulb. The glass housing that encloses an incandescent source, or the glass or metal housing that...

A method of synthesis for crystals such as KTP. The process involves the use of a high-temperature solution called flux to...

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

A camera mounted on an optical bench with an easel to hold the material to be copied. Magnification can be varied over a...

SI unit of quantity of light.

The analysis of the atomic structure of a sample by means of a source radiation that is absorbed and emitted by the sample...

The finishing of the edge of an optical element by grinding.

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

A microscope designed with two eyepieces (oculars), permitting the use of both eyes when viewing through the instrument.

The point spread function (PSF) is a fundamental concept in imaging that describes the response of an imaging system to a...

A photoconductive cell consisting of a layer of selenium on a substrate whose electrical resistance varies with the...

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

That branch of spectroscopy that applies to the study of interactions between energy and atomic nuclei. The simultaneous...

A large-scale, precise drawing of the contours of a perfect mechanical part, often with plus and minus tolerances drawn or...

A type of erasable data storage device that uses a medium deposited on the disc in two layers, each dyed to absorb a...

The process of heating and slowly cooling a solid material, like glass or metal, to stabilize its thermal, electrical or...

A mechanism or device, especially a coating with a refractive index equal to or slightly greater than that of an optical...

A viewfinder whose optical system forms a direct image of a subject, as opposed to those systems that use reflectance in the...

A statistical method of dealing with a series of values where each value is squared, the sum of these squares is calculated...

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

Instruments used for measuring angles and occasionally lengths on the ground. The principal surveying instruments are the...

A photoelectrical relay that uses a phototube as its photoelectric device to open and close an electrical relay; used to...

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

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

The wavelength or frequency corresponding to an absorption resonance with a given molecular or atomic species. The line...

The photographic recording of an image formed by the alteration in electrical properties of the sensitive materials and...

A computing paradigm that attempts to process information in a manner similar to that of the brain; it differs from...

A birefringent crystal having two axes along which there is an absence of double refraction. Mica, sulphur and turquoise are...

A system designed with a laser as a light source and a means for producing sound waves extending beyond 100 MHz to deflect...

Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the...

Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties not found in naturally occurring substances. These...

A method that produces low-loss optical fibers. A glass tube rotates while reactants pass through the tube and heat is...

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

The emission of an electron from a surface that occurs when a photon impinges upon the surface and is absorbed. This effect...

An optical wedge of very small angles that admits light while sealing out moisture and dirt and that may be rotated to...

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

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

A microscope that has an annular stop in the lower focal plane of the condenser, and a quarter-wave retarding and absorbing...

A supporting member used to hold optical parts during grinding and polishing. It also describes the assemblage of optical...

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

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

A digital imaging method whereby the first gray level in the ordered sequence and the position of the first lengths of all...

Image processing peripheral that converts video images from cameras into digital format and transfers these digital images...

A prism with curved faces that collimates, reflects and refracts incident light. Often used in the production of...

Photometry is the branch of science that deals with the measurement of light, particularly in terms of its intensity and the...

The process of using a spectrograph with a telescope to acquire information on an astronomical object's speed and physical...

In optics, the double refraction that is produced when stress is applied to a transparent material. Plastics, which are...

A mercury vapor discharge lamp that has cadmium added to emit radiation in the red region as a complement to the mercury...

A device for obtaining very low crosstalk in a crosspoint by arranging two simple switches along different arms of a passive...

A retroreflector is an optical device or structure that reflects incident light or electromagnetic waves back to their...

A defect in the cleaved end face of an optical fiber, defined as multiple surface irregularities across the fiber surface. A...

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

The technology of manipulating light on a micro scale. In optical communications, this is usually accomplished using two or...

1. In color development, the chemical that combines with certain by-products of the development procedure to form a dye. 2....

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

A type of distortion in which the magnification varies in different orientations, the directions of maximum and minimum...

The laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by...

A silicon photodiode is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It is a type of photodetector...

The process of mapping the infrared emittance of an area through the use of an infrared detector and related scanning...

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

A sputtering target is a solid material used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering....

In television, the period during which the electron beam is cut off while the raster returns from the right-hand side of the...

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

A surface scratch or series of scratches formed by mishandling.

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

A type of glass containing barium oxide, which is added to increase the refractive index while maintaining a relatively low...

A gas laser wherein the gas mixture is not exhausted into the atmosphere but is continually recycled. It is excited in the...

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

A condition in which an emergent ray is perpendicular to the normal of the emergent surface of a medium.

A laser having a lasing material that is a fluorescing organic dye. Depending on the dye used, it can produce emission in...

A compound lens so constructed that its overall length is equal to or less than its effective focal length.

A reticle, also known as a reticule or graticule, is a pattern or set of markings placed in the focal plane of an optical...

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

1. The decrease of the absorption (or gain) coefficient of a medium near some transition frequency when the power of the...

The theory of propagation of energy by combined electric and magnetic fields included in Maxwell's equations.

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

A product of the area of a light beam (normal to its direction of propagation) and the solid angle that the beam includes;...

The superimposing of holographic pages in a thick, erasable storage material by changing the reference and object beams....

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) refers to a specific range of electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum....

A confocal resonator, also known as a confocal cavity or confocal laser resonator, is a type of optical resonator...

Glass that has been specially treated so that it will not shatter when exposed to high temperatures followed by immediate...

A small handheld instrument consisting of a slit and collimator that feeds light into a small direct-vision dispersing...

An accurately produced hole of any size and shape that is used as a masking device in an optical system. Pinhole apertures...

An electric arc that is formed in mercury vapor through which an electric current flows. The intensity of the illumination...

The spatial distribution of incident and collected flux contained in the analysis of reflectance, transmittance or densities.

Radioactivity formed by the bombardment of stable elements by either neutrons or high-energy, charged particles under...

Terahertz (THz) refers to a unit of frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum, denoting waves with frequencies between 0.1...

A cathode-ray tube in which secondary emission electrons form a display of high intensity.

A frame taken with a CCD camera of a surface that is evenly illuminated by diffuse light. This frame shows irregularities in...

Also known as a pyrradiometer. An instrument that is designed to measure heat radiation nonselectively; e.g., the...

The discrepancy between the absolute luminance threshold and the photochromatic threshold.

Variations in a signal passing through an optical fiber caused by the effect on the pulse of the fiber's material and mode...

Scalar diffraction theory is a simplified approach used to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly...

A method of manufacturing polycrystalline infrared-transmitting optical fiber by heating a single halide crystal billet and...

The removal of a slight overlap that may be found on a blank or pressing.

A prism produced by severing a Nicol prism and reconstructing the polarization angles of the two halves so that they are...

Parallel scanning refers to a method of acquiring data or images simultaneously from multiple sources or in parallel, rather...

An imaging technique in which an object moving through an interference field formed in space scatters light and is spatially...

Infrared optics refer to optical components and systems designed to manipulate and control infrared (IR) light, which lies...

A method of designing lasers whereby the laser rod is cut into elliptical discs and cooled by running water over the disc...

The dip or gap in the profile of a laser beam's line width when it is both homogeneously and inhomogeneously broadened. When...

Color sensitivity extended to cover the entire visible spectrum out to the red.

In cosmology, a star that exhibits a rapid increase in the magnitude of light, which is followed by a slow decrease in...

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

An assembly of fibers in which the coordinates of each fiber are the same at the two ends of the bundle. Also called...

Holmium lasers are a type of medical laser that utilizes holmium-doped crystals as the gain medium. The term holmium laser...

MWIR stands for mid-wave infrared, referring to a specific range of wavelengths within the infrared spectrum. Infrared...

The principle stating that the displacement of spectrum lines is determined by the distance between, and relative velocity...

Any arrangement of a bundle of optical fibers that alters the shape of the image. For example, by systematic regulation of...

The exact mathematical description of the interactions of matter and intense electromagnetic fields, such as those that...

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

The process whereby pitch is broken and the lenses or blanks are removed from the block.

A naturally occurring pigment in tissue that may selectively absorb certain wavelengths and can be used to aid in targeting...

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

An advanced technique that allows the detection of one molecule within a crystal or a cell through optical excitation....

A fundamental law of quantum theory which states that the discrete quanta of energy transfers associated with...

The purest gas source of antimony, which is used in the manufacture of compound semiconductors for IR sensors and...

A diffraction grating is an optical component consisting of a surface with a periodic structure of equally spaced, parallel...

A high-frequency approach to the propagation of light in graded-index fibers in which the modal field is represented in...

A crude area on the polished surface, produced during coarse grinding, that subsequent fine grinding does not remove, owing,...

A microscope objective designed to be used without liquid between the cover glass and the objective, or, in the case of...

A grinding process that employs fine emery.

Technique for measuring the volume bulk of materials as they move along a conveyor with an accuracy of better than 1...

The central portion of the retina that has the greatest sensitivity to form and color.

Of all the rays passing through a lens from an off-axis object point to its corresponding image point, there is always one...

A smooth, highly polished surface, for reflecting light, that may be plane or curved if wanting to focus and or magnify the...

The procedure applied to flame-excited line emissions to determine spectra and wavelengths.

The electric field associated with an electromagnetic wave and thus with a lightwave. The electric vector specifies the...

The degree to which the surface of a lens causes an incident ray of light to bend, or the amount of convergence or...

