Photonics Dictionary

Circular-ranging optical coherence tomography (CR-OCT) is a specialized imaging technique used in medical diagnostics and research to obtain high-resolution cross-sectional images of biological...

Equipment for testing an observer's color vision. Some tests require the identification or ordering of colored samples. The commercially available examples include: the Ishihara plates, on which...

Data analysis software is a category of software tools used for the systematic examination of data sets to uncover patterns, trends, relationships, and insights. It supports a range of analytical...

A quantitative measurement of the coherence of a light source; equal to the visibility (V) of the fringes of a two-beam interference test: where Imax equals the intensity at a maximum of the...

Diffraction is a fundamental wave phenomenon that occurs when a wave encounters an obstacle or aperture, causing the wave to bend around the edges and spread out. This effect is most commonly...

An emission spectrum is a graphical representation or a characteristic pattern of the wavelengths or frequencies of light emitted by a source, such as an atom, molecule, or celestial object. It shows...

Fizeau fringes are interference fringes observed in an interferometer, specifically in a Fizeau interferometer. The Fizeau interferometer is named after the French physicist Armand Fizeau, who...

A Fizeau interferometer is an interferometric device that uses the principle of interference to measure the surface flatness and quality of optical components. It consists of a light source,...

Lens testing equipment refers to a range of specialized tools and instruments used to evaluate the optical performance, quality, and characteristics of lenses. These instruments are essential for...

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of light. It is named after the physicists Ludwig Mach and Ludwig Zehnder, who...

Machine learning (ML) is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on the development of algorithms and statistical models that enable computers to improve their performance on a specific...

A mixed-signal oscilloscope (MSO) is a type of electronic test instrument that combines the capabilities of both a traditional oscilloscope and a logic analyzer. It is designed to capture and display...

MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer function (MTF) of optical systems. The MTF is a quantitative measure of the...

An optical interference technique widely utilized as a method of nondestructive testing when determining the ray deflection and the modulation transfer function (MTF) of an optical system associated...

The measurement of first- and higher order properties of a lens and its formed image, including effective focal length, back focal length, f number, aberrations, blur patterns, magnification and...

An optical testing instrument is a device or system used to evaluate and measure the performance, quality, and characteristics of optical components, systems, and devices. These instruments play a...

Photoelastic equipment and supplies refer to instruments and materials used in photoelasticity, a technique used to analyze stress distribution and behavior in materials. photoelastic equipment...

On a test chart, the pattern designed to direct and measure geometric distortion.

The value equal to the raster height divided by the half-period of a periodic test pattern.

Twyman-Green interferometry is a technique used in optics to measure the flatness or surface profile of optical components with high precision. It is based on the principles of interference of light...

A diffraction pattern sampling unit composed of a 32-element monolithic silicon photodiode array and a readout unit. The intensity on each detector element can be separately read out by means of a...

The testing by hypothesizing a likely crystal structure, computing a test x-ray diffraction pattern and comparing this to the observed pattern to evaluate a crystal structure.