Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is an advanced fluorescence microscopy technique that leverages the principle of total internal reflection to selectively illuminate and image a thin section of a specimen near the interface...

A high-quality focuser that uses rollers rather than gears and offers smooth, precise motion while reducing or eliminating...

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

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

A lens consisting of two or more elements, usually of crown and flint glass, that has been corrected for chromatic...

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

The procedure by which the similarity of an optical signal or waveform to a reference-stored signal or waveform is...

The process of reducing the size of an image by removing a certain proportion of the samples produced from the original...

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...

The deposition of a metallic coating, usually nickel, on a component by chemical means rather than by electroplating; the...

Laser lithotripsy is a medical procedure that uses laser energy to break down or fragment stones in various parts of the...

Vision at intermediate levels of luminance between photopic and scotopic vision, where both retinal cones and retinal rods...

A breakout cable, also known as a fan-out cable or breakout assembly, is a type of cable that combines multiple individual...

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

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

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

A scanning probe microscope that analyzes the surface of a specimen by recording the intensity of light as it is focused...

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

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

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

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

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The...

An optical diffuser is an optical component or material designed to scatter or diffuse light that passes through it. It is...

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

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

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

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

An alexandrite laser is a solid-state laser that utilizes a synthetic crystal made from the rare earth element alexandrite...

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

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology that is used to convert printed or handwritten text into...

The adjustable membrane located just in front of the crystalline lens within the eye. The iris gives the eye its color. See...

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...

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

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

A photometer having a pair of Nicol prisms introduced into the beam from the brighter of two sources to be compared. Turning...

A blue diode laser is a type of semiconductor laser that emits light in the blue wavelength range of the electromagnetic...

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

One optical element of a multielement lens. See optical element.

An object that has a sinusoidal variation of luminance. Its image will have a sinusoidal variation of illuminance and the...

The distance from the final optic within a system to the rear image point of the system. See focal length.

The chromatic resolving power of a prism is invariably stated for the case in which parallel rays of light are incident on...

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) is a medical treatment approach that combines elements of phototherapy and immunotherapy to target...

A quantum of electromagnetic energy of a single mode; i.e., a single wavelength, direction and polarization. As a unit of...

An interferometric method for describing the surface shape of large coated or uncoated optical flats. The procedure uses a...

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

Designating any instrument in which both eyes can be used to view the image to achieve a stereoscopic effect, or merely to...

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

The formation of microimages for microreduction. The technique is used, for example, in the production of precision reticles...

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

Literally, neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet. A cylindrical rod of yttrium-aluminum-garnet doped with neodymium that is the...

The physical length of the light path in a substance divided by the refractive index of that substance. See also equivalent...

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

A device that acquires a signal and then stores it for a specified period of time before processing, and used, for example,...

A step-by-step method of reducing the amount of data in a digital video signal to transmit or store a high-quality image....

An avalanche photodiode in which the light-absorbing area is a low-bandgap material and the PN junction is placed in an area...

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

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

Fusion ignition refers to the point in a controlled nuclear fusion reaction where the energy released by the fusion...

The process of microphotography that involves the reduction of the original at a ratio greater than 100 to 1. The process is...

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

An EMCCD (electron-multiplying charge-coupled device) camera is a type of scientific camera specifically designed for...

An automatic camera that can record reduced images of documents at a rate of up to 30,000 documents per hour by having the...

A magnon is a quasiparticle representing a quantized spin wave in a magnetic material. In other words, it is a collective...

The term quantum refers to the fundamental unit or discrete amount of a physical quantity involved in interactions at the...

In a fiber optic cable, the longitudinal length required for the transmission media, wrapped around a central member, to...

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

Photobleaching is a phenomenon in which the fluorescence of a fluorophore (a fluorescent molecule or dye) is permanently...

The decrease of a component's efficiency, or a reduction in a material's light sensitivity, as the result of accumulated...

