Glossary: D

Thermal current produced in an operating photodetector device when no optical radiation impinges on the detector.

In microscopy, refers to light that enters a translucent object through the edge perpendicular to the lens. In machine vision, an illumination geometry which has most of the light bounce off of the object; light from edges and surface defects is scattered to the detector yielding a high contrast bright spot. 

Mesure de l'aberration chromatique axiale, qui quantifie le changement de position le long de l'axe optique où les différentes longueurs d'onde se concentrent.

A logarithmic measure of relative power levels. It is used to specify the amount of attenuation in optical fibers. 

The distance through which an object being imaged may move in or out of the plane of best focus while maintaining an acceptable level of contrast at a particular spatial frequency or resolution. 

The image-space equivalent of depth of field. For a fixed object distance, the maximum displacement from the plane of best focus through which the image maintains a particular contrast at a specific spatial frequency. 

A measure of the detecting ability or sensitivity of a photodiode. The reciprocal of noise equivalent power (NEP). 

La distance calculée entre deux points exactement opposés sur un faisceau à une fraction choisie de la puissance de crête (typiquement 1/e2). Il est également défini comme le diamètre d'une ouverture circulaire qui laisse passer un pourcentage donné (généralement 90%) de l'énergie totale du faisceau.

Perte d'énergie optique entre deux conducteurs optiques.

L'ouverture limite qui définit la quantité de lumière autorisée à travers un système optique. Il peut s'agir de la surface d'une lentille optique ou d'un iris, mais il s'agit toujours d'une surface physique.

A type of plate beamsplitter that splits incident light based on wavelength. 

A filter or mirror coating that transmits or reflects light depending on wavelength rather than polarization. The color varies with angle of incidence and thickness of deposition material. Metallic coatings tend to be more spectrally flat. 

A type of filter coated with thinfilms to achieve a desired transmission and reflection percentage across a given spectrum. It is often used as a color filter (both additive and subtractive). A dichroic filter is slightly angle sensitive but is much more forgiving than an interference filter.

A type of coating consisting of materials that are electrical insulators. The reflective coatings consist of alternating layers of higher and lower index materials (compared to the substrate) in order to achieve a certain reflectivity over a certain wavelength region.

The change in intensity distribution of waves caused by constructive and destructive interference as they contact an obstruction, yielding a distribution that differs from the incident wave-front's. 

An optical component used to disperse light into its individual wavelengths. As incident light strikes a transmission grating's groove spacing, it is dispersed on the opposite side of the grating at a fixed angle. As incident light strikes a reflective grating's groove spacing, it is reflected and dispersed on the same  side of the grating at a fixed angle. 

A theoretical limiting factor governing the maximum obtainable resolution of an optical or imaging system, defined by the inverse of the wavelength of light being used multiplied by the f/# of the lens.

Diffuse, spatially uniform light from an extended source. Used for even illumination of an object. 

The effect of light scattering over a large solid angle. Light is diffused by reflecting from or transmitting through an irregular (rough) surface. Typically, precautions are taken to remove diffusion in applications; however, diffusers can be utilized to introduce a specific amount of diffusion in order to create a desired effect (i.e. minimizing glare, homogenating a beam, removing speckle in a laser application, etc).

 A signal that changes in regular steps.  The signal level at each step is represented by a number. 

Found often in high-end industrial cameras, it involves analog-to-digital conversion of all or part of a standard video signal to enhance/change the resulting signal recovered upon digital-to-analog conversion. Enhancements usually pertain to RGB balancing for more accurate color reproduction.

An industry standard for the design of microscope objectives and eyepieces. DIN standard microscopes have a 160mm tube length.

Unit of optical measurement of a lens that equals the inverse of the focal length of the lens in meters. 

Point source illumination from single or multiple sources.

A measure of how much the index of refraction of a material changes with respect to wavelength. It also determines the separation of wavelengths known as chromatic aberration. Quantitatively, dispersion is inversely given by the Abbe number.

Puce de silicium contenant un réseau de sites photosensibles. La zone d'imagerie est constituée de rangées et de colonnes de pixels photosensibles qui accumulent et stockent une charge électrique. Le terme de CCD fait référence à la manière dont les paquets de photoélectrons sont déplacés sur la puce, les registres à décalage. Chaque colonne est séparée par un registre à décalage, auquel la charge du pixel est transférée. La charge est lue à partir de chaque pixel du dispositif à travers le registre à décalage de manière séquentielle vers un amplificateur. Le signal analogique brut est soit utilisé directement, soit quantifié par un convertisseur analogique/numérique.

La distance entre l'avant de la bride de montage de l'objectif de la caméra et le plan du capteur (distance de l'image).

La distance le long de l'axe optique d'une lentille entre le plan principal de cette lentille et le plan image (pour une image conjuguée) ou le plan objet (pour un objet conjugué). Les lentilles conçues pour faire la mise au point à l'infini ont une distance conjuguée infinie pour l'objet et une distance conjuguée finie pour l'image. 

Une mesure mécanique donnée comme la distance entre la dernière surface d'une lentille optique et son plan image.

Nonlinear geometrical aberration in which magnification changes with field height (i.e. no distortion at center), defined at maximum field. If imaging a square grid, positive distortion gives a pincushion effect while negative distortion yields a barrel effect. 

Distortion which changes sign, as well as magnitude, across the image. Also called wave or mustache distortion. 

A term that describes the degree to which a light source expands as the distance from the laser increases. Divergence is generally specified as a full angle and can be used to predict spot sizes at a given distance through tangent calculation. Beam divergence can be reduced for long distance uses by expanding the diameter of the beam. 

L'augmentation de la section transversale d'un faisceau de lumière qui se propage et qui n'est pas parfaitement collimaté.

An imaging lens design that employs low f/# imaging lenses that provide superior overall correction and produce less distortion than standard fixed focal length lenses. However, this design can be subject to residual oblique spherical aberration. Two Gauss lenses, each comprised of a negative doublet and a positive singlet, are situated symmetrically in the design. Double Gauss lenses are commonly used in machine vision applications.

A type of singlet lens with two inward, equally curved surfaces and a negative focal length. Optimized for infinite/ infinite conjugates and ideal for image reduction and to spread light. 

A type of singlet lens with two outward, equally curved surfaces and a positive focal length. Optimized for finite/ finite conjugate imaging and ideal for electronic imaging, relay systems and image projection. 

Also known as a doubler, an imaging lens adapter that consists of a negative focal length achromatic lens that doubles the magnification for a specified working distance by giving half the field of view.

A lens with two optical components such as an achromatic lens.

A type of prism that inverts an image by rotating it by twice the prism rotation angle. It is available in two versions: uncoated and coated. An uncoated dove prism is used for image rotation. A coated dove prism retroreflects an image.

In motorized stages, the ratio of motor revolutions per leadscrew revolution.

The difference between the lowest detectable light level and the highest detectable light level. Physically, this is determined by the saturation capacity of each pixel, the dark current or dark noise, the ADC circuits, and gain settings.