optical device

Noun
  1. A device for producing or controlling light (synset 103856861)
    is a type of: device - an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose
    subtypes:
    • autofocus - an optical device for focussing a camera or other instrument automatically
    • biprism - an optical device for obtaining interference fringes
    • camera lucida - an optical device consisting of an attachment that enables an observer to view simultaneously the image and a drawing surface for sketching it
    • coelostat - optical device used to follow the path of a celestial body and reflect its light into a telescope; has a movable and a fixed mirror
    • collimator - optical device consisting of a tube containing a convex achromatic lens at one end and a slit at the other with the slit at the focus of the lens; light rays leave the slit as a parallel beam
    • diffraction grating, grating - optical device consisting of a surface with many parallel grooves in it; disperses a beam of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) into its wavelengths to produce its spectrum
    • diffuser, diffusor - optical device that distributes the light of a lamp evenly
    • finder, view finder, viewfinder - optical device that helps a user to find the target of interest
    • kerr cell - optical device consisting of a transparent cell with two electrodes between two polarizing media; passes light only if the two planes of polarization are parallel; used as a high-speed shutter or to modulate a laser beam
    • laser, optical maser - an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; an optical device that produces an intense monochromatic beam of coherent light
    • lens, lens system, lense - a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images
    • nicol prism - optical device that produces plane-polarized light
    • planetarium - an optical device for projecting images of celestial bodies and other astronomical phenomena onto the inner surface of a hemispherical dome
    • polarimeter, polariscope - an optical device used to measure the rotation of the plane of vibration of polarized light
    • optical prism, prism - optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image
    • projector - an optical device for projecting a beam of light
    • rochon prism, wollaston prism - optical device that produces plane-polarized ultraviolet light
    • stereoscope - an optical device for viewing stereoscopic photographs
    • viewer - an optical device for viewing photographic transparencies

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