Glossary of Spectroscopy Terms
We at StellarNet are proud to offer products for many diverse applications from quality control to metrology. We also understand that our customers have diverse backgrounds that may or may not include optics. We have put together a glossary of terms to help customers who are beginners (and non-beginners who might need the refresher). The terms can be browsed alphabetically, but they have also been grouped into the categories below. We recommend that complete beginners start with “Spectroscopy.” Happy experimenting!
Terminology by Category
Background Spectrum
Bad Pixel
Baseline Drift Correct
Baseline Noise
Baseline Offset
Bend Radius
Best Efficiency (of a diffraction grating)
Blaze Wavelength (of a spectrometer/diffraction grating)
Boxcar Smoothing
Broadband
Bulb Color Temp
Centroid Wavelength
Charge-Coupled Device (CCD)
Chemometrics
ChemWiz Concentration Predictor
Chroma
CIE xy chromaticity diagram
CIE XYZ Tristimulus
Coherence
Collimating Lens
Color Equalization Filter
Color Purity
Color Quality Scale
Color Rendering Index
Colorimetry
Compact
Composite Grating Technology
Concave Gratings
Continuous Wave (CW) Laser
Correlated Color Temperature
Cosine Receptor
Cuvette
Czerny-Turner Configuration
Data Log
Dark Current
Dark Noise
Dark Spectrum (concept)
Dark Spectrum (in SpectraWiz)
Dead Pixel
Defective Pixel
Delta E (ΔE used in Colorimetry)
Detector
Detector Efficiency Curve
Detector Collection Lens
Detector Integration
Deuterium Lamp
Diffraction Grating (also known as Grating)
Diffuse Reflection
Dip probe
Dispersion (concept)
Drop out Pixel
Dual Blaze
Dynamic Range (Single Acquisition/System)
Efficiency
European Brewing Convention
Electromagnetic Radiation
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Electronic Noise
Electronic Offset
Elements
Emission
Episodic Data Capture
EPROM Spectrometer Memory
Exposure Time
External Hardware Trigger (Jack-in)
Extra Low Stray Light Values
F-number
Fiber optics
Fixed Pattern Noise
Flash Capture Interface
Flow Cells
Fluorescence
Fluorescence Spectroscopy (Fluorimetry)
Fluorophore Coating
Flux
Flux Density
Focal Length
Frequency
Fresnel Lens
Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM)
Gas Emission Lines
Grating Efficiency Curve
Grating Order
Groove Density (of a diffraction grating)
Ground and Excited States
Half Width at Half Maximum (HWHM)/Resolving Resolution
Haze
High Resolution
High Speed Data Transfer
Holographic Grating
Hot Pixel
HR-Czerny-Turner
Hue
Jitter
LabView
Lambertian Reflector
Lamp
Laser
Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Light-Emitting Diode (LED)
Light Sources
Linearity
Linux
Lovibond Scale
Low cost
Luminance
Microscopy
Microsoft C/C#
OEM
OH concentration
Optical Density
Optical Metrology
Optical Resolution
Optics
Order Sorting Filters
Particle-Wave Duality
Photodiode Array (PDA)
Peak Wavelength
Peak Tool
Photodiode
Photometry
Photon
Photon Noise
Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density
Photosynthetically Active Radiation
Pixel
Pixel Resolution
Pixel Well Depth
Popping Pixel
Power
Power Spectral Density
Precision
Radiance
Radiometry
Radiometry Units
Raman Microscopy
Raman Probes
Raman Shift
Raman Scattering
Raman Spectroscopy
Ramulaser
Ray
Readout Noise
Receptor Type
Reference Spectrum
Reflectance Probe
Reflection
Refraction
Relative Irradiance
Research grade
Resolution
RMS noise
Rugged
Saturation
Sapphire Attenuated Total Reflectance (SATR) Probes
Scattering
Scope Mode
SDK
Second and Third Order Effects
Sensing
Sensitivity
SERS
Shot Noise
Signal to Noise Ratio (S/N)
Slit
SMA 905
Software
Spectral Attenuation
Spectral Line Emission
Spectral Range (of a diffraction grating)
Spectral Resolution
SpectraWiz®
SpectraWizard
Spectrograph
Spectrometer
Spectrometer Linux Drivers
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy Standards
Spectrum
Specular Reflection
Spot Size
Stability
Standard Reference Method (SRM)
StellarCASE
StellarSCOPE Microscope
Stray Light
Super Range
SwDemo
SWDLL Spectrometer Driver
SymX-Czerny-Turner
System Sensitivity Curve
Temperature Compensation
Thermal Stability
Thermo-electric Cooling
Thin-Film Analysis Software
Time Averaging
Time Series Analysis
Transmittance
TTL input
Tungsten Halogen Lamp
VBA for MS Excel
Visual Basic
Voltage Offset
Y-bundled Fiber
Yield Photon Flux