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

The use of atoms, molecules and molecular-scale structures to enhance existing technology and develop new materials and...

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

Machine vision, also known as computer vision or computer sight, refers to the technology that enables machines, typically...

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

The process by which the raster beam in a video tube is cut off during the retracing and sync periods.

A standard lens interface initially made for 16mm movie cameras and now used primarily on closed-circuit television cameras....

Also known as mesosphere. A level of the atmosphere, extending from the stratosphere to the ionosphere, that is noted for...

Westinghouse trade name for an alloy of iron, nickel and cobalt, which has the same thermal expansion as glass and therefore...

In digital image processing, a method of convolution that reduces random noise by replacing the value of each pixel with the...

An advanced magnetic device used in x-ray lithography to beam x-rays onto the surface of silicon wafers used for...

Pitch for polishing mixed with other materials to give it the right viscosity so that it will follow the fine-ground lens...

A method for characterizing a fiber wherein an optical pulse is transmitted through the fiber, and the resulting light...

The nondestructive analysis and recording of industrial components based on the absorption of relatively low-energy neutrons...

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

The detection and analysis of naturally formed extraterrestrial electromagnetic radiation within the radio frequency range...

X-rays emitted by a substance that formerly has been exposed to x-rays. The properties of the substance determine the...

A mounting used for large concave gratings, whereby the slit, grating and plate holder lie in the Rowland circle, and the...

In biology, particularly genetics and evolutionary biology, the phenotype refers to the observable characteristics or traits...

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

A support for optical parts comprising a solid bed that permits precise longitudinal movement of one component relative to...

An impurity-doped silicon detector array sensitive to long infrared wavelengths, installed in optical collecting systems...

The process whereby blanks are attached to a block in a position for grinding or polishing.

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

An instrument using a Michelson interferometer, a beamsplitter, two plane mirrors and a detector to give Fourier analysis of...

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

Wide-field fluorescence microscopy uses either naturally occurring structures or staining with fluorescent tags that are...

In spectroscopy, the parallel bands that vary in lightness and darkness or color, and that are formed when light is...

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

Measurement of the interval during which a photodetector's signal and output current drops from 90 to 10 percent.

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

The determination of distance based upon the known size of an object and the size of its image at the image plane of an...

An instrument designed for laser technology that is used to extract single pulses from the laser and transmit a portion of...

A process in which a mixture of one or more monomers, plus a catalyst, polymerize under exposure to light radiation....

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

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to...

The physical center of the lens; it is on the axis of the lens, halfway between the front and rear vertex. It is sometimes...

A glow-discharge tube in which the discharge takes place in the conical or crater-shaped depression at one end of the tube.

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

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

A family of specialized instruments used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to study a patient's eyes and prescribe...

Secondary aberrations remaining after the primary (Seidel) aberrations have been corrected.

Ink used for writing on glass, and also for blackening the edges of lenses to prevent reflection. In the latter case, the...

Any source that emits radiation of wavelengths between 100 and 300 nm. Instruments used to study these sources must be...

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

Brightfield refers to a type of microscopy and imaging technique in which the specimen is illuminated with a white light...

A single housing that includes means of recording an image photographically and electronically.

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

A type of optical modulator with potential application in optical switching and displays, in which applied voltage causes a...

A kind of spectrograph in which some form of detector, other than a photographic film, is used to measure the distribution...

Gram-negative bacteria are a group of bacteria that possess a cell envelope composed of a thin layer of peptidoglycan...

An LED, or light emitting diode, is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs...

Any noise with a power spectral density that is the inverse of the signal's frequency and is therefore most significant for...

A material that is present or added to a sample undergoing spectroscopic analysis, to serve as an intensity reference for...

A small optical polishing machine intended for polishing the surface of a metal specimen before etching for examination...

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

The removal of the zero-order component of the Fourier spectrum distribution of an object with a small, opaque absorber or...

The wavelength interval in which radiant intensity is at least 50 percent of the maximum spectral value.

Celestial point sources that emit specific wavelengths of radiation that appear on spectral charts as narrow lines. The term...

Gamma ray radiation released when matter and antimatter, such as electron and positron, unite and eliminate each other,...

The simulation of solar radiation in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum for the analysis of extraterrestrial sunlight and...

The form taken by scattered light, as a result of the Tyndall effect.

A zone plate in which the zones are alternately transparent and opaque to specific radiation, and coarse enough so that no...

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

Device in which contact ionization of atomic particles and thermionic electron emission are used to produce magnetically...

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

The splitting or shifting of spectral lines or energy levels caused by the application of a strong transverse electrical...

The span of frequencies within which a single channel of broadcast television must fall; in the US, it is 6 MHz.

A method of determining the abrasion resistance of very hard materials by passing a weighted wiper blade across them in a...

Photographing of terrain on the ground and objects in the air by cameras mounted in aircraft; utilized in satellites,...

The ability of a device to operate without electromagnetically interfering with the operation of nearby equipment and...

A CIE index describing the changes in color of standard test objects when the illumination is changed from a standard to a...

A miniature projecting device designed to enhance and reproduce the image generated by a smaller image-forming instrument....

The determination of the relative phase shift of an image as a function of frequency. A phase change of 180° with...

Specially designed optics for the observation and photographing of hydrogen in a bubble chamber.

1. A contour map of a photographic deposit consisting of lines and curves that join points of equal density. 2. The...

Return of radiation by a surface, without change in wavelength. The reflection may be specular, from a smooth surface;...

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

For a Fabry-Perot interferometer or etalon, a value for the transmission bandwidth which can be calculated as the ratio of...

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

A term used to denote a difference in magnification along mutually perpendicular meridians. Anamorphic systems are basically...

A vision defect commonly referred to as farsightedness. Results when the image of a distant object is focused beyond the...

A means of high resolution study through the application of soft and hard x-rays onto a sample surface in order to obtain...

A lamp whose output can be traced to a standard light source.

The length of the oscillation of a grinding or polishing lap.

Instantaneous field of view (iFOV) is a term commonly used in the context of remote sensing, imaging systems, and optical...

A semiconductor formed by applying a particular single-crystal layer to the specific insulator.

A saturated compound of carbon and hydrogen used as a liquid coating material for optical components in high-power laser...

Small tungsten lamp used in surgical instruments such as cystoscopes, and for other purposes where space is limited.

For each mode in an optical waveguide, the term used to describe the process by which an electromagnetic signal is distorted...

Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal...

A powerful method, referred to as FCS, for determining the average diffusion coefficients of fluorescent molecules in...

An optical system that superimposes a synthetic display providing navigational or weapon-aiming information on a pilot's or...

A camera system used for microphotography in which the document to be recorded is on a flat bed, perpendicular to the lens...

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

Method for reducing laser speckle in which the object field comes from a real diffuse object or the reconstructed object...

A device that couples a light source to an optical fiber by projecting an image of the source and the fiber core onto a...

An eyepiece having a rotating index or cross wire linked to an external 360° scale to allow measuring of angles in an...

A uniaxial, birefringent crystal such as calcite or ruby in which the velocity of the extraordinary ray surpasses that of...

The illusory appearance of a light or dark band at a line of brightness contrast that enhances the edge between the two...

A fluorophore is a molecule or a portion of a molecule that has the ability to emit light upon excitation by an external...

A host crystal for chromium that emits pulsed or continuous-wave laser light, tunable from about 720 to 790 nm.

The propagation or hindrance of waves reaching each aperture of the interferometer because of atmospheric turbulence.

1. A framelike structure that serves to restrict the viewing area of the screen when placed before a television picture...

Optic surface cleaning liquid that may be applied to glass, crystal, dielectric and metal surfaces; however, may not be...

1. In glass, a solid inclusion having a small diameter. 2. A particular, single crystal that, after undergoing the...

A circular lamp or bundles of optical fibers placed around the perimeter of an objective lens to illuminate the object field...

1. The combination of the effects of two or more stimuli in any given sense to form a single sensation. With respect to...

A thin-film photoconductive cell that is sensitive to the infrared region. The photosensitive material of the cell is...

A photodiode that has been designed so that the bar of semiconductor material has a PN junction perpendicular to its length...

An optical tooling instrument consisting of an objective lens, a focusing lens, an optical micrometer, a reticle and an...

The angle subtended by the mean distance of the Earth from the sun at the distance of a given star from the sun.

A lens with one concave surface and one convex surface; synonymous with meniscus.

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

A splice accomplished by the application of localized heat sufficient to fuse or melt the ends of two lengths of optical...

A photographic enlarger with a fixed negative plane and a fixed paper plane, often using a roll of paper that is advanced...

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

For an optical table, the amount of displacement that occurs when a heavy load is placed or moved on the surface. To measure...

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

The use of a reflective device, which can be fashioned from a variety of materials including gases, solids, dyes, aerosols,...

A type of compound microscope that uses three visible wavelengths to translate details produced by invisible radiation.

1. The process of following an object's movement; accomplished by focusing a radar beam on the reticle of an optical system...

A device designed to decrease flux density or power per unit area of a light beam through absorption and scattering of the...

A monatomic, chemically inert gas such as argon, neon, krypton and xenon.

A television receiver that receives the signals generated by a television camera directly, or remotely through a radio...

Dispersion refers to the phenomenon where different wavelengths (colors) of light travel at different speeds when passing...

