Definitions: S

A lens aberration. The chromatic variation of spherical aberration.

A lens or lens surface that is a combination of a sphere and cylinder.

An instrument for measuring the radius of curvature of a spherical lens or mirror surface. It may consist of a ring resting on the surface, with a micrometer plunger in the middle of the ring to...

A feature in the chromosphere of the sun formed by a jet of gas that reaches from the chromosphere into the corona and has the appearance of a brightly luminous spike.

A multilayer filter that passes only a narrow band of wavelengths.

Acronym for self-aligned polysilicon interconnect N-channel. A metal-gate process that uses aluminum for the metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) gate electrode as well as for signal and power supply...

A semiconductor laser that operates in the infrared and that is pumped with strong pulses of radiation from a second laser. Dependent on quantum-mechanical principles, it can be tuned over a large...

Reciprocal magnetic interaction between nuclei in a molecular system facilitated by the binding electrons of the molecule.

A loose term for a single polishing machine. In a lens factory it is the minimum unit of production.

A device through which scintillations are observed or counted through a magnifying lens system.

A defect in the cleaved end face of an optical fiber in which the surface changes abruptly.

A scanning process in which the greatest amount of radiation determines part of a spiral motion rotating in one direction.

A permanent joint whose purpose is to couple optical power among two or more ports. Also, a device whose purpose is to couple optical power between a waveguide and a source or detector.

A container which secures multiple splice trays and protects the trays and their contents from damage.

A container that prevents spliced fibers from becoming damaged or being misplaced.

Potential alternative to the conventional pulse approximation method of digital image processing because of its highly desirable interpolating and approximating characteristics.

The field of view seen through some types of coincidence rangefinders. It is formed by the juxtaposition of opposite halves of the images produced by two objectives, the half-images being separated...

A close-up lens, semicircular in shape, that is mounted in front of a conventional lens focused at infinity. The result is an image made up of two sections; one focused through the split lens on near...

The interference of the two real images formed by a Billet split lens.

A cooling system used to attain and maintain desired low temperatures in infrared systems. The Stirling type is a mechanical refrigeration system capable of temperatures from 10 to 77 K.

An instrument that divides a single laser beam in two and uses one half as a sensing beam and the other as a reference beam, then recombines the two and measures any phase shift between them. The...

A lens derived from the Cooke triplet anastigmat, but with one of the crown elements split in two, resulting in improved speed and correction of aberrations.

A mask-alignment microscope used to produce and inspect microcircuits in the electronics industry. It provides flat-field, distortion-free images at all magnifications with a high-intensity vertical...

A passive fiber optic coupler that divides light from a single fiber into two or more fiber channels.

A ratio expressing the difference in power between the output fibers of a coupler or splitter.

When splitting the output of a single optical fiber into two or more fibers, the difference in the maximum loss between any two channels.

Radiation emitted when a quantum mechanical system drops spontaneously from an excited level to a lower level. This radiation is emitted according to the laws of probability without regard to the...

The probability that an atom in one state will move spontaneously to a lower state within a given unit of time.

Blocking with a spotted tool.

A method of evaluating image quality whereby a large number of rays are traced through a lens from a single object point, and their intersections with the focal plane are plotted and analyzed.

A neutral density filter that, when placed in front of the iris of a lens, increases the f-stop range.

A telescopic light-sensing meter used to measure illumination levels of small regions at a distance of many feet; it is used in professional motion picture and television production to ensure proper...

A metal tool used to hold a number of lens blanks during grinding and polishing.

The distribution of energy about the image of a point source in the focal plane of an optical system.

A phenomenon that causes the details in an image to appear at a spatial frequency higher than that at which the contrast first drops to zero. A phase reversal will accompany this phenomenon, often...

A vacuum deposition method in which the coating material (target) is removed from the surface of the coating source (cathode) by ion bombardment and deposited upon the substrates.

Sputtering equipment is machinery used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering. Sputtering is a method of depositing thin films of material onto a substrate surface...

A sputtering target is a solid material used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering. Sputtering targets are typically made of metals, metal alloys, or compounds...

A wave that changes from one amplitude to the other in a short time compared with the wavelength.

A light source that does not fluctuate despite temperature changes.

A platform mount used to hold sensitive optical instruments immobile.

A plane-parallel interferometer that yields extremely high contrast over a wide range of finesse values without significantly reducing transmission.

A laser resonator in which a mode oscillating between the mirrors will converge upon the laser's longitudinal axis.

The superimposing of holographic pages in a thick, erasable storage material by changing the reference and object beams. This extends the capacity of holographic memories.

A memory system composed of a stack of holographic plates, a mode-locked laser and a rapid detector array. Ultrashort laser pulses are used to extract information from the stack. In this way, storage...

A type of laser used when a great amount of power is required. Avoiding the bulk of large numbers of optical lenses, this instrument offers high-output intensity and a small emitting region at...