A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light in two dimensions, typically in the form of an array. SLMs are versatile tools used in various optical applications,...

A system of local area networking in which each node or station is connected to two others, ultimately forming a loop. Data...

A laser crystal, also known as an active medium or gain medium, is a solid-state material used in the construction of...

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

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

A system of modular mechanical components for building precision optical systems. The basic equipment includes a variety of...

A channel for communication with the source in an otherwise unidirectional network, such as a channel that provides...

The level of the television picture signal that corresponds to the maximum limit of black peaks.

An infrared device used in satellites and rockets to determine a heat horizon for the Earth at altitudes (above 200 miles)...

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

1. A framelike structure that serves to restrict the viewing area of the screen when placed before a television picture...

Nanophotonics is a branch of science and technology that explores the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, typically at...

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

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

An optical barcode reader, commonly known as a barcode scanner, is a device that uses optical technology to capture and...

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

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

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

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

Collaborative Robot (Cobot): Unlike traditional autonomous robots, which usually work by themselves, a collaborative robot...

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

A telescope that is fixed or has a limited degree of movement in a vertical plane; primarily used to determine the position...

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

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

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

A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It...

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

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

The Mills Cross telescope is a two dimensional radio telescope in which the two antenna arrays are positioned perpendicular...

A device attached to the end of an alignment telescope that detects and calculates a plane mirror's rotation axis that is...

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

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

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

An optical instrument used to track and image a test vehicle (target) throughout its flight. The cinesextant frequently...

1. A method of photographing distant objects with a lens of long focal length. 2. The reproduction of photographs over a...

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

Multispectral imaging is a technique that involves capturing and analyzing images at multiple discrete spectral bands within...

A semiconductor platelet laser that emits a coherent image by means of plane optical pumping over the platelet surface, and...

A fluorescent screen refers to a phosphorescent or fluorescent-coated surface that emits visible light when exposed to other...

Consists of a pair of radio telescopes concentrated on a single celestial object. This technique creates a single radio...

In a remote sensing system, nadir refers to the point on the ground located vertically below the center of the system. In...

Laser-powered telephone device for analog communications that employs a vibrating plastic membrane as a transmitter to...

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

Modification of a system to provide for a linear transfer characteristic from an input to an output device. A circuit for...

Any form of lens, optical system (camera, telescope, microscope, etc.), or opto-electronics utilized for the purpose of...

A grazing incidence mirror telescope with concentric conic surfaces having a single common point: a paraboloid-hyperboloid...

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

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...

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

A set of three colored lights which, when mixed, give the sensation of white light. The set used in color television, for...

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

The standards of MIL-O-13830 set by the US government relative to tolerable surface scratches and other such defects in an...

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

1. A device used in chemistry to compare the colors of solutions held in flat-bottomed tubes and viewed along the length of...

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

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

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

A spectrophotometer that measures the amount of ozone in the atmosphere through a comparison of solar energy at two...

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

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

The position and shape of the image of a point source, as predicted by geometric optics alone. The geometric image is to be...

The span of frequencies within which a single channel of broadcast television must fall; in the US, it is 6 MHz.

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

Concave is an adjective used to describe a surface or shape that curves inward or has a hollow or recessed appearance. In...

A camera lens, used in macrophotography, that is designed and corrected to produce optimum definition of a nearby object...

A telescopic eyepiece that produces a field of view between 40° and 50°. The eyepiece consists of a single element...

The indistinct, less luminous portion lying immediately outside an electric arc whose spectrum often differs from that of...

An acronym for communications intelligence, referring to the collection of communications signals in the VHF and UHF...

A television camera tube in which a low-velocity electron beam scans a photoactive mosaic that has been created by an...

Instantaneous field of view (iFOV) is a term commonly used in the context of remote sensing, imaging systems, and optical...

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

A telescope that produces an erect image. Erection is achieved either by a lens (for a long instrument) or a prism (for a...

