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

A time-to-amplitude converter (TAC) is an electronic circuit that converts a time interval between two events into an...

An objective that uses the mineral fluorite in its construction to reduce the secondary spectrum. It is usually intermediate...

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

In computer graphics, intersection of a plane with a three-dimensional object to create a sectional view.

A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second.

A method of evaluating image quality whereby a large number of rays are traced through a lens from a single object point,...

An OLED display formed by creating an array of OLED pixels connected by intersecting anode and cathode conductors arranged...

A mirror mount is a mechanical device used to secure and precisely position mirrors in optical systems. Mirrors are...

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

A type of high-speed photographic shutter that uses Faraday rotation to produce exposure times as fast as 1 microsecond. It...

SI unit of light exposure.

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

The quantity equal to the refractive index of one medium divided by that of a second medium.

In optical character recognition, the mechanical or electronic transducer used to detect the level of illumination present...

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

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

1. The branch of physics that deals with the use of electrical energy to create or manipulate light waves, generally by...

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

A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is...

The Weissenberg method, named after the German physicist Karl Weissenberg, is a technique used in x-ray crystallography for...

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or...

More efficient than the Foucault knife-edge test, this test examines curved mirrors by using a transmission grating with 40...

Also known as an eyepiece micrometer. A microscope eyepiece that has a finely divided scale ruled or photographed on a...

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

The reduction in longitudinal, lateral and secondary chromatic aberrations in a lens or lens system.

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

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

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

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

Fresnel reflection refers to the reflection of light at the interface between two different media with different refractive...

Computer numerically controlled (CNC) grinding is a manufacturing process that utilizes computerized controls and precision...

With respect to a crystal, a monoclinic crystal consists of three unequal axes, two of which intersect each other obliquely...

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely...

The maintenance of a fixed-phase relationship across the full diameter of a cross section of a laser beam.

A type of refractometer designed to measure the refractive indices of liquids. A section of the instrument is immersed into...

In image processing, the location of edges by employing templates that respond to the first or second derivative of...

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

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

An infrared lens is an optical component specifically designed and optimized for transmitting, focusing, or manipulating...

Attosecond photonics sources refer to devices or systems that generate extremely short pulses of light on the order of...

A television receiver that receives the signals generated by a television camera directly, or remotely through a radio...

A process used to control thickness and parallelism precisely during the production of plane-parallel plates. Elements are...

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

A camera tube widely used in television broadcasting. It consists of three sections within a single vacuum envelope. 1. A...

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...

The magnitude, expressed in cycles per second, of the alteration of the wave frequency observed as a result of the Doppler...

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

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 point of intersection of the optical axis with any centered optical surface.

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

A primitive crystal possessing two plane surfaces that form a dihedral angle bisected by another plane surface.

The creation of topographical maps and charts from a stereographic record produced through the overlapping of consecutive...

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

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

Biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their physiological or behavioral characteristics....

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

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

A type of transversely excited laser with a uniform arc-free discharge of large cross-sectional area that can be scaled to...

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

A two-dimensional scanning process, in which a slow sector scan, propagated in one direction, is superimposed at right...

An aberration that remains after primary color is corrected. Primary color causes the back focus of a lens to vary with...

X-rays emitted by a substance that formerly has been exposed to x-rays. The properties of the substance determine the...

The transition cross section constant coefficient which defines the transition probability of absorption from ground to a...

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

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

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

A telescope with an ellipsoidal secondary concave mirror that reflects rays from a parabolic primary mirror through an...

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

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

A Cassegrain telescope having a parabolic primary mirror, a spherical secondary mirror and a zero-power doublet in the...

A toric lens generated by rotating a specific cross section about an axis beyond its area and used in the formation of...

An intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera is an advanced imaging device that combines the capabilities of both an...

Eye blink or head movement in response to bright light. Aversion responses such as blinking are sufficient protection from...

A semiconductor laser that operates in the infrared and that is pumped with strong pulses of radiation from a second laser....

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

A form of Cassegrain telescope having a concave hyperbolic primary and a convex hyperbolic secondary. This form permits the...

The degree to which a pair of fine lines can be aligned to each other. A normal observer will demonstrate an accuracy of 10...

The second adjustable iris diaphragm in an optical system. In the common microscope condenser system, it usually is located...

Photochromic refers to a property exhibited by certain materials, typically organic compounds or dyes, which undergo...

A method used to approximate the values of the homogeneous second derivatives at each iteration in the course of lens design...

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

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

An optical reflector with the reflective coating applied to the front surface of the substrate. This eliminates the ghost...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A compound crystal having two or more crystals or crystal sections that, when regularly positioned, are in reverse position...

The frequency space between consecutive transmission peaks in the transmission spectrum of a Fabry-Perot interferometer or...

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to...

