Photonics Dictionary

Computer hardware or firmware that accesses character patterns stored in read-only memory and displays them at specific coordinates on a screen.

A charge-injection device (CID) refers to a class of devices that manipulate and detect electrical charge within a semiconductor material. Charge-coupled devices are a specific implementation of this...

Chemical sensing refers to the detection and measurement of specific chemical compounds or substances in various environments or samples. It involves the use of sensors or analytical techniques to...

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment refers to a class of specialized apparatus used in the process of chemical vapor deposition, a technique for depositing thin films of various materials onto...

Chip-on-board (COB) lights refer to a type of LED lighting technology where multiple LED chips are directly mounted onto a substrate, typically a printed circuit board (PCB), without the need for...

Chirality is a property of certain molecules and objects in which they are non-superimposable on their mirror images. In other words, a chiral object or molecule cannot be exactly superimposed onto...

Chirped mirrors are optical devices designed to manipulate the spectral properties of ultrashort laser pulses. They consist of multiple layers of dielectric coatings deposited on a substrate, where...

A transparent powdered solid immersed in a liquid or plastic of similar refractive index but widely different dispersion; used to isolate narrow spectral regions.

Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a lens or optical system, leading to a failure to focus all colors to the same...

The difference between any color and a reference color having equal luminance and a specified chromaticity.

CID, or charge injection device, camera refers to a type of imaging device that utilizes a specific kind of solid-state image sensor technology. CID cameras are capable of capturing images in a...

Spectral power distribution representing a standard source of illumination, which may be real or hypothetical.

Standard light source representative of the quality of specified natural or artificial illumination.

Methodology for specifying color based on the CIE sources, observers, and coordinate system.

Cinematography performed with the use of a microscope to film the actions of microscopic specimens.

Circular dichroism (CD) is a spectroscopic technique used to study the structural characteristics of chiral (asymmetric) molecules, particularly biomolecules like proteins, nucleic acids, and certain...

Circular-ranging optical coherence tomography (CR-OCT) is a specialized imaging technique used in medical diagnostics and research to obtain high-resolution cross-sectional images of biological...

A mechanism or device, especially a coating with a refractive index equal to or slightly greater than that of an optical fiber's cladding, that removes modes propagating through the cladding by...

An area in which airborne particulates can be monitored and controlled so that given size particles do not exceed a specified concentration, thereby eliminating potential dysfunctions in gyroscopes,...

A CMOS camera refers to an imaging device that employs a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to capture digital images. CMOS cameras have become ubiquitous due to their low...

That length over which energy in two separate waves remains constant. With respect to a laser, the greatest distance between two arms of an interferometric system for which sufficient interferometric...

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser produces an optical wave that is modulated in amplitude, phase or frequency by...

A coherent fiber bundle (CFB), also known as a coherent fiber optic bundle, is an assembly of multiple optical fibers arranged in a specific geometric pattern to maintain the spatial coherence of...

Cold atoms refer to atoms that have been cooled to extremely low temperatures, typically in the microkelvin (µK) to nanokelvin (nK) range, close to absolute zero (0 Kelvin or -273.15°C). At...

Deformation of a material caused by mechanical factors, especially constant pressure, and not attributable to thermal effects.

1. The process of aligning the optical axes of optical systems to the reference mechanical axes or surfaces of an instrument. 2. The adjustment of two or more optical axes with respect to each other....

The broadening of spectral lines due to the collision of radiating particles with one another and the resulting interruption of the radiative process.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are nanometer-sized semiconductor particles that are dispersed in a colloidal solution. These quantum dots have unique optical and electronic properties due to their...

The attribute of visual experience that can be described as having quantitatively specifiable dimensions of hue, saturation, and brightness or lightness. The visual experience, not including aspects...

A test used to measure the degree of fading of different colored materials, especially those involving organic dyes, which tend to fade when exposed to bright sunlight, to a damp atmosphere or to...

A color center, in the context of materials science and condensed matter physics, refers to a specific type of crystallographic defect in a crystalline structure that introduces color to the...

An early graphic scheme of colors in which saturated spectral colors are plotted around the circumference of a circle. Complementary colors face each other across the circle's diameter.

Condition in which two stimuli appear to match in color to a specified observer, or in which two objects appear to match in color to a specified observer when illuminated by a specified source.

The entire range of colors a specific color model can produce, represented as a three-dimensional solid.

Color vision refers to the ability of organisms to perceive and distinguish different wavelengths of light as different colors. It is a sensory ability that allows humans and many other animals to...

A type of compound microscope that uses three visible wavelengths to translate details produced by invisible radiation.

A colorimeter is a device used to measure and quantify the color characteristics of an object or a light source. It provides objective and standardized color information, typically expressed in terms...

A photometer that uses a set of color filters to measure the intensity of light in various regions of the spectrum.

Ratio, to the luminance of a test color, of the luminance of the spectrum color that matches the test color when mixed with white light.

Colorimetry is the science and technology of quantitatively describing and measuring colors. It involves the precise evaluation of color attributes such as hue, saturation, and brightness, using...

An electrical problem that occurs when voltage is not the same with respect to ground at every node of a system, causing current to circulate between nodes.

A device used to project a reference spectrum next to a spectrum to be analyzed to provide visual comparison.