This page gathers the 130 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Optics”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples. Page 2 of 2: from “parallax motion” to “Voigt effect”.
- parallax motion noun The apparent motion of a tracking-locked foreground object against a background, when the camera is moving across the environment. (ie. A…
- pellicle noun A thin plastic membrane used as a beam splitter or protective cover (for example, to protect a photomask).
- pencil noun An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
- photometeor noun Any visible phenomenon in the atmosphere caused by reflection, refraction, diffraction or interference.
- photovisual adj Of certain achromatic lenses, having the same focus for the actinic and for the brightest of the visual rays.
- polyhedron noun A polyscope, or multiplying glass.
- positive crystal noun A doubly refracting crystal in which the index of refraction for the extraordinary ray is greater than for the ordinary ray, and the former…
- power scaling noun The act of increasing the output power of a laser without changing the geometry, shape, or principle of operation.
- prism noun A transparent block in the shape of a prism (sense 1), typically with triangular ends, used to reflect or refract light.
- Rayleigh's resolution limit noun The minimum angular separation between two point sources that an optical system can resolve, limited by diffraction.
- refract verb To cause (light) to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.
- resolve verb To render visible or distinguishable the parts of something.
- saturate verb To render pure, or of a colour free from white light.
- SGM noun Initialism of spherical grating monochromator.
- slow light noun The propagation of an optical pulse or other modulation of an optical carrier at a very low group velocity.
- Sparrow criterion noun A resolution limit used to determine the moment when two point sources of equal intensity can be considered resolved.
- spherocylinder noun A lens of this form.
- stenopaeic adj Pertaining to a narrow opening or slit in an opaque barrier that restricts the light which reaches the eye.
- stigmatism noun Image-formation property of an optical system which focuses a single point source in object space into a single point in image space
- telecentric adj Relating to a compound lens which has its entrance or exit pupil at infinity; in the prior case, this produces an orthographic view of the…
- thin-film interference noun The interference of light caused by its reflection from both boundaries of a thin film of a transparent material.
- throughput noun Synonym of etendue.
- time stop noun A stop (mechanical part that adjusts an aperture or interval size) which operates on a timer.
- total internal reflection noun A phenomenon where light, instead of passing into a medium of a lower refractive index and refracting away from the normal, is completely…
- trifocal adj Involving three foci.
- vergence noun A measure of convergence or divergence of rays.
- vertex noun The point where the surface of a lens crosses the optical axis.
- virtual adj Chiefly in virtual focus: of a focus or point: from which light or other radiation apparently emanates; also, of an image: produced by…
- virtual focus noun A point from which light or other radiation apparently emanates, such as in the virtual image produced by a plane mirror.
- Voigt effect noun A magneto-optical phenomenon which rotates and elliptizes linearly polarised light sent into an optically active medium.