A large telescope mirror fabricated from several smaller sections.

A whole-flow-field technique providing instantaneous velocity vector measurements in a cross-section of a flow that is...

The inductance of a closed circuit in which an electromotive force of one volt is produced when the electric current in the...

A device, also called a fluorescence lifetime instrument, that measures decay curves of fluorescing samples. It generally...

Standard maintained by the International Commission on Radiological Units as a unit of radioactivity defined as the quantity...

A two- or three-dimensional space grating formed when ultrasonic beams with varied paths of propagation intersect.

A type of video signal in which the luminance and chrominance portions of the signal, or the luma and chroma, have been...

A graph of the intersections of a fan of rays with the final image plane, plotted as a function of the positions of the rays...

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

A fundamental law of wave scattering theory that connects the extinction cross section of a scatterer to the real part of...

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

The technique of generating ultrashort -- down to subpicosecond -- pulses by pumping a dye laser with mode-locked laser...

A colorimeter using a spinning disc made of different colored sections for colorimetric analysis.

An instrument for the detection of the energy distribution of b-particles and secondary electrons.

A close-up lens, semicircular in shape, that is mounted in front of a conventional lens focused at infinity. The result is...

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

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

A characterization of the throughput performance of data storage systems; the EDR is the total of data retrieved divided by...

Also known as integrated exposure. A measurement of light from sources that vary rapidly with time, defined as the integral...

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

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

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

Brightfield refers to a type of microscopy and imaging technique in which the specimen is illuminated with a white light...

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

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

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

A double block formed by placing two adjoining, equally thick sections of quartz, one being dextrorotary, the other...

A pulse having extremely short duration, about 10-13 to 10-10 s, that is produced by mode locking of wide-bandwidth lasers,...

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

A character generation CRT that functions on the principle of secondary emission. The target holds a set of aluminum...

An event-based image sensor, also known as a dynamic vision sensor (DVS), is a type of digital imaging device designed to...

A device that produces brief flashes of light for observing the behavior of an object during a short interval. One of the...

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of...

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

Time elapsed during the radiant output change from 10 to 90 percent of maximum in a light-emitting diode or laser. Usually...

The use of a micromanipulator in combination with a microscope for the purposes of examining, dissecting, or the...

A function that quantifies the performance degradation of coherent communications systems, imaging systems and all systems...

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

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

A photographic camera and processing system used to form a usable record of the subject in a short time, usually a few...

1. A single unit in a device for changing radiant energy to electrical energy or for controlling current flow in a circuit....

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

A lidar (light detection and ranging) technique used in pollution monitoring. Two light beams are emitted simultaneously,...

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

In the context of optics and lasers, a transverse mode refers to a specific spatial pattern of the electric field within the...

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

GigE, short for gigabit Ethernet, refers to a standard for high-speed Ethernet communication, capable of transmitting data...

The radio waves of the electromagnetic spectrum that have frequencies of up to 10,000 megacycles per second.

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

Fluorescence produced by a material that has been treated with a dilute solution of fluorescing material.

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

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

The mounting of a concave diffraction grating and a plate holder at the ends of a rigid bar. The ends follow separate...

Whole slide imaging (WSI), also known as virtual slide microscopy or digital pathology, is a technology that involves the...

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

Calculation of the probability of an interaction between two types of particles, such as light absorption, excitation or...

The formation of an interferogram by means of two holograms on the same recording medium, often used for determining small...

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

The law stating that the brightness of an object that is examined through a slotted disc, rotating over a critical...

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

A still camera with a shutter capable of opening for a time as short as a fraction of a microsecond. An electronically...

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

Circular dichroism (CD) is a spectroscopic technique used to study the structural characteristics of chiral (asymmetric)...

A method of image dissection whereby a lens transfers images onto a lenticular plate that in turn illustrates the images as...

A two-stage illuminating system for a microscope in which the source is imaged in the aperture of the substage condenser by...

A single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is a specialized type of photodetector designed to detect extremely weak optical...

A container which secures multiple splice trays and protects the trays and their contents from damage.

The chemical method of separating compounds dissolved in one phase (usually mobile) through its equilibration with a second...

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

A method of measuring complex sequential photosynthetic reactions by varying the pulse time and wavelength of light...

A technique for confining atoms, molecules or small particles within one or more laser beams. This can be accomplished...

A small section of the surface of a sensor corresponding to a single pixel in the image.

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

A frequency comb is a precise and regular series of equally spaced spectral lines, or frequencies, that are generated with...

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

The number of separate images exposed by a cine camera in a second or the number illuminated by a cine projector in a...

A form of liquid crystal widely used in displays, achieved by sandwiching a liquid crystal material between two substrates...

An analysis used for problems of wave propagation. The principle notes that each point of an advancing wavefront is the...