A small television tube originally developed for closed-circuit television. It is about 1 inch in diameter and 5 inches...

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light...

A particle that will not normally diffuse through animal or vegetable membrane. Larger than most inorganic compounds,...

A category of systems designed to communicate a photo taken from the air (e.g., aircraft, balloon, satellite) to a ground...

A nonhomogeneity of index in flat glass that is in the form of an approximately plane layer.

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

Distortion of the high frequencies of a signal. In television, the term generally applies to frequencies above the 15.7 kHz...

A controlled motion system that may use a telescope, camera or antenna to follow accurately a satellite, missile, vehicle or...

A laser rangefinder is a device that uses laser technology to measure the distance between the device and a target. It...

Dispersion refers to the phenomenon where different wavelengths (colors) of light travel at different speeds when passing...

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

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

With respect to pictorial displays, the ratio of the width to the height. The television standard in the US is 4:3....

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

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

Technology that corrects the shape of reflective optics; primarily applied in large telescope systems, in order to...

A television display system in which the television signal is converted to an image that is projected onto either a front or...

The use of head-mounted displays and body-operated remote actuators to control distant machinery. Provides a virtual...

A diffraction pattern sampling unit composed of a 32-element monolithic silicon photodiode array and a readout unit. The...

A type of receiver that uses a local oscillator at a frequency deliberately offset from that of the incoming signal. It is...

A method of taking radiographs at a distance from the object being photographed to decrease distortion.

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

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

A television camera tube that preceded the development of the vidicon tube and incorporated a method to separate reflected...

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

A hemispherical covering that is rotatable about a central axis. There is a slit opening along one side wide enough to allow...

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

An electronic device used to encode video and audio signals of a television camera into radio waves that are broadcast to...

A two-flux theory in which the radiation is assumed to be composed of two oppositely directed radiation fluxes through a...

The base used to hold an astronomical telescope. It may be either altazimuth, with horizontal and vertical axes of rotation,...

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

A large table with an accurately designed plane surface used to test other surfaces, or to provide a true surface for...

A large telescope mirror fabricated from several smaller sections.

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

A term referring to the cathode-ray tube used in television receivers.

Optical switching refers to the process of controlling the routing or transmission of optical signals within a network using...

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

A telescope in which a mask occults the solar disk, generating an artificial eclipse and allowing observation and recording...

A device, consisting of a diode activated by an interference pulse, that is designed to minimize the white spots on a...

Gamma ray radiation released when matter and antimatter, such as electron and positron, unite and eliminate each other,...

A technique developed by British Telecom in which the viscous drag of air is used to install optical fibers in narrow...

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

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

An image-forming system that uses mirrors rather than lenses. Such objectives are frequently used for astronomical...

Virtual histology refers to the use of digital technology and computational methods to simulate or recreate histological...

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

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

1. With respect to angular subtense, a source of light, such as a star, that is very small. In a lab, a point source may be...

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

Also known as roof prism. A type of prism designed by G.B. Amici. It consists of a roof edge produced upon the long...

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

A sensing or image-forming detector that serves to convert infrared rays into visible signals for communication purposes....

A low-power telescope placed at the eyepiece of an optical system to increase overall magnification. Most often used to...

A telescope with a concave paraboloidal objective mirror and a small plane (diagonal) mirror that reflects rays from the...

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

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

A telescopic eyepiece comprising five or six simple lenses in the form of three doublets or two doublets and a singlet.

The field of view (FOV) refers to the extent of the observable world or the visible area that can be seen at any given...

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

Abbreviation of "synchronization.'' In television, the timing signals used to drive the scanning process. Horizontal...

Frequently used in astronomical measurement, it is based on the diurnal rotation of a star relative to the fixed stellar...

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

Optical design and engineering services involve the development, customization, and optimization of optical systems and...

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

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

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

A two-mirror corrector for a parabolic primary mirror that provides anastigmatic performance for large astronomical...

