a Volume in the

Comprehensive Dictionary
of PHYSICS
Edited by
Dipak Basu
PUre
and
APPLIED
PHYSICS
DICTIONARY OF
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
CRC Press
Preface
The Dictionary of Pure and Applied Physics (DPAP) is one of three physics dictionaries being
published by CRC Press LLC, the other two being the Dictionary of Material Science and High En-
ergy Physics and Dictionary of Geophysics, Astrophysics and Astronomy. Each of these dictionaries
is entirely self-contained.
The aim of the DPAP is to provide students, researchers, academics and professionals in general,
with denitions in a very clear and concise form. The presentation is such that readers will not have
any difculty nding any term being looked for. Each denition is written in detail as informative
as possible supported by suitable diagrams, equations, and formulae whenever necessary.
With more than 3000 terms, the elds covered in the DPAP are acoustics, biophysics and med-
ical physics, communication, electricity, electronics, geometrical optics, low temperature physics,
magnetism, and physical optics.
Like most other branches of science, physics has grown rapidly over the last decade. As such,
many of the terms used in older books have become obsolete and new terms have appeared in
scientic and technical literature. Care has been taken to ensure that old terms are not included in
the DPAP and new terminologies are not missed. Some of the terms are related to other elds, e.g.,
engineering elds (mostly electrical and mechanical), mathematics, chemistry, biology.
Authors are eminent scientists at research institutions and university professors from around the
world. Readership includes physicists and engineers in all elds, teachers and students in physics
and engineering at university, college and high school levels, technical writers and professionals in
general.
The uniqueness of the DPAP lies in the fact that it is an extremely useful source of information
in the form of meanings of scientic terms presented in a very clear language and concise form
written by authoritative persons in the eld. It would be a great aid to students in understanding
textbooks, help academics and researchers fully appreciate research papers in professional scientic
journals, provide authors in the eld with assistance to clarify their writings and, in general, benet
the enhancement of literacy in physics by presenting scientists and engineers with meaningful and
workable denitions.
Dipak Basu
2001 CRC Press LLC
CONTRIBUTORS
Barry I. Barker
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Dipak Basu
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Christopher Boswell
The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
H.R. Chandrasekhar
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
David Cheeke
Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Shenlin Chen
Boise, Idaho
Lee Chow
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida
T.C. Choy
University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria, Australia
J.M. Collins
Marquette University
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Luis Cruz-Cruz
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
Robert T. Deck
University of Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Vijai Dixit
St. Louis University
St. Louis, Missouri
Douglas M. Gingrich
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Arthur A. Grossman
University of California, San Diego
San Diego, California
Shirin Haque-Copilah
University of the West Indies
St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies
Takafumi Hayashi
The University of Aizu
Fukushima, Japan
Cila Herman
The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Stanley Jeffers
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Joe Khachan
University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan
University of Missouri, St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
Scott A. Lee
University of Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Mirko Mirkov
Cynosure, Inc.
Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Michael J. OShea
Kansas State University
Manhattan, Kansas
Vladimir Ostashev
NOAA
Boulder, Colorado
2001 CRC Press LLC
A.G. Unil Perera
Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia
Edward Rothwell
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
Kenneth Trantham
Arkansas Technology University
Russellville, Arkansas
Kainam Thomas Wong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
2001 CRC Press LLC
Editorial Advisor
Stan Gibilisco
Acknowledgments
The following gures have been reproduced by kind permissions as mentioned.
Kellner Schmidt optical system: Fundamentals of Optics (4th Edition), by F. Jenkins and H.
White, McGraw Hill, New York, 1976.
Tangential and sagittal focal lines: Mirrors, Prisms and Lenses, by J. P. Southall, Dover Publishers,
New York, 1964.
Lummer-Gehrke plate: Fundamentals of Optics (4th Edition), by F. Jenkins and H. White, Mc-
Graw Hill, New York, 1976.
Moira fringes: McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientic and Technical terms (5th Edition), by S. P.
Parker (Editor-in-Chief), McGraw Hill, New York, 1994.
Heat capacity for 4He. The Lambda phenomenon: John Lipa and Joel Nisser of Stanford Uni-
versity.
2001 CRC Press LLC
A
Abbe number Dispersion or separation of
neighboring wavelengths by transparent mate-
rial can be characterized by the Abbe number.
If for a given material n
D
, n
F
, and n
C
refer to
the refractive indices for the Fraunhfer D (589
nm), F (489 nm), and C (656 nm), then the
chromatism of the material is characterized by
its v-value or constringence
v =
n
D
1
n
F
n
C
.
This is called the refractive efciency, v-value
or Abbe number. The larger the constringence,
the lesser the chromatism. The inverse of the
Abbe number is the dispersive power.
Abbe sine condition (1) For an optical sys-
tem, if one considers the object andimage planes
perpendicular to the optical axis, and to be the
angle relative to the axis made by a ray from an
axial object point in object space of index n and

to be that in image space of index n

, then the
transverse magnication, m:
m =
nsin
n

sin

for all and

.
For an object at innity:
sin

=
y
f

where y is the height of a ray parallel to the axis

and f

is the back (or secondary) focal distance.

The condition is valid for a lens free of coma and
the relationships hold to a good approximation
in most lenses, but not where discontinuities ap-
pear in ray behavior (such as Fresnel lenses or
zone plates). Deviations from this relationship
are called the offense against the same condi-
tion and are associated with coma.
(2) The condition satised by rays refracted
by spherical interfaces of an optical system(e.g.,
microscope) to form an image free of coma; if

1
and
2
are the angles made by non-paraxial
rays from the object and the image, h
1
and h
2
the object and image heights, n
1
and n
2
the re-
fractive indices, then the Abbes sine condition
is
n
1
h
1
sin
1
+n
2
h
2
sin
2
= 0 .
ABCD law If q
in
and q
out
are the complex
radii of curvature of the input and output beams
of an optical system, they are related by the ele-
ments of the ABCD matrix according to ABCD
law: q
out
=
Aq
in
+B
C q
in
+D
. See ABCD matrix.
ABCD matrix The height (y) and angle ()
of a paraxial ray (measured with respect to the
optical axis) can be described by a simple 2 2
composite system matrix as it passes through
an optical system with several elements (lenses,
mirrors, etc.). The elements of the matrix (M)
are referred to as A, B, C, and D. In the equa-
tion
_
y
f

f
_
= M
_
y
i

i
_
; M = M
n
M
n1
. . .
M
1
=
_
A B
C D
_
,
the subscripts i and f refer to the initial (input)
and nal (output) rays and the system matrix M
is a product of the ray matrices of each element
of the optical system. The optical element clos-
est to the initial ray has the matrix M
1
and the
one closest to the nal ray has M
n
. The physical
signicance of the elements of the systemmatrix
is the following: The input (output) plane cor-
responds to the rst (second) focal plane when
D(A) is equal to zero. The output plane is the
image plane conjugate to the input plane when
B = 0 with A being the linear magnication.
When C = 0, a parallel bundle of input rays
emerges as a parallel bundle of output rays; D
corresponds to the angular magnication. See
cardinal points.
aberration Optical systems form distortion-
free images when the rays entering the system
are parallel to the axis and are close to it (parax-
ial rays). However, this restriction leads to low
throughput. Off-axis and non-paraxial rays lead
to distortions which can be classied as (a) chro-
matic and (b) monochromatic aberrations. See
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aberration, chromatic and aberration, mono-
chromatic.
aberration, chromatic The refractive index
of a material is dependent on wavelength. By
Snells Law, light rays of different wavelengths
will be refracted at different angles, since index
is not a constant. Because the index of refraction
is higher for shorter wavelengths, these are fo-
cused closer to a lens when compared to longer
wavelengths, when polychromatic or white light
is incident on it. Longitudinal chromatic aber-
ration is dened to be the axial distance from
the nearest to the farthest focal points.
aberration, lateral The inability of a system
to focus rays from a source on its axis to a point
on the axis, but instead focus at a point shifted
perpendicularly or laterally to the axis.
aberration, longitudinal When a systemfo-
cuses the obliquely incident rays on the optical
axis but at a point that is not the focal point for
the paraxial rays.
aberration of optical systems Any error in
imaging, for example due to dispersion (chro-
matic), curvature of the surface (spherical),
coma, astigmatism, distortion, etc., resulting in
inability of an optical system to bring a broad
beam to focus at a unique point.
aberrations, monochromatic The aberra-
tions in an optical system even for a monochro-
matic light, thus arising totally from the geome-
try of the system, in contrast to chromatic aber-
ration (see chromatic aberration) due to disper-
sion of the medium (different refractive indices
for different wavelengths of the incident light).
aberration, spherical This distortion is
caused by marginal or non-paraxial rays (i.e.,
rays that are parallel to the axis but are further
fromthe axis). The image has a diffuse halo sur-
rounding the sharp image formed by the paraxial
rays. The marginal rays come to a focus at dif-
ferent points on the axis compared to paraxial
rays and diverge at steeper angles. ( See dia-
gram.) This leads to longitudinal and transverse
spherical aberration. The position at which the
image blur is minimum is called the circle of
least confusion. The spherical aberration is zero
for an optical system if the object and image are
arranged to be at the conjugate points of one an-
other. (See conjugate points.) For a thin lens, if
the shape is such that the radius of curvature of
the rst convex surface is about six times that of
the second concave surface, then the spherical
aberration is minimized. The meniscus shape
of eyeglasses is chosen for this reason. Optical
systems such as cameras can reduce this defect
by using smaller apertures (large f-numbers) to
block off the outer rays.
Aberration, spherical.
aberrations, Seidel Monochromatic aber-
rations named after the German mathematician
Ludwig von Seidel who studied aberration the-
ory keeping higher order terms for parameters
describing the departure of the incident beam
from a paraxial beam. The ve Seidel aberra-
tions are astigmatism, coma, curvature of eld,
distortion, and spherical aberration.
abrupt junction A diode junction in which
the dopant level or material type changes
abruptly at the junction.
A diode is formed at the junction of two ma-
terials with different Fermi levels (that is, each
with a different chemical potential, the energy
level which is the highest lled at a temperature
of absolute zero). In semiconductors, one way
to alter the Fermi level of the material is to add
dopants that are either electron donors or ac-
ceptors. A diode constructed of the same basic
semiconductor material can be realized with dif-
ferent dopants on each side of the junction. The
dopant level can be changed gradually across
the device, or change abruptly at the junction.
In real devices, the dopant level changes in a re-
gion small compared to the depletion layer, the
2001 CRC Press LLC
region of non-uniform carrier density about the
junction.
Such abrupt junction diodes have the benet
of simplied numerical analysis. For instance,
the depletion region depth depends on the square
root of the voltage difference (which includes
the intrinsic diode voltage and the applied re-
verse bias voltage).
A junction that is not abrupt is sometimes
called a gradual or graded junction, and will
have different properties depending on the na-
ture of the dopant prole. See diode junction.
absolute zero The absolute minimumin tem-
perature. Any system in thermal equilibrium at
absolute zero has its minimumenergy and mini-
mum entropy. Absolute zero occurs at
273.15

C(459.67

F). The absolute temper-

ature scale has an arbitrariness in the size of the
degree, chosen such that the triple point of wa-
ter is exactly 273.16

C. It is not possible for a

systemtoreachthe absolute zeroof temperature.
This can be seen through the behavior of entropy
as the temperature approaches zero. The third
law of thermodynamics states that the entropy
of a system at T = 0K is a constant. If this
is true, then the specic heat is zero at absolute
zero:
C
X
T
=
_
S
T
_
X
where X describes the method of temperature
changes (e.g., V for constant volume). Since the
third law states S approaches a constant at ab-
solute zero, the slope of the entropy vs. temper-
ature curve must become zero at absolute zero,
resulting in a zero heat capacity. It can be shown
that this also results in the thermal expansion ap-
proaching zero at zero temperature and that
V
C
X

