Photonics Dictionary

A communications system that can transmit in only a single direction at a time. See duplex.

High dynamic range (HDR) refers to a technology that allows for a broader and more dynamic range of luminosity in visual content, such as images or videos. It is particularly associated with displays...

The calculated normal distance from a photon source at which harmful interaction with the incident light will occur. Interaction distance produces the effect of MPE (Maximum Permissable Exposure) on...

Computational imaging refers to the use of computational techniques, algorithms, and hardware to enhance or enable imaging capabilities beyond what traditional optical systems can achieve. It...

A measurement of the spatial resolution of a line or area array in an optical character recognition scanning device.

A frame grabber is a hardware device or interface card that connects to a computer or imaging system and is designed to capture and digitize frames of video or images from a video source such as a...

A furnace used to heat glass materials. It may be a small laboratory-type furnace for small-scale experiments or large enough to hold gas-fired tanks for the commercial mass production of glass....

A high-speed motion camera, also known as a high-speed camera or slow-motion camera, is a specialized imaging device designed to capture fast-moving events or phenomena at extremely high frame rates....

Light diffusion refers to the process by which light is scattered or spread out in various directions as it interacts with a medium or material. Unlike direct transmission through a transparent...

The process whereby white light is separated into its component wavelengths. Light beams of different wavelengths are separated from each other by undergoing a different angular deviation. Prisms and...

Nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) is a high-performance, scalable host controller interface designed for accessing solid-state storage devices, such as solid-state drives (SSDs), to leverage the...

The quarter video graphics array (QVGA) is a display resolution standard used in video graphics, particularly in LCD displays, digital cameras, mobile phones, and other portable electronic devices....

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a storage device that stores data electronically using solid-state memory chips. Unlike traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) that use spinning disks and mechanical...

The video graphics array (VGA) is a display resolution standard introduced by IBM in 1987 for displaying graphics on computer monitors. It quickly became the de facto standard for personal computers...

X resolution is a measure of the number of pixels or data points along the horizontal axis of an image or display. It quantifies the level of detail that can be displayed horizontally, representing...