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

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...

Although low in sensitivity (approximately 10-7 m for helium-neon lasers), this holographic technique permits quantitative...

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

The graph of the oscillating variations composing the wave of a video signal.

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...

An enclosure whose walls are coated to absorb completely all radiation striking them.

the photography of very close, and typically small objects with a magnification of approximately 1:1

A telescopic light-sensing meter used to measure illumination levels of small regions at a distance of many feet; it is used...

Photographing of terrain on the ground and objects in the air by cameras mounted in aircraft; utilized in satellites,...

1. The anode or anticathode of an x-ray tube that emits x-rays when bombarded by electrons. 2. The screen in a television...

The electron beam tube of a television camera that converts an optical image into a pattern of electrostatic charges and...

The principles and techniques involved in the use of telephotometers to measure atmospheric extinction.

Glass containing small quantities of neodymium oxide that is used as a filter plate in color television or as a lasing...

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

Optical design software refers to specialized computer programs used by optical engineers, physicists, and designers to...

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

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

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

A distributed feedback laser (DFB laser) is a type of semiconductor laser diode designed to emit coherent, narrow-bandwidth...

With respect to television, the returning direction of the electron beam during the vertical blanking period.

Multi-axis alignment refers to the process of aligning or adjusting components or systems in multiple spatial dimensions or...

An ideal body that completely absorbs all radiant energy striking it and, therefore, appears perfectly black at all...

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

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

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through...

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

Any optical transmission channel used in telecommunications designed to connect two end terminals or to be connected in...

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

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

With respect to television, the transmission of the signals that originate from variously colored parts of an image in a...

The angle subtended by the mean distance of the Earth from the sun at the distance of a given star from the sun.

The superposition of satellite or aerial images with a map in order to process and remove distortion. Uses reference points...

Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and...

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...

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

A flat, round micrometer that is placed in the focal plane of a telescope to measure difference in right ascension and...

The state of a carrier signal that corresponds to maximum picture brightness in a television system.

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

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

A small erect-image telescope for use as a sighting device on a rifle. The chief requirement is a long eye relief to avoid...

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

A process used in document copying and printing that involves the visible rendering of an invisible electrostatic image on a...

1. To center an image or place it in any part of the television screen desired. Also applies to stills. 2. A single image of...

A telemicroscope in which a negative eyepiece is used to produce erect images.

1. The term used to describe any of the many instruments used to remotely record physical dimensions, such as strain,...

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

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

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

The law stating that the critical fusion frequency is approximately proportional to the logarithm of the luminance and the...

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

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

An unbounded quantity, an indefinitely large number. Infinity is commonly expressed by the symbol ∞.

Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A...

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

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level....

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is a compact and integrated device that incorporates multiple photonic components and...

The angular subtense of the field of view in the image space of a telescope, as differentiated from that in the object space...

A television system used for seeing in the dark, particularly with the use of infrared rays.

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

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

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

QLED stands for quantum dot light-emitting diode. QLED is a display technology that utilizes quantum dots, which are...

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

The observation of specimens by a microscope linked to a television camera and an image processor.

A coarse diffraction grating that is used to form a scale of intensities to determine the relative magnitudes of stars. The...

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

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

Germanium crystal refers to a crystalline form of the element germanium (Ge), which is a metalloid and semiconductor...

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

Reflectance spectroscopy is a technique used to analyze the reflective properties of materials across various wavelengths of...

The acoustical holographic process in which the hologram consists of slight elevations in a liquid surface, in the areas of...

A fiber optic cable assembly refers to a complete unit consisting of optical fibers, connectors, protective jackets, and...

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

An InGaAs photodiode refers to a photodetector device that is constructed using a semiconductor material composed of a...

The fiber optic connector standard for Nippon Telephone & Telegraph (NTT) installations, developed with Nippon Electric...

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

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

A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization...

The value equal to the raster height divided by the half-period of a periodic test pattern.