T0
constant
where V is the volume, is the expansion co-
efcient, and C
X
is the heat capacity. For an
adiabatic change in some variable X, we nd
dT =
V
C
X
TdX
and this shows us that the change in X needed to
produce a temperature change dT grows without
bound as T 0. This completes the argument
that absolute zero is unattainable. See also ther-
modynamics, third law of.
absolute zero, unattainablility of See abso-
lute zero.
absorbance See absorption, Lamberts law
of.
absorptance See absorbance.
absorption If a beam of light with the in-
tensity I
0
passes through a homogeneous sub-
stance of thickness x(unit: m) and emerges with
a lower intensity I, according to the exponen-
tial law of absorption I = I
0
exp(x). is
the absorption (or extinction) coefcient (unit:
m
1
). depends on the material and is a func-
tion of the wavelength of light passing through
it. For example, for glass can be as low as
10
7
m
1
in the visible while it can be several
orders of magnitude higher for the infrared and
ultraviolet wavelengths of light. While deriving
this law, effects due to scattering are ignored.
absorption, acoustic Nonreversible trans-
formation of acoustic energy into other forms of
energy (for instance, heat). Two main kinds of
this process are absorption of sound in its reec-
tion from a surface and absorption of sound in
its propagation through gaseous, uid, or solid
media. The latter phenomenon results in expo-
nential decrease of an amplitude and intensity
of a sound wave with distance of propagation,
e.g., A = A
0
e
x
. Here, A and A
0
are the am-
plitudes of sound pressure in a sound wave at
two xed points, x is a length of a sound path
between these points, and is the absorption
coefcient.
absorption, anomalous, acoustic Absorp-
tion of sound by relaxation processes. The term,
anomalous absorption, had been used until the
middle of the twentieth century. However, it is
rarely used nowadays.
absorption bands/lines The absorption
spectra of atoms at small concentrations con-
sist of discrete energies at which the absorption
is high. The electronic energy levels of each
atomic species are discrete and unique. An atom
2001 CRC Press LLC
in one state of energy can be excited to a higher
state by absorption of a photon whose energy is
equal tothe difference inenergybetweenthe two
states of the atom. A spectrograph which dis-
plays the intensity of white light passing through
the atoms of interest vs. wavelength will show
dark lines due to the missing photons of specic
energies absorbed by the atoms. Molecules, on
the other hand, have vibrational and rotational
energy levels superimposed on the electronic
energy levels giving rise to a large number of
closely spaced lines which smear and appear as
bands. Bands also appear at higher concentra-
tion of atoms due to broadening of spectral lines.
Energy levels of solids (crystalline and amor-
phous) also exhibit bands.
absorption, Beers lawof For solutions with
concentration C (unit: gm per liter) in a cell of
path length b (unit: cm), the logarithmic formof
Beers lawfor the absorbance, A, can be written
as A = log(
I
0
I
) = abC = bC. Here a is called
the absorptivity (unit: liters per gram-cm). If C
is in units of moles per liter, is called the molar
absorptivity (unit: liter per mole-cm).
absorption coefcient See absorption.
absorption coefcient, acoustic (1) A ratio
of absorbed by a surface energy of a sound wave
incident on this surface to the energy of the wave
before interacting with the surface.
(2) An inverse distance at which the ampli-
tude of pressure in a sound wave propagating
in a medium decreases by a factor e 2.7183.
The absorption coefcient, , can also be de-
termined by = x
1
ln(A
0
/A), where x is a
length of a sound path between two xed points,
and Aand A
0
are the amplitudes of sound pres-
sure at these points.
absorption edge Refers to the threshold en-
ergy below which photons are transparent in a
substance.
1. Absorption edge in x-rays: The probability
of absorption of photons in elements increases
with wavelength until an absorption edge is
reached when a sharp drop occurs. The sharp
drops correspond to the binding energies of elec-
trons in inner shells.
2. Absorption edge in semiconductors: The
electronic energy states consist of completely
lledbands of energies (Valence Band) followed
by unoccupied bands (Conduction Band) sepa-
rated by a band gap. The absorption of photons
shows a sharp increase at and above the band gap
energy due to the promotion of electrons from
the lled Valence Band to the empty Conduc-
tion Band. The direct band gap semiconductors
(e.g., galliumarsenide) have a sharp edge unlike
the indirect gap (e.g., silicon) semiconductors in
which the absorption is assisted by lattice exci-
tations (phonons). The edge is also very sensi-
tive to temperature. At low temperatures (when
thermal energy is much less than the band gap
energy) the edge is much sharper. At higher
temperatures, the phonons and impurity states
smear the edge.
absorption, Lamberts lawof The exponen-
tial law of absorption converted to logarithms to
base 10 can be written as A = log(
I
0
I
) =
x
2.303
.
Here A is called the absorbance of the sub-
stance, I
0
and I are the incident and transmitted
intensities through a substance of thickness x
(unit: m) and absorption coefcient (units:
m
1
). See absorption.
absorptivity See absorption, Beers law of.
absorptivity, molar See absorption, Beers
law of.
acceptor An impurity introduced into a semi-
conductor crystal lattice to accept an electron,
allowing a bond missing an electron (a positive
hole) to migrate and thus carry charge. For ex-
ample, in a silicon lattice, an atom of boron can
be substituted for one of the silicon atoms. Sili-
con atoms have four valence electrons, whereas
boron atoms have only three. However, the
boron atom completes the covalent bonds with
the neighboring silicon atoms by accepting an
electron (and becoming negatively charged).
The crystal remains electrically neutral, so a
hole (seen as a positivelycharged lackof anelec-
tron) can be a charge carrier through the lattice.
Acceptor impurities (for silicon or germa-
nium) include boron, aluminum, galliumand in-
dium. Semiconductors with more acceptor than
donor impurities have conductivity dominated
2001 CRC Press LLC
by diffusion of holes (positive charges) and are
labelled p-type. See also donor.
access coupler An access coupler transfers
optical signal from one conductor to another in
an optical transmission system. The coupling
coefcient, measuring the efciency of a cou-
pler, is dened as the ratio of optical power on
the incident side to the optical power on the other
side of the interface.
access line An access line embodies the cir-
cuitry linking a user and a switching center
(where message packets are routed onwards to
their eventual destination for addresses served
by other centers or are delivered to local ad-
dresses served by this center). An access line
may be specically adjusted to provide ampli-
tude and phase equalization to the signal passing
through it; this is labeled a special-grade access
line. An access line connecting an individual
user or a group of users to a communication net-
work is called a network access line.
access time Access time in a communication
system refers to the time lag from the beginning
of an access attempt to an access success. Ac-
cess time is dened only for successful access
attempts. Access time in a computer system
refers to the time lapse from when data are de-
livered to when data storage starts.
accidents, laser Lasers are dangerous due to
the high intensity of laser light. The laser beam
causes localized burning resulting in skin le-
sions, retinal damage, damage to mucous mem-
branes, etc. The extent of damage is a function
of laser wavelength and intensity and may be
alleviated by wearing safety glasses and opaque
clothing. Care must yet be taken to prevent dam-
age to the safety glasses and starting re to the
opaque clothing.
accommodation (1) To observe objects
closely and far away, the lens in the eye ac-
commodates, i.e., it adjusts its dioptric power
to attain maximal sharpness of retinal imagery.
When accommodating to a near object, the cil-
iary body contracts and hence the curvature of
the lens decreases, increasing the power of the
lens. The front surface of the lens moves for-
ward slightly. For a distant object, the ciliary
bodyrelaxes andthe lens assumes a atter shape,
thus increasing its radius of curvature and con-
sequently increasing its focal length.
(2) Optical: the ciliary muscles tense or re-
lax causing the lens to either (a) bulge resulting
in a small radius of curvature and a concomi-
tant shorter focal length allowing the viewer to
focus on close objects, or (b) relax resulting in
a larger radius of curvature and a concomitant
longer focal length allowing the viewer to focus
on more distant objects.
(3) Sensory: with constant, or nearly con-
stant stimulation, sensory receptors may adapt
to the stimulus and fail to respond. That is,
a slowly rising depolarization at the molecular
level may not initiate an action potential ( See
action potential); hence no stimulation.
(4) Evolutionary: a change in an organism
that allows it to better interact with its environ-
ment, sometimes referred to as selective evolu-
tion.
accumulation time The amount of time a
signal (radiation, x-ray, light, etc.) is actually
being recorded. Every recording instrument has
dead time; the fraction of running time required
for a signal to be processed before the next signal
can be processed. Hence, the accumulation time
is the running (or clock) time less the dead time.
accumulator An electrochemical cell that
can be electrically recharged repeatedly is called
an accumulator. It is also called secondary cell.
See secondary cell.
achromatic colors Colors in which the at-
tribute hue is lacking. Colors rangingfromblack
(absence of light) through various shades of gray
to dazzling white are called achromatic. The at-
tribute that distinguishes themis brightness. See
color.
achromatic doublet Acommon way to elim-
inate chromatic aberration is to use an achro-
matic doublet that consists of a convex and a
concave lens of different glasses cemented to-
gether. The focal lengths and refractive pow-
ers of the lenses differ (by shaping their surface
curvatures) producing a net power, and the dis-
persion powers of the components are chosen
2001 CRC Press LLC
such that they are in inverse proportion to these
powers. The result is a compound lens that has
a net focal length but reduced dispersion over
a major portion of the visible spectrum. If the
doublet, made up of 2 lenses of individual pow-
ers F
1
+F
2
, has a net power of F diopters, then
the conditions dening the doublet are:
F = F
1
+F
2
,
and
F
1
v
1
=
F
2
v
2
.
The powers (F, F
1
and F
2
) are measured for the
sodium D-line (589 nm) and v
1
and v
2
are the
Abbe numbers of the materials of the two lenses.
Achromatic prisms are formed by combining 2
prisms with equal and opposite dispersions.
achromatism An optical element or system
is said to exhibit achromatismif chromatic aber-
ration has been eliminated in the element, e.g.,
by use of an achromatic doublet.
achromatopsia Total color blindness. The
optic system responds to all frequencies of visi-
ble light; however, the personsees onlyshades
of gray.
acoustic bridge Device that is used to mea-
sure acoustic impedance of a substance. Acous-
tic bridge is closely analogous to electric bridge.
For example, in one of possible arrangements of
an acoustic bridge, two tubes (one lled with a
substance whose impedance is known and the
other with a substance of unknown impedance)
form the ratio arms.
acoustic capacitance The ratio of the vol-
ume displacement in an acoustic system to the
pressure applied to the system.
acoustic density Deviation of the density in
a mediumfromits ambient value caused by pas-
sage of a sound wave. See also acoustic pres-
sure; displacement, acoustic.
acoustic efciency The ratio of the acous-
tic energy radiated by a transducer to the energy
(for example, electrical energy) supplied to this
transducer. Acoustic efciency is a dimension-
less quantity, and, according to the principle of
energy conservation, it is always less than one.
It is customary to express acoustic efciency in
percent.
acoustic grating A periodic structure or sur-
face that affects an incident sound wave in such
a way that, after transmission or reection, a
number of diffraction maxima and minima oc-
cur. Acoustic grating is similar to optic grating.
An example of acoustic grating is a number of
rods with width h placed in a row at a distance l
between each other. If a plane sound wave is in-
cident normally on this acoustic grating, the far
eld of the transmitted wave has maxima that are
determined by the formula sin = n/(h +l).
Here is the angle between the normal to the
grating and the direction of the diffracted wave,
n = 0, 1, 2, . . . , and is the sound wave-
length.
acoustic lens Material of special shape and
kind that is used to focus sound waves. This
focusing is based on the phenomenon of sound
refraction. Acoustical lenses are similar to op-
tical lenses. Acoustic lenses can be made from
gaseous, uid or solid substance. In the rst two
cases the substance is encased.
acoustic loss A decrease in amplitude and
intensity of a sound wave in its reection from
a surface or in its propagation through gaseous,
uidandsolidmedia due toattenuation, geomet-
rical spreading and other mechanisms. For ex-
ample: excitation of a surface wave and acous-
tics barriers.
acoustic pressure Deviation of a pressure in
a medium from its ambient value, caused by
passage of a sound wave. At a given point,
acoustic pressure p oscillates in time t with the
frequency of the sound wave. The root-mean-
squared acoustic pressure p = (
1
T
_
T
0
p
2
(t)
dt)
1/2
does not depend on t and is often used
in practice. Here, T is a time interval of averag-
ing, which should be properly chosen. Another
quantitative measure of acoustic pressure that
is often used is the sound pressure level L =
20 lg
p
p
0
, where p
0
represents a reference pres-
sure. In atmospheric acoustics, p
0
= 210
5
Pa,
while in underwater acoustics p
0
= 10
6
Pa.
2001 CRC Press LLC
acoustics in moving media The branch of
acoustics that studies the effects of mediummo-
tion on sound propagation, and the effects of
source and receiver motion on the emitted and
received sound. Medium motion signicantly
affects sound propagation in the atmosphere
where wind velocity and its uctuations are rela-
tively large: in the ocean if a sound wave crosses
a region with strong currents, in ducts with mean
gas ow, etc. Mean owina mediumand its reg-
ular and random inhomogeneities cause bend-
ing in the path of a sound wave, phase change,
diffraction and scattering of this wave. Source
motion always results in Doppler effect and also
generates a sonic boomif the source speed is su-
personic.
acoustics of buildings A part of architec-
tural acoustics that deals with noise propagation
through a building or its parts. Building acous-
tics treats outdoor noise transmission through
walls of a building and the level of this noise in
rooms, and considers indoor noise transmission
from one room to another. It also designs build-
ings to reduce transmission of outdoor noise
through walls, for example, by locating win-
dows of a building away from a highway.
acoustics of rooms A part of architectural
acoustics that deals with sound propagation in-
side a room (auditorium, concert hall, studio,
etc.). In a room, a listener hears direct sound
from a source plus a series of its echoes due
to reection and scattering by walls and objects.
The latter sound is called reverberant sound. Re-
verberant sound exponentially decreases in the
course of time because of absorption by walls,
objects and air. A time interval for which the
level of the reverberant sound is decreased by 60
dB is known as reverberation time. Reverbera-
tion time is the main characteristic of acoustic
quality of a room. If reverberation time is small,
sound is toneless. If reverberation time is large,
parts of speech or music overlap and are difcult
to be heard.
acousto electronics The discipline that deals
with conversion of radiosignals by means of ul-
trasound devices. Acousto electronic devices
allowone to amplify an amplitude of a radiosig-
nal and to modulate this amplitude, change a
phase of a radiosignal and its spectrum, delay
a radio impulse and to change its lengths, inte-
grate, decode and encode radiosignals, and to
do other conversions. The frequencies of ultra-
sound waves used in acousto electronics are 10
MHz and higher.
acousto-optic deector A beam of light can
be deected by an angle by Bragg diffrac-
tion from a refractive index grating produced
by acoustic waves launched in a crystal. See
acousto-optic effect.
acousto-optic effect Interaction of optical
and acoustic waves in a crystal. By applying
a periodic mechanical stress in a crystal (by at-
taching a piezo-electric transducer, for example)
longitudinal acoustic waves can be launched in
it. This leads to a moving refractive index grat-
ing in the crystal with the spacing, d =
v
f
, where
v is the speed of the sound wave in the crystal
and f is the frequency of the transducer. This
grating can scatter light according to Braggs
law leading to diffracted beams.
acousto-optic modulator A device that can
modulate a beam of light by acousto-optic ef-
fect. The RF signal used to launch acoustic
waves in the crystal can be (a) amplitude modu-
lated which results in the modulation of the in-
tensity of the undiffracted beam, (b) frequency
modulated resulting in the modulation of the fre-
quency shift of the rst order beam or (c) mod-
ulated by changing the direction of the sound
wave in the crystal. See acousto-optic effect.
acousto optics The discipline that deals with
the effects of sound waves in solids and uids
on light or electromagnetic wave propagating
through these media. A progressive or standing
sound wave in a medium periodically changes
its dielectric permittivity in space and/or time.
These changes cause diffraction and scattering
of a light beamor an electromagnetic wave prop-
agating through such a medium. This phenome-
non, also known as light diffraction by ultra-
sound, is the basis of many acousto optical de-
vices that are widely used to control the direc-
tion of light propagation, and its polarization,
amplitude and spectrum. Among such devices
are acousto optical lters, scanners and deec-
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tors. Acousto optical devices allow one to con-
trol a light beam by changing amplitude and/or
frequency of a sound wave.
actin A proteinaceous lament constituent
of muscle tissue and noncontractile tissue caus-
ing motility, usually in association with myosin.
Actin is a globular protein of molecular weight
42,000 Daltons. See molecular weight.
actinic radiation The portionof wavelengths
of the total radiation at which a specic sen-
sor is excited within the pass band of an optical
system. This is a term used in the context of
metrology.
action potential Amembrane electric poten-
tial exists between the exterior and the interior of
a living cell; usually of value 50 mV to 100 mV,
with the zero potential reference in the outside
medium and the inside of the cell negative po-
larity. This resting potential is due to an uneven
distribution of ion species (co- and counter ions)
inside and outside the cell. Whenever the mem-
brane potential rapidly or suddenly changes, as
for example during muscle movement, it is re-
ferred to as an action potential.
action potential, sodium conductance
Sodium conductance is a measure of the abil-
ity of sodium ions, Na
+
, to diffuse across a
cell membrane. It is observed that depolariza-
tion of a cell membrane leads to an increase in
sodium conductance across the membrane. The
action potential (see action potential) causes a
transient depolarization of the cell membrane;
hence, action potentials create a transient in-
crease in sodium conductance.
activationanalysis An atomor a nucleus that
absorbs energy may be transformed into either
an excited state atom or nucleus, or, if the en-
ergy absorption is sufcient, the nucleus may be
transformed in a nucleus of higher atomic mass.
Many of these excitations are metastable and the
decay may be observed and recorded yielding a
signature of the original atomor nucleus present.
activation analysis, neutron In neutron acti-
vation analysis, a beam of neutrons (sometimes
slow (thermal), sometimes fast) is incident on a
sample of material for which the constituents are
desired to be identied. Some of the nuclei in
the sample will capture a neutron, thus increas-
ing the atomic mass by one. Often the new,
or daughter, nucleus will decay via beta emis-
sion: the form and energy of emission identify-
ing the isotope originally present in the sample.
Different nuclei have disparate capture efcien-
cies (cross sections) for neutrons of various en-
ergy (speed), hence the proper neutron energies
must be selected for the anticipated sample nu-
clei composition.
activation analysis, photon When high en-
ergy photons are incident on atoms within a sub-
stance, some of the atoms will absorb the pho-
ton if either the photon energy matches one of
the allowed molecular, atomic, or nuclear en-
ergy level differences, or if the photon energy
is at or above the ionization energy of the atom.
The atom is then placed in a metastable, excited
state that decays to its ground state. This yields
a characteristic frequency signature without al-
tering the original atom present, unlike neutron
activation, which permanently alters the original
atom present.
activation energy (1) Chemical: the mini-
mum amount of energy that must be provided
to start a self-sustaining chemical reaction, that
is, on the molecular level, the amount of energy
per mole to break the requisite chemical bonds
so the atoms are free to recombine.
(2) General: the amount of energy (mechan-
ical, heat, light, etc.) that must be supplied to a
system for the system to begin functioning in a
desired way.
active device Adevice that introduces energy
into the primary circuit, instead of being a purely
storage or dissipative device. Some examples
of active devices are transistors, ampliers and
mixers. See also passive device.
active voltage In a circuit element operated
with alternating current, the voltage waveform
can be viewed as the sum of two waveforms,
one in phase with the current, one out of phase.
The in-phase component is sometimes termed
the active voltage. Energy dissipation in the de-
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vice is proportional to the active voltage times
the current. See phasor.
acuity, stereoscopic This is the smallest dif-
ference in distance of an object perceivable by
stereoscopic cues and is usually specied by an-
gle of stereopsis. This is a measure of depth
perception. The angle of stereopsis is the differ-
ence between the angle subtended at the centers
of the entrance pupils of the two eyes by the two
points at different distances from the eyes.
acuity, visual Visual acuity depends on the
eyes ability to differentiate details at different
distances from the eye. It is a measure of the
resolving power of the eye. There are 3 types of
resolution possible:
1. Minimum separable resolution: the abil-
ity to discriminate between two closely spaced
points.
2. Minimum visible resolution: the ability to
see the smallest resolvable angle subtended by
a black bar on a white background
3. Minimum legible resolution: the ability
to read the smallest angle subtended by block
letters on a test chart such as a Snellen chart
which is commonly used.
Acuity is denoted in terms of 6/x (known
as a Snellen fraction) or in decimal form. In the
Snellenchart, a standardtest distance of 6meters
(20 feet) is chosen. At this distance, in the row
of letters labeled 6/x, each letter will subtend 5
minutes of arc and each individual feature in the
letter (i.e., the gap in the letter C) will subtend
1 arc minute. In general the numerator of the
Snellen fraction indicates the xed distance or
test distance and the denominator denotes the
distance at which each letter in a given Snellen
row subtends 5 arc minutes.
Visual acuity varies with region of retina
stimulated, state of light adaptation of the eye,
general illumination, background contrast, size
and color of objects, refractive state of the eye,
character of retinal image and time of exposure
(viewing time).
adaptation of the eye When the eye (or the
visual system) is presented with a stimulus for
a period of time, the system will adapt to the
stimulus and will be less responsive or sensitive.
This can be formally dened as the change in
sensitivity due to continuous or repeated sensory
stimulation. Examples of adaptation include:
1. dark adaptation, wherein the eye adjusts
and becomes more sensitive to light as illumi-
nation is reduced (such as being in a dark room),
and its converse, light adaptation (walking from
a dark room to a well lit room); and
2. chromatic adaptation which is an altered
sensitivity to color that results in apparent
changes in hue and saturation due to prolonged
viewing of a specic color.
ADC (Analog to digital converter) A circuit
or device that quantizes an incoming analog sig-
nal and puts out a digital representation of the
input. A necessary precurser for digital signal
processing, ADCs must be designed with the ap-
propriate dynamic range, linearity and stability
for the signal expected.
adder, analog An amplier circuit that pro-
vides the output proportional to the sum of the
inputs. Also called a summer. Requires at least
two inputs and one output.
adder, cascade A device constructed of cas-
caded half adders and the appropriate logic cir-
cuits to allow the true addition of binary num-
bers. A simple cascade adder is also known as
a full adder. See halfadder.
adiabatic nuclear demagnetization Acool-
ing method that uses the properties of nuclear
paramagnets in high magnetic elds to reach
temperatures below 1 mK. If a system of non-
interacting nuclear spins, magnetic moment ,
is in thermal equilibrium at temperature T in a
magnetic eld B, its entropy is a function of
B/k
B
T. If the system is then thermally iso-
lated, and the magnetic eld is decreased isen-
tropically, the system temperature will decrease
linearly with the magnetic eld. T
f
=
B
f
B
i
T
i
.
The most common simple nuclear paramagnet
used in nuclear demagnetization cryostats is
high purity copper. It is possible to cool a Cu
demagnetization stage to a few K by starting
at a magnetic eld of roughly 8 T and a tempera-
ture of 5 to 10 mK . When higher initial temper-
atures and/or lower initial magnetic elds are
to be used, PrNi
5
is a good choice of nuclear
refrigerant. The 4f electrons in Pr form a non-
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magnetic singlet ground state in zero magnetic
eld. In a large magnetic eld, some of these
electrons will become aligned with the magnetic
eld, enhancing the local magnetic eld seen by
the nuclei. This hyperne enhancement is very
large for PrNi
5
the eld produced by the elec-
trons at the nucleus is roughly ten times the ex-
ternal eld. The concomitant entropy decrease
allows use of PrNi
5
at higher temperatures and
lower elds than those used with Cu demagne-
tization cryostats. As a result of the large inter-
nal eld, the minimum temperature attainable
with PrNi
5
is approximately 0.4 mK as the in-
teractions lead to magnetic ordering. See also
cooling, magnetic.
adiabatic process in sound propagation
Process with no heat ow in a medium due to
sound propagation. Usually, adiabatic process
is mathematically formulated as the following
condition:
(/t +v ) S = 0 .
Here, S(R, t) is the entropy per unit mass,
R = (x, y, z) are the Cartesian coordinates, t
is time, v is the medium velocity vector, and
= (/x, /y, /z). Propagation of
sound waves in air and water can be consid-
ered to be accurate as an adiabatic process if
the sound frequencies are much less than 10
9
Hz and 10
12
Hz, respectively.
adjacent channel An adjacent channel refers
to a channel adjoining another channel in the
frequency domain, in the time domain, or in the
spatial domain. For instance, in a frequency-
division multiplexing communication system,
the channel with carrier frequency just above
or just below the carrier frequency of channel
A embodies an adjacent channel to channel A.
In the case of time-division multiplexing, the
channel at the time slot right before or right after
the time slot of channel A is an adjacent chan-
nel of channel A. Adjacent channel interference
may occur if signal power from adjacent chan-
nels spills into the desired channel, say, due to
frequency drift in a frequency-multiplexed sys-
tem or due to mis-synchronization in a time-
division-multiplexed system. The capability of
a receiver to differentiate signals in the desired
channel fromits adjacent channels is termed ad-
jacent channel selectivity.
admittance The inverse of impedance. If the
voltage in a circuit element is V (the phasor) and
the current is I (also a phasor), the admittance
Y is the ratio of current admitted to applied
voltage: Y =
I
V
. This is in general a complex
value, and may depend upon the frequency .
Some examples of admittance are given here for
a pure resistor (Y
R
=
1
R
, a real number), a pure
capacitor (Y
C
=