An adaptation by Philips and Sony of their audio compact disc technology for optical disc data storage and retrieval....

In optics, the production of maxima and minima by the superimposition of two sets of interference fringes from light of two...

A small erect-image telescope for use as a sighting device on a rifle. The chief requirement is a long eye relief to avoid...

The ability to perceive binocularly the apparent depth and relative distance of objects.

An optical material used in place of crown glass to produce lenses with extraordinary correction of chromatic aberrations....

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

A device used in a free-electron laser to convert the electron-beam's energy into microwave laser radiation by creating a...

A digital twin refers to a virtual representation or digital counterpart of a physical object, system, or process. This...

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

Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet radiation with shorter wavelengths than those of visible...

An image-forming instrument in which a strong electrostatic field causes cold emission of electrons from a sharply rounded...

Hyperspectral imaging is an advanced imaging technique that captures and processes information from across the...

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

The electric conductance of a conductor in which a current of 1 ampere is produced by an electric potential difference of 1...

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

The holographic recording of a microscopic specimen whereby magnification is achieved by alteration in a wavelength or...

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

Oscillation in rod and disc amplifiers that critically limits the achievable energy storage.

A quadrivalent semiconductor material, with electrons as the majority charge carriers, that is formed by doping with donor...

The organic inclusion in quartz crystal that forms delicate films and microspheres and that shows a maximum absorption at...

A technique for creating optimal performance in a system by producing a specific beam irradiance distribution, usually...

Lasers based on neodymium-doped yttrium or gadolinium vanadate crystals. These include yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4),...

A rigid medium, generally a polycarbonate substrate coated with a reflective aluminum layer, that stores information (such...

1. Generally, an emulsion mask having a clean annular region in an otherwise opaque region. It is designed to eliminate...

The range of frequencies that will pass through a filter or other device. Synonymous with passband.

A two-part lens that has a different focal length for each part. Generally, it is used in eyeglasses to correct for both...

The special cameras, film and other means for forming maps by aerial photography.

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

A set of samples used in the analysis of multielement thin films.

Expression of the nondimensional coefficient of the heat transfer in a convection process.

Use of achromatic design; the correction of chromatic aberration; without color or hue (grey, black and white)

A sensitometer having a continuously controlled monochromator to measure spectral sensitivity and contrast of photographic...

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by supplying electrical energy to the electron beam...

A technique based on the principles of laser trapping and used to manipulate the position of small particles by gradually...

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

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

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

Machinery used to grind and finish a component, such as a lens or prism, to a desired precision. Usually such machines carry...

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

Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam passes through a...

A system that determines whether an image is in or out of focus by means of a source of illumination at the conjugate focal...

A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second.

The range of frequencies over which a particular instrument is designed to function within specified limits. See also fiber...

A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor...

A property of optical fiber that results from thermal stresses during manufacturing and is defined as the amount of...

The maximum to minimum range of temperature, pressure, humidity, vibration and biological conditions under which an optical...

Triggering a laser at a predetermined time by pumping it to a level just below its threshold and then using an auxiliary...

The lowest order mode of a waveguide. In fibers, the mode designated LP01 or HE11.

A form of high-power microscope objective where the space between the object and the first element is filled with an oil...

A cathode-ray tube that serves as a picture tube in a television receiver. The signal representing the picture intensity is...

A phenomenon, exploited for medical imaging, in which the nuclei of material placed in a strong magnetic field will absorb...

The linear relationship between input and output optical fields for a given optical system or application that allows the...

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

A CCD device for sensing longer wavelengths, such as NIR and IR, that has a deeper depletion region than would be necessary...

The ability of a conductor to store an electrical charge; its value is given in farads as the ratio of the stored charge on...

Sapphire crystal refers to a transparent, single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) known as corundum. It is one of the...

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

A spectrograph using a prism that has an internally reflecting surface and that serves as a constant deviation prism.

Numerical scale of chroma devised by A.H. Munsell and exhibited in the Munsell Book of Color.

A device incorporating a spatial light modulator and a reference filter; used for matching an input optical waveform or...

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

A near-infrared (NIR) camera is an imaging device designed to capture images in the near-infrared region of the...

A type of refractometer designed to measure the refractive indices of liquids. A section of the instrument is immersed into...

The control of free electron movement through the use of electrical or magnetic fields, and use of this electron movement in...

A camera designed with a telecentric optical system and a narrow field of view; the telecentric optical system (placement of...

Familiar term for CD/I disc. The CD/I standard also is known as the green standard.

The state of a liquid crystal in which the molecules are arranged in layers with their long axes in the plane of each layer....

An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure....

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

A bandpass filter with piezoelectric crystal components for the passage or impedance of electrical signals of various...

The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum divided by the speed of light in the medium.

The distance between the front focal point and the vertex of the front surface.

An optical grating, in the context of optics and physics, refers to a device with a periodic structure of closely spaced,...

In a solid-state laser, the material (Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, ruby) in which lasing action takes place.

In a semiconductor, the state created by the addition of a dopant that creates excess holes.

A system that uses the heat from a pulsed laser to weld metals. Because of the rapidity and localization in which the...

gas laser using ionized argon as the active medium and applying electronic excitation in order to produce the laser light

A broken circle used as the test object in distinguishing visual acuity. The width of the gap in the circle is equal to the...

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

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

A lamp that has mercury in a tube or bulb that has first been evacuated. The electricity travels through the vapor between...

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

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

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

Also known as ocular. The lens system used between the final real image in a visual optical system and eye. It acts as an...

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

Condition in which a perpendicular surface can be discovered for every ray in a group. This condition is commonly observed...

Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors...

With respect to pictorial displays, the ratio of the width to the height. The television standard in the US is 4:3....

The formation and display of three-dimensional images by ultrasonic energy. In one technique, the energy pulses from an...

A small xenon-filled tube with metal electrodes fused into the ends. The gas flashes brilliantly when a condenser is...

A vacuum pump in which pressure is reduced by condensing gases on surfaces cryogenically cooled to about 20 K (liquid...

Any filter in which the range of frequencies within a chosen radius suffers no attenuation and the range of frequencies...

A Michelson-type interference microscope used to produce interference patterns of reflective specimens through the...

A lens whose focal length is roughly equal to the diagonal of the negative format of the camera on which it is mounted.

An imaging process, similar to specific Doppler mapping radar techniques, that utilizes a laser, an optical imaging system,...

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

A series of permanent holograms in dichromated gelatin formed by opening total page-composer apertures and setting a point...

The field of view seen through some types of coincidence rangefinders. It is formed by the juxtaposition of opposite halves...

The characteristics of a material that determine its tendency to flow.

A type of video signal in which the luminance and chrominance portions of the signal, or the luma and chroma, have been...

In a single-mode optical fiber, the wavelength that causes material dispersion and waveguide dispersion to cancel each...

In an optical system, the gradual reduction of image illuminance as the off-axis angle increases, resulting from limitations...

In a single element, any lack of coincidence between the optical and the mechanical axes. In a lens system, any lack of...

With reference to electromagnetic radiation, the number of crests of waves that pass a fixed point in a given unit of time,...

A mechanical, electrical, thermal or optical detector designed to identify and measure ultrasonic radiation.

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

A group of frequencies or wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum which exhibits resonance or energy contributions near...

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

1. An optical device used for projection of enlarged images of transparencies or lantern slides on a screen. 2. A device...

A method of demonstration or examination using a point source illumination without the use of any projection lens between...

The unit generally used to express distances within the solar system, and sometimes to measure interstellar distances....

An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical...

The decrease in effect in developable density on a photographic plate formed by a second exposure to radiation having a...

A plate of glass in which a face has been frosted by grinding or etching. It diffuses light by scattering in directions...

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

Photoelastic equipment and supplies refer to instruments and materials used in photoelasticity, a technique used to analyze...

The method of acquiring characteristic x-ray spectra from microscopic samples by use of the combination of a scanning...

A device that produces brief flashes of light for observing the behavior of an object during a short interval. One of the...

A measure of the transmittance through an optical medium. Optical density equals the log to the base 10 of the reciprocal of...

Nanopositioning refers to the precise and controlled movement or manipulation of objects or components at the nanometer...

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level....

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

1. An eyepiece or magnifier with a scale at its image plane. That scale is placed in contact with an object, permitting...

A waveguide that has a core with a lower refractive index than the refractive index of the cladding. This structure can...

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

A single wavelength of light that matches the color of a given sample when combined in suitable proportions with white light...

A device that measures the spatial distribution of energy perpendicular to the propagation path of a radiant beam. An energy...

An optical switch that controls conduction paths into and out of a junction in fiber optic and integrated optical circuits.

The processes in which luminous energy incident on the eye is perceived and evaluated.

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

The use of a surgical laser instead of sutures or staples to close a wound or rejoin severed blood vessels.

A photodiode detector is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It operates based on the...

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged...

A device used to control or block a light beam by means of the Kerr electro-optical effect, and other electro-optic devices...

Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or...

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

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

A plane passing through a crystal that has the optic axis of the crystal and the light ray under consideration.

Extended period exposure photographs of a laser light created with various patterns within full image (laser graffiti).

An electron tube containing neon gas that uses the transmission of an electric current through the gas to ionize the neon...

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

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...

Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur...

A diverging lens is a type of lens that causes parallel rays of light to spread out or diverge. It is thinner in the center...