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

Referring to the bandwidth and spectrum location of the signal produced by television or radar scanning.

A false image in television that follows the desired image so closely that it appears to be smeared.

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

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

A transparent block shaped accurately to reverse curvatures of the components it is used to test. By contacting an...

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

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

A tabulation of predicted positions that have been calculated for one or more celestial bodies or orbiting satellites.

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

The light from a nonselective diffuse reflector due to the standard illumination of the scene to be televised.

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

A crystalline substance in which all planes are parallel, or approximately parallel.

A television system in which the images produced appear three-dimensional.

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

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

To transform a picture or image field into a television signal for transmission.

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

A scanning technique in which the object is illuminated the entire time, and in which picture elements of the object are...

1. An optical device used for projection of enlarged images of transparencies or lantern slides on a screen. 2. A device...

A refracting telescope that uses a prism to bend the line of sight 90°.

A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly...

Characterizes an Earth-orbiting satellite whose orbit plane is near polar and positioned at an altitude that allows it to...

A direct-readout television pickup tube.

In television, a lateral displacement of the lines from their normal position due to the instability of a synchronizing...

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

A wide-field camera based on the classic Schmidt optical system used to photograph Earth-orbiting satellites.

Diffraction efficiency is a measure of how effectively a diffractive optical element (DOE) or diffraction grating directs...

A measure of the total light passed by a shutter during an exposure, compared with the light that could be passed by an...

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

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

The capability of the spatial distributions of incident and reflected flux to interchange completely without alteration of...

Device in which the various circuit elements are fabricated in different substrate materials and then appropriately joined...

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

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

Unlike the thermocouple or bolometer, the pyroelectric infrared detector is a current source with an output proportional to...

A technique used in photolithography of computer chips to compensate for errors caused by the proximity effect, which...

A handheld binocular telescope that is commonly of the Galilean type.

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

A small low-power microscope or magnifier with a scale that is used to measure the exit pupil diameter and eye relief on...

A camera accurately aligned to a weapons system to provide a photographic record of system performance.

An airspaced achromatic doublet telescope objective.

An imaging system designed to highlight small deviations in a planar reflective object such as a mirror. The system can be...

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

Magnification that is above the level of maximum useful magnification and does not contribute useful resolving power. In a...

Opsins are a group of light-sensitive proteins found primarily in the retinas of vertebrate and invertebrate eyes, as well...

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

In semiconductor physics and materials science, the term "III-V materials" refers to compounds composed of elements from...

Optical phase distortion refers to a phenomenon where the phase of an optical wavefront is altered as it propagates through...

Optical fiber optic switches are devices used in optical fiber communication systems to selectively route optical signals...

A defect of a binocular instrument causing two images to be seen separately instead of being fused. It is caused when the...

Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet radiation with shorter wavelengths than those of visible...

An image-forming system having curved mirrors in place of transparent glass components. Mirror lenses are commonly used for...

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

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

Indium phosphide (InP) is a compound semiconductor material composed of indium (In) and phosphorus (P). It belongs to the...

There are three types of telecentric lenses: -Image-space telecentric lenses are those in which the aperture stop is...

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

A beamsplitter is an optical device for dividing a beam into two or more separate beams. A simple beamsplitter may be a very...

With respect to television, that part of a color television circuit that combines the I, Q and Y signals, and changes them...

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

In local area networking, arrangement of the satellite nodes around a central node through which all routing of network data...

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

A reflection grating is an optical component that consists of a series of closely spaced, parallel reflecting surfaces or...

The unit generally used to express distances within the solar system, and sometimes to measure interstellar distances....

An adhesive used to affix optical elements to an approximately shaped body -- usually of cast iron.

Two stars so close together that they cannot be resolved by telescopes. They are proved to be double stars by the doubling...

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

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

A dark band that may appear in the field of crossed Nicol prisms with a powerful source such as the sun because the light is...