1C) and a pure inductor
(Y
L
=

1
L
), both imaginary. The admittance
of elements in parallel is the sum of the indi-
vidual component admittances. Sometimes the
admittance is broken into the length of the pha-
sor and the phase shift angle. For AC devices,
the admittance is the change in current over the
change in voltage Y =
I
V
.
admittance, acoustic Reciprocal of the
acoustic impedance.
admittance, input The admittance calcu-
lated by dividing the current driven into a de-
vice by the applied voltage. For antenna design
or other small signal inputs, it is crucial to tune
the input impedance to match that of the trans-
mission line, or a large portion of the signal will
be reected back instead of being processed by
the device.
admittance, output The admittance calcu-
lated by dividing the current output of a device
by the voltage signal output. Inverse of the out-
put impedance.
adsorption pump A pump which uses cry-
opumping to achieve low pressures. See also
cryopumping.
aerodynamic sound (noise) Sound (noise)
generated (1.) by interaction of a ow with a
solid surface, (2.) by low speed ow. Examples
of aerodynamic sound of the rst kind are eolian
sounds produced by twigs and wires in the wind.
Sources of this aerodynamic sound are associ-
ated with aerodynamic forces acting on a solid
surface; they have a dipole character. Sources
of the aerodynamic sound of the second kind
are velocity uctuations in a ow, which have
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a quadrupole character. The latter aerodynamic
sound can be mathematically treated by using
Lighthills acoustic analogy: sound generation
in a non-moving homogeneous medium by the
turbulent velocities in a ow. See also air jet
noise.
afocal system A telescope or a beam ex-
pander is often referred to as an afocal system
i.e., one without a focal length. Both the object
andthe image are locatedat innity. The angular
magnication is the ratio of the apparent angu-
lar size of the image to that of the object. When
the object is centered on the axis the magnica-
tion, M, is M =
tan
2
tan
1
where
1
and
2
are
half-eld angles in the object and image space,
respectively.
air jet noise Noise (sound) generated by
subsonic and supersonic air jets. Noise pro-
duced by a subsonic turbulent jet can be ap-
proximatelytreatedbyusingLighthills acoustic
analogy (see aerodynamic sound) which yields
that the noise power is proportional to the eighth
power of the jet speed. Noise generation by a
supersonic jet is completely different from that
by a subsonic jet or a low speed ow, for exam-
ple; shock waves may play an important role in
noise generation. As a result, the noise power of
a supersonic jet is proportional to the jet speed
to the power of no greater than three.
air liqueer, Claude-Heylandt The Claude-
Heylandt liqueer produces liquid air by a com-
bination of isentropic expansion of a gas and
Joule-Thompson cooling. Incoming gas is pres-
surized to the order of 200 bars, then allowed
into an expansion engine, where the pressure de-
creases to 1 bar. This gas exchanges heat with an
incoming stream of air and then returns to the
compressor. The incoming stream of gas, af-
ter being cooled in a series of heat exchangers,
passes through a Joule-Thompson valve where
some fraction of the air is liqueed. The re-
maining gas returns to the compressor cooling
the incoming gas on the way. See also heat ex-
changers.
air, liquid Air, composed of 78% nitrogen,
18% oxygen, and 1% trace gases, becomes a
liquid at 78.8 K. Liquid air is a colorless, odor-
less liquid. The liquid oxygen is actually a pale
blue, but is normally not visible in liquid air.
Due to the liquid oxygen present, liquid air is
a ammable liquid, and, as with all cryogenic
liquids, is a severe frostbite hazard.
Airy disk The pattern of diffraction for cir-
cular aperture has rotational symmetry about the
axis. The central maximum is a circle of light
that corresponds to the zeroth order of diffrac-
tion and is known as the Airy disk. The near eld
angular radius of the Airy disk is given by
1.22
D
where D is the diameter of the aperture and
is the wavelength of light used to illuminate the
disk.
Airy function In the context of the transmit-
tance of a Fabry-Perot interferometer, a func-
tion of the form
1
1+F sin
2
(