A term denoting the magnitude and direction of the magnetic field associated with an electromagnetic wave when describing...

Standard maintained by the International Commission on Radiological Units as a unit of radioactivity defined as the quantity...

An eyepiece having a special prism arrangement linked to a micrometer screw to allow reading of the angular relations...

Effect whereby two electrons lose synchronism with the accelerating field and are lost during synchronous radiation. The...

A piece of glass with a high refractive index that is fused to the major blank.

An impurity in a material that is capable of inducing electrical conduction in that material by transferring an electron to...

A thermometric instrument used for the detection and measurement of radiant energy. Its essential component is a short...

An aperture, usually rectangular in shape, with a large length-to-width ratio, and a fixed or adjustable shape through which...

Material hardness scale that is used to characterize the scratch resistance of various materials. This surface hardness...

Cyan, magenta and yellow. They are called subtractive because they each subtract one color by absorbtion and reflect the two...

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

A gas, such as oxygen, that improves the speed and efficiency of a laser cutter or welder when applied to the work surface,...

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

Fused quartz and silica are closely related materials, both composed primarily of silicon dioxide (SiO2), but they are...

A method of measuring distance by recording a single scene from two points of perspective. Surveying instruments can be...

A Pockels cell, also known as an electro-optic modulator, is an optical device used to control the polarization of light by...

The recording and mathematical analysis of all spectral intervals of the spectrometer simultaneously.

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

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

An electrical problem that occurs when voltage is not the same with respect to ground at every node of a system, causing...

A paraboloidal surface on which the image is located when there is no astigmatism.

Optical glass that possesses a refractive index equal to or less than 1.5, and an Abbe number that ranges from 62 to about...

The study of radioactive substances and high-energy radiations such as x-rays and g-rays.

A light-harvesting protein found in the purple membrane of a micro-organism called Halobacterium halobium. The protein...

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

An embossed or marked disk, constructed out of a transparent material and used with a camera system to soften an image.

An instrument designed to calculate the amplitude and phase of the different harmonic elements of a radiation wave utilizing...

A device for converting sunlight into electrical energy, consisting of a sandwich of P-type and N-type semiconducting...

Optical fiber optic switches are devices used in optical fiber communication systems to selectively route optical signals...

The total radiation, both solar and diffuse sky, that is incident to a unit's horizontal surface.

An electrochemical process of metal fabrication using an electrolyte, an anode to supply the metal, and a control of the...

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

A microspectroscope equipped with a sensing and recording device, such as a camera, to measure the spectrum formed by...

The use of a microscope in photographing objects. A device for photomicrography includes a light source, microscope and...

An electron-beam lithography (EBL) system is a sophisticated nanofabrication tool used in the semiconductor industry and...

A lens is a transparent optical device that focuses or diverges light, allowing it to pass through and form an image. Lenses...

Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light...

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

Ablation applied to polymers and chemical solids. Process of material removal that minimizes edge damage but will not heat...

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

An optical reflector with the reflective coating applied to the front surface of the substrate. This eliminates the ghost...

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

A system that uses a continuous-wave laser to measure the velocity of an object by focusing the laser beam on the object,...

A device for measuring linear dimensions. The optical caliper generally consists of two circularly mounted mirrors whose...

1. The reduction in the developable density of a photographic emulsion that has been extremely overexposed. 2. In a laser...

A color filter, generally used in photography, to emphasize certain color tones and to modify others in a picture for a more...

An instrument that measures the angle at which a prism can couple laser light into an optical waveguide; used to determine...

Any bending of a wave of radiation away from its expected path, as, for example, by diffraction or by a magnetic field.

Optical switching refers to the process of controlling the routing or transmission of optical signals within a network using...

Interval between cutting off a photoconductor's signal and the fall of current output to 90 percent.

The universal constant h that has a value of 6.6260693 x 10-34 Js. A quantum of energy is equal to the product of the...

Denoting a finished circular edge. A decentered lens is adjusted on a centering chuck so that its image runs true, and the...

Light diffracted by a solid (usually quartz in crystal or fused form) traversed by acoustic waves. If the ultrasonic...

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

Also known as single plane illumination microscopy (SPIM), this process was designed for imaging of sensitive samples and...

A lens system that is capable of producing a 360° image, or one that is very close to that. In recording, the image may...

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

Participates in a reaction only in the presence of light and radiant energy. Besides 3D printing, photoreactive agents also...

See honeycomb table; indexing table.

An event-based image sensor, also known as a dynamic vision sensor (DVS), is a type of digital imaging device designed to...

A compound lens combination whose astigmatic difference is zero for one or more off-axis zones in the image plane. In such a...

The electric arc that is a particular discharge between two electrodes in a gas or vapor which is characterized by high...

A synchrotron is a type of particle accelerator that uses magnetic fields to steer charged particles, typically electrons or...

Postulated by Einstein in his theory of relativity. They are waves traveling at the speed of light and exerting force on...

The law stating that the critical fusion frequency is approximately proportional to the logarithm of the luminance and the...

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

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

The minimum driving current corresponding to lasing threshold at a specified temperature. (Ith).

A device used to detect and measure the quantity of exposure to nuclear or x-ray radiation, and dependent on the fact that...

Fizeau fringes are interference fringes observed in an interferometer, specifically in a Fizeau interferometer. The Fizeau...

An electron tube having two electron guns, one on each side of the storage medium, to encode the information onto the...

A type of high-speed cine camera that uses different image paths and a Kerr cell to produce a series of successive images at...

A layer between the corona and the photosphere of the sun; its emission is overwhelmed by light emitted by the underlying,...

Microscopy technique to convert the phase structure of the wave transmitted or reflected by the specimen into a...

A surface that envelops a bundle of rays or bundle of normals to the wave surface. It may be observed as a hollow, luminous...

A type of photometer calibrated in luminance units (candles per square unit, or lamberts). In photography an exposure meter...

The nonluminous area that divides the negative glow from the positive column in a Crookes tube under conditions of moderate...

The perceptual term for that aspect of color described by words such as red, yellow or blue. Achromatic colors, such as...

A variation of the atomic force microscope that operates by scanning a tiny ferromagnetic probe (or a magnetized tip) over a...

A mass-relieving method whereby material is removed through the sides of a reflector in a direction parallel to the surface....

Measurement derived from calculation when incident flux of a negative is entirely diffuse and all radiation transmissions...

In a multicrystalline material, the meeting point between crystallites.

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

A pattern on an oscilloscope display that consists of a string of shapes that resemble eyes. Because the pattern becomes...

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

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each...

A small defocused Galilean telescope mounted in a hole in a door. Viewed from inside through the positive lens, a wide-angle...

In multifocal spectacles, a term used to denote glass with a high refractive index that has been fused to the blank and...

A crystalline semiconductor alloy used as the light confinement layer in both single- and double-heterostructure diode...

A method of erasable optical data storage in which information is stored by visible light, then read by illumination with an...

The application of coherent wavefront techniques to the determination of the physical state of a system without appreciably...

A disc, having opaque and transparent sectors or sectors with unlike reflectances, that is rotated at a specific rate to...

An eyepiece consisting of a planoconvex field lens and a cemented doublet as the eye lens.

The sine of the vertex angle of the largest cone of meridional rays that can enter or leave an optical system or element,...

An imaging system designed to highlight small deviations in a planar reflective object such as a mirror. The system can be...

Intravital microscopy is an imaging technique used to visualize biological processes within living organisms, typically in...

Pitch, wax, resin or other cement suitable for holding optical parts to a spindle during grinding and polishing processes.

The testing by hypothesizing a likely crystal structure, computing a test x-ray diffraction pattern and comparing this to...

The bending of oblique incident rays as they pass from a medium having one refractive index into a medium with a different...

A factor of an equation of the Faraday effect, which is the rotation of the plane of light polarization by transparent...

The elimination of magnetic moments and decrease in magnetic susceptibility with a decrease in temperature due to the equal...

A noncontact, nondestructive method of measuring defects in thin composite materials, using a xenon flashtube to generate...

Imaging materials that generally consist of a polyester base, a transparent electrically conductive layer and an organic...

A type of internal photonic connection in an integrated circuit in which a holographic grating is used to focus light at...

Also known as radiation thermometer. A pyrometer in which the radiant intensity from the source to be measured is used to...

A cathode-ray display where information is represented visually as spots. Each spot's location is represented by a...

A diffraction grating with lines and grooves formed so as to concentrate the radiation of a particular wavelength into one...

A fiber optic connector or splice that mates two multifiber cables, optically aligning all of the individual fibers...

A 45-90-45° reflecting prism whose surfaces form the 90° angle reflecting the light beam through a total angle of 180°. The...

Fraction of light counter propagating collinear with the incident source. Processes considering backscattering are Raman,...

Generally, any radiation that can form ions, either directly or indirectly, while traveling through a substance.

A flat, round micrometer that is placed in the focal plane of a telescope to measure difference in right ascension and...

1. That portion of the aperture that functions to collect energy and deliver it to the final system detector. 2. For an...

A solar spectrograph that uses long focus concave mirrors as its collimator and camera element.

The force acting upon a charged particle as it moves in a magnetic field, proportional to the particle's charge and velocity.

Displacement in a direction perpendicular to that of the intended displacement, as in a translation stage with simple...