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

Coded image obtained optically with a nonredundant pinhole array imaging aperture.

In an optical system, the gradual reduction of image illuminance as the off-axis angle increases, resulting from limitations...

Epitaxial refers to the growth of a crystalline layer on a crystalline substrate in such a way that the orientation of the...

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

Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is a technique used in photon counting applications, particularly in the...

Ultraviolet reflectance refers to the ability of a material or surface to reflect UV light. Ultraviolet light is...

1. Attribute of a visual sensation that permits a judgment to be made of the amount of pure chromatic color present. 2. The...

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

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

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

The area of optics in which the wave nature of a particle is exploited to carry out very accurate interferometry and other...

Prediction based on observations of nuclear masses in the valley of stability that indicates the maximum number of electrons...

When a block of glass (prism, window, filter, etc.) is placed into a converging light bundle, it increases the physical...

Quantum efficiency (QE) is a measure of the effectiveness with which a device or system, typically in the context of...

An apochromat, often referred to as an apochromatic lens or apochromatic objective, is a type of optical system designed to...

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

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

An endoscope is a medical device used for visualizing and examining the interior of hollow organs, body cavities, or...

A coherent fiber optic bundle made from fibers whose diameter changes gradually along its length. Used to magnify or reduce...

The degree to which a pixel in a digital image represents the analog brightness of the corresponding point in the original...

Autofluorescence refers to the natural emission of fluorescence exhibited by certain biological structures or molecules when...

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

Digital signal processing (DSP) refers to the manipulation and analysis of signals, which are representations of physical...

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

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

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

Not spherical; an optical element having one or more surfaces that are not spherical. The spherical surface of a lens may be...

A solid-state laser is a type of laser that uses a solid gain medium (as opposed to a liquid or gas) to produce coherent...

A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing and quantum information...

The use of a variable transmission filter at the aperture stop of a lens to modify its diffraction pattern. Reduced...

Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a...

A grating beamsplitter is an optical device that utilizes the principles of diffraction to split a beam of light into...

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

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

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

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that integrates digital information, typically in the form of computer-generated...

Dichroism refers to the property of certain materials to exhibit different colors or absorbance of light depending on the...

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

A method of spectral analysis in which some property of the sample is varied and the corresponding change is measured. The...

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

An otoscope is a medical device used by healthcare professionals, particularly ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists,...

A countermeasure used against heat seeking missiles to reduce their effectiveness. Normally it involves the emittance of...

Equipment that supports microscopic live-cell imaging by managing the gas, media perfusion, temperature and other factors to...

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

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

Spherical or chromatic aberration in a lens having a wide aperture. It is present because the refracting power varies for...

The multiple storage of a single image.

The formation of transistors, diodes, capacitors, resistors and other electronic elements directly on a flake of silicon by...

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

A lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or...

A technique used to suppress extreme noise amplification during digital image reconstruction that relies on smoothing and...

A surgical device used to deliver laser light. Specifically,contact tips are made with artificially grown sapphire which is...

Gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes (GaN-based LEDs) are semiconductor devices that emit light when an electric...

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

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

An opaque projector is a device used for enlarging and projecting images from opaque objects such as printed pages,...

An optical instrument used to isolate a narrow bandwidth of optical radiation using a diffraction grating as the dispersive...

Optical elements that use diffraction to control wavefronts. Diffractive optical elements include diffraction gratings,...

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

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment or experience that can be...

The area closest to an aperture or source where the diffraction pattern differs substantially from that observed at an...

Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain...

State typically studied in liquid crystals in which the dielectric coefficient parallel to the director is less than the...

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

The use of photographic recording equipment to measure radiant energy. With this procedure, many measurements of radiant...

E.I. duPont's trade name for a polyester film. The most practical beamsplitter for use beyond the 15-µm wavelength...

A cloud chamber designed to maintain the gas within it at a high pressure as a means of reducing the range of the...

The surface curvature designed to reduce the marginal error found in the periphery of a spectacle lens.