2
)
is called the Airy
function. F is the coefcient of nesse and is
a measure of the sharpness of fringes and is
the phase difference between successive inter-
fering rays. The gure below displays the Airy
function for different values of F.
Airy function.
Airys disc The Fraunhofer diffraction pat-
tern due to a circular aperture contains a central
bright spot with concentric rings. The central
spot is called the Airys disc. The angular ra-
dius of the Airys disk is
1.22
D
where D is the
diameter of the aperture and is the wavelength
of light.
Alfven waves Transverse hydromagnetic
waves propagating along magnetic eld lines
in plasma or in a conducting uid. Alfven
waves were theoretically predicted in 1942 by
H. Alfvn, Swedish physicist. The speed of the
Alfven waves does not depend on frequency and
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is given by v
a
= H/

4. Here, H is the
magnetic eld strength, and is the density of a
medium. The Alfven waves play an important
role in astrophysics.
algorithm A sequence of precisely dened
procedures, often mathematical or logical op-
erations, to perform a particular task possibly
on a given set of data. This sequence of steps
has a singular starting point and terminates ei-
ther with the task accomplished or an indication
that the specied task is impossible. The ac-
tual path taken through the dened procedures
would depend on the input data set and on the
prior process step. Apractical algorithmaccom-
plishes the given task within the time constraints
of the problem and the memory limitations of
the computer with sufcient robustness to con-
tamination in the data set. An algorithm may
also be embodied in the hardware architecture
of the computer processor as a special-purpose
dedicated machine.
aliasing If signals are sampled at certain
rates during measurements, a well-known phe-
nomenon in information theory called aliasing
places a limit on the highest frequency that is
unambiguously processed. If t is the time
interval between successive measurements, the
Nyquist frequency, f
N
, dened as f
N
=
1
2t
determines that the signal and noise present at
a frequency f will be folded back at frequen-
cies 2nf
N
f and 2mf
N
+ f. Here n is a
positive integer and m a negative integer cho-
sen such that the aliasing is in the range of 0 to
f
N
. If the signals are band limited up to a max-
imum frequency, f
max
, the sampling should be
such that f
N
f
max
. Stated differently, for
a proper measurement of a spectrum the high-
est frequency component should be sampled at
least twice. This is also referred as the sam-
pling theorem. The diagram below illustrates
this principle. Afunction due to a superposition
of three harmonic waves of frequencies 0.3, 0.8
and 1.1 Hz is shown in the top part of gure. If
this data is sampled at intervals of t = 1 sec,
the Nyquist frequency, f
N
, is 0.5 Hz. The signal
components at 0.8 and 1.1 Hz do not satisfy the
sampling theorem while the 0.3 Hz does. The
0.8 and 1.1 Hz will be aliased to 0.2 Hz (corre-
sponding to n = 1) and 0.1 Hz (for m = 1),
respectively, as shown in (b) of the lower gure.
The panel (a) shows the true spectrum where
the sampling theorem is satised for the highest
frequency component present in the data.
Aliasing. t (sec), f (Hz).
These ideas have applications indigital signal
processing and Fourier transform spectroscopy,
to name a few. Any function with two variables
related by Fourier transforms (e.g., time and fre-
quency, distance and spatial frequency) can be
processed by the above criteria.
alnico Manmade magnetic material exhibit-
ing high coercivity (see coercivity), comprising
approximately 8% Al, 13% Ni, 24% Co and 3%
Cu.
alternating current Alternating current
(AC) is current that is alternating in the direc-
tion of the current ow. The typical alternating
current is sinusoidal in shape. Alternating cur-
rent has an advantage over direct current (DC) in
that its voltage magnitude can be changed easily
through a transformer.
alternator An electrical device for generat-
ing alternating current.
ambient Pertaining to a medium where a
sound wave can propagate. If there is no sound
wave propagating in a medium, the pressure,
density and uid velocity in the medium are
called the ambient pressure, density and uid
velocity. If there is a sound wave in the medium
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and the approximation of linear acoustics holds,
the pressure, density and uid velocity in the
medium are sums of the ambient and acoustic
pressure, densities and uid velocities.
ammeter An instrument used for the mea-
surement of direct or alternating electrical cur-
rent. It consists of resistors in series with a gal-
vanometer.
amount of charge that ows in an electrolytic
cell The rules are:
1. The mass of an element eroded at an elec-
trode is directly proportional to the amount of
electric charge Q passed through the electrode.
2. If the same charge Qis passed through sev-
eral electrodes, the mass lost at each electrode is
directly proportional to the atomic mass of the
element, and to the number of moles of elec-
trons required to erode one mole of electrode
elemental material.
ampere Unit of electric current in the Sys-
teme International (S.I.). One ampere of current
is dened as the current when owin each of two
innitely long parallel wires of negligible radius
separated by a distance of one meter in a vac-
uum causes a transverse force per unit length of
2x10
7
newton/meter to act between the wires.
Equal to one coulomb of charge passing through
a circuit element per second.
ampere balance An apparatus for measur-
ing current, balancing the torque from forces
between coils on the balance beam and stator
coils (in the same circuit) with the torque from
forces on the balance beam due to weights. If
properly calibrated, the current through the coils
can be read off from the position of the weights.
ampere hour The integrated amount of
charge passing through a circuit element in
an hour. Therefore 1 ampere-hour = 1
coulomb/second times 3600 seconds/hour, or
3600 coulombs.
Amperes law This theorem states that the
line integral of a magnetic eld around a closed
path is equal to the current enclosed by the path.
ampere turn In the case of a coil of N turns
carrying current I the line integral of the eld
around a closed loop yields NI, the magneto-
motive force. The units of magnetomotive force
are ampere turns.
Amperian path An arbitrary closed path
used in the denition of Amperes law. In Am-
peres law, a closed line integral of the magnetic
eld is equal to the total current enclosed in the
path times the permitivity of the free space,
o
.
This arbitrary closed path in Amperes law is
sometimes called Amperian path.
amplier Acircuit or device designed to pro-
duce an output proportional to the input signal,
or possibly some other function of the input. Of-
ten this proportionality is a single multiplication
by a gain factor (g) so that the output voltage
V
out
is related to the input voltage V
in
by the re-
lationship V
out
= gV
in
. However, sometimes the
output current (or voltage) is a function of the
input voltage (or current). In general the gain
may be complex.
amplier, AC coupled An amplier circuit
constructed with a simple resistor-capacitor net-
work to isolate a DC input voltage (or interme-
diate voltage in a multi-staged device) from the
input directly to the amplier (or following stage
amplier). Alternating current passes through
the capacitor, while any DC offset voltage is not
amplied. This allows operation of any com-
ponents previous to the amplier at operational
voltages, or can be used from controlling tem-
perature effects. Also called an RC-coupled am-
plier (for the resistor-capacitor isolation circuit
used).
amplier, antilog An amplier with the out-
put level an exponential function of the input;
thus the input is a logarithmic function of the
output.
amplier, audio-frequency Anamplier de-
signed to operate at frequencies similar to the
frequencies of audible sound, 100 Hz to 3 kHz.
More generally, the termaudio amplier is used
to imply a DC signal will not be amplied. In
this usage, the design frequency may be much
higher than sound.
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amplier, bipolar An amplier that is based
on a bipolar transistor. A bipolar transistor is
a device containing two diode junctions. Since
each junction has a polarity, the name bipolar is
an apt descriptor of the device. The transistor
has three active leads, labelled emitter, base and
collector. See transistor, junction; bipolar code.
amplier, broad band An amplier circuit
capable of operating over a wide frequency
range with a nearly constant gain.
amplier, cascaded An amplier where two
or more amplier stages are connected in series
(cascaded). This is done to provide increased
gain. Mixing between stages may allowshifting
of the frequency to allow ltering or optimal
amplication in the intermediate stages.
Many radio receiver designs are staged in
such a way, with ltering done in the intermedi-
ate frequency stages.
amplier, cascode A low noise amplier
constructed of two ampliers in a special series
arrangement. If bipolar ampliers are used, the
rst stage is a commonemitter circuit, withinput
at the base and output to the collector. This goes
into the second stage, a common base amplier.
The signal is input to the second stage emitter,
with output to the second stage collector.
A cascode circuit need not be of bipolar de-
vices. Any ampliers, if arranged in an analo-
gous fashion (stage 1: common source or com-
mon cathode, stage 2: common gate or common
grid) can make up a cascode amplier.
The high output impedance of the cascode
circuit allows its use to drive circuits while keep-
ing the effects of the amplied output away from
the input. The rest of the parameters of the cir-
cuit behave muchlike the rst stage wouldalone.
amplier, classes A, B, AB, C Amplier
classes are dened by what fraction of the input
waveformcycle results inampliedoutput. This
is changed by changing the relationship of the
amplier response to the input signal.
Class A ampliers are those for which the
output signal follows the input at all times. Con-
sider the amplier response curve that shows the
relationship between input voltage V
i
and output
voltage V
o
(or current or other signal). Since the
response of the amplier is well behaved for all
V
i
, the output signal includes the entire wave-
form and makes this a class A amplier.
Class A amplier operation.
Class B ampliers are those that provide an
amplied output for half of the input waveform
cycle. This is due to the response cutoff value
falling right at the input cycle average voltage.
Class B amplier operation.
Class AB ampliers are those that provide
output signal for less than the full input cycle,
but more than half the cycle.
Class C ampliers provide an output signal
for less than half the cycle.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Class AB amplier operation.
Class C amplier operation.
amplier, common base Abipolar amplier
with the base itself connected to the common
voltage. Thus, the input signal is the emitter to
common, with output collector to common. The
base to common connection generally includes
an impedance circuit chosen for stability.
This type of amplier circuit has a low in-
put impedance and high output impedance. The
output will be nearly in phase with the input.
amplier, common collector A bipolar am-
plier with the collector connected to the com-
mon voltage. The input signal is connected
to the base, while the output circuit connects
through the emitter. The circuit has a lowoutput
impedance, with higher input impedance. The
output is nearly in phase with the input. Of-
ten used as an impedance matching stage in a
multiple-stage amplier circuit. See amplier,
cascode.
amplier, common drain An amplier cir-
cuit based on a eld effect transistor, in which
the drain is connected to the common. The input
is to the gate, while the output is to the source.
Analogous to the common collector amplier.
amplier, commonemitter Abipolar ampli-
er designed to amplify the input base to emitter
signal to an output collector to emitter circuit.
Since the emitter is connected to a common lo-
cal ground voltage, the amplier is termedcom-
mon emitter. In most uses, the connection from
emitter to common includes a resistor for stabil-
ity. So the signal is base to common, while the
output is collector to common. The circuit has
a high output impedance, but a lower input im-
pedance. The output will be out of phase with
the input signal by 180

.
The common emitter amplier circuit is the
most common bipolar amplier for single stage
amplication. Most useful circuits, however,
have multiple stages.
amplier, DC An amplier constructed such
that it is capable of the amplication of a direct
current signal (DCoffset). Since this means that
the frequency of zero is within the bandwidth
of the amplier, this is the antonym of audio
amplier.
amplier, difference Acircuit that produces
an amplied output proportional to the differ-
ence of two input signals. This is especially use-
ful with some signal transmission lines that may
pick up induced voltages due to the electromag-
netic environment. If these induced voltages
will be nearly identical (common mode noise),
the output will not be affected.
amplier, feedback An operational ampli-
er circuit in which there is a return path from
the output to one of the inputs. For resistive re-
turn paths this feedback may be negative (tend-
ing to mitigate the input) or positive (tending to
reinforce the input).
However, in general the return path may con-
tain any impedance, introducing a magnitude at-
2001 CRC Press LLC
tenuation and phase lag. For instance, an inte-
grator circuit uses a capacitor in the feedback
circuit.
amplier, high gain An amplier circuit de-
signed with high gain, producing a substantial
output level with a very low signal input level.
amplier, ideal A mathematical construct
for the representation of an amplier circuit in
calculations. The input impedance is modeled
as a high resistance between inputs, and the out-
put voltage (with respect to ground) is a perfect
linear function of the input.
amplier instability Variations in the re-
sponse of an amplier circuit. Instabilities arise
from many causes including thermal effects,
coupling to other parts of the circuit (crosstalk),
and environmental effects. Stable amplier cir-
cuits provide reliable gain for a broad range of
operating parameters, but must be optimized for
the intended use. For example, the space envi-
ronment poses special problems for the elimina-
tion of circuit instabilities.
The most pernicious types of instability are
based on the device itself, as when a capaci-
tive path back through a device can allow the
circuit to meet the requirements for oscillation
(see Barkhausen criterion). This may occur ei-
ther by a feedback path or by causing parametric
amplication. Often remedied by changing the
impedance of the bias or input circuit paths.
amplier, linear An amplier that produces
an output that is linearly dependent on the in-
put. The region over which this linearity holds is
the usual operating range. However, ampliers
are sometimes deliberately operated outside this
range, as in an oscillating circuit.
amplier, logarithmic An amplier produc-
ing an output that is a logarithmic function of the
input.
amplier, narrowband An amplier circuit
in which the gain drops appreciably for frequen-
cies off the operating frequency. The width of
the region with higher gain is narrow enough to
allow the use in oscillators or ltering applica-
tions. Also termed a tuned amplier.
amplier, negative resistance An amplier
in which the real part of the input impedance
is negative. What this means is that when an
increase in voltage is applied to the input, the
circuit will allow less positive current (or more
negative current) to ow. The simplest way to
construct this is in a positive feedback circuit.
Useful in latching and memory applications.
amplier, nonlinear Anamplier circuit that
provides an output that is not a linear function of
the input. For example, a logarithmic amplier
is a type of nonlinear amplier.
amplier, overdriven An amplier circuit
operated outside of the normal design range of
the amplier. For a linear amplier, if the input
signal level is above some threshold, the output
response will no longer be a linear function of
the input due to the saturation of the amplier.
This operation of the circuit outside the ampli-
cation region is sometimes useful, for example
in oscillator circuits. Most often, however, an
overdriven amplier is the cause of unintended
performance problems.
amplier, parametric An amplier that re-
lies on a nonlinearity and a varying parameter
of a device to perform amplication. For in-
stance, a variable capacitor may be the param-
eter varied at some frequency (called the pump
frequency). Suppose an input signal at some dif-
ferent (possibly lower) frequency traversed the
circuit with the variable capacitor. Amixing oc-
curs between the frequencies, introducing sum
and difference frequencies into the circuit. Non-
symmetric treatment of the sum and difference
(for instance ltering the difference) may allow
the sumto be output, containing signal informa-
tion and with a potentially high gain relative to
the original signal input level.
amplier, power An amplier device or cir-
cuit designed to handle higher power levels, i.e.,
higher currents, than most devices. Attention is
paid in the design to thermal management as
well as electronic characteristics.
amplier, push-pull An amplier circuit
constructed of two (often class B) ampliers,
one for amplifying each polarity of the input
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signal. Thus the output of the push-pull circuit
reproduces the entire waveform, while the op-
erating voltages may be lower than needed for
a single (possibly class A) circuit, with better
efciency.
A simple push-pull amplier.
amplier, radio frequency An amplier cir-
cuit optimized for use in the radio frequency
(RF) bands. Usually, RF ampliers are mul-
tistage devices with frequency mixing used to
place the desired signal in a shifted frequency
region in different stages of the device. Such an
intermediate frequency (IF) allows the construc-
tion of more complex ltering and amplication
stages that are tuned for use at the IF. Some ra-
dio ampliers (especially those used above 30
MHz) have multiple IFs.
In addition to designating the operating fre-
quency range, the term RF amplier allows dis-
tinction from the rest of the receiver circuit,
which may include ampliers that handle the au-
dio portion of the signal. Filtering circuits may
exist here as well, but do not in general replace
the ltering in the IF stages of the circuit.
amplier, video A high-bandwidth ampli-
er circuit ( 100 MHz) designed to amplify
without signal distortion, even in the higher fre-
quencies of use. Named for its utility in video
and CRT applications.
amplitudes of waves, acoustic Maximum
absolute values in oscillations of pressure, uid
velocity, and density in a medium, caused by
passage of a sound wave. For a plane monochro-
matic wave, these oscillations are given by =

