Type

Browse by Letter

Zurich Instruments AG - Boost Your Optics July-August HP

389 terms

Photonics Dictionary

Clear All Filters x optical image x
positive spherical aberration -> spherical aberration

Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays passing through a lens or curved optical surface do not converge or diverge to a single focal point. Instead of focusing to a...

prism spectrograph -> spectrograph

An optical instrument for forming the spectrum of a light source and recording it on a film. The dispersing medium may be a prism or a diffraction grating. A concave grating requires no other means...

projecting core coupler

A device that couples a light source to an optical fiber by projecting an image of the source and the fiber core onto a screen where they can be superimposed by micropositioners.

pseudohologram

Coded image obtained optically with a nonredundant pinhole array imaging aperture.

pyrometer -> optical pyrometer

An instrument for determining the temperature of a hot object by examining the color spectrum of the visible light it gives off and comparing it to the known temperature and wavelength spectrum of...

quantum photodetector -> 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...

Ramsden circle -> exit pupil

In a lens or other optical system, the image of the aperture stop as seen from image space.

Raster scanning

Raster scanning is a technique used in imaging and scanning systems to systematically capture and process information from a two-dimensional area or surface. It involves moving a sensor or scanning...

read screen

The transparent component of an optical reader that transmits the image rays of the characters to be read.

read-out integrated circuit

A read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) is an electronic device used in imaging systems, particularly in infrared (IR) and other sensing technologies. It is designed to interface with an array of...

real field -> true field

The size of the field of view in the object space of an optical system as differentiated from that in the image space (apparent field).

real image

An image that is formed when rays emerging from an optical system all converge to a point on the optical axis. A real image can be seen on a screen in the image space of the given optical system.

rectilinear system

An optical system that is corrected for distortion and spherical aberration and therefore forms the image of a straight line as a straight line.

reflectance confocal microscopy

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a non-invasive imaging technique that allows for high-resolution, in vivo imaging of biological tissues at the cellular level. It is particularly useful in...

refractive index contrast

A measure of the relative difference in refractive index between two optical materials. Most commonly used in fiber optics where the refractive index contrast, D, is given as follows: where n1 equals...

relay lens

A lens or lens system used to transfer a real image from one point within an optical system to another, with or without magnifying it.

resolution chart -> resolution target

A chart on paper or glass containing a series of sets of lines at progressively smaller spacing and used to ascertain the limiting number of lines per millimeter that an optical system is capable of...

resolution target

resolution test chart -> resolution target

resolving power

A measure of an optical system's ability to produce an image which separates two points or parallel lines on the object. See Rayleigh criterion of resolving power.

resolving power chart -> resolution target

resonant cavity -> resonator

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or stimulus is applied at a specific frequency, causing the system to oscillate...

resonator

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or stimulus is applied at a specific frequency, causing the system to oscillate...

reticle

A reticle, also known as a reticule or graticule, is a pattern or set of markings placed in the focal plane of an optical instrument, such as a microscope, telescope, riflescope, or camera, to...

rhomboid prism

A reflecting prism that is rhomboidal in shape. It has two parallel transmitting faces, and two parallel reflecting faces; the latter are oblique to the former (usually but not necessarily at...

Ritchey-Common test

An interferometric method for describing the surface shape of large coated or uncoated optical flats. The procedure uses a commercially available small-aperture phase-shifting interferometer for...

Sagnac interferometer

Sagnac interferometry is a technique used to measure rotation or angular velocity based on the principle of interference. It relies on the Sagnac effect, named after the French physicist Georges...

scanner

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The scanning takes place inside the television tube as electrons, guided by...

scanning electron microscope

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials characterization, and various industrial applications. Unlike traditional optical...

Schlieren optics

An optical system that records inhomogeneities within a medium by detecting the energy refracted by that portion of the medium in which the inhomogeneity occurs. The image appears in the form of a...

Seidel aberrations

Seidel aberrations refer to a set of monochromatic aberrations in optical systems, named after the German mathematician and physicist Ludwig von Seidel. These aberrations describe deviations from...

Senarmont prism

A polarizing beamsplitting prism similar in design to the Rochon prism. However, the Senarmont transmits the extraordinary ray without deviation and deviates the ordinary ray due to the orientation...

serpentine bend mode filter

A device used in measuring attenuation in optical fiber. The loss caused by the bends in a short reference length of fiber approximates that of a much longer fiber under test.

Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor

The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is an optical device used for measuring the wavefront aberrations of an optical system. It is widely used in adaptive optics systems to correct distortions and...

shading

1. The sorting of lenses by their color. 2. In an optical system, an irradiance or brightness gradient in the image that is not present at the object.

sign conventions

A convention that defines specific dimensions of an optical system, such as the image distance or radius of curvature of a lens or mirror, as negative or positive to facilitate calculations based on...

silicon photodiode

A silicon photodiode is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It is a type of photodetector specifically designed for detecting and measuring light intensity. Silicon...

sine wave response -> modulation transfer function

Also called sine wave response and contrast transfer function. The modulation transfer function is the ratio of the modulation in the image to the modulation in the object as a function of frequency...

single molecule localization microscopy

Single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) is a group of super-resolution microscopy techniques that surpass the diffraction limit of traditional optical microscopes, allowing for the...

single-molecule spectroscopy

An advanced technique that allows the detection of one molecule within a crystal or a cell through optical excitation. Single-molecule spectroscopy (SMS) can image at subwavelength scales, down to a...

slide projector

An optical projection device designed to project positive color transparencies onto a screen for viewing.

sliding wedge -> measuring wedge

A wedge in a rangefinder or heightfinder used to displace the image produced by one telescope so that it coincides with that produced by the other telescope, thus affording a measurement of the...

smear camera -> streak camera

A streak camera is a specialized instrument used to capture and analyze ultrafast phenomena, such as extremely short pulses of light or rapidly changing events. Unlike traditional cameras that...

solar furnace

An optical system that is designed to produce a high temperature in a specified area by the optical direction and concentration of solar radiation on that area. The system usually consists of a...

sonoholography -> acoustical holography

Acoustical holography is a technique used to visualize and analyze sound fields in three-dimensional space. It involves capturing the complex spatial distribution of acoustic waves, much like how...

spatial light interference microscopy

Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is an optical microscopy technique that belongs to the category of quantitative phase imaging methods. It is designed to provide high-resolution,...

spatial light modulator

A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light in two dimensions, typically in the form of an array. SLMs are...

spatio-temporal optical coherence tomography

Spatio-temporal optical coherence tomography (ST-OCT) is an advanced imaging technique that combines the principles of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with spatio-temporal modulation methods to...

spectral domain optical coherence tomography

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in ophthalmology, to visualize and analyze the internal structures of biological...

spectrograph

Photonics Dictionary

Need Help?