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8,609 terms

Photonics Dictionary

Callier coefficient
The coefficient termed by Callier as the ratio between the density of photographic negatives measured by parallel light and that measured by diffuse light, due to scattering effects. This effect is...
Callier effect
The selective scattering of light as it passes through a diffusing medium.
calligraphic imager -> stroke pattern
The pattern formed by a character generation cathode-ray tube system, in which the characters are composed of a sequence of line segments (strokes) generated by the electron beam motion with time...
calorescence
The production of visible light by infrared radiation whereby the light is produced by heat and not by any direct change in wavelength; the transformation is indirect.
calorific rays
Name originally given to the sun's infrared radiation by Sir William Herschel in his Philosophical Transactions of 1800.
calorimeter
An instrument used to measure the change of heat content of a system by measuring microwave power in terms of generated heat.
calorimetry
Calorimetry is a branch of science that involves the measurement of heat flow in physical or chemical processes. It encompasses various techniques and instruments used to quantify heat transfer,...
CALS
computer-aided acquisition and logistics support
calutron
An electromagnetic device used to separate isotopes of elements based on their respective masses.
CAM
computer-aided manufacturing
CAMAR
common-aperture multifunction array radar
camera chain
The term sometimes used to describe the sequential arrangement of components in a video system -- from transmitter to receiver.
Camera Link HS
Camera Link HS (high speed) is a standard developed for high-speed digital data transmission in machine vision and industrial imaging applications. It is an evolution of the original Camera Link...
camera lucida
A portable instrument that uses a four-sided reflecting prism or set of mirrors to create a duplicate image of an object on a horizontal sheet, on which outlines of the subject may be traced by hand.
camera memory
Primary image memory that is built into a digital camera and stores the digital images generated by the camera's image sensor. figure
camera obscura
A forerunner of the modern camera, this instrument had a focusable lens that produced a sharp image on the enclosure opposite the aperture but had no photosensitive material to record it.
camera reduction
The use of the photographic process to produce precision copies of an original image that are many times smaller in size. One of its many applications is in microcircuitry.
camera shutter
An apparatus, designed for use with a camera, that is used to rapidly open the path from lens to film, to maintain the opening throughout exposure and to close the opening in rapid succession. The...
camera tube
The electron beam tube of a television camera that converts an optical image into a pattern of electrostatic charges and then scans the pattern to produce a corresponding electronic signal for...
camera tube target
The storage surface of an electron beam tube that is scanned by an electron beam to generate an output-signal current corresponding to the charge-density pattern stored.
camera
A light-tight box that receives light from an object or scene and focuses it to form an image on a light-sensitive material or a detector. The camera generally contains a lens of variable aperture...
campimeter -> eye test apparatus
Instruments used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to study the eye. There are, for instance, the ophthalmoscope to observe and photograph the retina; the retinoscope and optometer to determine...
campimetry -> perimetry
The analysis of retinal zones in which different hues can be detected. Also called campimetry.
camRAM
camera memory
CAMRSS
Center for Autonomous and Man-Controlled Robotics and Sensing Systems (NASA)
Canada balsam
A resin obtained from the balsam fir, Abies balsamea, used as a lens cement.
candela
SI unit of luminous intensity. It is defined as one sixtieth the normal intensity of one square centimeter of a blackbody at the solidification temperature of platinum. A point source of one candela...
candlepower
The luminous intensity of a source of light expressed in candelas.
candoluminescence
The luminescence of an incandescent material.
cantilever
A projecting beam or other structure supported only at one end.
capacitance
The ability of a conductor to store an electrical charge; its value is given in farads as the ratio of the stored charge on one conductor to the potential difference between it and a second conductor.
capacitor
A device that accumulates and stores electrical energy to introduce capacitance into a circuit. Basically, it is composed of two electrical conductors, separated by an insulating medium.
capnometer
An instrument incorporating an infrared detector assembly, used to analyze carbon dioxide gases and in medical applications to monitor air exchange in the lungs of patients on ventilators or under...
carbon arc
An electric discharge between two carbon rods that are touched together to start the arc and then separated slightly. The light comes from the heated carbon vapor. High-intensity arcs use cored...
carbon dioxide laser
A gas laser in which the energy-state transitions between vibrational and rotational states of CO2 molecules give emission at long IR, about 10 µm, wavelengths. The laser can maintain...
carbon film
In analysis, the carbon layer that is evaporation-deposited on a specimen to protect and ready it for study by electron microscopy.
carbonaceous
Consisting of, containing, pertaining to or yielding carbon.
carbonization
Carbonization is a process in which organic materials are heated in the absence of air, leading to the decomposition of the material and the production of carbon-rich residue. During carbonization,...
carcinotron -> backward-wave oscillator
An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure. The electron beam and the electromagnetic wave move in opposite directions...
card reader
A system that generally uses a photodetector to decode punched cards for information, or for input to a computer, by sensing the light transmitted through the punched holes.
cardinal points
Focal, nodal or principal points of a lens. If the respective distances of the object and image are measured from the cardinal points, all thin-lens equations are applicable to thick lenses.
cardioid condenser
An oil immersion condenser used to permit only light that has been diffracted or dispersed by a microscope specimen to enter the microscope. It is used in dark-field microscopy.
carrier
An analog signal capable of being modulated as to frequency, amplitude or phase to carry information.
carrier injection
Carrier injection refers to the process of introducing charge carriers (either electrons or holes) into a semiconductor material. Semiconductors are materials with electrical conductivity between...
carrier-to-noise ratio
The ratio of the power of the carrier wave to that of unwanted signal distortions, or noise, before any nonlinear signal processing such as detection or amplitude limiting.
CARS
coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering; coherent amplified Raman spectroscopy
cartesian
Of or pertaining to the methods of the French philosopher Rene Descartes. Refers to the standard orthogonal X-Y-Z coordinate system.
cartesian lens
A lens, one surface being a cartesian oval, that produces an aplanatic condition.
cascade amplification
In a series of amplifiers, amplification by each of the preceding output.
cascade image tube
An image tube that functions in low-light-level conditions by virtue of its series of stacked sections wherein the output of one section becomes the input for the next.

Photonics Dictionary


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