0
exp(ik Rit). Here, stands for acoustic
pressure, uid velocity, or density,
0
is the am-
plitude of the sound wave, k is the wavevector,
R = (x, y, z) are the Cartesian coordinates,
is the angular frequency, and t is time.
analog operations Procedures acting on ana-
log signals that provide analog results. For in-
stance, it is easy to construct a circuit to provide
the analog sumof two inputs. This sumhas been
synthesized fromthe continuous response of the
circuit, so any small change in the inputs may
provide the correct smoothly varying output.
Other analog operations besides the analog
sum include the difference, integration, differ-
entiation, multiplication, etc. Analog circuits
may be used in the construction of analog com-
puters, for which digital calculations may be ill
suited. Therefore the term analog operations is
used as an antonym of digital operations.
analyzer The state of polarization of light
that has been passed through a dichoric polar-
izer can be tested by a second dichoric polarizer,
which can then function as an analyzer. When
the transmission axis of the analyzer is oriented
at 90

relative to the transmission axis of the

polarizer, the light is effectively extinguished.
As the analyzer is rotated the light transmitted
by the pair increases reaching a maximumwhen
their transmission axes are aligned. The trans-
mitted intensity is given by Malus Law which
states that the irradiance for any relative angle
between the transmission axes is given by:
I = I
o
cos
2
,
where I
o
is maximum transmitted intensity.
anamorphic system An optical system with
different powers (or magnications) in differ-
ent meridians. Such systems are used to correct
astigmatism of the eye which arises from the
uneven curvature of the cornea.
anastigmatism In an anastigmatic lens, both
astigmatismand curvature of eld are corrected.
Such lenses must contain negative lenses. Typ-
ical anastigmatic lenses include:
1. the Celor (or Gauss) type,
2. the Cooke triplet and
2001 CRC Press LLC
3. the Dager type.
The Cooke triplet in particular, consists of a
negative lens at the aperture stop with two pos-
itive lenses: one in front, the other in back. If
the last positive lens is a cemented doublet, it is
called a Pepan lens and a Heliar if both positive
lenses are cemented. The Celor type is made up
of two airspaced achromatic doublets, one on
each side of the stop of the system. The Dager
type consists of two lens systems (each having
three or more lenses) placed symmetrically with
respect to the stop.
AND Alogic operation that is true if and only
if all the inputs are true. For a binary (2 input)
digital logic circuit where true is 1 and false is
0, all cases are as follows:
input A 0 0 1 1
input B 0 1 0 1
output 0 0 0 1
Anderson bridge A bridge used to mea-
sure inductance values over a wide range while
only requiring a xed capacitance of a moderate
value. Aschematic diagramof Anderson bridge
is shown below. The resistors are chosen such
that R
1
R
3
= R
2
R
x
. Adjustments of r and R
x
are used to balance the circuit. At balance, the
inductance is given by
L = C [R
1
R
3
+ (R
3
+R
x
) r] .
Some circuit element values that give optimum
sensitivity are:
R
1
= R
2
, R
3
= 2R
1
, R
x

= 2R
1

=
_
2L
C
.
Andronikashvilis experiment An experi-
ment, rst performedbyAndronikashvili, which
measures the density of the normal uid in a su-
peruid. Thin disks, closely spaced, are placed
in a superuid helium bath at the end of a tor-
sional ber. This set of disks is set into oscilla-
tory motion and the period measured. Any nor-
mal uid is locked to the disks due to the viscos-
ity of the normal uid and thereby contributes
to the systems moment of inertia. As normal
uid is converted into superuid, the moment
Anderson bridge.
of inertia decreases and the period decreases.
Thus, the measurement of period provides a di-
rect measurement of the density of normal uid,

n
. See also helium-4, superuid; superconduc-
tivity, two-uid model.
angle of incidence When a ray of light is
incident on a surface, the angle between the in-
cident ray and the surface normal is called the
angle of incidence.
angle of minimum deviation If a light ray is
incident on a prisms front surface, the emergent
ray will be deviated. The amount of deviation
will vary with angle of incidence. For a specic
value of the angle of incidence, the deviation
will be a minimum. When minimum deviation
occurs, the ray of light will pass symmetrically
through the prism. Measurements of minimum
deviation angle are used to calculate the refrac-
tive index, n of the prism:
n =
sin [(A+) /2]
sin (A/2)
,
where A is the prism angle, and is the mini-
mum deviation angle. For small prisms:
= A(n 1) .
angle of polarization For a light wave going
from an optically rarer dielectric medium to an
optically denser medium, that value of the angle
of incidence for which the angle of transmission
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= 90

angle of incidence. According to the

Fresnels laws, at this angle of incidence, the
coefcient of reection of the electromagnetic
wave with the electric eld vector lying in the
plane of incidence (containing the incident ray
and the normal to the surface) vanishes. Accord-
ing to Brewsters law, the tangent of the angle of
polarization equals the relative refractive index
n of the two media.
Angles of reection, refraction.
angle of reection When a ray of light is inci-
dent at an interface dividing two uniformmedia,
part of the incident ray will be reected back.
The angle of reection is the angle between the
surface normal and the reected ray. The angle
of reection equals the angle of incidence and
this is known as the Law of Reection.
angle of refraction When a ray of light is
incident at the surface between two uniformme-
dia, the transmitted ray (also known as the re-
fracted ray) remains within the plane of inci-
dence and the angle between the refracted ray
and the surface normal is called the angle of re-
fraction.
angstrom unit Unit of length equal to 10
8
cm or 10
10
m; symbol: .
angular dispersion The angular separation
of the wavelengths of a diffracted beam. For a
grating with the spacing a and order of diffrac-
tion m, the angular dispersion is given by
d
d
=
m
a cos
m
.
angular frequency For a harmonic wave
with a frequency of oscillation f (unit: Hz) and
period T (unit: s), the angular frequency is
given by = 2f =
2
T
. (unit: radian per
second).
angular magnication of eyepiece Ratio of
the angle subtended by the eye (with the aid of
the eyepiece) with the virtual image of the object
to the angle subtended by the object without the
eyepiece. For an eyepiece with a focal length
f, the angular magnication is
N
f
for the eye
relaxed and
N
f
+ 1 for the image viewed at the
near point (nearest position of accommodation)
N.
angular magnication of microscope If
f
o
and f
e
are the focal lengths of the objec-
tive and the eyepiece separated by a distance
d of a microscope, the angular magnication is
_
N
f
e
__
f
e
+f
o
d
f
o
_
where N is the near point dis-
tance (approximately 25 cm for young adults).
angular magnicationof telescope If f
o
and
f
e
are the focal lengths of the objective and the
eyepiece of a telescope, the angular magnica-
tion is
_

f
o
f
e
_
.
aniosotropic, materials These materials ex-
hibit different physical properties in different di-
rections within the material.
aniosotropy (energy) Energy stored in a fer-
romagnetic crystal by virtue of the work done
in rotating the magnetization of a domain away
from the direction of easy magnetization.
anisotropic media Media in which certain
properties are different alongdifferent directions
(as opposedtoisotropic media inwhichall direc-
tions are equivalent). For example, certain crys-
tals have different values of elastic constants or
refractive indices along different orthogonal di-
rections leading to differences in propagation of
sound or light velocities; the crystal structure or
the periodic arrangement of atoms determines
this property. Cubic crystals (e.g., diamond)
are optically isotropic, uniaxial crystals (e.g.,
quartz) have two different refractive indices and
bi-axial crystals (e.g., mica, topaz) have three.
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anode The electrode fromwhichpositive cur-
rent enters a device. This may also be seen as the
point where electrons leave a mediumor device.
anomaloscope An optical instrument that al-
lows an investigator to display one solid color in
a half eld of viewand a mixture of two comple-
mentary colors in the second half eld of view.
The patients perception or lack of the similari-
ties of the two elds of view allows a measure
of the degree of color blindness of the patient.
anomalous dispersion The refractive index,
n, of a dielectric in the wavelength regions of
transparency decreases slowly with the wave-
length of light. This leads to normal disper-
sion with the red being refracted less than the
blue. However, in the vicinity of absorption
bands, nincreases rapidly with increasing wave-
length leading to the so called anomalous dis-
persion (see gure). Longer wavelengths will
be refracted more than the shorter ones. This
effect can be demonstrated in the visible wave-
lengths by observing refraction through some
dyes placed in an empty glass prism. If the ab-
sorption is not too high to black out the light, a
reversed spectrum of the visible light becomes
observable.
Anomalous dispersion.
antenna A device constructed to radiate or
intercept electromagnetic energy. Sometimes
called an aerial.
antenna, aperiodic An antenna having a
roughly uniform input impedance and antenna
pattern over a wide band of frequencies. Exam-
ples include traveling-wave antennas such as the
Rhombic antenna. Also called a non-resonant
antenna. See antenna, rhombic.
antenna array A group of individual anten-
nas called elements acting in unison to provide a
desiredantenna patternthroughconstructive and
destructive interference. Arrays can be used to
provide a much higher gain than available from
a single element, to shape an antenna main beam
or sidelobes, and to provide a means of steering
the antenna pattern without physically moving
the antenna.
Antenna arrays are classied by a variety of
characteristics. They can be classied accord-
ing to conguration as linear arrays (all elements
aligned along a single line), planar arrays, circu-
lar arrays, or three-dimensional arrays. Linear
arrays are often classied as end-re or broad-
side, depending on whether the main beam is
centered along, or perpendicular to, the axis of
the array. Parasitic arrays (such as the Yagi
Uda) make use of the interaction among ele-
ments to provide individual element excitation,
rather than using individual feeding structures.
Phasedarrays use precise control over the ampli-
tude and phase of each element to provide elec-
tronic steering of the main beam and placement
of pattern nulls. Adaptive (or smart) arrays
use feedback information to automatically steer
their main beam toward a desired signal, while
nulling out undesired signals.
If all of the array elements are identical, and
if the elements are assumed to have no inter-
action between them, the antenna pattern of an
array is the product of the antenna pattern of a
single element multiplied by an array factor
that takes into account the geometry of the array
conguration. Pattern synthesis is the process
of selecting the element placement to provide a
prechosen pattern.
Many different types of antenna elements
may be used to form arrays. YagiUda, log-
periodic, and curtain arrays are usually com-
posed of dipoles. Satellite antennas often use
arrays of helices, and phased array radars com-
monly use slots or patches. Even large reect-
ing antennas may be used in arrays, such as the
very-large-array interferometer radio telescope
that employs 27 25-m dishes arranged in a Y-
conguration of 20-km long legs. See antenna,
Yagi; antenna, steerable.
antenna backlobe The radiation side lobe of
an antenna pattern located spatially opposite the
2001 CRC Press LLC
antenna main beam. See antenna beam; antenna
sidelobe.
antenna beam Also called a radiation lobe, a
portion of the antenna pattern containing a local-
ized maximum, bounded on all sides by signi-
cantly lower power density. The main beam is
the beamwith the largest local maximum, while
all other beams are called pattern sidelobes. The
sidelobe level is the ratio of the maximum side-
lobe power density to the main beammaximum,
and is usually expressed in dB.
Beams are often classied by their shape and
their spatial extent (see antenna beamwidth) and
include pencil beams that are highly concen-
trated along both angular directions and fan
beams that are narrow along one angular di-
rection and wide along the other.
antenna beamwidth Ameasure of the angu-
lar extent of an antenna beam in a chosen cross-
sectional plane, usually given in degrees. Sev-
eral methods exist for describing beamwidth.
Most often it is taken as the angle between the
adjacent 3-dB (half-power) points on the power
pattern, but it is also described in terms of the
10-dB or 20-dB points. For patterns with many
sidelobes, the beamwidth is sometimes taken as
the angular width between nulls (zeroes) adja-
cent to the beam.
In general, the narrower the antenna main
beam, the higher the gain and the directivity. See
antenna pattern; antenna beam; antenna gain;
antenna directivity.
antenna, dipole An antenna consisting of
two segments called legs, generally made
from straight wires and of equal length l, and
fed from the center by a two-wire transmission
line. A dipole may be used either alone or in
arrays such as log-periodic and Yagi-Uda, and
as such is the most commonly used antenna el-
ement.
The pattern of a dipole depends on the length
of the dipole legs as a fraction of the operating
wavelength, l/, and the input impedance de-
pends on both l/ and the radius of the wires,
a/. Dipoles are usually operated in the reso-
nant mode, with l/ slightly less than 1/4 for
a/ << 1. In this case the input impedance is
real and approximately 72 and the pattern is
very nearly a sine of the angle measured from
the antenna axis. See antenna, half-wave.
Coaxial cable can also be used to feed a
dipole antenna if an appropriate balun is used.
See antenna feed system.
A monopole antenna operating above a
ground plane (or approximately so, in the case
of a monopole above the earth) acts as a dipole
that radiates one half the power and has one half
the input impedance of a dipole in empty space.
antenna directivity Symbol: D. A dimen-
sionless parameter, greater thanor equal tounity,
describing the effectiveness of a transmitting
antenna in concentrating its radiation intensity
along a certain direction. Expressed as
D(, ) =
U(, )
W
4
where U(, ) is the radiation intensity (power
radiated per unit solid angle) and W is the total
radiated power. Thus directivity relates the ra-
diation intensity along a particular direction to
the radiated power averaged over the total solid
angle 4 (the radiation intensity of an isotropic
radiator). Often the word directivity is used to
describe the maximum value of D(, ) over all
angles.
Directivity is related to antenna gain and an-
tenna effective area. See antenna effective area.
antenna effective area Also called effective
aperture, a parameter with dimensions of m
2
describing the ability of a receiving antenna to
capture the power carried by the wave impinging
on it. Specically
A
e
=
P
L
W
i
where P
L
is the power in W delivered to the
load attached to the antenna, W
i
is the power
density of the impinging wave in W/m
2
and A
e
is the effective area. Thus, a larger A
e
implies
a greater ability to intercept power.
Effective area depends on several variables,
including the orientation and efciency of the
antenna, the polarization of the impinging wave,
and the value of the load. The effective area is
maximized when the orientation of the antenna
is polarization matched to the impinging wave,
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the load is conjugate matched to the antenna in-
put impedance, and the antenna is lossless. The
maximumeffective area of anantenna actingas a
receiver, A
em
, is related to the maximum direc-
tivity of the same antenna acting as a transmitter,
D
m
, by
A
em
=

