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charge Dictionary Terms

electronic flash unit
A small xenon-filled tube with metal electrodes fused into the ends. The gas flashes brilliantly when a condenser is...
nanotube
A nanotube, also known as a nanotubule or simply a tube-like structure, is a nanoscale cylindrical structure composed of...
starting voltage
In a laser, the voltage necessary to initiate electrical discharge, somewhat higher than that needed to sustain it.
line-scan camera
A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to...
electromagnetic interaction
The interaction of charged particles and electromagnetic fields.
peripheral response
In a charge-coupled device, the detection of charge collected by the transport register rather than by the image-sensing...
cathode stream
Also known as cathode rays. Formerly, this term described a stream of electrons emitted from the cathode of a gas-discharge...
radiation length
The average length in a specific material in which a relativistic charged particle will lose 67 percent of its energy by...
iconoscope
A camera tube that employs a high-velocity electron beam to scan a photoemissive mosaic and to store electrical charge...
dielectric constant
A number that indicates the magnitude of the shift in a solid of positive and negative charges in opposite directions when a...
quantum efficiency
Quantum efficiency (QE) is a measure of the effectiveness with which a device or system, typically in the context of...
photodetector
A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical...
directed energy
Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often...
xenon arc
The arc formed when the rare gas xenon is excited electrically and emits a brilliant white light. Xenon is used to fill...
laser-triggered switching
A process by which the ionizing capabilities of a laser beam are used to break initiate conduction between pairs of...
storage tube
A cathode-ray tube combined with an electrostatic storage unit that is used to introduce, store and retrieve information...
CID camera
CID, or charge injection device, camera refers to a type of imaging device that utilizes a specific kind of solid-state...
discharge lamp
fusion ignition
Fusion ignition refers to the point in a controlled nuclear fusion reaction where the energy released by the fusion...
charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a type of electronic image sensor used in various imaging devices, including digital...
Lorentz force
The force acting upon a charged particle as it moves in a magnetic field, proportional to the particle's charge and velocity.
mass spectrum
A spectrum that displays the distribution in mass or in mass-to-charge ratio of ionized atoms, molecules or molecular parts....
bipolar
Refers to transistors in which the working current flows through two types of semiconductor material: N- and P-type. In...
cathode-ray tube
A vacuum tube with an electron gun at one end and a fluorescent screen at the other. Electrons emitted from a heated...
cation
An ion carrying a positive charge and thus attracted to the cathode during electrolysis.
Coulomb scattering
The scattering of charged particles, moving through matter, by the electrostatic force exerted by other charged particles.
target
1. The anode or anticathode of an x-ray tube that emits x-rays when bombarded by electrons. 2. The screen in a television...
flashlamp
A device that converts stored electrical energy into light by means of a sudden electrical discharge.
farad
The capacitance of a capacitor which has a potential difference of one volt between its plates when it is charged by one...
spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves...
cosmic ray telescope
A system consisting of two or more Geiger-Müller counters, connected in coincidence with their centers on an axis. The only...
camera tube
The electron beam tube of a television camera that converts an optical image into a pattern of electrostatic charges and...
gas discharge display
A display device that contains an inert gas that gives off orange light when a high voltage is applied to ionize the gas.
charge-injection device
A charge-injection device (CID) refers to a class of devices that manipulate and detect electrical charge within a...
fiber optic spectrometer
A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to...
laser active elements
Laser active elements typically refers to the substances or materials within a laser system that play a critical role in the...
piezoelectric motion systems
Piezoelectric motion systems are mechanical systems that utilize piezoelectric materials to generate controlled motion or...
crater lamp
A glow-discharge tube in which the discharge takes place in the conical or crater-shaped depression at one end of the tube.
surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an analytical technique that combines the principles of Raman spectroscopy...
single-photon avalanche diode
A single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is a specialized type of photodetector designed to detect extremely weak optical...
laser
A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...
extinction voltage
The lowest anode voltage at which a gas tube can sustain a discharge.
synchrotron
A synchrotron is a type of particle accelerator that uses magnetic fields to steer charged particles, typically electrons or...
detector array
A detector array refers to a collection of individual detector elements arranged in a two-dimensional grid or matrix format....
high-speed motion camera
A high-speed motion camera, also known as a high-speed camera or slow-motion camera, is a specialized imaging device...
artificial radioactivity
Radioactivity formed by the bombardment of stable elements by either neutrons or high-energy, charged particles under...
electromagnetic radiation
Radiation emitted from vibrating charged particles. A combination of oscillating electrical and magnetic fields that...
spectral flow cytometry
Spectral flow cytometry is an advanced flow cytometry technique that expands the capabilities of traditional flow cytometry...
electrostatic process
A process used in document copying and printing that involves the visible rendering of an invisible electrostatic image on a...