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

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

Two simple meniscus lenses arranged symmetrically on either side of the aperture stop, providing reduced coma, lateral color...

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

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

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

A device used to maintain near-absolute temperatures for experimental procedures.

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

A specific type of filter designed to reduce the amount of light scattered by reflections from the edges of optical...

A strip or annulus of glass coated with a semitransparent material such as inconel. The coating thickness, and as a result...

Filtering procedures aimed at estimating the original image by removing the blurring and noise suppression that occur during...

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

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

A plane-parallel interferometer that yields extremely high contrast over a wide range of finesse values without...

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

In optical emission spectroscopy, the reduction in radiant power in the central portion of spectral lines arising from the...

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

The thin, transparent film made up of specific substances applied to glass-air surfaces for the purpose of decreasing the...

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

A digital camera is a device that captures and records still images or video in digital format. Unlike traditional film...

The methods and techniques used to obtain medical photographs of the human eye. To photograph the exterior of the eye,...

A molecule that has the ability to chemically combine with other molecules to form a polymer, hence being capable of being...

A hydrogel is a three-dimensional network of polymer chains that are hydrophilic, meaning they have a strong affinity for...

A CCD that has been reduced in thickness by etching so that light passes through the back layers of the CCD. This type of...

Automated optical inspection (AOI) is a technology used in manufacturing processes, particularly in electronics, to...

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

A photovoltaic cell, commonly known as a solar cell, is a semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into...

The condition in which there are more atomic systems in the upper of two energy levels than in the lower, so stimulated...

Photovoltaic (PV) refers to a technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity using semiconductors. The term...

An absorption peak refers to a sharp increase or spike in the absorption of electromagnetic radiation at a particular...

The process of aligning the crystallites in a piezoelectric material by placing a large DC field across the element at an...

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

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

An instrument designed for laser technology that is used to extract single pulses from the laser and transmit a portion of...

1. An instrument used to determine the visual range in an environment. 2. A type of photometer that artificially reduces an...

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

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

A vacuum pump in which pressure is reduced by condensing gases on surfaces cryogenically cooled to about 20 K (liquid...

The diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasonic energy to probe the body and, with the help of laser beams, a reflecting...

A CMOS image sensor, short for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, is a type of semiconductor device used...

Filoviruses are a family of viruses that are responsible for severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fevers in humans and...

STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence...

Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays passing through a lens or curved optical surface...

1. The reduction in the developable density of a photographic emulsion that has been extremely overexposed. 2. In a laser...

The term reflective is an adjective that describes the ability of a surface or material to reflect light or other forms of...

An organizational method used in optical design computer programs. The technique produces one number (merit function) to...

The entrance slit, also known simply as the slit, is an essential component in optical instruments such as spectrometers and...

Wavelengths between 400 and 1400 nm (VIS to NIR) are focused onto the retina by the cornea. Because the retina is sensitive...

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

Gram-positive bacteria are a group of bacteria that have a thick cell wall composed primarily of a substance called...

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

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

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

In chemistry, the addition of an inert substance to reduce the concentration of a species. In colorimetry, addition of white...

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

Optical elements that have been coated with one or more layers of dielectric, or metallic material. These coatings serve to...

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

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

Sparkling granular pattern that is observed when an object diffusely reflects coincident laser light. Speckle appears as an...

Laser surgery refers to a medical procedure in which a laser, or focused beam of light, is used as a precision tool to cut,...

That process by which radiation spontaneously emitted by a volume of optical materials is resonantly reabsorbed within the...

A coating applied to a neutral density glass that is designed to reduce the amount of light evenly across the transmitted...

Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its...

A soft, malleable, stable rare-earth element. Holmium laser systems are used in surgical procedures involving the cutting...

A standard for fiber optic data transmission systems being developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and...

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

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or...

A straight line, real or imaginary, passing through a body and indicating its center; a line so positioned that various...