The real numerical aperture (NA) of a fiber when the computed NA is not valid because of change in the glass indices during...

An optical illusion in which distant objects are lighter in tone and less distinct in outline than those closer to the...

1. In relation to cathode-ray tube displays, errors in the signal's amplitude, phase or both that result in small, rapid...

The material removed during diamond machining of glass components.

The figure of merit of a resonator, defined as (2p) x (average energy stored in the resonator)/(energy dissipated per...

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

A branched fiber optic lightguide that performs both receiving and transmitting functions.

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

The angle through which a ray of light is deviated by a refracting or reflecting surface, or a prism; the angle between an...

A coating made up of many layers of material having alternating high and low refractive index. In this way, it is possible...

A device that uses a piezoelectric crystal to convert ultrasonic sound waves, transmitted through a subject, into a voltage...

Indicating a capability to deal with a relatively wide spectral bandwidth.

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

A photomask, also known simply as a mask or reticle, is a key component in the photolithography process used in...

A colorimeter using a spinning disc made of different colored sections for colorimetric analysis.

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

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

Reactive evaporation refers to a process in thin-film deposition where a material is deposited onto a substrate through...

A scanning technique in which the object is illuminated the entire time, and in which picture elements of the object are...

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

A means of determining a prism's index of refraction by placing the prism so that its emergent face is perpendicular to the...

In a cylindrical lens, the meridian parallel to the generating lines of the cylindrical surface. In a toric lens, the...

The principle that a light ray extending from one point to another will, after any number of reflections and refractions,...

A high-resolution spectroscopic device commonly used in the early 20th century as a component of double-beam...

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

A nondestructive test, also referred to as LASAT, that uses a high-energy laser pulse that is targeted on an adhesively...

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

A form of Cassegrain telescope having a concave hyperbolic primary and a convex hyperbolic secondary. This form permits the...

A system for automatic industrial process control or measurement, consisting of an optical module for image acquisition, a...

That point on the optical axis of a lens, to which an incident bundle of parallel light rays will converge.

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

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

System of information coding in which the signal is sampled 8000 times per second and the samples quantized by referring...

In a semiconductor, the state created by the addition of a dopant that provides excess electrons.

In fiber optics, the glass that is found around the glass core of the fiber, and that has a lower refractive index than the...

The low-refractive-index material that surrounds the core of an optical fiber to contain core light while protecting against...

Device in which the various circuit elements are fabricated in different substrate materials and then appropriately joined...

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

Irradiation of a cylindrical crystal with an x-ray beam resulting in Bragg diffraction that produces a slightly enlarged...

The ratio between the luminescence of an object and the luminescence of the scattering medium through which it is being...

The phenomenon whereby an electron within a band absorbs radiation by transferring from a low-energy level to an empty...

A lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or...

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

A double-plate device used to transmit polarized light and form interference fringes of the light, thus indicating its...

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

A fish-eye lens designed to photograph cloud formations over the entire visible sky.

The term gradient-index profile refers to a specific type of refractive index distribution within an optical material. In...

The complex function, H(f), equal to the ratio of the output to input of the device as a function of frequency. The...

Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by...

One of a class of crystalline substances belonging to triclinic, monoclinic and orthorhombic systems that have two optic...

The pattern of lines traced by rectilinear scanning in display systems.

The distance, on either side of the object plane focused on, through which satisfactory image definition can be obtained....

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

A machine vision system is an integrated combination of hardware and software components designed to capture, process, and...

An automatic surface-generating process involving the removal of a material from a given surface. Optical milling typically...

An electron tube that employs electromagnetic radiation to produce a visual replica of an image produced on its cathode....

A lens, both surfaces of which are ground and polished into a toric or cylindrical form.

An area in which airborne particulates can be monitored and controlled so that given size particles do not exceed a...

The total luminous flux given out per unit area; i.e., the sum of the luminous emittance and any radiation that is reflected...

A type of ultrasensitive laser spectroscopy that can detect quantities as small as a single atom of some substances and that...

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

A compound prism composed of two 30° prisms, one of which is partially coated with a suitable opaque metal of high...

A structured light device using a rapidly rotating laser to project a beam of light that appears to the human eye as a...

A term used to denote the condition of a few easily visible coarse inclusions within a blank of glass.

The interaction of charged particles and electromagnetic fields.

Heatless light emissions from living organisms caused by the combination of oxygen and pigments such as luciferin.

Photochromic refers to a property exhibited by certain materials, typically organic compounds or dyes, which undergo...

Refers to a display or screen that is illuminated from behind; the light is transmitted as opposed to reflected.

Popular process for silicon and polycrystalline production that consists of an alteration of the original state of a...

Noise generated in the flow of current in the photomultiplier, produced by the intentional or controlled application of...

There are three types of telecentric lenses: -Image-space telecentric lenses are those in which the aperture stop is...

The element that resembles a lightweight metal, but when very pure, has a very high electrical resistance and is transparent...

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

The determination of axially symmetric and asymmetric refractive-index distributions by use of interferometry carried out on...

A solid-state semiconducting structure (basically one of the bolometers) that changes electrical resistance with...

Optical elements that have been coated with one or more layers of dielectric, or metallic material. These coatings serve to...

Broadband radiation emitted by a laser that does not transmit through the optical element. It can be removed by filtering.

Also known as a shadow mask, a perforated plate placed between the focusing and accelerating electrodes, and the tricolor...

An opaque projector is a device used for enlarging and projecting images from opaque objects such as printed pages,...

A camera used in scintillation recording to make a visible record of the distribution and relative concentration of...

A form of prism invented by H.W. Dove. It resembles half of a common right-angle prism in which a ray entering parallel to...

Consists of a pair of radio telescopes concentrated on a single celestial object. This technique creates a single radio...

Any testing method for materials and components that does not damage or destroy the test sample. Some of the methods used...

The maximum rate at which temporally disjunct optical signals can be produced or detected.

An unbounded quantity, an indefinitely large number. Infinity is commonly expressed by the symbol ∞.

The lowest frequency at which the magnitude of the fiber transfer function decreases to a specified fraction of the zero...

A type of fiber optic sensor that detects changes in pressure, vibration, sound level or acceleration by monitoring the...

A means of testing optical fiber for macrobending losses by wrapping the fiber once at very low tension around a mandrel,...

An instrument used to detect radioactive materials: alpha particles or helium nuclei; beta particles or free electrons; and...

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

A mode possessing components of both electrical and magnetic field vectors in the direction of propagation.

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

A unit that converts images to the standard NTSC format for use with video recorders, projectors and discs.

Any device that is used to sense and measure light. See exposure meter; photoelectric exposure meter; photoelectric...

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

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

(TOF) The length of time needed for a signal to arrive at and be reflected from the target. The basis of an active...

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

In display technology, an expression of resolution given by the number of pixels in both the horizontal and the vertical...

A blank area (caused by insufficient inking of the paper) that falls within the range of an intended character stroke in an...

Light produced when a metal is bombarded with high-velocity electrons causing small amounts of the metal to vaporize and...

Developing a photographic image by means of an applied electric field. The methods used include electrolysis and...

Fluorescence microscopy is a specialized optical imaging technique used in biology, chemistry, and materials science to...

The tendency to adjust an instrument such as a microscope so that the viewed image appears much closer than infinity.

A deliberately nonlinear amplitude modulation that strengthens weak signals and reduces strong signals for transmission.

A common form of high-precision, ceramic-based actuator capable of moving and measuring at the nanometer level.

The attribute of visual experience that can be described as having quantitatively specifiable dimensions of hue, saturation,...

A reflection hologram using multiple color lasers that integrates various graphical techniques to allow the display of...

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

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

The addition to the information signal in communications of redundant bits that enable the originally encoded message to be...

High-modulus elastic fibers that exhibit the following differences from conventional elastic fibers: Increasing temperature...

A detector sensitive only to signals close to or at a particular frequency that is the same as the frequency of a control...

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

A fast-action shutter inserted between one end of a laser rod and the end mirror; when inserted to prevent emission and then...

A process used to detect minute gravitational fields and to display images from objects by means of radiated gravitational...

A probe card is a testing device used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to evaluate and test the electrical...

In the SI system, prefix meaning one thousand, 103.

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light...

A wave that is guided by the interface between two different media or by a refractive index gradient in the medium. The...

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are ordinary cells that are genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like...

The imaginary line passing through both the centers of curvatures of the optical surfaces of a lens or mirror; the optical...

The state of a carrier signal that corresponds to maximum picture brightness in a television system.

In an optical waveguide, that loss attributable to macrobending. Macrobending usually causes little or no radiative loss.

An ideal body that completely absorbs all radiant energy striking it and, therefore, appears perfectly black at all...

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

Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves...

Electric polarization characterized by homogeneous polar dielectrics and ascribed to the position of the permanent molecular...

An afocal optical device made up of lenses or mirrors, usually with a magnification greater than unity, that renders distant...

In filter terminology, that wavelength where the filter transmission increases beyond 5 percent.

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

A strand of aramid yarn, steel or fiberglass in an optical cable intended to prevent bending or stretching that would damage...

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

A spectrophotometer designed for use in the 200- to 380-nm range of the electromagnetic spectrum and equipped with a...

A design for bent crystal monochromators in which spacing is constant along any circular arc terminating at the two foci and...