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

The intersection of the principal plane and the optical axis of a lens.

Denoting a finished circular edge. A decentered lens is adjusted on a centering chuck so that its image runs true, and the...

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

A technique whereby two laser beams, one at an excitation wavelength and the second at a wavelength that produces Stokes...

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

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

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

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

For a laser, the maximum exposure time that the laser design allows; 0.25 seconds for a Class 2 laser.

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle...

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

The process by which the values of one digital image of an object or scene are removed from a second slightly different...

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

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

A linear positioning stage, also known as a linear stage or translation stage, is a precision mechanical device used to...

In biaxial crystals, the principal angle that bisects the smaller angle between the optic axes.

CoaXPress (CoaXPress or CXP) is a standardized digital interface and communication protocol used primarily in machine vision...

A parabolic, elliptical, hyperbolic or circular section created when a solid cone is intersected by a plane.

A nonmagnetic instrument utilizing an electrofocus and deflection tube with a photocathode for imaging purposes. The optical...

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

1. The sector of the Earth's surface registered upon a remote sensing device in a satellite. 2. The amount of space occupied...

In laser systems, the granular effect that is noted when observing the expanded cross section of a laser beam.

1. The variation in intensity of a light beam as it travels through the atmosphere. 2. In radiation physics, a light flash...

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a method for detecting antigens or haptens in cells of a tissue section by using labeled...

1. A stereoscope that has adjustable scales to allow the determination of distances and dimensions from stereoscopic...

Best point of focus for an image in a beam of light at the smallest cross section of the beam.

An instrument consisting of a high-voltage vacuum tube used to form hard x-rays or high-speed ion beams. By partitioning the...

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

Activity of a radionuclide having one spontaneous nuclear transition per second.

An instrument that produces an intense, tightly focused beam of ions to stimulate emissions from a minute section of a...

Two formulas used in diffractometer analysis, the first giving the individual diffraction patterns of each aperture, the...

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

An image tube that functions in low-light-level conditions by virtue of its series of stacked sections wherein the output of...

The number of fields scanned per second in a television system. The US standard is 60. Also called field frequency.

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

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

A reflecting optic whose reflectivity is a function of the radial distance from the optic axis; can be used to convert a...

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

A wireless stereo imaging device used in conjunction with a monitor to produce a virtual interactive environment. Liquid...

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

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

Sapphire crystal refers to a transparent, single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) known as corundum. It is one of the...

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

A plane passing through a crystal that has the optic axis of the crystal and the light ray under consideration.

The thin edge of a refracting prism; the line of intersection of two refracting surfaces of a prism.

An infrared-transmitting optical fiber with a hollow core; it can be square, round or rectangular in cross section. Capable...

In a lens or lens system, that surface at which the projections of an entering and exiting ray intersect. Also known as the...

A disc, having opaque and transparent sectors or sectors with unlike reflectances, that is rotated at a specific rate to...

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the...

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

The time rate of flow of radiant energy, expressed in watts (W), and carries the units of Joule per second (J/s). The prefix...

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

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

A broadband, visible picosecond probe pulse capable of measuring an entire absorption spectrum in one shot.

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

The ability of a conductor to store an electrical charge; its value is given in farads as the ratio of the stored charge on...

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

The specification of allowable flaws in a surface by comparison to reference standards of quality. Two graded sets of...

With reference to electromagnetic radiation, the number of crests of waves that pass a fixed point in a given unit of time,...

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

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

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

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

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 process in which a mixture of one or more monomers, plus a catalyst, polymerize under exposure to light radiation....

A shower of cosmic rays whereby a high-energy electron produces one or more photons that convert into electron pairs, the...

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite characterized by its standardized size and modular design. CubeSats are...

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

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

A surface that is swept out by revolving a circle about an axis that lies in the plane of the circle but that does not...

An automatic scanning instrument that is used to study a substance's fluorescence over a wide range of wavelengths. It...

Glass of special composition that is melted, formed into desired shapes, and subjected to a high-temperature treatment in...

Technique for the precision evaluation of coincidence of a laser beam's center with the edge of the object under study and...

A plotted relation between Log E (logarithm to base 10 of exposure in metercandle seconds) and density (logarithm to base 10...

A waveguide with a rectangular cross section that is composed entirely of dielectric materials.

A frame taken with a CCD camera over an exposure length of zero seconds with the lens cap on or the shutter closed and no...

A near-infrared (NIR) camera is an imaging device designed to capture images in the near-infrared region of the...

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

A small xenon-filled tube with metal electrodes fused into the ends. The gas flashes brilliantly when a condenser is...

A concave surface that has too much negative power; i.e., its radius of curvature is too short. This condition can be...

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

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

A grating with ridges of rectangular cross section, generally equal in width to the space between. This type of grating may...

