Definitions

A device that holds a number of filters and allows the filter with the desired characteristics to be rotated into an optical aperture.

A low-power telescope with a wide field of view, typically attached to a higher power telescope with a narrower field of view. This enables an observer to locate a celestial object with the...

For a Fabry-Perot interferometer or etalon, a value for the transmission bandwidth which can be calculated as the ratio of the free spectral range to the full width half maximum of the transmission...

A fixed-focus camera designed to record the ink impression of fingerprints that have been impressed on a card or form for record purposes.

A grinding process that employs fine emery.

A method used to produce precision spherical and aspheric molded glass lenses without grinding or polishing.

A finite version of Shannon's sampling theorem that states that a class of functions can be reconstructed exactly by a sufficient number of spectral samples; the reconstructed function is an explicit...

Small clefts or fissures that penetrate the glass surface in the form of short-hooked crescents. Fire cracks result from a sudden excessive change in temperature.

The principal point of a lens relative to the object space.

The spectral transmission window in silica-based fibers between 830 and 850 nm.

The separate spectral lines formed by a diffraction grating that are characterized by one wavelength difference in path length between adjacent slits.

The process of grinding the concave surface of a single-vision spherical lens.

The process of grinding the toric surface of a single vision sphero-cylindrical lens.

A type of wide-angle lens that has an angular field above 140° and that exhibits barrel distortion. The most commonly used fish-eye lenses have a field of about 180°, though they are...

The locus of points in a system along a line that remains stationary while the remainder of the system rotates.

Describes devices that are not provided with a means of focusing.

Fixed-pattern noise is the measure of the static (nontemporal) differences between pixels when the detector is evenly illuminated. In microbolometers, this effect is mostly caused by mismatch between...

Fizeau fringes are interference fringes observed in an interferometer, specifically in a Fizeau interferometer. The Fizeau interferometer is named after the French physicist Armand Fizeau, who...

A type of interferometer noted for producing narrow multiple-beam interference fringes. As a result, when compared with the Twyman-Green, the Fizeau interferometer has fewer optical components, does...

A device used to measure the speed of light by adjusting the rotation of a toothed wheel so that light passing through one tooth opening is reflected through the next. This device has since been...

A technique in photometry that uses an oxyhydrogen or oxyacetylene flame to optically excite a solution containing the sample to be analyzed.

The use of high temperatures, between 2000 and 3000 °C, to excite emission lines from a sample in spectroscopic analysis.

Any of a number of instruments that uses a flame to vaporize a solution of the chemical being analyzed so that light may be passed through the vapor. Monochromation of the transmitted light is...

A part of the spectrochemical analysis of a sample that deals with the excitation of that sample by flame analysis.

The procedure applied to flame-excited line emissions to determine spectra and wavelengths.

The study of the reflection or transmission properties of specimens as a function of wavelength after they have been excited by flame-analysis techniques.

The study of flames by means of a laser emitting blue light and a spectrometer to measure the green fluorescence created by the flame chemistry.

The emission spectrum formed by the radiation from a sample that has been evaporated by a nonluminous flame.

The distance between the locating surface of the lens mount and the image plane.

Nonimage-forming light, concentrated or diffuse, that is transmitted through the lens to the image. It is frequently the result of reflections from lens surfaces, a lens barrel, shutter or lens mount.

A filter, partially opaque to near-ultraviolet, visible and infrared radiation, that may be made by exposing and processing photographic film. Such materials are almost equally opaque to radiation of...

A spectroscopic technique used in the detection of free radicals by virtue of their electronic spectra. In this method, an intense light flash is used to form extensive photolysis and yield a high...

A technique used in radiography to obtain an unblurred image of a moving object by the use of very short x-ray exposures, such as one microsecond, to record the image.

A sensitometer that utilizes an electronic flashtube or a photoflash lamp as both the light source and the shutter for obtaining short-duration exposures.

The study and interpretation of the spectra of substances after they have absorbed the radiant energy emitted by a brief, intense light source.

The inverse peak voltage that produces ionization in a gas tube.

A device that is designed to automatically turn electric lamps on and off in a rapidly repeating sequence. The device may use a motor-driven mechanism or a combination heater filament and bimetallic...

A device that converts stored electrical energy into light by means of a sudden electrical discharge.

A pulsed dye laser in which the excitation is provided by means of a flashlamp. Output is tunable from 335 to 850 nm, with peak power up to 7000 kW.

A piece of glass having a crude plano surface on each side.

A polishing machine designed to permit adjustment of the polisher speed and motion for the control of flat surfaces.

A slab-shaped, very low profile package for electronic components; often used when printed circuit boards must be closely stacked together.

An electronic display in which a flat screen is formed by an orthogonal array of display devices, such as electroluminescent devices, light-emitting diodes or liquid crystal cells.