A waveguide made up of a dielectric material, such as plastic or mica, in a cylindrical form, through which the waves travel.

Rhodamine refers to a family of fluorescent organic dyes that are widely used in various fields, including biology,...

Phenomenon caused by an ultrashort and ultra-intense light pulse propagating in a Kerr medium, such as air or water. When...

The science of all complex elements of atomic and molecular spectra, and the interaction of radiation and matter.

A technique used to create a series of interrelated holographic images that give an appearance of motion when projected in...

In optical character recognition, an intermediate step between character location and feature extraction.

The measurement of the responsivity of photographic media and of the relations between exposure and density of developed...

In image processing, inclusive term for point and group processing.

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

Laser lithotripsy is a medical procedure that uses laser energy to break down or fragment stones in various parts of the...

An amorphous film in which cylindrical bubbles of reverse magnetization can be formed to follow circuit paths usually made...

An optical data storage device that permits the user to store data (write) and play it back (read), but not to erase or...

Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a...

In a camera, the movement of one or more lenses behind the front lens, rather than of the front lens itself, to bring the...

A type of high-speed photographic shutter that uses Faraday rotation to produce exposure times as fast as 1 microsecond. It...

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

The equivalent f number of a fictitious lens that has a circular opening and 100 percent transmittance, which would give the...

An instrument capable of measuring the transmitted or reflected luminance from a very small area seen under a microscope....

The Foucault test is performed by moving a knife edge laterally into the image of a small point source. The eye, or a...

Present in photocurrent burst, it is the low frequency pulse that corresponds to the light scattered from the beams in the...

Enhanced picture archiving and communication system (PACS) display (ePAD) is a software tool used in medical imaging to...

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

A lithography method that allows the transfer of fine-pitch gratings from a phase mask into photoresist. The exposure takes...

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

A plotted relation between Log E (logarithm to base 10 of exposure in metercandle seconds) and density (logarithm to base 10...

A device that uses nematic liquid crystals sandwiched between fused silica substrates to change the phase of polarized...

Area scan, in the context of imaging and cameras, refers to a method of capturing an entire two-dimensional image in a...

A system mounted a few inches above a moving plane that consists of a light source, lenses and one or more phototubes. In...

In fiber optics, the use of a detector to study the range of refractive indices achieved at various wavelengths. This...

The basis of color vision in the human eye. Three types of cones have been identified, each having a unique spectral...

Transmission in different amounts as a function of wavelength, as a result of absorption and scattering, leading to color...

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

A shutter actuated by means other than mechanical springs for timings on the order of nanoseconds. The shutter is used in...

A vortex phase plate is an optical device designed to impart a phase singularity, commonly referred to as a vortex or phase...

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

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

A crystal, glass, or quartz slicing and cutting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used in the manufacturing...

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

The observed time dependence of the transmittance of a step of radiation through a given medium.

The creation of topographical maps and charts from a stereographic record produced through the overlapping of consecutive...

The technique of producing spectrograms in wavelengths beyond 120 nm by the use of a diffraction grating and a Schumann...

A material used to jacket fiber optic cables. It is chemical- and moisture-resistant, but not fire-resistant.

The simplest method of transmission on a local area network. The entire bandwidth of the cable is used to transmit a single...

A form of a stereoscopic microscope having paired objectives, prisms and eyepieces, and invented by H. Greenough.

The physical thickness times the refractive index.

The conversion of a still picture into sound waves and its subsequent transmission by radio.

An OLED display formed by creating an array of OLED pixels connected by intersecting anode and cathode conductors arranged...

A method used to approximate the values of the homogeneous second derivatives at each iteration in the course of lens design...

An optical fiber with a hollow core filled with a liquid material that has a higher refractive index than the solid...

An X-Y electrically addressable series of arrays with individual electron emitters bombarding a phosphor-coated transparent...

A semiconductor laser that operates in the infrared and that is pumped with strong pulses of radiation from a second laser....

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

The detection and measurement of spectral reflectance, spectral transmittance or relative spectral emittance, relative to...

Hydrophilic is a term used to describe substances or materials that have an affinity for water. The word hydrophilic comes...

Time elapsed during the radiant output change from 10 to 90 percent of maximum in a light-emitting diode or laser. Usually...

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

A prism invented by William Nicol in 1828 that is made of calcite, the end faces of which are ground to an angle of 68°...

A form of lens assembly used in a projection system to maximize efficiency and assure uniform illumination of the object...

The product of exposure time and irradiance or illuminance.

An image intensifier tube that uses a magnetic field for focusing. It yields high-quality images, but its use is limited by...

The process of attaching a device to the end of a fiber cable to enable the beam to be transmitted farther, to pass to...

A lens composed of two or more separate elements of optical glass that may or may not be cemented together. The surfaces of...

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

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

The dispersion attributable to the wavelength dependence of the refractive index of the material used in any optical...

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The...

The difference between the energy of an atom in its ground state and that of the same atom in its excited (quantum) state.

An instrument designed to give precise and rapid detection of changes in tumor growth as well as the location of small...

A piezoelectric translator that moves up and down a spindle like a caterpillar. It clamps itself at one end, expands, clamps...

A type of adsorption in which the adsorbed layer is attached to the adsorbent surface by an attractive force between the...

The series of rings or bands formed when light beams reflected from two polished, adjacent surfaces, placed together with a...

In analysis, the carbon layer that is evaporation-deposited on a specimen to protect and ready it for study by electron...

Light that is emitted from a phosphor film applied to the surface of a three-layer thin film, respectively metal, oxide and...

An alphanumeric display formed by a layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched between two sheets of glass; a transparent...

A test similar to the Knoop hardness test, but used for fractured material. The indenter is a square-based pyramid-shaped...

In an image, the orientation and magnitude of the rate of change in intensity at any point.

A spectrometric instrument that detects radiation simultaneously in multiple channels, sorts it spectrally from the deep...

A lens or lens surface that is a combination of a sphere and cylinder.

Fluorescein is a synthetic organic compound extensively used as a fluorescent tracer in various applications, particularly...

The lateral distance between a vertical line drawn through the geometrical center of the distance portion of a multifocal,...

An automatic scanning instrument that is used to study a substance's fluorescence over a wide range of wavelengths. It...

A photoanalytical instrument for analysis of jaundice conditions in infants that measures bilirubin (a breakdown product of...

A series of flanges or other conducting surfaces, usually metal, attached to an electronic device to transmit and dissipate...

A tachometer consisting of a light source, rotating perforated wheel and phototransistor to measure the rates of rotation of...

The light emitted from tissues without the use of fluorescent dyes as markers. Because cancerous tissues and normal tissues...

A multimode laser characteristic defined as the ratio of power loss for the second mode to that of the lowest mode.

A thermoplastic or optically transmitting hard plastic produced by applying polymerization initiator and heat to a monomer.

Visible laser radiation, often optically expanded and collimated, used to induced temporary blindness from within a walking...

The ratio of the intensities of a light bundle before and after passing through the lens.

The transmission and reception of information by optical devices and sensors.

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

In an interferogram, an intense portion of the recording that corresponds in size to the amount of infrared radiation...

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

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

Concave is an adjective used to describe a surface or shape that curves inward or has a hollow or recessed appearance. In...

A wave of radiation that has undergone refraction.

A method of terminating optical fibers by forming a lens directly on the end of the fiber, eliminating the need for precise...

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

Circular dichroism (CD) is a spectroscopic technique used to study the structural characteristics of chiral (asymmetric)...

An arc lamp whose carbon electrodes are enclosed in a transparent chamber, resulting in an arc that is steadier, lasts...

In coherent optical communications systems, a laser used at the receiving end to produce a steady wave that is combined with...

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

The condition in which the index of refraction in an optical fiber varies as a parabolic function of the radius.

Descriptive of the radiant power of visible light modified by the eye response. It is the measure of the flow of visible...

A sheet of thin brass, one edge of which has been accurately cut to a known and marked circular radius. It is used to check...

Bearing alternate ridges and grooves; corrugated. Said of some optical surfaces.

A specially designed microscope for observing the etched surface of a polished metal specimen. The specimen is often laid...

A device that changes the frequency of light by inducing the Raman effect on a beam passing through it.

A cine camera that exposes a series of individual frames to record the changes in a subject that slowly alters with time....

A statistical method of dealing with a series of values where each value is squared, the mean of these squares is...

Optical fiber with a large core, often a step-index fiber; "large'' is at times defined as greater than 85 µm.

A shutter having one or more roller blinds of material with a variable slit that moves across the back of the camera when...

The smallest area of uniform brightness that can be seen by the eye. It is measured in terms of the solid angle subtended by...

A term used to describe a nondirectionally diffusing surface that, when illuminated, appears equally bright from all angles....

The instrument used to analyze a pulsed electromagnetic wave to determine its time, amplitude, duration and shape, and to...

Twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) is a phenomenon observed in certain organic molecules containing...

A spectrum that originates from molecules and that is composed of bands which, in turn, consist of many closely spaced...

Light striking a surface at an angle almost perpendicular to the normal.

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...

A type of 45-90-45° prism used to bend a beam of light through a right angle with the surfaces forming the 90° angle...

A small television monitor that replaces the reflex viewfinder in a television camera.

A vacuum gauge designed to measure very high degrees of vacuum by thermal conduction.

Also referred to as primary color, this is the classic chromatic aberration of a single element caused by the variation of...