A gas, such as oxygen, that improves the speed and efficiency of a laser cutter or welder when applied to the work surface,...

Design and engineering consulting services refer to professional services provided by specialized firms or individuals to...

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

Excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) refers to a medical procedure used in the treatment of coronary artery disease....

The term gradient-index profile refers to a specific type of refractive index distribution within an optical material. In...

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

Spectral flow cytometry is an advanced flow cytometry technique that expands the capabilities of traditional flow cytometry...

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

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

Brillouin scattering is a phenomenon in physics where an incident electromagnetic wave (usually light) interacts with...

A halogen lamp, also known as a tungsten halogen, quartz-halogen, or quartz iodine lamp, is an incandescent lamp that uses a...

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

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each...

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

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

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

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

The axes of symmetry in a crystal structure. See also biaxial crystal; uniaxial crystal.

Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves...

The total optical power loss caused by the insertion of an optical component such as a connector, splice or coupler into a...

An imaging technique used in radiology that is based on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to produce...

An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet laser that emits short pulses of light in the ultraviolet spectrum. The term...

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

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

A method of reducing dark current in charge-coupled devices by holding all the clocks at negative voltage during the...

Gram-negative bacteria are a group of bacteria that possess a cell envelope composed of a thin layer of peptidoglycan...

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

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

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

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

A double meniscus system in which two achromatized meniscus lenses are arranged symmetrically on either side of the aperture...

Cold atoms refer to atoms that have been cooled to extremely low temperatures, typically in the microkelvin (µK) to...

An alteration in magnification from the center of the field to any point in the field, measured in a radial direction from...

An Er:YAG laser is a type of solid-state laser that uses a crystal made of erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet...

A coherent fiber bundle (CFB), also known as a coherent fiber optic bundle, is an assembly of multiple optical fibers...

Medical lasers are devices that produce intense beams of light with specific characteristics and properties, which are used...

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

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

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a miniaturized device that integrates various laboratory functions and capabilities onto a single,...

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

An electronic transducer, either fixed or adjustable, that reduces the amplitude of a wave without causing significant...

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

Integrated photonics is a field of study and technology that involves the integration of optical components, such as lasers,...

The range of frequencies over which a particular instrument is designed to function within specified limits. See also fiber...

Optical elements, often created by micromachining, lithography or vacuum deposition, that rely on diffraction of the...

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

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

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

Dewetting is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where a thin film or coating spontaneously undergoes a process of...

A camera used to reduce originals onto film for easy storage. There are two basic types: one in which the film is fixed...

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

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

Typically represented by the Greek letter μ, magnetic permeability is the measure of a material's ability to generate and...

The direct cladding used for fused silica cores to create large numerical aperture fibers and used as overcoats to...

In optics, "mode beating" refers to an interference phenomenon that can occur in laser systems with multiple longitudinal...

Chip-on-board (COB) lights refer to a type of LED lighting technology where multiple LED chips are directly mounted onto a...

Quantum-enhanced metrology refers to the use of quantum mechanics principles and techniques to enhance the precision and...

A microdisplay is a miniature electronic display technology that is designed to project visual information onto a small...

Chemical vapor deposition is a process of applying dopants to a glass bait by flame reactions of gaseous compounds. See also...

The use of the photographic process to produce precision copies of an original image that are many times smaller in size....

The pressure in the gas region of an x-ray tube that has been reduced below 0.1 mm, the pressure necessary for the tube.

An opaque shielding device designed to reduce the effect of stray light on an optical system.

A photometer that uses a wedge, marked to show its reduction of flux density, to make two light sources equal in intensity...

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

A type of exposure meter that artificially reduces the light admitted in a sequence of known fractions until a value is...

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

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

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

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

Diffuse stray light at the image plane of an optical system that results in reduced contrast and resolution.

The addition to the information signal in communications of redundant bits that enable the originally encoded message to be...