The area of optics that deals with the interaction of light with a given material. The optical properties of material are...

Nanopositioning refers to the precise and controlled movement or manipulation of objects or components at the nanometer...

An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to...

A type of telescope mount that permits direct azimuth and elevation adjustments.

The image of the aperture stop, usually the objective lens, that is produced by the eye lens. When the exit pupil of the...

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

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

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

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

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

Attenuation refers to the gradual loss or reduction of intensity, force, or magnitude of a particular property as it...

A small telescope mounted on a tripod and free to rotate about a vertical axis. A spirit level is mounted over the telescope...

An instrument that serves to produce an enlarged electron image on a fluorescent screen by focusing an infrared image of a...

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

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

To control, by magnifying or reducing, the size of a televised image, either electronically or optically.

A hologram formed when the light of the illuminating beam is absorbed in correspondence with the recording exposure. In...

A corrective lens system that is placed near the focal plane of a Newtonian telescope to increase its effective field of...

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

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

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The...

A negative lens used to increase the effective focal length of a telescope objective.

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

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

The term that represents the size of one of the many small elements into which a television image is necessarily broken down...

The adjustment of a binocular instrument so that the lines of sight of both telescopes are parallel.

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

A telephoto lens form noted for its lack of distortion.

A passive infrared system that uses two line-of-sight telescopes to generate both narrow and wide field-of-view images of...

A polarizer that consists of dichroic polarizing material embedded in a plastic sheet, and that transmits light that is...

Phenomenon caused by an ultrashort and ultra-intense light pulse propagating in a Kerr medium, such as air or water. When...

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

Having properties resembling those of light- waves; e.g., the propagation of waves in the television spectrum.

A photographic enlarger with a fixed negative plane and a fixed paper plane, often using a roll of paper that is advanced...

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic...

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

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

Machine vision lighting refers to the use of specific lighting techniques and equipment in the field of machine vision,...

The ability of an optical system to make an object appear larger. An optical element or optical system causing an object to...

An interferometer constructed to be positioned on a telescope to measure the angular separation of the components of double...

1. A term used to describe the clouded appearance of an incompletely polished surface that scatters light. 2. The...

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

A small television monitor that replaces the reflex viewfinder in a television camera.

A camera designed with a telecentric optical system and a narrow field of view; the telecentric optical system (placement of...

1. In raster scan television, one of the two scans that are interlaced to make up a frame. 2. See field of view.

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

An instrument used to measure the luminance (brightness) of a distant object. The object is viewed through a small...

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

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

That portion of the telecommunications network that runs from a local central telephone to the subscriber premises.

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

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

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

An infrared imaging device composed of a detector array and readout electronics. It may include a cryogenic cooling system....

A device that controls the output of a television receiver's horizontal oscillator.

A device, such as a thermionic or crystal diode, that is introduced into the vision channel of a television receiver to...

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

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

A television system that uses a slow rate of horizontal scanning to increase its reproduction and transmittance accuracy of...

With respect to television, a potentiometer that allows variation of the intensity of the different elements of an image and...

The combination of the audio and visual signals that are transmitted and received at the same time, correlating the scene...

A form of an element that cannot demonstrate optical activity as a result of dextrogyrate and levogyrate effects that are...

A telescope that is mounted on an equatorial mount.

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

The subtractive imbibing process of transferring color prints on paper whereby the dyes from three separately prepared...

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

An old name for the rotating arm moving about an axis of rotation over a divided circle used to measure angles. Now the term...

A GaAlAs laser is a type of semiconductor laser diode that emits light in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic...

A point source of light used for the test and evaluation of image quality. May be a backlit pinhole in an otherwise opaque...

A document-transmitting process that uses a cylinder that rotates the document to be scanned and detected by a photoelectric...

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

A lens is a transparent optical device that focuses or diverges light, allowing it to pass through and form an image. Lenses...

Also known as a shadow mask, a perforated plate placed between the focusing and accelerating electrodes, and the tricolor...