Measurement of surface roughness or quality through the use of a diamond-pointed stylus connected to a coil in an electric...

A method of resampling in which a 16-pixel neighborhood around a given pixel from the original image is used to calculate...

Luminous flux emitted from a surface per unit solid angle per unit of area, projected onto a plane normal to the direction...

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

A bundle of optical fibers arranged randomly for the purpose of transmitting energy, not an image.

A shower of cosmic rays whereby a high-energy electron produces one or more photons that convert into electron pairs, the...

Mechanical device intended for the translation (rotational and linear) using high precision control from electronically...

A linear or two-dimensional matrix of individual detector elements, typically used at the focus of an imaging system.

The methods used to measure color and to define the results of the measurements.

Qualitatively, the inverse of the amount of velocity produced by the application of a sinusoidal force to a system;...

The discernment of depth or apparent difference in distance that causes the object to stand out from its background because...

Capable of transmitting light with little absorption and no appreciable scattering or diffusion.

A spectrum band that is usually found in the visible or the ultraviolet because of the electron transitions taking place...

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor...

A wave in the electromagnetic spectrum that has both electrical and magnetic field vectors in the direction of propagation.

A filter designed to decrease the luminosity of the sky without decreasing that of the landscape in the foreground. A filter...

Also known as an eyepiece micrometer. A microscope eyepiece that has a finely divided scale ruled or photographed on a...

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where two or more particles become correlated to such an extent...

A polyethylene grating that transmits the long wavelengths and diffracts shorter wavelengths in controlled directions.

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or...

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

Any material of a macromolecular nature that can stretch at room temperature to more than twice its length and return to...

A diffraction pattern sampling unit composed of a 32-element monolithic silicon photodiode array and a readout unit. The...

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

A hollow sphere coated internally with a white diffusing material and provided with openings for incident beam, specimen and...

Any instrument or system carried by a balloon to the upper atmosphere to measure and record atmospheric information, such as...

In a fiber optic communications network, a circuit that connects two switching centers and does not branch off to terminal...

The interaction of superimposed light from two separate sources that results in a combined intensity that is less than the...

An eyepiece similar to the Huygenian eyepiece, but having an eye lens that is a cemented doublet and that provides more...

An electron tube that has an anode, a cathode, a control electrode and another electrode (usually a screen grid).

The perceived brightness difference between light and dark areas on a target.

A casting consisting of an optical material molded into the desired geometry for grinding, polishing or, in the case of...

A technique for measuring the concentration of any gases. Identical infrared beams are alternately chopped, one passing...

A defect of natural quartz crystals in which both the right and left quartz are in the same crystal.

A camera that uses multiple exposures to record the trajectory of an ordnance from a ground-level position.

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

Derived from "self-focusing,'' Nippon Sheet Glass Co. (NSG) of Japan's trade name for graded-index fiber rods with parabolic...

Methodology for specifying color based on the CIE sources, observers, and coordinate system.

In optics, the process of combining two lenses having equal and opposite powers to produce a result having no power.

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

A flexible single- or multifiber cable having a bundle of glass fibers arranged to transmit an image.

Zone of laser operation in which the direct, reflected or scattered light exceeds the laser's MPE and (by ANSI standards)...

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...

The smallest amount of photon energy to pass a detector window and be counted.

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

A hologram formed when the light of the illuminating beam is absorbed in correspondence with the recording exposure. In...

1. A group of optical fibers that are fused and then treated to produce a vacuum-tight optical fiber cone or plate. 2. An...

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...

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

GaN (gallium nitride) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers refer to a specific type of semiconductor laser based on Gallium...

A pair of long, slender parallel apertures used in experiments on diffraction and interference.

In local area networking, arrangement of the satellite nodes around a central node through which all routing of network data...

The emission of a photon by the return of an excited carrier from the conduction band to the valence band of a semiconductor...

A phototube that functions within a vacuum and thus eliminates the effects of gaseous ionization on its electrical...

Designed for the function of optical wavefront analysis. Shack-Hartmann camera aberration sensors use a lens array to image...

Radiation that is emitted by a source outside the Earth and its atmosphere.

CoaXPress (CoaXPress or CXP) is a standardized digital interface and communication protocol used primarily in machine vision...

Also known as light beating. The mixing of two narrowband optical components to produce an AC component in the photocurrent...

The scattering of electromagnetic waves by free electrons, whereby the incident radiation and the scattered radiation are of...

A type of change in the energy levels of molecules in a laser that results in lasing action. Vibronic transitions are those...

A flaw deliberately introduced into an optical fiber to prepare it for cleaving.

An electroluminescent semiconductor that emits low intensity radiation in the green or red regions. Used as an indicator...

Refers to transistors in which the working current flows through two types of semiconductor material: N- and P-type. In...

The photographic recording of visible and ultraviolet spectra on an ordinary photograph.

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

An adhesive whose viscosity decreases as the temperature is increased to a limit. Canada balsam, resin and pitch are...

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

Optical tweezers refer to a scientific instrument that uses the pressure of laser light to trap and manipulate microscopic...

Illumination of hologram facets with a beam that covers only a small portion of the hologram in order to optimize laser...

A still camera with a shutter capable of opening for a time as short as a fraction of a microsecond. An electronically...

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

Cold atoms refer to atoms that have been cooled to extremely low temperatures, typically in the microkelvin (µK) to...

An instrument, similar in design to regular binoculars, that can transmit and enlarge infrared images.

The electrostatic field acting locally within a crystal as a result of the microscopic arrangement of atoms and ions in the...

That part of the cladding wherein the refractive index is constant within a specified tolerance, as a function of radius.

Also cellulose acetate film. The emulsion layer applied to the substrate of a photographic surface. The emulsion layer is...

In a local area network, a unique signal that travels from one node or station to another, providing them serially with...

A color center, in the context of materials science and condensed matter physics, refers to a specific type of...

The transparent fluid that fills the portion of the eye between the cornea and the eye lens (the anterior chamber).

A blur circle refers to the out-of-focus region in an image captured by an optical system. When an object in a scene is not...

In optics, a collapsible structure situated between the lens and film of a camera to allow variation of the distance between...

A technique for improving the structure density of thin-film coatings by bombarding the growing film with accelerated ions...

Reciprocal magnetic interaction between nuclei in a molecular system facilitated by the binding electrons of the molecule.

An oven or furnace that possesses the design requirements and heat control necessary to anneal glass for the optical...

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

A small television tube originally developed for closed-circuit television. It is about 1 inch in diameter and 5 inches...

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

Power modulation refers to the intentional variation of power levels in a signal, often in the context of electronic...

A photodetector composed of a semiconductor material whose responsive properties can be altered by the addition of...

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

A two-stage illuminating system for a microscope in which the source is imaged in the aperture of the substage condenser by...

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

A three-terminal semiconductor having only one PN junction and a stable, open-circuit, negative-resistance property.

Dispersion characterized by an increasing index of refraction in the medium as the frequency of the propagating light...

A photoelectric detector consisting of a glass tube internally coated with a low conductance material. Voltage applied along...

The intensity of the light in the scene behind an object being viewed.

A filter that passes a series of wavelength regions that are at equal distances from one another, such that its output...

The specification of allowable flaws in a surface by comparison to reference standards of quality. Two graded sets of...

The output of spectral channels written as an integral function of known solar irradiance, atmospheric transmittance and...

A process and method by which manipulation and orientation of a given number of directed laser beams decreases the motion of...

An instrument designed to record the duration and intensity of solar radiation.

An electric discharge in a low-pressure gas having a low-current density and a space potential near the cathode that is much...

An incandescent or carbon arc lamp designed with a stable and compact arc or filament that permits it to be used as a light...

A metal coil or coils wrapped around the outside of the neck of a cathode-ray tube. Current passing through the coils...

Electronic circuit capable of distinguishing the pulses emitted by separate counters in a given time phase and determining...

The frequency range for radio and television transmission.

1. In optics, the bending of light rays toward each other, as by a convex or positive lens. 2. Turning in the eyes to view a...

A small fiber optic endoscope used in laser surgery.

An image of an object that appears above the object's true position as the result of abnormal refraction of the image rays...

A piezoelectric transducer made of a thin strip of piezoelectric material bonded to a strip of metal.

A printing process of electrostatic electrophotography that uses a photoconductive insulating medium, in conjunction with...

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by the presence of suspended particles. These...

That part of an infrared detector-Dewar assembly that limits the solid angle viewed by the sensor; it is maintained at a...

The law given by the formula: that is, the frequency of radiation emitted or absorbed by a system when E2 and E1...

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

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

A source of light will not cast a distinct shadow of an interfering, opaque object, but will cast a shadow having two parts:...

A method used in surface quality testing for accurate positioning and rotation of metal spheres about an axis or fixed point...

The number of electrons that each pixel of a charge-coupled device can hold without overflowing and causing blooming.

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

The production of a block by attaching the optical elements to a plate by means of individual buttons of pitch or other...

Scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) refers to a type of image sensor technology specifically designed...

The normal condition of vision where an object at infinity is in sharp focus with the eye lens in a neutral or relaxed state.

An Abbe condenser in which the upper lens element is fixed. The lower lens may focus the illumination between the elements...

A telescopic system having an eyepiece, a reticle and an objective. The instrument measures wavefront power in diopters.