Camera Link HS (high speed) is a standard developed for high-speed digital data transmission in machine vision and...

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...

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

Lens aberration resulting in image size variation as a function of wavelength. See also chromatic aberration.

A reagent is a substance or compound that is used in a chemical reaction to bring about a specific transformation or to...

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

A camera copying system that can reduce originals onto 35- or 16-mm film for easy storage.

Two essential pieces of equipment used in connection with the microfilming process: a camera capable of producing, on film,...

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

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

In digital image processing, a method of convolution that reduces random noise by replacing the value of each pixel with the...

Quantum confinement refers to the phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the motion of charge carriers, such as electrons or...

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

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

A machine vision system is an integrated combination of hardware and software components designed to capture, process, and...

The term half bandwidth (HBW) generally refers to the width of a spectral band or frequency range at half of its maximum...

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

A defect in infrared systems that appears as a dark circular area on a displayed image, caused by radiation reflecting into...

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

A physical stop that is conjugate to the entrance pupil and is used primarily to reduce diffraction effects at longer...

A form of high-power microscope objective where the space between the object and the first element is filled with an oil...

Technique that uses high-pass filtering to reduce the local average to zero for all regions of the picture and then applies...

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

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

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

Oleophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or resist oils. The word oleophobic comes from the...

A lens having an extremely high aperture and used in the recording of x-ray fluorescent screen images. It often is specially...

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

A weight reducing method whereby material from the rear of a reflector is removed leaving a pattern of ribs normal to the...

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

A statistical analysis of facts obtained when the intensity of x-ray diffraction is calculated at different angles. In this...

Phototherapy is a medical treatment that involves the use of light to treat various conditions, particularly those related...

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

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

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by the presence of suspended particles. These...

Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies...

Method for reducing laser speckle in which the object field comes from a real diffuse object or the reconstructed object...

A cine camera that exposes a series of individual frames to record the changes in a subject that slowly alters with time....

Flow chemistry, also known as continuous-flow chemistry, is a chemical manufacturing process where reactions take place in a...

A measurement technique used to determine the spatial distribution profile of an electrical or optical quantity of interest...

Ultrasonic refers to sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing, typically above...

Rare earth dopants refer to elements from the lanthanide series, also known as rare earth elements, that are intentionally...

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

A surgical procedure for correcting vision by reshaping the outer surface of the cornea through the use of a laser system.

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

The angle formed between a refracted ray and the normal to the surface. This angle lies in a common plane with the angle of...

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

A form of microfiche that has an information reduction ratio that is greater than 100 to 1.

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

A laser that generates a succession of pulses at a high enough repetition rate to appear continuous. The pump source is...

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

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

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

Means of correcting laser postweld shift. The correction procedure is applied to optoelectronic systems such as laser diode...

Phototheranostics, a portmanteau of "photo" (light), "therapy," and "diagnostics," refers to an emerging field that combines...

Aplanatic points refer to specific points in an optical system where certain aberrations, such as spherical aberration or...

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

Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the manipulation and control of very small fluid volumes, typically...

A common aberration in lenses covering large fields of view; it results in images of objects near the edge of the field...

Any instrument or system carried by a balloon to the upper atmosphere to measure and record atmospheric information, such as...

A law that uses the square of the cosine between the plane of polarization of a beam of plane-polarized light and the plane...

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

A general term referring to the situation in which an image is not a true-to-scale reproduction of an object. The term also...

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

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

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

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

Optical aberration such that image magnification varies with ray distance from the optical axis in a radial distortion.

1. An eyepiece or magnifier with a scale at its image plane. That scale is placed in contact with an object, permitting...

An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy due to an electric arc — a continuous, high-current discharge of...

A lens composed of two or more separate elements of optical glass that may or may not be cemented together. The surfaces of...

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor...

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

To reduce the size of a lens aperture, which increases the depth of field.

A technique for reducing data processing requirements by electronically defining only a small portion of the image to be...