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solar Dictionary Terms

actinic
Stimulating light used for the production of energy through photosynthesis, solar cell or other light senstitive device.
bandgap
In semiconductor physics, the term bandgap refers to the energy range in a material where no electronic states are allowed....
optical air mass
A measure of the optical path length for light traveling from the sun or other celestial source through Earth's atmosphere...
solar constant of radiation
Solar radiation intensity existing in free space at the mean solar distance of the Earth. Commonly expressed in g cal...
ultraviolet reflectance
Ultraviolet reflectance refers to the ability of a material or surface to reflect UV light. Ultraviolet light is...
reflective
The term reflective is an adjective that describes the ability of a surface or material to reflect light or other forms of...
photovoltaic cell
A photovoltaic cell, commonly known as a solar cell, is a semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into...
dispersive power
A measure of the dispersive properties of a glass. The relative dispersion is defined as: where C, D, and F refer to the...
spectroheliograph
An instrument in which an image of the sun is scanned by the entrance slit of a monochromator, the exit slit simultaneously...
solar laser
A laser pumped by solar radiation focused by mirrors.
solar simulation
The simulation of solar radiation in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum for the analysis of extraterrestrial sunlight and...
Angstrom compensation pyrheliometer
A system used for measuring direct solar radiation.
optoelectronics
Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light...
zodiacal light
The sunlight that extends to the earth after scattering from other solar bodies, mostly from meteorite dust of radii...
solar furnace
An optical system that is designed to produce a high temperature in a specified area by the optical direction and...
epitaxial equipment
Epitaxial equipment refers to a set of specialized tools and systems used in the process of epitaxy, which is the growth of...
solar black
A material, such as gold black and carbon black, that is used as a solar absorber because of its high absorptance and low...
photovoltaic
Photovoltaic (PV) refers to a technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity using semiconductors. The term...
sun-tracking concentrator
Controlled beam technology that introduces beams of sunlight through holes in a roof that are relayed throughout the...
chalcogenide
Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur...
junction diode
A semiconductor device with the property of conducting current more easily in one direction than the other. It has two...
pyrheliometer
An instrument for measuring the intensity of solar radiation.
fill factor
In solar energy technology, the percent of usable land covered by collectors. The horizontal collector is the only design...
short-wave radiation
Characterizes the significant solar radiation at the surface of the earth, so named because its spectral range extends only...
mean solar time
One of two types of solar time - the other being apparent solar time - the mean solar time is the time measured by the...
quantum confinement
Quantum confinement refers to the phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the motion of charge carriers, such as electrons or...
point-focusing collector
A device used in solar systems to direct mirror-reflected sunlight to a heat absorber and heat-driven engine, which turns a...
solar absorber
A substance capable of converting solar radiation into thermal energy.
total radiation pyrometer
Also known as a pyrradiometer. An instrument that is designed to measure heat radiation nonselectively; e.g., the...
solar occultation
Measurement of absorption by the gas of interest in the 2- to 6-µm range as a function of tangent height pressure. The...
Dobson spectrophotometer
A spectrophotometer that measures the amount of ozone in the atmosphere through a comparison of solar energy at two...
III-V material
In semiconductor physics and materials science, the term "III-V materials" refers to compounds composed of elements from...
silver-disc pyrheliometer
An instrument that uses a blackened silver-disc reflector with a shutter to create temperature fluctuations that are...
solar plasma
Plasma formed by heat radiation from the sun.
exciton
An exciton is a quasiparticle that represents the bound state of an electron and a hole in a solid-state material, typically...
hydrogenated amorphous silicon
A photoreceptor material used in solar cells and in drums for laser printers and high-speed copiers because of its high...
graphene
Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal...
albedo
The ratio of radiant energy reflected from a rough surface to that incident on it. Usually, the radiant energy is total...
photodetector
A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical...
global radiation
The total radiation, both solar and diffuse sky, that is incident to a unit's horizontal surface.
coronal holes
Solar regions characterized by low density and open magnetic fields where high-speed solar wind streams originate....
antireflection coating
An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to...
Mollier diagram
Graphic evaluation of the operation of a steam thermodynamic cycle of a solar energy system on which enthalpy is plotted...
heliograph
An instrument designed to record the duration and intensity of solar radiation.
quantum efficiency
Quantum efficiency (QE) is a measure of the effectiveness with which a device or system, typically in the context of...
solar cell
A device for converting sunlight into electrical energy, consisting of a sandwich of P-type and N-type semiconducting...
antisolar point
The point to which the extension of the straight line, reaching from the sun to the observer's eye after penetrating the...
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin...
solarization
1. The reduction in the developable density of a photographic emulsion that has been extremely overexposed. 2. In a laser...
thermoelectric solar cell
A solar cell that uses a thermoelectric converter, consisting of two sheets of metal with a semiconductor sandwiched between...
Lyot filter
A type of filter consisting of a series of birefringent crystals and polarizers invented by French astronomer Bernard Lyot...
edge-defined film-fed growth
Process for growth of solar cells that results in rectangular shapes consisting of many interconnected cells in a series or...
Seebeck effect
Characteristic of dissimilar metals in thermoelectric solar cells whereby separate junctions exhibiting distinct...
coronagraph
A telescope in which a mask occults the solar disk, generating an artificial eclipse and allowing observation and recording...
solar heat storage
The process of transferring collected energy from solar radiation into a heat-absorbing medium (e.g., an insulated tank of...
solar battery
A series of solar cells arranged to collect solar radiation and to generate a given amount of electrical energy.
thin-film solar cell
A solar cell that is lightweight and flexible because of its construction by vacuum deposition of a semiconductor material...
astronomical unit
The unit generally used to express distances within the solar system, and sometimes to measure interstellar distances....
reflecting spectrograph
A solar spectrograph that uses long focus concave mirrors as its collimator and camera element.
perovskite
The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a...
reflectance estimate
The output of spectral channels written as an integral function of known solar irradiance, atmospheric transmittance and...
annular eclipse
A type of solar eclipse that occurs when the sun is at perihelion and the moon is at apogee. Because the apparent size of...
Forbush decrease
Decrease in cosmic ray activity that is observed approximately 24 hours after a solar flare, attributed to a shielding...
solar radiation
Radiation from the sun that is made up of a very wide range of wavelengths, from the long infrared to the short ultraviolet...
epitaxy
A well controlled thin films technique for growing films with good crystal structure in ultra high vacuum environments at...
spectral pyrheliometer
Any pyrheliometer that has a filter placed over its sensor to limit the range of solar radiation it will detect; used to...
solar array
A group of solar cells that are electrically contacted and physically arranged so that they may be oriented in the direction...
solar wind
The constant outward flow of weakly magnetized plasma from the sun that is deflected by the magnetic field of the earth and,...
indium phosphide
Indium phosphide (InP) is a compound semiconductor material composed of indium (In) and phosphorus (P). It belongs to the...
short-arc lamp
A compact high-pressure light source in which an electrical discharge between electrodes spaced no more than 12 mm apart...

(70 results found)

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