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

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

The property exhibited by a substance having electrical conductivity that decreases as the intensity of the incident visible...

In a general sense, any one of a class of instruments used to disperse radiation, visible or invisible, into its component...

Light consisting of a single wavelength or a very narrow band of wavelengths.

The effect that characterizes an intense laser beam that is passed through an absorbing medium, causing the absorbed energy...

The number of bound modes that an optical waveguide is capable of supporting.

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

Measures the absorption or sample transmittance over a range of specified wavelengths. Sample may be placed within the...

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

A crystal formed by covalent bonds that are generally highly directional by nature. The electric characteristics of these...

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

Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent...

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

A reflecting prism that inverts the image. The image is reflected four times internally and emitted laterally. The prism is...

Optical elements that use diffraction to control wavefronts. Diffractive optical elements include diffraction gratings,...

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

Older fiber optic cable that may not be suitable for state-of-the-art applications and that is difficult for suppliers to...

A set of mirrors mounted on solenoids to move them into and out of the path of a laser beam, making it possible for multiple...

A device used to detect and measure small amounts of rotation. The rotating object contains a reflecting surface from which...

The use of head-mounted displays and body-operated remote actuators to control distant machinery. Provides a virtual...

An instrument that employs the interference of lightwaves to measure the accuracy of optical surfaces; it can measure a...

An isotope of cesium that emits negative beta particles and has a half-life of 2.19 years; its applications include...

In an optical waveguide, a mode whose field decays monotonically for a finite distance in the transverse direction but which...

A technique used in integrated optics where a groove is cut on a substrate surface and covered by a thin film to facilitate...

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

A hologram imprinted on plastic or another medium; e.g., those commonly found on credit cards.

Also referred to as the opposition surge, the opposition effect is a photometric phenomenon in which a rough retroreflective...

In an optical waveguide, the refractive index as a function of radius.

A time-to-amplitude converter (TAC) is an electronic circuit that converts a time interval between two events into an...

Spectral flow cytometry is an advanced flow cytometry technique that expands the capabilities of traditional flow cytometry...

A material that surrounds a fiber optic cable's buffer tubes to prevent moisture from entering if the jacket is breached.

The process, used with a positive photoresist, in which the photoresist is immersed in developing chemicals while being...

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide...

A character generation CRT that functions on the principle of secondary emission. The target holds a set of aluminum...

An individual circuit component, complete in itself, such as a resistor, diode, capacitor or transistor. It is used as an...

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

A device that varies the amplitude and phase of a light beam; e.g., from a laser or by sound waves. Also known as a Bragg...

A 30-60-90° spectrograph prism that is coated on the surface opposite the 60° angle with a reflecting film.

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

The technology that deals with the interaction of organic materials with light and other forms of radiant energy whose...

An imperfection in optical glass consisting of a distinct streak of transparent material having a slightly different...

A method of determining prism power at any point on a lens. Prism power equals the product of the dioptric power and the...

A device used to measure the intensity of radiant energy.

The simultaneous occurrence of direct and diffuse transmission.

Directing an optical beam in varying directions by varying reflection, refraction, focusing and diffraction methods.

First stated by Abbe, condition states that the ratio of input and output angles, from object point to image point, for two...

Hypothetical observer having standard color vision as described by standard color-matching properties.

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

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

Plastic optical fiber (POF) is a type of optical fiber made from transparent plastic, typically polymethylmethacrylate...

A point source of light used for the test and evaluation of image quality. May be a backlit pinhole in an otherwise opaque...

The total range of wavelengths, extending from the shortest to the longest wavelength or conversely, that can be generated...

A type of telescope mount that permits direct azimuth and elevation adjustments.

An instrument used to recognize and identify incident radiation by the ionizing or stimulating properties of the radiation.

1. A defect inherent in a multiple-axis positioning system whereby an adjustment of one axis causes an undesired change in...

An optical instrument used to determine the distance to a target being viewed. Two similar optical systems view the target...

An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other...

Term for service offered by a vendor who leases a particular wavelength to a customer through DWDM technology. Lambda...

Image displacement by a decentered lens, rotated on a chuck whose axis of rotation passes through the geometrical center of...

A two-sided mirror suspended by a pendulum mechanism. An autocollimator set normal to such a mirror surface will, by...

A light beam whose electric vectors can be broken into two perpendicular elements that have equal amplitudes and that differ...

The high-speed electrons and positrons emitted by radioactive materials.

Fluorescence lifetime refers to the average time it takes for a fluorophore, a molecule that absorbs light at one wavelength...

In a lens or lens system, that surface at which the projections of an entering and exiting ray intersect. Also known as the...

A filter that transmits infrared and ultraviolet but is opaque to visible radiation.

In digital image processing, a subcategory of frame processing that treats each pixel in terms of its relationship to...

Also referred to as the V number in fiber optics; the normalized frequency is a dimensionless quantity, denoted by the...

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

A superposition of many zone plates, each reconstructing a real and virtual point image at the appropriate locations upon...

Discipline within optical physics that addresses sound vibration, phonon effects and their influencing behavior within...

The use of computer systems for monitoring and controlling industrial production.

1. The near total absorption of plane-polarized light by a polarizer that has an axis perpendicular to the plane of...

The photographic recording of a subject that exhibits luminescence only for an extremely short time (10-8 s) after the...

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

Heat measurement method in which the sample is made part of the interferometer and the temperature increase is determined by...

A bulk crystalline optic which permits the propagation of light through a volume of index altered material. The variation in...

A theoretical, ideal lens capable of producing perfect images. Used as a lens design and analysis tool to image collimated...

The removal of material from an optical system to decrease the weight and sometimes the bulk of the system. See coring;...

An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy due to an electric arc — a continuous, high-current discharge of...

The potential difference between two areas of a semiconductor when one is exposed to light.

That part of the science involved in the study of the theory and interpretation of spectra that uses the unique...

A method of measuring complex sequential photosynthetic reactions by varying the pulse time and wavelength of light...

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

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

A device used for the comparison of spectra used, in turn, for the comparison of elements, such as the absorption lines in...

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

An optical system with object and image points at infinity. Literally, "without a focal length."

A microscope in which laser light is delivered through single-mode fibers that replace the pinhole usually used in confocal...

In optics, an image is the reconstruction of light rays from a source or object when light from that source or object is...

The use of lasers in tailoring of such components as thin-film resistors. The process improves speed and accuracy.

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

A strip or annulus of glass coated with a semitransparent material such as inconel. The coating thickness, and as a result...

A type of surface-emitting laser diode that uses dielectric mirrors to produce surface emission. The laser cavity is...

A method of sensing by transmitting energy from the sensor and detecting the energy after it has been reflected by the...

In an optical system having astigmatism, the distance between the tangential and sagittal image planes.

A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to...

The branch of optics that deals with the study of the refraction of light, particularly by the transmitting medium of the...

The structure that holds the photographic negative in a proper position that is both flat and parallel to the lens plane, as...

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

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...

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...

A device used to project a small area of light on a screen for indication.

A continuous-wave dye laser that uses a circulation pump and nozzle to provide an optically flat stream of dye across the...

A high-quality focuser that uses rollers rather than gears and offers smooth, precise motion while reducing or eliminating...

Optical confinement of matter with high field energies intended to induce a stable nuclear fusion interaction.

A nitrogen vacancy (NV) refers to a specific type of defect or impurity in a crystal lattice where a nitrogen atom replaces...

The locus of the points in the field of binocular vision that are observed singly. The images of these points correspond to...

A light source made up of silicon carbide or carborundum. It is resistant to the negative temperature coefficient and...

A method for measuring the index profile of an optical fiber by measuring the reflectance as a function of position on the...

An infrared device used in satellites and rockets to determine a heat horizon for the Earth at altitudes (above 200 miles)...

An optical waveguide that will allow more than one bound mode to propagate.

That property of a material indicating that it will react when exposed to light energy.

A threadlike inclusion within a blank of optical glass. Rarely found in quality optical materials.

A device that enlarges and strengthens a signal's output without significantly distorting its original waveshape. There are...

In an optical waveguide,- typically a multimode fiber - the distortion resulting from differential mode delay, i.e. axial...

An optical recording technique that uses light source(s), a beamsplitting cube, light detector(s) and an optical fiber...

Developed for use in military reconnaissance systems, it consists of a polygonal mirror, drive motor, interface between...

A device designed to concentrate and direct a light source by enclosing the source in it and using a concave reflector to...

A metal tool used to grind lenses with loose abrasive (see diamond cutting tool). The functional surface of the lap is...

The properties exhibited by a semiconductor as the result of its modification by imperfections and impurities in the crystal.

A characterization of the throughput performance of data storage systems; the EDR is the total of data retrieved divided by...

Molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid or tube. Also called buckyballs....

Luminous flux emitted by a source in a given range of directions; the unit of measure is the lumen/steradian, now known as...

A lens, one surface being a cartesian oval, that produces an aplanatic condition.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a non-invasive optical technique used to detect changes in blood volume in tissues. It...

The measurement of the spectrum bands formed by a spectroscopic sample, based on the differences between the sample and the...

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

A device used in solar systems to direct mirror-reflected sunlight to a heat absorber and heat-driven engine, which turns a...

The finite amount of electrical charge generated in response to incident radiation and transferred from one storage element...