Penning discharge
A standard source of high-charge-state ions for accelerators that has an external magnetic field oriented perpendicularly to...
quantum detector
A photodetector in which an electrical charge is produced when incident photons change electrons within the detecting...
bore
The central hole running the full length of a laser capillary tube, in which electrical discharge and laser action take...
nuclear track emulsion
A photographic emulsion of the silver-halide type that is used to record the path of a charged traveling particle. The...
ionosphere
The gas of charged particles that begins approximately 50 km above the surface of the Earth and contains a sufficient...
Casimir force
The Casimir force is a quantum phenomenon that results in an attractive force between two closely spaced uncharged...
endoscope
An endoscope is a medical device used for visualizing and examining the interior of hollow organs, body cavities, or...
light valve
With respect to display systems, a device that uses an independent light source and a control-layer medium, the active...
Langmuir dark space
A nonluminous area around a negatively charged probe that is inserted into the positive column of an arc or glow discharge.
thermoplastic recording device
A display device having a thermoplastic film as the control layer medium. The film, moving from a playoff reel, is scanned...
double-discharge laser
A type of transversely excited laser with a uniform arc-free discharge of large cross-sectional area that can be scaled to...
piezoelectric transducers and ceramic materials
Piezoelectric transducers are devices that utilize the piezoelectric effect to convert electrical energy into mechanical...
ionization gauge
A type of radiation detector that depends on the ionization produced in a gas by the passage of a charged particle through...
electrochromic display
Type of solid-state display tube in which the readout surface is coated with a material that changes color when positively...
ballast resistance
In a laser, the series resistance necessary for a stable electrical discharge.
alpha particle
A positively charged particle emitted from the nucleus of an unstable isotope, characterized by two protons and two...
sodium light source
An electric discharge lamp in which the conducting vapor is that of metallic sodium instead of the usual mercury. It emits a...
exciton
An exciton is a quasiparticle that represents the bound state of an electron and a hole in a solid-state material, typically...
break current
The point at which decreasing current supplied to a laser results in the extinguishing of the laser discharge.
P-type material
A semiconductor material in which the dopants create holes as the majority charge carrier. It is formed by doping with...
neon tube
An electron tube containing neon gas that uses the transmission of an electric current through the gas to ionize the neon...
capacitance
The ability of a conductor to store an electrical charge; its value is given in farads as the ratio of the stored charge on...
thyratron
An arc discharge tube having a grid that is used to start the discharge through an atmosphere of inert gas or vapor at low...
pushbroom scanning
Pushbroom scanning is a technique used in remote sensing and imaging systems, particularly in satellite and aerial sensors,...
afterglow
The luminosity that remains in a rarefied gas after an electrodeless discharge has traversed the gas.
scintillation spectrometry
The method of determining the energy distribution of high-speed charged particles by the luminous effect formed when the...
machine vision system
A machine vision system is an integrated combination of hardware and software components designed to capture, process, and...
pixel binning
Pixel binning, also known as pixel merging or pixel combining, is a technique used in digital imaging and camera technology....
active-matrix liquid crystal display
When applied to LCD grids, the active matrix is a means of supplying power to pixels by use of a transistor and capacitor....
magnetic lens
An arranged series of coils, magnets or electromagnets disposed in such a way that the resulting magnetic fields generate a...
Van der Waals
Van der Waals forces refer to the attractive or repulsive forces between molecules (or parts of molecules) that arise from...
charge-transfer device
See charge-coupled device; charge-injection device.
arc flash
An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy due to an electric arc — a continuous, high-current discharge of...
gas discharge
The conduction of electricity in a gas as a result of the ions generated by collisions between electrons and gas molecules.
plasma accelerator
A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged...
magnetic spectrograph
An electron system using the effect of a constant magnetic field on electron paths to differentiate electrons that have...
aeolight
A glow discharge lamp consisting of a cold cathode and a mixture of inert gases. The intensity of illumination varies with...
particle acceleration
Particle acceleration refers to the process by which charged particles, such as electrons or protons, gain kinetic energy...
full-well capacity
The number of electrons that each pixel of a charge-coupled device can hold without overflowing and causing blooming.
Aston dark space
In the discharge of a vacuum tube, the narrow, nonluminous region that sometimes may be found between the cathode and its...
photodischarge spectroscopy
A spectroscopic process that detects and analyzes the discharge from an extrinsic surface with less than bandgap light. This...
photoconductor contact
Material used to integrate photoconductors into electro-optical systems. It should provide low resistance to the flow of...
lensless microscopy
Lensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and...
ondoscope
A glow discharge tube placed on an insulating rod to detect the presence of high-frequency radiation in the vicinity of a...
electrostatic printer
An instrument used to print an optical image on a specially treated paper. Light and dark portions of the original image are...
ion pair
Two oppositely charged particles.
nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy
A chemical detection technique used to measure molecules that have a magnetic dipole moment. The analysis is directed to...
gated image tube
An intensified charge-coupled device that uses a large negative charge at the grid to switch off the flow of electrons at...
impurity ion
An alien, electrically charged atomic system in a solid; an ion substituted for the constituent atom or ion in a crystal...
electron
A charged elementary particle of an atom; the term is most commonly used in reference to the negatively charged particle...
Faraday constant
The product of Avogadro's constant and the electrical charge of an electron; thus, the electrical charge carried by 1 gmol...
carbon arc
An electric discharge between two carbon rods that are touched together to start the arc and then separated slightly. The...
space charge
A volumetric electrical charge resulting from a flow of charged particles across a gap.
electrophoretic display
An electrophoretic display, often referred to as an electronic paper display or e-paper display, is a type of electronic...
spectroscopic flash
The light flash, produced in flash photolysis, that is triggered within a second discharge tube by the third electrode. It...
scintillation crystal
A scintillation crystal, also known simply as a scintillator, is a material that emits light when it interacts with ionizing...
integration time
Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a...
spherical microintegrated lens
A tiny lens (as small as 100 µm in diameter) used to focus light on charge-coupled devices, formed by heating a...
PIN photodiode
A PIN photodiode is a type of photodetector or semiconductor device used to convert light signals into electrical signals....
plasma physics
The study of highly ionized gases. Many phenomena not exhibited by uncharged gases are associated with plasma physics.
visual storage tube
An electron tube that stores and visually displays information by means of a cathode-ray-beam-scanning and charge-storage...
deuterium discharge lamp
A discharge lamp filled with deuterium to produce high-intensity ultraviolet radiation for use in spectroscopic analysis.
radio-frequency discharge laser
A gas laser in which the electrodes are mounted perpendicular to the optical resonator.
milling
An automatic surface-generating process involving the removal of a material from a given surface. Optical milling typically...
Marx generator
High-voltage, fast-discharge circuit named after its inventor, Erwin Marx. Its capacitors are charged in parallel and...
intensified charge-coupled device camera
An intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera is an advanced imaging device that combines the capabilities of both an...
intensified charge-coupled device
A CCD image sensor that uses a proximity-focused image intensifier to provide greater sensitivity at low light levels.
Rayleigh scattering
Rayleigh scattering is a phenomenon that occurs when light waves interact with particles or molecules that are much smaller...
xenon flashtube
A high-intensity source of incoherent white light in which a capacitor is discharged through a tube of xenon gas; often used...
transport shift register
The element in a charge-coupled device that receives the charge packets transferred from the line of sensor sites and then...
CMOS camera
A CMOS camera refers to an imaging device that employs a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to...
multiphase pinned operation
A method of reducing dark current in charge-coupled devices by holding all the clocks at negative voltage during the...
dark space
The portion of a glow discharge tube that permits little or no light transmission.
charge-transfer gate
 unipolar
Refers to the transistors in which the working current flows through only one type of semiconductor material, either P-type...
ion
An atom that has gained or lost one or more electrons and, as a result, carries a negative or positive charge.
nonionizing radiation
Radiation that does not produce free electrons and ions, or electrically charged particles.
linear image sensor
A linear image sensor is a type of solid-state electronic device used to capture and convert light into electrical signals....
time delay integration
A method of scanning in which a frame transfer device produces a continuous video image of a moving object by means of a...
arc discharge
The electric arc that is a particular discharge between two electrodes in a gas or vapor which is characterized by high...
