OPTICAL DEVICE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does optical device mean? 

• OPTICAL DEVICE (noun)
  The noun OPTICAL DEVICE has 1 sense:

1. a device for producing or controlling light

  Familiarity information: OPTICAL DEVICE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPTICAL DEVICE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A device for producing or controlling light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("optical device" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "optical device"):

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)

viewer (an optical device for viewing photographic transparencies)

stereoscope (an optical device for viewing stereoscopic photographs)

Rochon prism; Wollaston prism (optical device that produces plane-polarized ultraviolet light)

projector (an optical device for projecting a beam of 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)

polarimeter; polariscope (an optical device used to measure the rotation of the plane of vibration of polarized light)

planetarium (an optical device for projecting images of celestial bodies and other astronomical phenomena onto the inner surface of a hemispherical dome)

Nicol prism (optical device that produces plane-polarized light)

lens; lens system; lense (a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images)

autofocus (an optical device for focussing a camera or other instrument automatically)

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)

finder; view finder; viewfinder (optical device that helps a user to find the target of interest)

diffuser; diffusor (optical device that distributes the light of a lamp evenly)

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)

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)

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)

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)

biprism (an optical device for obtaining interference fringes)

 Context examples 

An electric or optical device designed to focus electromagnetic radiation.

(Lens Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

An optical device designed to take an electromagnetic beam and separate it into two or more parts.

(Beam Splitter Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

An ultra-sensitive optical device that is used as a sub-cellular detection tool.

(Nanoprobe, NCI Thesaurus)

An acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; an optical device that produces an intense monochromatic beam of coherent light.

(Laser, NCI Thesaurus)