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Ohara Corp. - Optical Glass, Polish substrates 10-23

8,726 terms

Photonics Dictionary

aiming beam

A visible laser beam generated coaxially with an infrared or other invisible laser beam to aid in its positioning.

aiming circle

An instrument designed to measure angles in azimuth; used in general topographic work and military gunnery.

AIP

American Institute of Physics

air bearing

A support device in which a column or chamber of air permits the free travel of a mobile part. In optical mounting and positioning equipment, air bearings are of two types, linear or rotary,...

air dose

A quantitative measure of the amount of radiation given off by an instrument, expressed in roentgens per unit of free air.

air-spaced doublet -> doublet

1. A compound lens consisting of two elements. If there is an air space between the elements it is called an "air-spaced doublet.'' If the inner surfaces are cemented together, it is called a...

air-to-ground phototransmission system

A category of systems designed to communicate a photo taken from the air (e.g., aircraft, balloon, satellite) to a ground station. It can be done by direct television transmission of the photo, or by...

airglow

Diffuse light emitted by the atmosphere due to the excitation of particles of atmospheric gas. These excited particles release light that is visible from Earth as a faint luminescence in the night...

AIRS

automatic image retrieval system

Airy differential equation

The equation devised by Sir G.B. Airy for the analysis of light diffraction near a caustic surface: (d2f/dz2) - zf = 0 where z represents the independent variable, and f is the value of the function.

Airy disc

The central peak (including everything interior to the first zero or dark ring) of the focal diffraction pattern of a uniformly irradiated, aberration-free circular optical element or system.

AIS

acoustic imaging system

albedo

The ratio of radiant energy reflected from a rough surface to that incident on it. Usually, the radiant energy is total solar energy; thus, it is not a spectral quantity.

ALD

atomic layer deposition

ALE

atomic layer epitaxy

alexandrite

A host crystal for chromium that emits pulsed or continuous-wave laser light, tunable from about 720 to 790 nm.

alexandrite lasers

An alexandrite laser is a solid-state laser that utilizes a synthetic crystal made from the rare earth element alexandrite (BeAl2O4:Cr3+). This crystal is capable of emitting laser light in the...

ALF

airborne laser fluorosensor

algorithm

A precisely defined series of steps that describes how a computer performs a task.

ALIAS

adaptive learning image analysis system

aliasing

In image processing, the result of a sampling frequency that is too slow to preserve the spatial frequencies of the image. When detail has a frequency greater than half the sampling frequency, it...

alidade

An old name for the rotating arm moving about an axis of rotation over a divided circle used to measure angles. Now the term refers to a small stadia telescope mounted over a ruler for use in...

aligned bundle

An assembly of fibers in which the coordinates of each fiber are the same at the two ends of the bundle. Also called coherent bundle.

alignment laser

A laser, usually employing helium-neon or other gases as the active medium, used for alignment in industrial applications.

alignment telescope

An optical tooling instrument consisting of an objective lens, a focusing lens, an optical micrometer, a reticle and an eyepiece. The alignment telescope projects a precise line of sight to which a...

all-silica fiber

Also known as all-glass fiber. A fiber with both a silica core and a silica cladding, regardless of the presence of a polymer overcoat or buffer.

allochromy

Any fluorescence in which the wavelength of the emitted light differs from that of the absorbed light.

allogyric birefringence

Left- and right-hand circularly polarized beams that are produced at different velocities by passing plane-polarized light through an optical substance. When recombined, they exhibit different phases...

alloy-junction photocell

A photocell having an alloy junction formed by combining an indium disc with a thin wafer of N-type germanium.

allyl diglycol carbonate

Commonly known as CR39, this thermosetting plastic is used in the casting of eyeglass lenses because of its toughness and clarity.

ALP

advanced lightwave platform

alpha

In computer imaging, a value representing opacity.

alpha laser

A 2-million W, 2.7-µm-wavelength hydrogen-fluoride laser used as a directed energy weapon.

alpha particle

A positively charged particle emitted from the nucleus of an unstable isotope, characterized by two protons and two neutrons. Quantitatively, the equivalent of a helium atom's nucleus.

alphanumeric display

A luminous display of numbers and the letters of the alphabet.

alphanumeric generator

In computer graphics, a character generator that produces alphabetical and numerical characters with some punctuation and symbols.

alphanumeric reader

An instrument that reads alphabetic, numerical and special characters by means of a photosensor that measures the varying intensity of the characters reflected from a light source.

alt

altitude

altazimuth

A type of telescope mount that permits direct azimuth and elevation adjustments.

alternating current

Alternating current (AC) is an electrical current in which the direction of flow of electric charge periodically reverses. This reversal occurs at regular intervals, typically in a sinusoidal...

ALU

arithmetic logic unit

aluminized cathode-ray tube

A cathode-ray tube having a screen that is coated on the back with a thin film of aluminum, which serves to intensify the propagation of light.

aluminizing

The process of applying a film of aluminum to a surface, usually by evaporation in a vacuum.

active matrix; air mass; amplitude modulation

AM-LCD

active-matrix liquid crystal display

ambient light

Light present in the environment around a detecting or interpreting device, especially a machine vision system, and generated from outside sources. Such light must be treated as noise by the vision...

ambient noise

The all-encompassing noise associated with a given environment, usually being a composite of a number of sources, far and near.

ambient temperature

The prevailing temperature in the immediate vicinity of the object; the temperature of its environment.

ambrotype

The underexposed collodion that is present on a glass negative as a positive when backed with material.

American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science, engineering, and innovation for the benefit of all people....

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