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Optical systems can be folded using plane mirrors; the system is still considered to be rotationally symmetric if it possesses rotational symmetry when unfolded. Any point on the optical axis (in any space) is an axial point. Rotational symmetry greatly simplifies the analysis of optical systems, which otherwise must be analyzed in three ...
Optical engineering is the field of engineering encompassing the physical phenomena and technologies associated with the generation, transmission, manipulation, detection, and utilization of light. [2] Optical engineers use the science of optics to solve problems and to design and build devices that make light do something useful. [3]
Today, the pure science of optics is called optical science or optical physics to distinguish it from applied optical sciences, which are referred to as optical engineering. Prominent subfields of optical engineering include illumination engineering , photonics , and optoelectronics with practical applications like lens design , fabrication and ...
Below optical frequencies (that is, at microwave and radio frequencies), the spectrum analyzer is a closely related electronic device. Spectrometers are used in many fields. For example, they are used in astronomy to analyze the radiation from objects and deduce their chemical composition.
F-center in an NaCl crystal. An F-center or color center or Farbe center (from the original German Farbzentrum, where Farbe means color and zentrum means center) is a type of crystallographic defect in which an anionic vacancy in a crystal lattice is occupied by one or more unpaired electrons.
Optical rotation, also known as polarization rotation or circular birefringence, is the rotation of the orientation of the plane of polarization about the optical axis of linearly polarized light as it travels through certain materials. Circular birefringence and circular dichroism are the manifestations of optical activity.
[9] [10] Researchers in optical physics use and develop light sources that span the electromagnetic spectrum from microwaves to X-rays. The field includes the generation and detection of light, linear and nonlinear optical processes, and spectroscopy. Lasers and laser spectroscopy have transformed optical science.
The optical properties of a material define how it interacts with light. The optical properties of matter are studied in optical physics (a subfield of optics ) and applied in materials science . The optical properties of matter include: