A Laurent polarimeter is an instrument used in optics for measuring the rotation of plane-polarized light caused by optically active substances. Optical rotation, also known as optical activity, is a property of certain materials (like chiral...

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

An optical element having two principal axes, slow and fast, that resolve an incident polarized beam into two mutually...

A camera system used to form a high-precision hologram of the subject on a photographic plate. It contains a high-power...

A quarter- or half-wave retarder made from two plates of quartz, mica or polymer with their fast axes crossed; the...

An image intensifier tube in which the photocathode and the output of the microchannel plate are proximity-focused on the...

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nanolithography technique used for fabricating nanoscale patterns on a substrate. It is a...

An early form of photographic media consisting of glass plates coated with an emulsion.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a laboratory technique used to detect and measure the presence of specific...

A photomask, also known simply as a mask or reticle, is a key component in the photolithography process used in...

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

A photon-counting instrument for use in both space-borne and ground-based photometric and spectroscopic instrumentation....

A nanotube, also known as a nanotubule or simply a tube-like structure, is a nanoscale cylindrical structure composed of...

A spectrometer equipped with polarizing prisms and retardation plates that is used in the analysis of elliptically polarized...

An X-Y electrically addressable series of arrays with individual electron emitters bombarding a phosphor-coated transparent...

An optical element designed to correct each zone of a reflector or refractor for spherical aberration.

A vacuum tube with an electron gun at one end and a fluorescent screen at the other. Electrons emitted from a heated...

An instrument in which an image of the sun is scanned by the entrance slit of a monochromator, the exit slit simultaneously...

In vitro is a Latin term that translates to "in glass." In scientific contexts, particularly in biology and medicine, it...

A tool made by imbedding small particles of diamond in the working edge. In the optical field, the most commonly used...

Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the...

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

A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It...

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

A semicircular, half-wave quartz plate between the polarizer and analyzer. It often is used in forming precision settings...

The interferometric analysis of a complex object by utilizing the three-dimensional hologram. By causing a laser beam to...

The technique of producing spectrograms in wavelengths beyond 120 nm by the use of a diffraction grating and a Schumann...

A nonlinear crystal used to modulate a polarized beam of light by means of the Pockels effect. A Pockels cell is used as a...

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

An aspheric plate placed at, or near, the center of curvature of a spherical reflector and used to correct for spherical...

Piezoelectric transducers are devices that utilize the piezoelectric effect to convert electrical energy into mechanical...

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

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

A machine vision technique that compares a template of the desired image (the correlation kernel) with the actual camera...

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

A term for the ring-shaped stop in a phase contrast microscope. The phase annulus limits the amount of light that reaches...

A device that uses electromagnetic fields to separate electrically charged particles according to their masses. As a beam of...

A mounting used for large concave gratings, whereby the slit, grating and plate holder lie in the Rowland circle, and the...

A system used for gratings that consists of a concave mirror, a grating and a plate holder mounted normal to the grating to...

A traveling microscope or an automatic microdensitometer used to measure the spectrum plate obtained in a spectrograph.

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

A camera that consists of a concave spherical mirror with an aspheric plate situated at the center of curvature of the...

Any crystalline material whose length is much less than its measured diameter.

Fine lines, wires or threads used in the focal plane of many optical instruments to point out and locate particular objects...

Custom lapping and polishing services involve specialized processes used to improve the surface finish and dimensional...

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

A hologram in which the image of an object, or the object itself, is located near the hologram recording plane, for optimum...

A structure consisting of a thin film of liquid crystal sandwiched between light-polarizing filters that have received a...

A specific type of photographic plate designed with only a small amount of gelatin to function in the extreme ultraviolet...

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

Plates of glass containing as many heavy metal oxides as can be dissolved in the glass without causing devitrification. The...

A device to modulate spatially a collimated coherent beam of light with input data in optical data processing. It uses a...

An absorbing coating medium between fibers, used in some fused fiber optic plates to absorb unwanted light. Such coatings...

In photography, the layer of light-sensitive material (usually a suspension of silver halide crystals) that coats the film...

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

A double-plate device used to transmit polarized light and form interference fringes of the light, thus indicating its...

An instrument that contains a spectrograph with a grating in which an array of slits, in place of a photographic plate, is...

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

A crystalline-quartz plate designed according to specifications but having its two major faces parallel.

A type of flat panel display made up of a layer of gas between two glass plates. The glass is coated with parallel...

Also known as clear glass or clear filter. The clear glass plate is used to simulate a filter, in converging or diverging...

An interference pattern that is recorded on a high-resolution plate, the two interfering beams formed by a coherent beam...

The perpendicular orientation of the molecular axes of the nematic molecules in a nematic crystal, relative to the electrode...

The fringes used in the Jamin interferometer and produced by light that has been internally and externally reflected by two...

An instrument used to measure the coordinates of a point on an object such as a photographic plate.

A chart, either printed on paper or prepared photographically on glass plates or film, that consists of 3-bar resolution...

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

A high-resolution spectroscopic device commonly used in the early 20th century as a component of double-beam...

A mechanism in a camera designed to position the film in the focal plane for exposure.

An accurate metal prism or plane parallel plate that is cemented to an optical element and remains with it during a series...

A form of photometric measurement, often used with light sources that are transparent or fluctuating, in which a...

A piece of glass polished flat on one side, with a pair of polished faces that form an angle close to 180° on the other...

An optical test table made up of two outer layers or "skins'' bonded to either side of a honeycomblike core, usually of...

A plate consisting of fused optical fibers with both surfaces ground and polished, and having the entrance surface curved to...

A holographic plate coated by photopolymeric mixtures that are composed of one or more monomers and a photoredox catalyst...

A filter that transmits light in a series of sharp, widely spaced wavelength bands by its sandwich construction of...

An image affixed to a transparent photographic film or plate by photographic, printing or chemical methods. It may be viewed...

A superposition of many zone plates, each reconstructing a real and virtual point image at the appropriate locations upon...

A polished plano-parallel plate that is contacted to an unpolished glass surface to permit see-through analysis of the...

The capacitance of a capacitor which has a potential difference of one volt between its plates when it is charged by one...

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

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

A device used to create a light output that exceeds light input, the energy being provided by an electric field. It consists...

A technique used to create an achromatic phase shift based on the principle of geometric phase. The phase shift is...

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

A hologram formed by the recording of a plane object situated in the focal plane of a lens so that each object gives rise to...

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

A support for optical parts comprising a solid bed that permits precise longitudinal movement of one component relative to...

A cement used to reduce crosstalk in fiber optic bundles or plates.

The process whereby a rotating wheel carries grains of an abrasive, suspended in a vehicle, across the surface of the...

A pair of waveguides with axes normal to the plane and that guide uniform cylindrical waves.

A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A neutral-colored gelatin wedge, cast between glass plates, that is used as an intensity scale in certain types of...

A fiber optic end plate constructed by drawing a bundle of parallel fibers embedded in glass and cutting it into thin...

The production of a block by attaching the optical elements to a plate by means of individual buttons of pitch or other...

1. A thin parallel plate of material that transmits in the infrared region. See infrared optical material. 2. A spectral...

A lens system that is capable of producing a 360° image, or one that is very close to that. In recording, the image may...

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

Phase contrast microscopy is an optical microscopy technique that enhances the contrast of transparent and colorless...

The parallel orientation of the molecular axes of the nematic molecules in a nematic crystal, relative to the electrode...

Birefringence is an optical property of certain materials that causes them to exhibit different refractive indices for light...

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

Two flat parallel electrodes that are vertically mounted alongside each other in a cathode-ray tube and produce horizontal...

A vortex phase plate is an optical device designed to impart a phase singularity, commonly referred to as a vortex or phase...

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

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

A metal coil or coils wrapped around the outside of the neck of a cathode-ray tube. Current passing through the coils...

A surface heat-treating process that produces a highly stressed surface. In case-hardening of glass, a plate of glass is...

1. A polariscope consisting of a Savart plate and a tourmaline plate analyzer, and used to produce parallel color fringes by...

The three-dimensional interference pattern of fringes that is recorded on a holographic plate to facilitate the study of a...

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

A direct reading spectrograph having a photomultiplier assembly in place of a photographic plate. The output from the...

1. In a cathode-ray tube, the glow surrounding a bright spot that appears on the fluorescent screen as the result of the...

A collector for photovoltaic power generation that consists of a thin plate that strongly absorbs sunlight striking its...

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

The series of processes used to identify and evaluate crystal structure by using crystalline solids to diffract x-rays. In...

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

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

1. Generally, an emulsion mask having a clean annular region in an otherwise opaque region. It is designed to eliminate...

Equipment for testing an observer's color vision. Some tests require the identification or ordering of colored samples. The...

A transparent lead-lanthanum zirconate titanate ceramic with optical qualities that can be controlled by applying voltages...

Also known as constant angle or constant deviation fringes. The interference fringes observed with dense flat plates near...

A plate of glass in which a face has been frosted by grinding or etching. It diffuses light by scattering in directions...

A method of measuring microbending losses in optical fiber by sandwiching a length of fiber between two parallel plates,...

A Michelson-type interference microscope used to produce interference patterns of reflective specimens through the...

Observed phenomenon of a small developed image with higher density than a larger image because of variation in photographic...

A plate of electro-optical material that serves to rotate the plane of polarization of a light beam.

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

A plate containing a uniform pattern of transparent holes in an opaque background, the clear area being nearly equal to the...

One surface of a nonconducting plate that is coated with many minute particles of photoemissive material that are insulated...

Any optical device that utilizes diffraction in an image-forming capability. Familiar diffractive lenses are zone plates,...

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

A machine vision technique of image correlation whereby the correlation kernel (template of the desired image) is...

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

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

Also known as gatling gun laser. A system that has an array of lasers sharing a common central axis on a rotating Fabry...

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

A transmission interference microscope that produces interference patterns of a sample by using birefringent plates that...

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

The photographic image of a thin specimen having a radioactive isotope that, formed through contact between the specimen and...

Also known as HCS, an analytical method designed to collect statistically relevant amounts of quantitative data on many...

The multiple beam form of Brewster's fringes formed when the two plane-parallel plates have high-reflecting surfaces.

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

A rotating plate containing two or more lenses to provide a rapid interchange.

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

An extensometer used to measure deformations in the thickness of a plate caused by tension, compression or other stress.

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

A flat plate having its surface formed into a random pattern by abrasives. Radiation wavelengths that are longer than the...

The formation of a block by attaching optical elements to a plate with a ring of pitch or other thermoplastic material.

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

Device that uses a coherent reference wave to record the interference patterns produced by incident ultrasonic waves on an...

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

1. A group of optical fibers that are fused and then treated to produce a vacuum-tight optical fiber cone or plate. 2. An...

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

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

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

A memory system composed of a stack of holographic plates, a mode-locked laser and a rapid detector array. Ultrashort laser...

A parallel plate of glass in such a position that the refracted and reflected rays of incident parallel light are mutually...

A type of compensator for use with a microscope and consisting of a quarter-wave plate in a fixed position and a rotatable...