A waveguide is a physical structure or device that is designed to confine and guide electromagnetic waves, such as radio...

A multimode laser characteristic defined as the ratio of power loss for the second mode to that of the lowest mode.

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

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

A specific method for measuring the diameter of irregular shaped particles, Martin's diameter is the measured distance...

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

An optical crystal that possesses a strong nonlinear dielectric response function to optical radiation. A material with a...

The natural log of the ratio of absorbed intensity over the total intensity which gives a constant value assuming a stable...

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

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

A periodic structure formed by intersecting or superimposed laser beams. These beams can trap atoms in low-potential...

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

Spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) is a technique that extends traditional Raman spectroscopy by incorporating...

A phenomenon, exploited for medical imaging, in which the nuclei of material placed in a strong magnetic field will absorb...

A photoelectric detector consisting of a glass tube internally coated with a low conductance material. Voltage applied along...

System of information coding in which the signal is sampled 8000 times per second and the samples quantized by referring...

Also known as an anticathode. An electrode or electrode section that is focused upon by an electron beam and that emits...

The number of times per second that the frame of a television system is completely scanned. In the United States, 30 per...

Concave and convex spherical mirrors are types of curved mirrors that have surfaces shaped like segments of spheres. These...

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

Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is an advanced fluorescence microscopy technique that leverages the...

Displacement in a direction perpendicular to that of the intended displacement, as in a translation stage with simple...

An image that is formed when rays emerging from an optical system are diverging from the optical axis. The virtual image is...

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

Any object that emits radiation of a wavelength lying between about 0.75 to 1000 µm. A calibrated secondary source...

Secondary aberrations remaining after the primary (Seidel) aberrations have been corrected.

The fundamental wavelength standard of time or frequency. An atomic standard, it is properly expressed as 9,192,631,770...

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

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

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

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

A shutter actuated by means other than mechanical springs for timings on the order of nanoseconds. The shutter is used in...

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

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

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

An interference microscope that uses a light beam originating from a low-coherence light source. The sample is placed in one...

With respect to a crystal, having three unequal axes intersecting at angles, only two of which can be equal and only one of...

The decrease in effect in developable density on a photographic plate formed by a second exposure to radiation having a...

The light flash, produced in flash photolysis, that is triggered within a second discharge tube by the third electrode. It...

An electronic flash tube capable of repeated operation at hundreds or thousands of flashes per second for long periods.

High harmonic generation (HHG) refers to a nonlinear optical process in which intense laser light interacts with a gaseous...

Holography is a technique used to capture and reconstruct three-dimensional images using the principles of interference and...

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

An objective measure of an object's brightness that is derived from the ratio of the luminance of its lightest section to...

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

A CCD sensor that provides feedback to the motion control system for a telescope, allowing the telescope to follow a...

A telescope similar to the customary Cassegrain telescope, but having a primary mirror that is ellipsoidal and a secondary...

A unit of speed of transmission or receipt of a signal, roughly equal to bits per second; common baud rates are 300, 1200,...

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

A beam of light whose electrical field amplitude distribution is Gaussian. When such a beam is circular in cross section,...

The magnetic flux that, linking a circuit of one turn, produces in it an electromotive force of one volt as it is reduced to...

A nonlinear label-free imaging technique commonly used during surgical procedures for the visualization of collagen fibers...

A laser capable of generating light pulses that last only a few femtoseconds. This can be achieved by nonlinear filtering to...

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

Two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) is a nonlinear optical method that allows imaging of biological cells and living...

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

When a lens system with a circular aperture is free of aberrations, the image of a point object will appear as a disc of...

Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent...

The principal point of a lens relative to image space.

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

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

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

A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a powerful microscopy technique that uses a beam of electrons to create...

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

Microscopic investigation of two-dimensional areas of a three-dimensional object that can be quantitatively evaluated by...

The process of grinding the concave surface of a sphero-cylindrical lens.

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

Often referred to as the geometric center of a given image or image plane, the centroid of an image is a fixed point located...

SI unit of quantity of light.

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

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

The section of crystal symmetry having only one-quarter of the greatest number of faces permitted by the crystal system of...

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

Fiber optic cable that operates at the 1300-nm wavelength.

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

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than...

A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to...

A measure of the time-integrated amount of flux. It has units of lumen-seconds and might be used to describe such things as...

The picture area scanned per second.

In a reflecting telescope, the obstruction of the primary mirror by a secondary mirror which blocks a small amount of the...

As a wavefront of light passes by an opaque edge or through an opening, secondary weaker wavefronts are generated,...

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

Also known as single plane illumination microscopy (SPIM), this process was designed for imaging of sensitive samples and...

1. Synonymous with radioactivity. The intensity of a radioactive source illustrated as the number of atoms disintegrating in...

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

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

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