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Photonics Dictionary

Cooper pairs
The coupled pairs of electrons that carry supercurrents through the body of a superconductor, relative to a coherent macroscopic wave function with the superconductor.
coordinate measuring microscope
An instrument used to measure the coordinates of a point on an object such as a photographic plate.
copolymerization
The combination of two or more different small-molecule monomers into a polymer.
copper oxide photocell
An early type of nonvacuum photocell consisting of a layer of copper oxide on a metallic substrate, with a thin transparent layer of a conductor over the oxide. When light falls on the cell, a small...
copper vapor laser -> metal vapor laser
Devices in which the lasing medium is a vapor of metal atoms or ions, sometimes mixed with another gas. Metal vapor lasers use a variety of metal types to generate a variety of laser lines for...
copying camera
A camera mounted on an optical bench with an easel to hold the material to be copied. Magnification can be varied over a wide range by sliding the camera and easel.
cord
A threadlike inclusion within a blank of optical glass. Rarely found in quality optical materials.
core
The light-conducting portion of an optical fiber, defined by the region of high refractive index.
core-coupled lens
A semispherical or conical lens created directly on the core of an optical fiber to focus light from a laser into the fiber core.
coring
A mass-relieving method whereby material is removed through the sides of a reflector in a direction parallel to the surface. A method of cutting a cylindrical piece of material from a large piece.
cornea
The transparent front layer of the eye. Light entering the eye is refracted (converged) by the outer surface of the cornea.
corneal shaping
The mechanical modification of the shape of the cornea to correct a vision defect.
corner cube
A corner cube, also known as a corner reflector or retroreflector prism, is a type of optical device used to reflect light or electromagnetic waves back towards their source with minimal deviation in...
corner-cube prism -> corner cube
A corner cube, also known as a corner reflector or retroreflector prism, is a type of optical device used to reflect light or electromagnetic waves back towards their source with minimal deviation in...
corner-cube reflector -> corner cube
A corner cube, also known as a corner reflector or retroreflector prism, is a type of optical device used to reflect light or electromagnetic waves back towards their source with minimal deviation in...
cornering
The removal of a slight overlap that may be found on a blank or pressing.
Cornu double prism
A compound prism formed by cementing together two 30° prisms, one of right-handed and one of left-handed quartz. It has good ultraviolet-transmitting qualities and no double refraction.
Cornu-Jellet prism
A prism formed by dividing a Nicol prism in a plane parallel to the path of vibration of the transmitted light and taking out the wedge-shaped piece. After the pieces are rejoined, the planes of...
coronagraph
A telescope in which a mask occults the solar disk, generating an artificial eclipse and allowing observation and recording of the sun's corona.
coronal holes
Solar regions characterized by low density and open magnetic fields where high-speed solar wind streams originate. Originally believed to be "M'' regions, coronal holes are the precursors of the...
corrected lens
A compound lens, the dimensions and materials of which have been so chosen that the lens is appreciably free of aberrations.
correction wedge
In rangefinders and height finders, a rotatable or sliding wedge-shaped element used to divert the line of sight precisely to correct errors in the optical system.
correction window
An optical wedge of very small angles that admits light while sealing out moisture and dirt and that may be rotated to compensate for the errors in the entire system. Correction windows are sometimes...
corrector plate
An optical element designed to correct each zone of a reflector or refractor for spherical aberration.
correlated color temperature
Temperature of the blackbody having chromaticity nearest to that of the test source on a specified chromaticity diagram.
correlated double sampling
A technique for removing thermal noise and drift from focal plane assemblies by sampling the system output between views of scene elements and then subtracting the resulting value from the subsequent...
correlator -> optical correlator
A device incorporating a spatial light modulator and a reference filter; used for matching an input optical waveform or signal with stored data in a photonic computer. This technique is done using...
correspondence theory
Bohr's formulation that every new theoretical principle must correspond to the salient classical predecessor. The principle imposes mathematical limits on theoretical discovery and implies, for...
cos
cosine
cos-1
inverse cosine
cosh
hyperbolic cosine
cosine collector
Translucent collector developed to compensate for the partial blocking of a flat surface's collection angle that normally occurs in spectroradiometry. The device samples radiant flux according to the...
cosine emission law -> Lambert's cosine law
Flux per unit solid angle leaving a surface in any direction is proportional to the cosine of the angle between that direction and the normal to the surface. A material that obeys Lambert's cosine...
cosine fourth law
A formula indicating that, for an imaging lens system, the image brightness for off-axis points will fall off at a rate proportional to the cos4 of the off-axis field angle.
cosine law of illumination
Law relating the illuminance (or irradiance) of a surface to the cosine of the angle, q, between the normal to the surface and the direction of the incident wave.
cosmetic defect -> beauty defect
A defect on or in an optical element that does not appreciably impair the function of the surface.
cosmic expansion
The ongoing expansion of the universe based on observations of the recession of distant galaxies from each other as evidenced by the redshift in their spectral lines.
cosmic ray telescope
A system consisting of two or more Geiger-Müller counters, connected in coincidence with their centers on an axis. The only particles recorded are those traversing all counters, near the axis,...
COSY
correlated spectroscopy
cot
cotangent
coth
hyperbolic cotangent
COTS
commercial off the shelf
Cotton-Mouton constant
Relative to the Cotton-Mouton effect, the magnetic birefringence constant that, when multiplied by pathlength and the square of the magnetic field strength, yields the phase difference between the...
Cotton-Mouton effect
The ability of particular pure liquids to doubly refract when influenced by a magnetic field with a direction that is transverse to the light beam.
coudé
A set of mirrors along a telescope's polar axis designed to redirect light to a fixed position without being affected by the motion or position of the telescope. From the French word for "elbow."
Coulomb damping
Conversion of vibratory energy into heat that is observed in the rubbing of two dry surfaces over each other.
Coulomb scattering
The scattering of charged particles, moving through matter, by the electrostatic force exerted by other charged particles.
coulomb
The quantity (C) of electricity transported in one second by a current of one ampere.
coumarin 314T
An efficient, readily soluble blue-green laser dye.
countersink
The concave portion of a surface, formed on a blank, on which the disk of higher refractive glass will be fused to form a multifocal spectacle lens.

Photonics Dictionary

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