COLLIMATOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does collimator mean? 

• COLLIMATOR (noun)
  The noun COLLIMATOR has 2 senses:

1. a small telescope attached to a large telescope to use in setting the line of the larger one

2. 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

  Familiarity information: COLLIMATOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COLLIMATOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small telescope attached to a large telescope to use in setting the line of the larger one

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("collimator" is a kind of...):

scope; telescope (a magnifier of images of distant objects)

Derivation:

collimate (adjust the line of sight of (an optical instrument))

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("collimator" is a kind of...):

optical device (a device for producing or controlling light)

Holonyms ("collimator" is a part of...):

prism spectroscope; spectroscope (an optical instrument for spectrographic analysis)

 Context examples 

A special gamma camera having only one pinhole instead of multiple parallel holes as its collimator.

(Pinhole Camera, NCI Thesaurus)

This differs from the use of slab collimators whose many holes define lines of response from a single gamma emission.

(Electronic Collimation, NCI Thesaurus)

Then, a limited number of detectors viewed these through a collimator to provide an image.

(Anger Camera, NCI Thesaurus)

A line defined by a detector and its collimator in SPECT or by 2 coincident detectors in PET.

(Line of Response, NCI Thesaurus)