Photonics Dictionary

A mirror whose coating serves to reflect visible radiation while transmitting the infrared.

That part of an infrared detector-Dewar assembly that limits the solid angle viewed by the sensor; it is maintained at a uniformly cold temperature so that no thermal energy is emitted. Also known as...

A means of illumination from which the infrared component has been removed by absorption or reflection filters within the condenser system.

Collaborative Robot (Cobot): Unlike traditional autonomous robots, which usually work by themselves, a collaborative robot is programmed to work with humans, such as a guide or an assistant. They can...

The solid angle of a detector or system pupil as seen by the source.

A convex or positive lens that serves to collect energy and direct it into subsequent system optics.

A positive lens located at or close to an intermediate image plane. The collector refracts off-axis light bundles, directing them into the apertures of subsequent optics.

A ring dye laser that uses prisms and a saturable absorber within the laser cavity to shape and shorten the pulses generated. Counterpropagating modes oscillating simultaneously in the ring...

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....

An optical instrument consisting of a well- corrected objective lens or mirror with a light source and or object/image (i.e. illuminated slit or retical) at its focal plane. Collimators are used to...

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

A method of lasing in which free electrons in a laser-produced plasma collide with neonlike ions to excite electrons to states that decay at different speeds, producing a population inversion.

A colloid is a mixture in which one substance of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. The particles in a colloid are larger than those in a...

A polariscope used to demonstrate strain inherent in a piece of glass.

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...

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.

1. A device used in chemistry to compare the colors of solutions held in flat-bottomed tubes and viewed along the length of the tube. Often a solid glass plunger is moved along one of the tubes to...

The reduction in longitudinal, lateral and secondary chromatic aberrations in a lens or lens system.

The transmission of a color photograph by separating the colors into varying intensities of red, blue and green, and then sending separate transmissions of the three color signals to a receiving...

The recording of three or more separate holograms having a different color on a medium, so that illumination with a tricolor beam yields three separate wavefronts, each representing one of the...

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.

Film that produces color negatives or transparencies by the use of three emulsions, one coated over the other, that are each sensitive to one of the colors red, blue or green.

A CIE index describing the changes in color of standard test objects when the illumination is changed from a standard to a test illuminant.

An instrument that uses a beam of light to scan a color transparency, and three differently filtered photosensors to record the transmitted beam, as a means of producing three exposed separation...

The detection and analysis of the relative response of a material to light over the range of wavelengths.

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

A thermogram in which temperature values are displayed in discrete thermal bands, each band possessing a distinct color.

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...

Situation in which the observer requires fewer than three independent stimuli to make color matches. Dichromats require only two stimuli and are classified as protanopes and deuteranopes (both...

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

A substance such as a dye or pigment that is used to alter the color of light.

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...

The chromatography method in which the stationary phase is supported in or on an inert packing in a column, through which the mobile phase passes.

A lens aberration, resulting from different magnifications in the various lens zones, that occurs in that part of the image field that is some distance from the principal axis of the system....

A semitransparent mirror in an optical system that combines two or more output beams into a single coaxial beam.

An acronym for communications intelligence, referring to the collection of communications signals in the VHF and UHF frequency ranges (20 to 1200 MHz).

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.

The maximum rate at which temporally disjunct optical signals can be produced or detected.

The heat-treating method in which the index of refraction of glass is fixed near or at its maximum value by holding the glass for different periods at suitable degrees of heat below the range of...

A deliberately nonlinear amplitude modulation that strengthens weak signals and reduces strong signals for transmission.

1. An eyepiece or magnifier with a scale at its image plane. That scale is placed in contact with an object, permitting direct measurement of its size. 2. Also called traveling stage and traveling...

A reference incandescent light source having a luminous intensity that is used in photometry for comparison of other light sources.

Two microscopes that are coupled on a common stand, the two images being projected side by side in the field of view of a single eyepiece for comparison.