The nondestructive analysis and recording of industrial components based on the absorption of relatively low-energy neutrons...

A device that completely or partially restricts the amount of light reaching the eye.

A technique for measuring the concentration of any gases. Identical infrared beams are alternately chopped, one passing...

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

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

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

Technology that relies on a highly efficient photodetector that can detect incoming light signals at one frequency and...

A contraction of quasi stellar. An astronomical object that appears to be a star but has a different, larger redshift.

A television system that is capable of producing an image whose colors approximate the colors of the original, by the use of...

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...

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

A polycrystalline material that transmits in the infrared; it is used as a phosphor in x-ray and television screens.

An intensity distribution (intensity as a function of radial distance from the beam center) which is given by the Gaussian...

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

The code used to describe the United States system of color telecasting.

A set of mirrors along a telescope's polar axis designed to redirect light to a fixed position without being affected by the...

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

The product of Avogadro's constant and the electrical charge of an electron; thus, the electrical charge carried by 1 gmol...

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

Any systemic process that ultimately reassembles all the system's components into their initial alignment, or an arrangement...

A positioning slide mechanism with two rows of alternately crisscrossed cylindrical rollers.

The utilization of photometric measurement to determine the relative magnitudes of the heavenly bodies.

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

A Peltier cooler, also known as a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) or thermoelectric module, is a solid-state device that uses...

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

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

A system consisting of two or more Geiger-Müller counters, connected in coincidence with their centers on an axis. The only...

Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light...

A plate of glass, usually a photograph, on which there is a central spot surrounded by concentric annular zones, alternately...

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

An image that is not immediately recognizable but scrambled.

An instrument designed to collect naturally formed extraterrestrial electromagnetic radiation within the radio frequency...

A method for detecting vibration amplitudes analogous to image holography, except that the film emulsion is replaced by a...

Etaloning is an optical phenomenon that occurs in imaging systems, particularly in devices such as spectrometers,...

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

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

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

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

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

Temperature of the blackbody having a spectral power distribution approximately proportional to the test source at all...

A special form of microscope that utilizes interference for observing and measuring the phase and optical thickness in...

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

A deliberately nonlinear amplitude modulation that strengthens weak signals and reduces strong signals for transmission.

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

The study of the celestial bodies, relative to x-ray emission. Satellites launched to study x-ray sources have revealed many...

GaN (Gallium Nitride) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers refer to a specific type of semiconductor laser based on Gallium...

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

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

A camera capable of making successive exposures on a continuous film driven by accurately spaced sprocket holes (a motion...

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

An optical tooling instrument consisting of an objective lens, a focusing lens, an optical micrometer, a reticle and an...

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

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

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

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

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

A photon sieve is an optical device used in the field of optics and imaging. It's designed to focus and shape light,...

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

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

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

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

A rear or front projection screen composed of minute optical surfaces that introduce a spread to the light beam that...

Any material of a macromolecular nature that can stretch at room temperature to more than twice its length and return to...

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

A satellite-borne remote sensing device capable of transmitting images at 10 and 20 m resolution from an altitude of 830 km,...

In television, the number of individual pixels that can be distinguished in a horizontal scanning line; also called...

A term used to describe a photograph, film or television picture where the values for black and white areas are at or near...

The Foucault test is performed by moving a knife edge laterally into the image of a small point source. The eye, or a...

Any problem that requires retrieval of the distribution of some internal properties, such as temperature concentration,...

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

Two oppositely charged particles.

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

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

In an interlaced scanning electro-optical system such as television, the system resolution will be less than the number of...

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

A telescope that transmits, enlarges and converts infrared images.

A standard for fiber optic telecommunications interfaces, with a 1300-nm data link operating over single-mode fiber at data...

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

The minimum value of luminance for vision. The value may vary with age as well as dark adaption period. (Measured range...

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

A television system designed to obtain pictures of objects or scenes beneath the surface of the water. Generally, a...