2
4
D
m
.
Although the effective area of aperture-type
antennas (such as horns and reector antennas)
is often of the same order as the physical antenna
aperture area, there is little correlation between
the effective area of wire-type antennas (such
as dipoles and loops) and the physical area they
present to the impinging wave.
antenna efciency A dimensionless param-
eter, less than or equal to unity, describing the
ability of a transmitting antenna to convert input
power into radiated power. Dened through
e =
P
r
P
in
where P
r
is the radiated power and P
in
is the
input power to the antenna. The radiated power
will be less than the input power for antennas
exhibiting conductor or dielectric loss, so that
P
in
= P
r
+P
l
where P
l
is the power loss.
Often the impedance mismatch between the
feeding line and the antenna is included as a
loss mechanism and the mismatch efciency is
expressed as
e
m
= 1 ||
2
so that the total antenna efciency is given by
e
t
= e e
m
.
antenna feed system The physical connec-
tion between an antenna and the transmission
line or waveguide supplying or drawing power.
Often the feed is assumed to include all or part
of the transmission line.
Antenna feed structures are as varied as the
antennas they are designed to feed. Afeed struc-
ture is usually constructed to match the input
impedance of the antenna with the characteris-
tic impedance of the feeding transmission line.
It may also be constructed to provide a transition
between a balanced antenna (such as a dipole)
and an unbalanced transmission line (such as
coaxial cable). In this case it is called a balun.
For a reector antenna, the antenna feed
refers to the primary radiator and its own as-
sociated feeding system.
antenna gain Symbol: G. Antenna direc-
tivity corrected for efciency. A dimensionless
quantity, usually expressed in dB, correspond-
ing to the ratio of the radiation intensity in a cer-
tain direction to the input power averaged over
the total solid angle 4. Expressed as
G(, ) = e
t
D(, ) .
The word gain is sometimes used to describe the
maximum value of G(, ) over all angles.
antenna, half-wave Adipole antenna of total
length 2l equal to one half wavelength. A very
thin half-wave dipole has a sinusoidal current
distribution, a maximumdirectivity of 1.64, and
an input impedance of 73+j42.5 . Avery thin
dipole antenna can be made resonant by reduc-
ing its length slightly, to l/ = 0.24, producing
an input impedance of approximately 70+j0 .
For a dipole of larger diameter, the length must
be reduced more, and the resulting resonant in-
put impedance is also reduced. See antenna,
dipole.
antenna, horn A class of high-gain aperture
antennas used extensively in the microwave and
millimeter-wave bands. The simplest horn an-
tennas are constructed by aring out the mouth
of a circular or rectangular waveguide. The
are geometry controls the pattern shape and
thus the antenna gain. Rectangular horns are
classied as sectoral E-plane, sectoral H-plane,
and pyramidal, depending on whether the are is
along the wide side, narrowside, or both sides of
the guide, respectively. A typical standard-gain
pyramidal horn has a gain of about 20 dB.
Several modications canbe made tothe sim-
ple horn geometry to improve gain, sidelobe
level, bandwidth, and polarization characteris-
tics, resulting in such types as the ridged horn,
the corrugated horn, the aperture-matched horn,
and the TEM horn.
Horn antennas are commonly used as single
elements or in arrays, and as feeds for reec-
tor antennas such as microwave satellite dishes.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Other important applications include use as a
standard for calibrating other high-gain anten-
nas and as a radio-astronomy telescope.
antenna, isotropic A hypothetical antenna
that radiates uniformly in all directions. An
isotropic antenna cannot exist physically, but is
useful for dening various antenna properties
such as directivity and gain. The directivity of
an isotropic radiator is unity and its gain is 0 dB.
See antenna directivity; antenna gain.
antenna, lens An antenna combining a pri-
mary radiating element or array with a converg-
ing lens to produce increased gain. The lens
acts much the same as the reector of a dish-
type antenna, collimating the radiation from the
primary radiator and narrowing its main beam.
The primary element of a lens antenna is
often a low-gain antenna such as a dipole,
slot, or small horn. The lens may be con-
structed from dielectric material, as with an
optical lens, or from articial dielectrics com-
posed of small conducting objects imbedded in
foam. For lower frequencies the weight of the
lens becomes a signicant factor and alternative
lens designs using stacked metal plates or wire
meshes may be more appropriate.
Lens antennas are classied both by the type
of material used to construct the lens, and by the
geometry of the lens. Important lenses catego-
rized by shape include the Luneberg lens, which
is spherical with a radial grading of the dielectric
constant, and the Schmidt lens, which is used to
correct aberrations in spherical reector anten-
nas.
antenna, loop An antenna consisting of one
or more turns of wire, often contained in a plane,
formed into typically a circular, square, or rect-
angular shape. Small loop antennas are those
whose perimeters (number of turns times cir-
cumference) are generally less than a tenth of a
wavelength. These have sinusoidal antenna pat-
terns regardless of the shape of the loop, with
a sharp null on the loop axis useful for direc-
tion nding, station nulling, and radiowave nav-
igation. Small loop antennas have low antenna
efciency due to large resistive losses, strong
mismatches due to a highly inductive input im-
pedance, and low input resistance. The input
resistance can be enhanced by increasing the
number of turns or by winding the antenna on a
ferrite core, forming the loop-stick antennas
commonly found in AM radio receivers. Small
loops are also used for probing near-zone elds
and currents.
Loops can also be made of resonant size, with
perimeters approximately one wavelength in ex-
tent. A resonant square loop has an input im-
pedance of about 100 , and is often used by
radio amateurs in YagiUda arrays called cubi-
cal quads.
antenna, paraboloid A reector antenna
in which the main reector is paraboloidal
(parabolic surface of revolution). These anten-
nas are often used for radio astronomy because
of their narrow main beams, and are used as the
dish antennas in many home satellite televi-
sion systems. See antenna, reector.
antenna pattern The angular variation of
the radiation-zone electromagnetic eld of an
antenna, generally expressed in terms of the
spherical-coordinate variables and . Usu-
ally plotted in polar coordinates and normalized
to the maximum value using either natural units
or dB. Either the eld magnitude (eld pattern)
or the power density (power pattern) may be
plotted, with power density proportional to the
square of the eld magnitude.
Occasionally, the spatial variation of the
near-zone eld is considered. Describing this
using a near-zone antenna pattern is complicated
by the need to include distance as an additional
parameter.
antenna, reector Antenna combining a pri-
mary radiating element or array with a large con-
ducting surface to produce increased gain. The
reector acts much as the mirror in an optical
telescope, collimating the radiation fromthe pri-
mary source and decreasing the width of its main
beam. It may be constructed from solid metal
plating, or from perforated plating or wire mesh
to reduce weight. The primary source is usu-
ally a low-gain antenna such as a dipole, slot,
or small horn placed at the focal point of the
reector. More complicated primaries such as
circular corrugated horns and dielectric conical
2001 CRC Press LLC
antennas provide more efcient illumination of
the reector.
Reector antennas are often categorized ac-
cording to the reector shape, and include planar
reectors, corner reectors, spherical reectors,
parabolic cylinder reectors, and paraboloidal
reectors.
Shaping of the reecting surface can improve
the performance of a reecting antenna by in-
creasing its gain or decreasing its sidelobes. A
dual-reector Cassegrain antenna allows for fur-
ther improvements by providing shaping on two
surfaces, but only at the cost of increased aper-
ture blockage the tendency of the feed to
block a portion of the impinging wave.
antenna, rhombic Atraveling-wave wire an-
tenna used mostly at medium and short-wave
frequencies, consisting of four straight wire legs
placed parallel to the ground in the form of a
rhombus. One narrow apex of the rhombus is
fed by a two-wire transmission line while the
opposite is terminated by a resistance chosen in
value (typically 600 800 ) to eliminate re-
ections of the traveling waves generated at the
feed. When the legs are several wavelengths
long a highly directional pattern is produced,
with the main beam aligned along the rhombus,
and elevated at an angle to the ground due to the
ground effect. The elevation angle allows the re-
ceptionof skywaves reectedbythe ionosphere.
Rhombic antennas typically have two large side-
lobes adjacent to the main beam, and may have a
backlobe produced by traveling waves reected
from an imperfect apex termination.
antenna sidelobe Any antenna beam that is
not the main beam of the antenna pattern. See
antenna beam.
antenna, steerable A highly directive an-
tenna with a main beam direction that can
be changed either mechanically or electroni-
cally. A reector antenna is often mounted on
a gimble, allowing it to be mechanically ro-
tated through azimuth and elevation. A reec-
tor antenna may also be steered by moving its
primary feed. The 305-m reector antenna in
Arecibo, Puerto Rico is mounted in a natural
valley, and steered by moving a feed suspended
from three towers. In contrast, a phased array
antenna is steered by precisely controlling the
phase of the signal supplied to a xed-position
array elements such as patches. This type of
array is commonly used in radar applications,
where rapid scanning of the main beam is re-
quired.
antenna subreector The smaller reecting
surface in a dual reector antenna system, such
as the Cassegrain. See antenna, reector.
antenna, Yagi An antenna array consisting
of one driven element and several parasitic ele-
ments, arranged in a linear conguration to pro-
duce a main beamaligned with the antenna axis.
Also called a YagiUda array after the two in-
ventors, Hidetsugu Yagi and Shintaro Uda, who
developed the array in the 1920s. Usually con-
sisting of dipole elements, YagiUda arrays may
also be constructed from loops or other simple
elements. These easily constructed arrays are
used heavily in the short-wave bands up through
the low microwave bands.
Dipole YagiUda arrays consist of several
parallel elements, including a single resonant
dipole (called the driver) fed by a two-wire
transmission line. A single parasitic (short-
circuited, undriven) element, called a reec-
tor, is located behind the driver and has a length
slightly greater than the driver. Several parasitic
elements called directors are located in front
of the driven element.
The YagiUda arrayworks onthe principle of
current induction. Through very careful choice
of length and placement of the parasitic ele-
ments, the driver induces the proper current to
create constructive interference of the individ-
ual element patterns along the antenna axis. The
gain of the array increases with the number of
directors used, but little additional gain is real-
ized beyond the 11 dB of a ve-director Yagi.
Beamwidth and sidelobe levels are also impor-
tant design considerations for YagiUda arrays.
See antenna array; antenna, dipole.
antiferromagnetism This is a weak mag-
netism similar to paramagnetism insofar as it is
characterized by a small positive susceptibility.
anti-jamming Anti-jamming refers either to
the capacity of a device (typically a radar, navi-
2001 CRC Press LLC
gation guidance system, or communication sys-
tem) to resist jamming without critical deteri-
oration in its effectiveness, or to measures un-
dertaken by the device to mitigate the effects
of such jamming. One common anti-jamming
measure is the broadening of the information-
bearing signals spectrum using various spread
spectrum modulation techniques.
antinode That portion of a standing wave
where its amplitude is maximal. Antinode is
also called a loop. See also node.
anti-reecting lms Thin layers of dielec-
tric lms deposited on a material so that light of
desired wavelengths is not reected due to de-
structive interference. One applicationis tomin-
imize reected glare from window panes and
glass covering paintings and photographs. A
perfectly anti-reecting lm for light of vac-
uum wavelength should have a thickness of
(/4n
1
) and satisfy n
1
=

