Photonics Dictionary: B

In the optical field, a piece of glass to which a lens or prism is cemented. The unit is ground and polished as a whole to obtain a sharp edge on the finished piece.

The law given by the formula: that is, the frequency of radiation emitted or absorbed by a system when E2 and E1 are the energies of the states among which transition takes place, and h is...

A bolometer that serves to record. The photographic record formed by the bolometer may be called bolograph or bologram.

A thermometric instrument used for the detection and measurement of radiant energy. Its essential component is a short narrow strip covered with a dead black absorbing coating and mounted at the...

A constant equal to the universal gas constant divided by the Avogadro number. It is approximately equal to 1.38 x 10-23 J/K and is commonly expressed by the symbol k.

An instrument that determines, or allows a bombardier to determine, the point in the plane's line of flight at which a bomb must be released to hit a specified target.

The central hole running the full length of a laser capillary tube, in which electrical discharge and laser action take place. Also a similar hole in a hollow waveguide or a microchannel plate.

A device for the internal inspection of hard-to-get-at mechanical parts, such as rifle barrels, sewer pipes, oil wells, or gas mains. The long narrow tube used contains a telescope system with as...

The alignment process that makes the optical axes of two related systems parallel to each other. Also, making the optical axis parallel to a related weapon system axis.

A strong, heat-resistant glass that contains a minimum of 5 percent boric oxide.

A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that forms at temperatures close to absolute zero. It is named after Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein, who independently predicted the...

1. A group of optical fibers that are fused and then treated to produce a vacuum-tight optical fiber cone or plate. 2. An artificial crystal in its raw state, after generation but prior to cutting or...

In optical character recognition, an intermediate step between character location and feature extraction.

A polishing machine in which the rouge slurry is contained in a bowl and is constantly diverted mechanically so that it flows over the work.

The simplest, most inexpensive type of camera, which is shaped as an oblong or square box, containing the simplest lens, shutter and viewfinder, as well as the most elementary means of registering...

An instrument for detecting and analyzing repetitive signals. Using a fixed time delay or "gate," the input signal is sampled numerous times and averaged to increase the ratio of the...

A camera system for recording lightning.

A compound prism composed of two 30° prisms, one of which is partially coated with a suitable opaque metal of high reflecting power. The prisms are cemented with Canada balsam so that the coated...

A spectrophotometer having a pair of identical collimators with two Glan polarizing prisms, one fixed in azimuth and the other rotatable, set in one collimator. A Brace prism serves as the dispersive...

In photography, the technique of taking multiple pictures of the same subject at different exposures to compensate for exposure miscalculations. Automatic bracketing is a feature on some cameras.

A filter that separates light into many colors via Bragg's law. Generally refers to a fiber Bragg grating used in optical communications to separate wavelengths.

A technique in which a beam of x-rays is directed against a crystal, the atoms of which, because of their lattice arrangement, reflect the ray in the same way as a series of plane surfaces. If the...

The scattering of x-rays by the regularly spaced atoms in a crystal. The angle at which the reflection occurs is known as the Bragg angle.

The law expressing the condition under which a crystal will reflect a beam of x-rays with the greatest amount of distinction or resolution and, at the same time, denoting the angle at which the...

A sheet of thin brass, one edge of which has been accurately cut to a known and marked circular radius. It is used to check the radius of curvature of a rough-ground lens by contact.

One of the constants h, k, f or I, used to demonstrate any set of parallel planes in a crystal of the hexagonal system.

An experimental model of an electrical circuit or complex assembly; a prototype.

The point at which decreasing current supplied to a laser results in the extinguishing of the laser discharge.

In avalanche photodiodes, the point at which an increase in the reverse bias voltage causes the current gain to approach infinity.

A breakout cable, also known as a fan-out cable or breakout assembly, is a type of cable that combines multiple individual cables into a single, larger cable. The breakout cable is designed to...

Theoretical calculation of the cross section for a nuclear reaction given in the vicinity of a single resonance level in the compound nucleus.

Electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by an electron as it is accelerated or decelerated while moving through the electric field of an ion.

A parallel plate of glass in such a position that the refracted and reflected rays of incident parallel light are mutually perpendicular. In this situation the reflected light is plane polarized, and...

For light incident on a plane boundary between two regions having different refractive indices, the angle of incidence at which the reflectance is zero for light that has its electrical field vector...

The fringes used in the Jamin interferometer and produced by light that has been internally and externally reflected by two plane-parallel plates, inclined toward each other at a small angle.