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250 terms
Photonics Dictionary: P
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packet
The finite amount of electrical charge generated in response to incident radiation and transferred from one storage element to the next in a charge-coupled device. Each packet corresponds to a pixel...
pairing
In interlaced television scanning, an effect in which the lines of one field fail to fall exactly within the lines of the following field, both fields comprising one frame of the picture. The lines...
PAM
pulse amplitude modulation
panoramic camera
A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is mounted to rotate about a vertical axis. A slit opening in the film plane and the...
parabolic mirror
->
paraboloidal mirror
A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...
paraboloidal mirror
A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...
paraboloidal reflector
->
paraboloidal mirror
A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...
parallax
The optical phenomenon that causes relative motion between two objects when the eyepoint is moved laterally. When parallax appears in a telescope between the image and reticle, this indicates the...
parallel transmission
A mode of data transmission whereby bits of information are carried simultaneously at different frequencies over a single channel.
parallel/serial converter
A device that converts data transmitted in the parallel mode to a sequence of bits at a single frequency for output in the serial mode.
paraxial ray
A ray that behaves according to paraxial equations; one that lies close to and almost parallel to the optical axis.
parfocal eyepiece
One eyepiece of a set having equal distances from their mounting interface to their image plane, permitting freedom to interchange eyepieces without the need to refocus.
partial coherence theory
Totally coherent radiation is produced by a purely monochromatic point source. In the real world the energy will have a limited bandwidth and the point source will subtend some angle resulting in...
particle image velocimetry
A whole-flow-field technique providing instantaneous velocity vector measurements in a cross-section of a flow that is seeded with micron-sized particles. CCD or CMOS cameras and laser light sheets...
Paschen-Runge mounting
A mounting used for large concave gratings, whereby the slit, grating and plate holder lie in the Rowland circle, and the photographic plates lie along a large portion of the circle. In this way, a...
passband
->
bandpass
The range of frequencies that will pass through a filter or other device. Synonymous with passband.
passive optical network
A passive optical network (PON) is a telecommunications network architecture that uses optical fibers and passive optical components to provide high-speed broadband services to end-users. In a PON...
passive-matrix OLED display
An OLED display formed by creating an array of OLED pixels connected by intersecting anode and cathode conductors arranged in rows and columns. Electrical power is passed through selected pixels by...
pathogen
A pathogen is a biological agent, such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, protozoan, or parasite, that causes disease in its host organism. Pathogens have the capability to invade host tissues,...
pathogenesis
Pathogenesis refers to the process by which a disease develops and progresses within an organism. It encompasses the sequence of events and mechanisms that lead to the onset, progression, and...
PCAOM
polychromatic acousto-optic modulator
PCM
pulse code modulation; phase-conjugate mirror
PDM
pulse duration modulation
Pellin-Broca prism
A form of dispersing prism, often used in monochromators, that consists of a common right-angle prism with a 30° dispersing prism attached to each of its square faces. The spectrum formed by the...
Peltier cooler
A Peltier cooler, also known as a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) or thermoelectric module, is a solid-state device that uses the Peltier effect to transfer heat between two electrical junctions. It can...
Peltier effect
See thermoelectric cooling.
penta prism
A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to the entering and emerging beams. The deviation angle of 90° is...
pentamirror
A pentamirror is an optical component found in SLR cameras, composed of multiple flat mirrors arranged in a pentagonal configuration. Its primary function is to redirect light from the camera lens to...
pentaprsim
A pentaprism is a five-sided glass prism used in optical devices, particularly in SLR cameras, to deviate the path of light by 90 degrees and ensure that the image seen through the viewfinder is...
perimeter
->
eye test apparatus
Instruments used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to study the eye. There are, for instance, the ophthalmoscope to observe and photograph the retina; the retinoscope and optometer to determine...
perovskite
The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a cubic arrangement of oxygen ions, forming a framework within which other...
PET
pulse energy thermography; positron emission tomography
petrographic specimen preparation
The grinding and polishing of rock samples, to a thickness of less than 0.05 mm, for study with petrographic microscopes. When mounted on a slide and protected with a cover, these samples, examined...
Petzval lens
A high-speed, narrow-field lens consisting of two achromats spaced about the aperture stop. Its uses include portrait photography and motion picture projection.
PFM
piezoresponse force microscopy; pulse frequency modulation
phage
A phage, short for bacteriophage, is a type of virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. Phages are composed of genetic material (either DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. They are...
phase
In optics and photonics, "phase" refers to a property of electromagnetic waves, such as light, that describes the position of a wave at a given point in time within its oscillation cycle. More...
phase annulus
A term for the ring-shaped stop in a phase contrast microscope. The phase annulus limits the amount of light that reaches the phase plate from the direction of the specimen and retards the light by a...
phase contrast microscopy
Phase contrast microscopy is an optical microscopy technique that enhances the contrast of transparent and colorless specimens, making it possible to visualize fine details and internal structures...
phase distrortion
Phase distortion refers to a change in the phase relationships between different frequency components of a signal. In the context of signal processing, it occurs when the phase response of a system...
phase mask
In optics and photolithography, a phase mask refers to a device that modifies the phase of light waves passing through it. The phase mask is used to control the spatial distribution of the light's...
phase matching
Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent light. It refers to the condition where the phases of two or more waves,...
phase screen
A phase screen, in the context of optics and wave optics, refers to a surface or medium that introduces a phase delay to an incident wavefront passing through it. This concept is often used in the...
phase separation
->
leaching
The process of removing some of the constituents of a glass surface by chemical action.
phase shifting
A technique used to generate a phase shift between reference and sample light beams. The phase shift can be performed through the use of a mirror that is moved along the optic axis by a piezoelectric...
phase translation
The propagation or hindrance of waves reaching each aperture of the interferometer because of atmospheric turbulence.
phase velocity
For a particular mode in a waveguide, the ratio of the angular frequency to constant phase.
phase-change optical disc
An erasable data recording and storage medium that uses a laser to heat the crystalline surface of the disc to a certain temperature, at which it becomes amorphous and records a bit of information;...
phase-modulated sensor
A phase-modulated sensor is a type of sensor that uses modulation of the phase of a signal to measure changes in a physical quantity. In such sensors, variations in the phase of the signal are...
phase-only filter
A type of matched filter that responds only to the phase of incoming light; the output has a much greater intensity than that of a classical matched filter, which responds to phase and amplitude. The...
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Photonics Dictionary
P
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