Maxwell's equations
The mathematical set of equations showing the relationship between oscillating electric and magnetic fields that are...
electron temperature
Approximation of a system of thermal equilibrium formed by the distribution of the kinetic energies of electrons in a gas...
transversely excited atmosphere carbon dioxide laser
Abbreviated TEA CO2 laser. A gas laser that provides shorter pulses and higher peak powers than conventional CO2 lasers. The...
CCD image sensor
A CCD image sensor, or charge-coupled device image sensor, is a type of electronic device used to convert optical images...
electrodeless discharge tube
A device consisting of an airtight quartz tube that holds the material to be analyzed. When a high-frequency electrostatic...
stroboscope
A device that produces brief flashes of light for observing the behavior of an object during a short interval. One of the...
camera tube target
The storage surface of an electron beam tube that is scanned by an electron beam to generate an output-signal current...
orthicon
A television camera tube in which a low-velocity electron beam scans a photoactive mosaic that has been created by an...
deep-depletion CCD
A CCD device for sensing longer wavelengths, such as NIR and IR, that has a deeper depletion region than would be necessary...
gas discharge laser
 PN-junction luminescence
Discharge that results when a doped semiconductor crystal with a PN junction is charged with a low-voltage direct current....
cathode dark space
The area of low-level luminance lying between the cathode and the negative glow in a glow-discharge, cold-cathode tube.
hydrophilic
Hydrophilic is a term used to describe substances or materials that have an affinity for water. The word hydrophilic comes...
charge-transfer efficiency
In a charge-coupled device, the percentage of each charge packet that is carried over to the next stage of the transport...
depletion region
The region at the PN junction in a semiconductor radiation detector where the potential energies of the two materials create...
transparent electrophotographic films
Imaging materials that generally consist of a polyester base, a transparent electrically conductive layer and an organic...
electrostatic storage
Information storage on a dielectric medium that represents the data as those spots on the medium having electrostatic...
suprathermal ion detector
A mass spectrometer used to detect ions formed by photo- and charge-exchange ionization of gases, such as those in the lunar...
MSM photodiode
A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor...
mass spectrometry
An instrumental technique that utilizes the mass-to-charge ratio of charged particles as recorded from a mass spectrometer...
mass spectrograph
A device that uses electromagnetic fields to separate electrically charged particles according to their masses. As a beam of...
ablative wall flashlamp
A high-brightness, short-duration source in which low-pressure gas initiates the discharge to vaporize material from the...
spectroscopic light source
A discharge tube filled with various gases and used as a source in spectroscopy.
N-type material
A quadrivalent semiconductor material, with electrons as the majority charge carriers, that is formed by doping with donor...
glow discharge
An electric discharge in a low-pressure gas having a low-current density and a space potential near the cathode that is much...
electric-discharge lamp
A lamp that uses the transmission of an electric current through a gas or vapor to produce illumination. Neon, mercury and...
power scanning laws
Laws that predict the maximum power output as a function of tube diameter for a hydrogen cyanide laser of a given discharge...
electron-gun system
An electron-gun system is an assembly used to generate and control a focused beam of electrons. Electron guns find...
Cerenkov radiation
The radiation produced when a charged particle traverses a medium that has a refractive index considerably greater than...
carrier injection
Carrier injection refers to the process of introducing charge carriers (either electrons or holes) into a semiconductor...
area scan
Area scan, in the context of imaging and cameras, refers to a method of capturing an entire two-dimensional image in a...
microchannel plate
A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle...
hydrophobic
Hydrophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or do not readily interact with water. The word...
halide
In chemistry, a halide refers to a chemical compound containing one or more halogen atoms bonded to another element. The...
excimer laser
An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet laser that emits short pulses of light in the ultraviolet spectrum. The term...
inertial fusion energy
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) refers to a proposed method of generating electricity by harnessing the energy released from...
packet
The finite amount of electrical charge generated in response to incident radiation and transferred from one storage element...
helium-neon laser
A helium-neon (HeNe) laser is a type of gas laser that emits visible red light at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. It operates...
transfer gate
A single long gate electrode that transfers the line of charge packets to the transport shift register in a charge-coupled...
nonthermal radiation
The radiation emitted from a group of charged particles that does not depend on the temperature of the source in which those...
image iconoscope
A camera tube similar in design to the iconoscope. However, the image formed in the image iconoscope is projected on a...
