Meadowlark Optics - Wave Plates 6/24 LB 2024

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Videology Industrial-Grade Cameras - NEW 2MP Camera 2024 MR

194 terms

Photonics Dictionary

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lens speed

Also known as f number, lens speed is commonly represented as the ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the lens. Lower f numbers produce brighter images.

lenticular

An array or mosaic of optical surfaces. May be a number of lenses closely packed to form multiple images or many parallel cylinders used as a projection screen.

liquid crystal light valve

A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the intensity, phase, or polarization of light passing through it using liquid...

Marx generator

High-voltage, fast-discharge circuit named after its inventor, Erwin Marx. Its capacitors are charged in parallel and discharged in series. The voltage multiplication achieved with a Marx circuit is...

merit function -> error function

A single number, defined by the computer program or the user that expresses the performance of an optical system. Also known as merit function and defect function, the error function comprises...

microchannel plate

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle detection, imaging, spectroscopy, and night vision technology. It consists of a...

microheterogeneous systems

Extremely small organic and inorganic systems of molecules within a substance. In general, systems are colloidal size in spite of the large number of molecules. Photochemistry and optical...

modal bandwidth

Modal bandwidth is a crucial parameter in optical fiber communication systems, particularly in multimode fiber (MMF) systems. It quantifies the ability of a fiber optic link to transmit data at high...

mode volume

The number of bound modes that an optical waveguide is capable of supporting.

multiplex advantage -> Felgett advantage

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer when detector noise prevails, which exceeds the SNR of a scanning spectrometer in the same time by a factor proportional...

multispectral imaging

Multispectral imaging is a technique that involves capturing and analyzing images at multiple discrete spectral bands within the electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike hyperspectral imaging, which acquires...

narrowband pyrometer

An optical pyrometer that is equipped with a narrow bandpass filter to transmit a limited number of wavelengths to the sensing device.

neutron drip line

Prediction based on observations of nuclear masses in the valley of stability that indicates the maximum number of electrons that will bind with a given number of protons in progressive order along...

neutron radiography

The nondestructive analysis and recording of industrial components based on the absorption of relatively low-energy neutrons by material having low atomic numbers. The visible image formed by the...

nodal testing

The measurement of first- and higher order properties of a lens and its formed image, including effective focal length, back focal length, f number, aberrations, blur patterns, magnification and...

normalized frequency

Also referred to as the V number in fiber optics; the normalized frequency is a dimensionless quantity, denoted by the symbol V, given by: where a is waveguide core radius, l is wavelength in vacuum,...

Nusselt number

Expression of the nondimensional coefficient of the heat transfer in a convection process.

opening

In morphological image processing, a series of erosions followed by the same number of dilations.

optical bench

A support for optical parts comprising a solid bed that permits precise longitudinal movement of one component relative to the others, and a number of sliders equipped with holders for lenses, lamps,...

optical bistability

The phenomenon that can render an optical resonator the equivalent of a semiconductor flip-flop. A bistable device will remain stable in two optical states, one of high transmission and another of...

optical character reader

A photosensitive device used to optically scan and read character data (numbers, letters etc.) and input this data into a storage device. Optical character readers are based off the process of...

optical figure

The amount by which an optical surface deviates from its ideal design value, expressed in wavelengths of light. Optical manufacturers use this value to determine two common characteristics of an...

optical noise

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or integrity of the transmitted information. This type of noise is particularly...

optical pumping

The process whereby the number of atoms or atomic systems in a set of energy levels is changed by the absorption of light that falls on the material. This process raises the atoms to specific higher...

optical rail -> optical bench

packing density

1. In a photonic interconnect, the number of detectors in a given area. Detectors spaced too closely may give rise to crosstalk. 2. In the cross section of a fiber optic bundle, the ratio of fiber...

parity

In data transmission, a self-checking code using a separate bit (the parity bit) to assure that all bytes of transmitted data contain either an odd or an even number of bits. Upon receipt, the data...

Paschen series

An array of lines in the infrared region of the emission spectrum of atomic hydrogen. Their wave numbers are expressed by the equation: where represents the wave number in the reciprocal centimeters,...

Pauli exclusion principle

The number of electrons that can share a principal quantum number by preventing identity between any two electrons' four quantum numbers, thereby permitting the periodic arrangement of the elements.

permittivity -> dielectric constant

A number that indicates the magnitude of the shift in a solid of positive and negative charges in opposite directions when a voltage is applied across the solid.

photodetector

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical signal. Photodetectors are widely used in various applications, ranging from...

photomultiplier tube

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely used in various applications where high sensitivity, fast response times,...

photon counter

A device used to evaluate the luminance of a surface by determining the number of photons emitted from a sample surface area.

picture element -> pixel

A pixel, short for "picture element," is the smallest controllable element of a digital image or display. It is a fundamental unit that represents a single point in a raster image, which is a grid of...

pixel

platonic solid

Geometrical partition possible with a sphere that can be four, six, eight, 12 or 20 solid-angle wedges. Each platonic mass is made up of a given number of regular polygonal faces and is classified...

polymerase chain reaction

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a widely used molecular biology technique used to amplify a specific segment of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) through a series of temperature-controlled cycles....

positron -> electron

A charged elementary particle of an atom; the term is most commonly used in reference to the negatively charged particle called a negatron. Its mass at rest is me = 9.109558 x 10-31 kg, its charge is...

Prandtl number

Ratio of the molecular diffusion coefficients of momentum in terms of heat; used in convection studies.

principle of least time -> Fermat's principle

The principle that a light ray extending from one point to another will, after any number of reflections and refractions, follow the path requiring the least transit time. This is also known as the...

pulse repetition frequency

Number of pulses emitted per unit of time by a pulsed laser.

quantizer

A device with a limited number of possible output values (sometimes able to be selected) that can translate an incoming signal into these values or codes for outputting. See pulse code modulation. In...

quantum efficiency

Quantum efficiency (QE) is a measure of the effectiveness with which a device or system, typically in the context of photonics or electronics, converts incoming photons (light) into a useful output...

quantum photodetector -> photodetector

quasiparticle

A quasiparticle is an emergent phenomenon that occurs in many-body systems, particularly in condensed matter physics, where the collective behavior of a large number of interacting particles can be...

qubit

A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing and quantum information processing. Unlike classical bits, which can exist in one of two states (0 or 1),...

radioactive tracer

A radioactive element that is placed or injected into a system to obtain an autoradiogram of the system. It is used in a number of fields where standard methods of internal imaging, for example,...

radix

Total number of characters available to each position of a digital numeric system.

rail -> optical bench

regenerative amplifier

A type of multiple-pass amplifier in which no optical leakage is allowed until a finite number of passes has occurred; at this time the entire cavity output is released as one pulse.

Photonics Dictionary