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

Short wavelength infrared (SWIR) refers to the portion of the infrared spectrum that encompasses wavelengths roughly between...

The effect by which sufficiently small particles will scatter blue light at right angles to the incident beam. This...

A telescope that corrects dispersion and spherical aberration through the use of one or more lenses, usually smaller than...

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

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

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

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

The term "excimer," strictly used, refers to excited species made by combination of two identical moieties, atoms...

In optics, the Pockels effect refers to the phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an...

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

Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a...

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

The ability of a machine to perform certain complex functions normally associated with human intelligence, such as judgment,...

Descriptive of an optical fiber having a core refractive index that decreases almost parabolically and radially outward...

In an optical waveguide, a ray that is completely confined to the core.

A small defocused Galilean telescope mounted in a hole in a door. Viewed from inside through the positive lens, a wide-angle...

A numerical value representing the degree of contrast in a television picture: the exponent of the power law used to...

The laser pumping that exhibits an advantage over longitudinal pumping in that the threshold pump power density can be...

The science of sensing and measuring information at some remote location and transmitting the data to a convenient location...

Minimum object distance, often abbreviated as MOD, refers to the closest distance at which a camera lens or optical system...

The optical phenomenon that causes relative motion between two objects when the eyepoint is moved laterally. When parallax...

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

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

A fast, wide-angle lens used in television and photographic cameras, with excellent overall correction, but subject to...

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

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

A microcomb, short for microresonator frequency comb, is a novel photonic device that generates a precise series of evenly...

The frequency range for radio and television transmission.

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

RGB stands for red, green, blue, which are the primary colors of light used in additive color mixing. The RGB color model is...

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

An inspection device in which the profile of a mechanical part is projected onto a ground-glass screen at a precisely known...

A television system that does not broadcast television signals but transmits them over a closed circuit.

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

An afocal optical device made up of lenses or mirrors, usually with a magnification greater than unity, that renders distant...

The apparent luminosity or glow that immediately envelops the cathode in a gas-discharge tube operating at low pressures....

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

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

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

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where two or more particles become correlated to such an extent...

A telescopic system having an eyepiece, a reticle and an objective. The instrument measures wavefront power in diopters.

An electron-gun system is an assembly used to generate and control a focused beam of electrons. Electron guns find...

A zone plate in which the zones are alternately transparent and opaque to specific radiation, and coarse enough so that no...

Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam passes through a...

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

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

The focal length of a lens is the distance between the lens's optical center (or principal point) and the image sensor or...

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

The material favored for study of interaction of high-acoustic intensities with free carriers. Tellurium is the...

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

A coupling unit that enables more than one transmitter to operate at the same time or separately on the same antenna.

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

The observation of a reproduced television picture on the face of a cathode-ray tube.

An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical...

A device used to lock the internal synchronization generator of a television camera to an external source.

In a telephoto lens, the ratio of the overall length to the focal length of the lens. It is generally about 0.8 to 0.9 in...

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

A cathode-ray tube that serves as a picture tube in a television receiver. The signal representing the picture intensity is...

A device designed to enlarge the image of a microscopic object by television process. It may be a flying spot scanner that...

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

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

The process by which a surface is made to conform accurately to a given curvature.

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

A telescope that uses a reflecting objective to focus an image of a distant object at a focal point.

With respect to a lens, the reciprocal of its focal length. The term power, as applied to a telescope or microscope, often...

A standard lens interface initially made for 16mm movie cameras and now used primarily on closed-circuit television cameras....

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

An optical instrument containing a gimballed sighting telescope, used to measure angular relationships in horizontal and...

The approximately concentric waves that form on a surface that has been polished without an oscillation of the polishing lap.

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

In optics, degreasers or ultrasonic arrangements used for removing pitch, cement or polishing material from lenses during...

A flaw deliberately introduced into an optical fiber to prepare it for cleaving.

Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur...