OPTICS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does optics mean? 

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

1. the branch of physics that studies the physical properties of light

2. optical properties

  Familiarity information: OPTICS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPTICS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The branch of physics that studies the physical properties of light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

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

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Domain member category:

meniscus ((optics) a lens that is concave on one side and convex on the other)

stigmatism ((optics) condition of an optical system (as a lens) in which light rays from a single point converge in a single focal point)

astigmatism; astigmia ((optics) defect in an optical system in which light rays from a single point fail to converge in a single focal point)

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

refract (subject to refraction)

reflect (show an image of)

resolve (make clearly visible)

aberrate (diverge or deviate from the straight path; produce aberration)

bifocal (having two foci)

aplanatic (free from or corrected for spherical aberration)

apochromatic (corrected for both chromatic and spherical aberration)

aspheric; aspherical (varying slightly from a perfectly spherical shape)

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

catoptrics (branch of optics dealing with formation of images by mirrors)

holography (the branch of optics that deals with the use of coherent light from a laser in order to make a hologram that can then be used to create a three-dimensional image)

Derivation:

optical (of or relating to or involving light or optics)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Optical properties

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the optics of a telescope

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

property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)

 Context examples 

Any method of quantitative or qualitative analysis that involves optics and/or the measurement of light.

(Optical Methods, NCI Thesaurus)

Space-based telescopes also were unable to view the impact, as Mercury’s proximity to the sun would damage optics.

(NASA Completes MESSENGER Mission with Expected Impact on Mercury's Surface, NASA)

The team combined high-resolution spectroscopy with a technique known as adaptive optics, which corrected the blurring effect of Earth’s atmosphere.

(Water Found in Planet 120 Light Years Away, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Currently, most commercial devices using nonlinear optics are only used in spectroscopy.

(Graphene paves the way to faster high-speed communications, University of Cambridge)

An individual trained and qualified to advise, administer, supervise, or perform research or other professional and scientific work in the investigation and application of the relations between space, time, matter, and energy in the areas of mechanics, sound, optics, heat, electricity, magnetism, radiation, or atomic and nuclear phenomena.

(Physicist, NCI Thesaurus)

Imke de Pater, professor and chair of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered the first two massive eruptions on Aug. 15, 2013, in Io's southern hemisphere, using the near-infrared camera (NIRC2) coupled to the adaptive optics system on the Keck II telescope, one of two 10-meter telescopes operated by the Keck Observatory.

(A Hellacious Two Weeks on Jupiter's Moon Io, NASA)

Now came a pause of ten minutes, during which I, by this time in perfect possession of my wits, observed all the female Brocklehursts produce their pocket-handkerchiefs and apply them to their optics, while the elderly lady swayed herself to and fro, and the two younger ones whispered, How shocking!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

They would sometimes alight upon my victuals, and leave their loathsome excrement, or spawn behind, which to me was very visible, though not to the natives of that country, whose large optics were not so acute as mine, in viewing smaller objects.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

De Pater discovered a third and even brighter eruption - one of the brightest ever seen on Io - on Aug. 29, using both the Near-Infrared Imager with adaptive optics on the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, and the SpeX near-infrared spectrometer on NASA's nearby Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF).

(A Hellacious Two Weeks on Jupiter's Moon Io, NASA)