n
0
n
s
where n
1
, n
0
and n
s
are the refractive indices of the lm, the
incident medium(air, in most cases) and the sub-
strate material, respectively. Multiple layers of
materials of high and low refractive indices in a
quarter-wavelength-thick stack can also achieve
anti-reecting properties over a broad range of
wavelengths. For a three-layer stack with ma-
terials of refractive indices n
1
, n
2
and n
3
on a
substrate n
s
, the condition for anti-reectance
is
n
1
n
3
n
2
=

n
0
n
s
.
antiresonance A regime of an acoustic sys-
tem consisting of two or more parts with inter-
action between each other when the effective
impedance of the system is very high (in limit,
innite). An example of such a systemis a mem-
brane vibrating in the water.
anti-Stokes lines The inelastic scattering
of light by matter leads to frequencies that
are higher than those of the incident photons
called anti-Stokes lines (in contrast to the lower-
frequency Stokes lines and elastically scattered
Raleigh lines at the same frequency). If f
M
are
internal excitation frequencies of a material and
f
I
the incident photon frequency, then the anti-
Stokes frequencies are f
anti-Stokes
= f
I
+ f
M
.
If f
M
correspond to sound waves or acoustic
frequencies, the scattering is named Brillouin
scattering; for vibrational, rotational and elec-
tronic excitations in molecules or crystals the
phenomenon is called Raman scattering. See
scattering, Brillouin; scattering, Raman.
aperiodic vibrations Vibrations without
repetitive pattern. This term is used as opposite
to that of periodic vibrations. An example of
aperiodic vibrations is random vibrations, when
amplitude, phase and/or frequency of vibrations
are changed randomly.
aperture The diameter (usually measured in
inches) of the opening or objective of the tele-
scope, camera, etc. that determines the amount
of light ultimately reaching the image. Some-
times, the aperture is quantied as the angle be-
tween the lines from the opposing ends of a di-
ameter of the objective to the principal focus.
aperture acoustic (1) Surface that effectively
radiates sound. An example of acoustic aper-
ture is the mouth of a horn. An area occupied
by an array of acoustic sources is often called
an acoustic aperture too.
(2) An opening in a screen through which
sound waves can propagate from a source lo-
cated behind the screen.
aperture ratio Determines the light passing
power of a lens for a non-parallel beam from a
nearby object. Its value is given by 2nsin()
where is the angle between the lens axis and
that emergent ray in the image space, which
starts from an axial object point and passes
through the rim of the lens.
apertures, complementary See complemen-
tary apertures.
aplanat A lens or an optical system that is
free of bothspherical aberrationandcoma. Such
a system satises the Abbes sine condition. A
lens made of a dielectric of refractive index n
with the radii of curvature r
1
and r
2
can have
an image free of spherical aberration and coma
if the object is located at a distance r
1
. The
image that is virtual will be at a distance nr
2
shouldthe radii of curvature satisfythe condition
r
1
=
_
n+1
n
_
r
2
. Such a lens is called aplanatic
and the object and image points are called apla-
2001 CRC Press LLC
natic points. Aplanatic lens systems made of
immersion oil and index-matched thick plano-
convex lens are used next to the objective lens
of microscopes.
aplanatic achromatic doublets Two lenses
cemented together to correct for spherical aber-
ration, coma and chromatic aberration. See
aplanat; aberration, chromatic.
aplanatic points The two conjugate points
of an aplanat. See aplanat.
aplanatic refraction Refraction at a spheri-
cal interface in which the Abbes sine condition
is satised for incident and refracted rays.
apochromatic correction See aberration,
chromatic.
apodization Literally, to remove the feet.
Any process in which the aperture function is
altered to produce a redistribution of the en-
ergy in the diffraction pattern. It is usually em-
ployed to reduce the secondary diffraction max-
ima. This procedure is accomplished by altering
the aperture with suitable masks so that the re-
sultant diffractionpatternhas reducedsecondary
maxima resulting in cleaner images as shown in
the gure below. The diffraction pattern due to
a grating without a mask (a) and with a stan-
dard mask (b) is shown in (c) in solid and dot-
ted curves, respectively. The intensity scale is
drawn in the log scale to visualize the secondary
maxima that are a few percent of the principal
maximum without the mask. It is clear that
they are substantially reduced in the apodized
spectrum. The principal maximumsuffers some
broadening.
Apodization can also be done after the obser-
vation by a mathematical operation. The mea-
sured diffraction pattern of the aperture is con-
voluted with the Fourier transform of a suit-
able mask. In Fourier transform spectroscopy,
apodization is performed by multiplying the in-
terferogram with the mask function and obtain-
ing the spectra by a Fourier transform.
apparent size The size of the retinal image
of an object. It is proportional to the angle that
(a) unmasked grating, (b) grating with a mask, and
(c) the secondary maxima without mask (solid curve)
and with mask (dotted curve).
the object subtends at the rst principal point of
the optical system.
applique An auxiliary circuit equipment ap-
pended onto a standing communication system
to offer substitute or supplementary utility.
arithmetic operations Operations that treat
the inputs or operands as numbers. In digital
circuits, binary numbers can be added and sub-
tracted. It is also possible to multiply the binary-
representednumbers, inadditiontodivision, etc.
These operations are arithmetic. See also logic
operations.
array of acoustic sources A number of
acoustic sources coupled together. Radiation
pattern of an array of acoustic sources can be
quite different fromthat of an individual source,
e.g., the former can be much narrower than the
latter. This property of an array of acoustic
sources is often used in forming a narrow ra-
diation beam.
Arrhenius equation k = Ae
E
act
/RT
where
k is the rate constant, Ais the Arrhenius factor (a
constant for a given system), e is the exponential
function, R is the universal gas constant (8.315
J/mole-K), T is the absolute temperature of the
system, and E
act
is the activation energy of the
reaction. See activation energy.
Arrhenius plot A generalized plot of any
physical parameter that is a function of tempera-
ture. Following the form of the Arrhenius equa-
tion (see Arrhenius equation), one makes a plot
of the physical parameter, say for example, cor-
2001 CRC Press LLC
relation time
c
, vs. 1/T (the reciprocal of the
absolute temperature). One often observes the
data follow a straight line on such a plot, the
slope of which is the activation energy for that
process. Another utility of such a plot is that
where phase transitions occur in the system, the
phase transition is observed as an abrupt change
in slope at the temperature of the phase transi-
tion.
Arrhenius plot.
arteriography The use in the bloodstreamof
a dye opaque to x-ray radiation (for example, io-
dine) which allows a screen display (uorescent
or computer) of artery systems exposed to x-ray
radiation. Sometimes called x-ray imaging or
angiography.
articial inductor Acircuit designed to syn-
thesize the effects of an inductor without having
a physical inductor coil. This may be an active
device or a passive network device. If the effec-
tive admittance approximates Y

1
L
effective
for
any simulated inductance L
effective
near the an-
gular frequency of operation , the device can
be used in place of an inductor. Often useful
in integrated circuits, in which capacitor and re-
sistor elements are easy to construct in small
areas using planar processing techniques, while
inductors are not. See admittance.
articial reactor A device constructed to
mimic the complex admittance desired in a cir-
cuit. For instance, examine the possibility of
an articial capacitor without having a physical
capacitor in the circuit. The admittance Y will
be nearly completely imaginary, and scale lin-
early with operating frequency. The effective
capacitance C
effective
can be found from the re-
lationship Y =

1C
effective
. The articial
capacitor may be constructed of an active cir-
cuit, or may be a passive network design, and
can be used in many circuits in place of a capac-
itor. Of course, capacitors are among the easiest
of elements to construct in the normal ways, but
the example shows the possibility of tuning the
amplitude and phase response as a function of
frequency for any desired impedance. See also
articial inductor; admittance.
aspect ratio In images, the aspect ratio is the
ratio of one dimension of the total image (say,
horizontal) with the other (in this case, the ver-
tical). For video image reconstruction or any
CRT process, the aspect ratio should be tuned to
the design value so the images appear realistic.
It is well known that current television design
has a different aspect ratio for the viewed image
than that used in motion picture applications.
Now the aspect ratio for high-denition televi-
sion (HDTV) is different than that for current
video as well.
aspherical mirrors Paraboloids, ellipsoids
and hyperboloids which produce perfect images
between a pair of conjugate points correspond-
ing to their two foci.
association constant When macromolecules
such as proteins self-assemble by thermody-
namic means, i.e., due to a minimum condition
in free energy provided by hydrogen bonds be-
tween the macromolecular assemblies, then the
self-assembly reaction constant is referred to as
the association constant.
association kinetics When macromolecules
self-assemble in response to the kinetic pathway
of the reactants, the nal association is not de-
pendent solely on the minimum in free energy
due to nearest neighbor interactions; rather the
nal association is dependent on the reaction ki-
netics of the individual processes making up the
self-assembly. The study of these reaction pro-
cesses is referred to as association kinetics.
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c
P
1/T
astigmatic surface The effect of astigmatism
is that the rays of a narrow oblique bundle, in-
steadof beingbrought toa focus at a single point,
pass through two small focal lines at right angles
to the path of the chief ray in the image space. If
the chief rays proceedingfromthe various object
points lying in the meridional plane of a sym-
metrical optical instrument are constructed, and
if along each of these rays, the positions of the
image points of the pencils of the meridian and
the sagittal rays are determined, the loci of these
points will be two curved lines, both symmetric
with respect to the axis, which touch each other
at a common vertex on the axis. These curved
lines are the traces in the meridional plane of the
two astigmatic image surfaces generated by re-
volving the traces around the axis of symmetry.
The focal lines of a narrow pencil of meridional
rays lie on one surface, and the sagittal rays are
focused on the other surface.
astigmatism When an object point is away
from the optical axis of a lens or a mirror by a
considerable distance, the cone of incident rays
are asymmetric with respect to the optical sys-
temleading to the aberration called astigmatism.
The image of a point object results in two mutu-
ally perpendicular line images displaced from
one another. Rays in the vertical (or merid-
ional) plane and in the horizontal (or sagittal)
plane lead to these two images. The image is
disc shaped at some intermediate point called
the circle of least confusion. Projection systems
and photographic enlargers suffer from this de-
fect due to the closeness of the lens fromobjects
over a large area. Two or three lens systems that
correct for this defect also atten the curvature
of the eld. See curvature of eld.
astigmatism of the eye In the case of vision,
astigmatismoccurs inthe eye because the cornea
is not a perfect sphere, and hence there is a con-
tribution due to additional cylindrical curvature.
This could occur due to oblique incidence of
light on the cornea or lens. If there is an astig-
matic refractive error, rays of light from a single
point object are focused as 2 line images at dif-
ferent distances from the system, at right angles
to each other. This is due to different refraction
of the incident light by the dioptric system in
different meridians. Astigmatism of the eye is
in general classied as:
1. against-the-rule: Astigmatism in which
the meridian of greatest refractive power of the
eye is in or within 30

of the horizontal.
2. with-the-rule: Astigmatism in which the
meridian of greatest refractive power is in or
within 30