CCD camera
A CCD camera, or charge-coupled device camera, is a type of digital camera that utilizes a CCD image sensor to capture and...
scintillation detector
A scintillation detector is a radiation detection device that utilizes scintillation crystals to detect and measure ionizing...
dark decay
The decay of an electrostatic charge image resulting from long exposure to the dark.
deformable mirror device
A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor...
antiblooming gate
A device that prevents electrons from a saturated pixel in a CCD imaging device from spilling into an adjacent pixel. The...
dark discharge
In a gas, an electrical discharge that has no luminance.
gas laser
One of the first lasers to find practical application. Generally, the pumping mechanism is an electric discharge, although...
xerography
A printing process of electrostatic electrophotography that uses a photoconductive insulating medium, in conjunction with...
velocity modulation laser spectroscopy
A method of measuring negatively charged phase ions using a color-center or lead-salt diode laser.
charge trapping
In a charge-coupled device, the disappearance of some of the accumulated charge into the silicon during readout.
CMOS image sensor
A CMOS image sensor, short for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, is a type of semiconductor device used...
electrostatography
The recording of patterns by the production and use of latent electrostatic charge patterns. See electrostatic process.
piezoresistance
Piezoresistance is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where the electrical resistance of a material changes in...
xeroradiography
A printing process of electrostatic electrophotography that uses a photoconductive insulating medium, in conjunction with...
cathode glow
The apparent luminosity or glow that immediately envelops the cathode in a gas-discharge tube operating at low pressures....
perovskite
The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a...
charge packet
 laser Q-spoiler
A fast-action shutter inserted between one end of a laser rod and the end mirror; when inserted to prevent emission and then...
infrared light source
An infrared light source is a device that emits light in the infrared spectrum, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of...
mass spectrometer
A device used to measure the masses and relative concentrations of atoms and molecules. It utilizes the Lorentz force...
Lorentz oscillator model
The Lorentz oscillator model is a theoretical model used in physics to describe the response of a charged particle (such as...
plasma-cathode electron gun
An electron beam gun in which plasma that is generated within a low-voltage hollow-cathode discharge serves as the source of...
short-arc lamp
A compact high-pressure light source in which an electrical discharge between electrodes spaced no more than 12 mm apart...
quantum confinement
Quantum confinement refers to the phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the motion of charge carriers, such as electrons or...
electron multiplication charge-coupled device camera
An EMCCD (electron-multiplying charge-coupled device) camera is a type of scientific camera specifically designed for...
ammonia pellets
Charged frozen pellets that are rapidly bombarded with a focused high-power laser to form a dense plasma that can be heated...
negatron
A negatively charged elementary particle. See electron.
piezoelectric axis
With respect to a crystal, one of the paths or axes that will exhibit a piezoelectric charge when subject to tension or...
cadmium lamp
A mercury vapor discharge lamp that has cadmium added to emit radiation in the red region as a complement to the mercury...
antistatic coating
An electrically conductive layer for carrying off static charges that might accumulate on a surface.
attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy
Attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy (APAP) is an advanced technique in ultrafast spectroscopy that allows...
transversely excited atmosphere laser
Also known as TEA laser. A coherent optical source with a wide wavelength range in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet...
infrared absorption
Infrared radiation absorbed by crystals as a result of the excitation of lattice vibrations in which ions having opposite...
Geissler tube
A specific gas-filled tube designed to illustrate the luminous effects of discharges through rarefied gases.
beam profiling
Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It...
scintillation phosphor
A phosphor that has the ability to convert into light emission a portion of energy lost by ionization when a charged...
plasma display
A type of flat panel display made up of a layer of gas between two glass plates. The glass is coated with parallel...
multispectral imaging
Multispectral imaging is a technique that involves capturing and analyzing images at multiple discrete spectral bands within...
cyclotron resonance
The tendency of charge carriers to spiral about an axis in a direction identical to that of an applied magnetic field that...
Cerenkov counter
An instrument that detects high-energy charged particles by analysis of the Cerenkov radiation that they emit.
lag
A term applied to an electric charge image in a camera tube that remains for a period of a few frames after its initial...
semiconductor
A semiconductor is a type of material that has electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. In...
electric quadrupole lens
A device that uses four electrodes set in an alternating positive-negative polarity series to focus the beams of charged...
electrostatic charge
The effect produced by electrical charges or fields alone, without interaction with magnetic influence.

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