of the vertical.
3. irregular: Astigmatism in which the two
principal meridians of the eye are not at right
angles to each other.
astigmatism, radial This is a monochro-
matic aberration of a spherical lens. For an op-
tical system imaging an off-axis point, the chief
ray (or principal ray) will go from object point
throughthe center of aperture of the system. The
plane perpendicular to the plane containing the
chief ray(the tangential plane) is calledthe sagit-
tal or radius plane. When evaluating the image
at the tangential conjugate, there will be a line in
the sagittal direction. Aline in the tangential di-
rection will be formed at the sagittal conjugate.
In between these conjugates, the image will be
either elliptical or circular. The separation of
these conjugates is called radial astigmatism.
atmospheric acoustics The discipline that
deals with sound radiation, propagation, and
scattering in the atmosphere, and use of sound
waves for the remote sensing of the atmosphere.
There are several factors that can simultaneously
affect a sound wave in the atmosphere: absorp-
tion of sound in air, interaction of a sound wave
with the ground, temperature and wind velocity
stratication resulting in refraction of a sound
wave, scattering of sound by atmospheric turbu-
lence, terrain and different obstacles such as bar-
riers, houses, etc. Among modern concerns of
atmospheric acoustics are studies of noise prop-
agation from highways, factories, airports, and
supersonic aircrafts; source detection, ranging
and recognition by means of acoustical systems;
acoustic remote sensing of the atmosphere, etc.
atmospheric duct A layer of the earths at-
mosphere that traps and guides electromagnetic
waves by reection and refraction. Electro-
magnetic waves propagating in the earths tro-
posphere normally bend concave down toward
the earth due to the negative gradient in the re-
2001 CRC Press LLC
fractive index of the atmosphere with increasing
height. When the refractive index of the atmo-
sphere changes rapidly, or in a discontinuous
fashion, the waves are in essence reected from
that region of the atmosphere. A groundbase
duct occurs when the reecting layer is close to
the earth so that the reected waves bounce re-
peatedly between the layer and the earth. An
elevated duct occurs when the reecting layer
is high above the earth, and the reected waves
are bent back upward before reaching the earths
surface. In a fashion similar to metallic wave-
guides, cut-off frequencies may be computed for
various ducted modes, giving the lowest possi-
ble frequency of a ducted wave. For a typical
duct a few hundred meters thick, waves with
frequencies in the VHF range and higher are al-
lowed, while waves with lower frequencies are
cut off.
Atmospheric ducting is often associated with
temperature inversions. Bounding layers may
extend for over 1800 km along stationary
weather fronts. Ducting over water has provided
VHFcommunication distances of over 4500km.
attenuation, acoustic A decrease in ampli-
tude and intensity of a sound wave in its reec-
tion from a surface or in its propagation through
gaseous, uid or solid media. This decrease
is caused by both absorption of a sound wave
and its scattering due to inhomogeneities on the
surface or in a medium. For propagation of a
sound wave in a medium, its attenuation is de-
scribed by the formula A = A
0
e
x
, which is
similar but not identical to that for absorption of
sound. Here, A and A
0
are the amplitudes of
sound pressure at two xed points, x is a length
of a sound path between these points, and is
the extinction coefcient which is a sum of the
absorption coefcient and the scattering coef-
cient.
attenuation coefcient When a plane wave
travels through a medium, the intensity of the
wave will drop exponentially as a function of
distance traveled, x, e
x
, due to the absorption
of the medium. The coefcient is called the
attenuation coefcient.
attenuation constant A constant that de-
scribes the exponential decrease of the intensity
of an EM wave traveling through a mediumdue
to absorption.
attenuator A device designed to attenuate
the input signal without distortingthe waveform.
It can be an electric circuit to attenuate the elec-
tric signal, or it can be an absorbing material to
attenuate the optical input.
audibility, limits of Frequency and intensity
ranges in which a sound can be heard by ear. A
human ear is able to detect sound in the range
15 Hz to 20,000 Hz. At a given frequency in
this range, sound can be heard if its intensity is
above the threshold of audibility and below the
threshold of feeling. Both thresholds depend on
frequency and other factors, for example, an age
of a person. A sound with intensities above the
threshold of feeling cause pain and may cause
trauma.
audio frequency Sound frequency that can
be heard by ear. Audio frequency is in the range
15 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
audiogram A plot of hearing loss as a func-
tion of frequency for the audible range. Audio-
grams are widely used in audiometry.
audiometry Aprocedure of investigating im-
paired hearing. Both pure tones and speech are
used in audiometry to measure the threshold of
audibility of a person. As a result, the hearing
loss is determined as a ratio (in decibels) of the
measured threshold to that of the normal ear. If
pure tones are used in audiometry, it is custom-
ary to plot the hearing loss vs. frequency for the
audible range. Such a plot is called audiogram.
audiometry, bone conduction Bone con-
duction is the process of conducting acoustic
signals to the inner ear through the cranial bones
rather than through the ear canal. Audiometry
probed with an oscillator placed on the forehead
or head to produce a sound response in the au-
ditory nerve is referred to as bone conduction
audiometry. This technique is considered to be
problematical for lateralization effect (does not
isolate one ear) and masking. Oscillator place-
ment strongly affects the results.
2001 CRC Press LLC
audiometry, brain-stem electric response
Audiometry detected not by the patient relaying
whether or not they heard the response; rather,
by detection of the response via electrodes im-
planted in the auditory nerve or in the brainstem.
audition limits The same as audibility, limits
of.
auditorium acoustics See acoustics of
rooms.
aurora borealis Also known as northern
lights; This phenomenon of shimmering lights
in the northern skies is due to the charged parti-
cles of the solar wind that stream through space
andionize air molecules inthe upper atmosphere
which in turn emit light. The magnetic eld
lines of the earth trap the charged particles. The
electrons and protons swirl around the eld lines
and proceed towards the poles due to the Lorentz
force, which is normal to both their velocity and
the magnetic eld direction. The colors in the
auroras are due to the emission of excited oxy-
gen atoms in the red (630 nm) and green (558
nm) spectrums. Excited nitrogen atoms emit a
number of lines between 391 and 470 nm, and
650 and 680 nm. A number of atmospheric fac-
tors on earth and the solar wind lead to a variety
of color displays.
autocollimator Any optical system with the
property that the incident parallel light emerges
as parallel light but is travelling in the opposite
direction. This is accomplished, for example, in
the Kellner-Schmidt optical system by placing
a small-aperture convex mirror at the focus of
a large concave mirror, both mirrors having the
same center of curvature. Parallel light enters
the system through a correcting lens (to correct
spherical aberrations) placed at the center of cur-
vature and, after double reection, emerges in
the opposite direction. For an autocollimating
eyepiece, see eyepiece, Gaussian.
automatic bias The bias voltage of an ampli-
er element producedbyvoltage differences due
to the device current. This may be accomplished
by placing resistors in the circuit, so when the
current ows, the voltage drop across the resis-
tor is sufcient to bias the device elements.
Kellner-Schmidt optical system.
For example, in a common emitter amplier,
instead of providing two voltages for the correct
bias of both junctions, a resistor fromthe base to
common will carry most of the collector current,
providing the voltage difference (the automatic
bias) needed for the base-emitter junction. This
circuit can be made to work with only one ap-
plied voltage.
automatic frequency control The technique
of automatically adjusting the local oscillator or
intermediate frequency to compensate for fre-
quency shifts in the input signal. Often used in
radio receivers. Aby-product (in FMreception)
is that the control voltage for the adjustment can
be the amplitude of the demodulated signal.
automatic gain control (AGC) The tech-
nique of automatically adjusting the amplier
circuit gain to give a constant output level. Thus
when signal strength diminishes (as may be the
case inradioreception), the amplitude of the out-
put (or the volume) will not change dramatically.
In actual AGC circuits, the output is allowed to
change slightly with signal variation to facilitate
tuning.
automatic volume control (AVC) Automatic
adjusting of audio amplier gain to give a con-
stant volume level. See automatic gain control.
autoradiography Visualization of the spa-
tial distribution and concentration of tissue ra-
dioactivity. Usually detected by placing the tis-
sue (human body) in close proximity to photo-
2001 CRC Press LLC
graphic lm and upon developing the lm the
distribution of tissue radioactivity is recorded.
auxiliary channel An auxiliary channel
refers to a channel adjunct to the main transmis-
sion channel but with a transmission direction
independent of that of the main channel.
Avrami equation Used as a model for crystal
growth rate as a function of the density of the
crystalline and the melt phase (m) with respect
to time. Generally expressed in two equivalent
forms:
m = m
o
e
kt
n
or,
y = 1 m/m
o
= 1 e
kt
n
.
Where m is melt mass of the crystal, y is
the fraction of crystallized crystal, k is the rate
constant, t is the time, and n is an integer.
axial modes, of laser cavity Also known
as longitudinal modes. These are the resonant
modes at which a laser can oscillate. If L is
the length of the laser cavity resonator, the ax-
ial mode frequencies are f
m
= m
_
c
2L
_
where
m is an integer (usually very large) and c is the
speed of light. The separation between succes-
sive modes is the free spectral range of the res-
onator and a typical laser transition line is broad
enough to accommodate several modes. A sin-
gle axial mode can be sustained at the expense
of others by inserting an etalon of appropriate
length in the cavity.
axicon A refracting element that can image
a point as an axial line. A common form of
an axicon is a refractor in the shape of a plano-
convex shallow cone. Axicons are used in auto
collimators and alignment telescopes to detect
misalignment of illuminated point objects.
2001 CRC Press LLC
B
Babinets compensator Also known as
Babinet-Soleil compensator. A device that can
produce a continuous change in phase retarda-
tion between two orthogonally polarized beams
of light. In this device, two quartz wedges
the slow direction in one being perpendicular
to the slow direction in other can be gradu-
ally slid against one another. The light passing
through such a device suffers a retardation that
is proportional to the distances in each wedge.
Babinets principle A principle that relates
the elds diffracted by a screen with an aper-
ture and by the complementary screen. Babi-
nets principle states that the sum of these elds
is equal to a eld that would be in the absence
of the screen. The complementary screen is
formed from the original one by replacement of
all its transparent parts by opaque parts, and by
replacement of all opaque parts by transparent
ones.
back emf The electromotive force (emf) gen-
erated in an AC electric motor that is out of
phase with the initial applied voltage of the mo-
tor. Back emf is due to Lens law; namely, a
change in the magnetic ux inside a closed loop
will induce an emf to oppose the change in mag-
netic ux.
back focal length This is the distance from
the back (or secondary) vertex to the secondary
(or rear) focal point.
backlash The hysteresis inherent in a device
(such as a tuning element) will cause slightly
different dial readings for the same operation
depending on the direction of travel. The mag-
nitude of the difference is termed the backlash.
backscatter Electromagnetic waves propa-
gating in a direction directly opposite their di-
rection of origination. In radar, the backscatter
signal is the reected wave returned to the send-
ing antenna.
backward channel A backward channel
transmits supervisory control signals, error-
control signals or acknowledgment signals in a
direction reverse of the instantaneous direction
of the information signal in the forward channel.
backwave Wave propagatinginthe backward
direction. See backscatter.
bafe Surface that is an extension of the di-
aphragm of a loudspeaker or an aperture of a
source. Bafes are used to increase the power
output of an acoustic source and to change its
radiation pattern, especially at low frequencies.
For example, a vibrating circular disk radiates
primarily as a dipole if its radius is less than the
wavelength of the emitted sound. The same disk
bafed (surrounded) by a large surface radiates
primarily as a monopole and with much greater
output.
balance, amplitude/phase In splitter or cou-
pler circuits (especially in microwave devices),
the balance is a measure of the symmetry of the
signal or power division process. The ampli-
tude balance (usually specied in decibels) ap-
proaches 0 dB if the signal strength is identical
in the two output paths. The phase balance (of-
ten stated in radians or degrees) is zero if there
is no phase lag between the two outputs.
balance, bridge A bridge is a circuit de-
signed to make some measurement by setting up
a series/parallel connection. Imagine a square
circuit, with each side of the square containing
components, one of unknown admittance, the
others known, some of which can be tuned. A
driving circuit is connected across one of the
diagonals, and the current (or voltage) is mea-
sured across the remaining diagonal. The sides
are tuned until there is no current ow (or volt-
age difference) measured, allowing calculation
of the unknown admittance.
The process of nulling the measured quantity
across the bridge is called balancing.
Balmer lines/series; band These are spec-
tral lines observed in the emission or absorp-
2001 CRC Press LLC
tion spectra of hydrogen in the visible and near
ultraviolet. They correspond to transitions be-
tween n = 2 and n = 3, 4, 5 . . . energy lev-
els. The rst three lines of the Balmer series
are H

, H

, and H

lines at wavelengths of
6562.79 , 4861.33 and 4340.47 , respec-
tively. Transitions to higher levels get closer
with increasing n and the continuum (for n =
) appears as a band. See also hydrogen spec-
tra.
band analyzer A device that allows mea-
surement of amplitudes or intensities of a com-
plexsoundinmanycontiguous frequencybands.
Many acoustic signals that are dealt with in prac-
tice and technique have complicated spectra.
Band analyzers are widely used to measure these
spectra.
band gap In semiconductors, the electronic
energy states consist of completely lled bands
of energies (valence band) followed by unoccu-
pied bands (conduction band). The separation
in energy is called the band gap. See absorption
edge.
band pass lter A device that can transmit
a narrow band of frequencies of light while re-
ecting or absorbing the rest. Usually it is con-
structed by depositing thin layers of dielectrics
on a transparent substrate. The desired wave-
length of transmission by constructive interfer-
ence is achieved by a proper choice of lmthick-
nesses. Two dielectric mirrors (each consisting
of a stack of high and lowrefractive index mate-
rials) separated by a spacer of another dielectric
lm can produce a very narrow band pass lter.
See interference.
bandwidth The frequencybanduseful for the
proper operation of a circuit will have a width,
measured as the difference between the maxi-
mum usable frequency to the minimum usable
frequency. High bandwidth devices are either
tunable over a large range of frequencies, or can
pass an entire range at once. Low bandwidth
devices nd use in lters and clock or oscillator
circuits.
A more general use of the term bandwidth
signies the rate of information transfer.
band width The range of frequencies con-
tained in a wave packet. The band width, v,
is inversely proportional to the average duration
of the pulses. See coherence time.
bandwidth constrained channel A
bandwidth-constrained channel (or narrowband
channel) passes only selected spectral com-
ponents of the transmitted signal within the
channels frequency passband. Other spectral
components of the signal lying outside the
channel passband will be signicantly atten-
uated. The bandwidth-constrained channel
effectively functions as a bandpass lter. If
the transmitted signal possesses signicant
spectral power outside the channels passband,
then the transmitted signal will undergo serious
spectral distortion, resulting in inter-symbol
interference (ISI) in the time domain.
bandwidth unconstrained channel A
bandwidth-constrained channel (or wideband or
broadband channel) passes all spectral compo-
nents of the transmitted signal with little or no
spectral distortion. No actual channel is com-
pletely unconstrained in bandwidth, but it may
be effectively considered as so for particular
classes of transmitted signals.
Barkhausen criterion The condition for os-
cillation in a feedback amplier circuit.
Consider anamplier withgaing
1
. Avoltage
signal input (V
in
of magnitude V
0
) is amplied
giving the voltage signal output V
out
with mag-
nitude g
1
V
0
. Next, a feedback path through a
second amplier (with gain g
2
) is added. The
product g
1
g
2
is calledthe loopgain, since it is the
total gain due to going once around the feedback
circuit loop. The effective gain of the circuit is
g

=
g
1
1 g
1
g
2
,
where V
out
= g

V
in
, which is to say that for a
given desired output voltage the input voltage
required is
V
in
=
(1 g
1
g
2
)
g
1
V
out
.
Note that when the loop gain is identically
one (g
1
g
2
= 1, the Barkhausen criterion), the
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output voltage is achieved with no input voltage
level.
This is exactly what happens when an au-
dio system with the microphone too close to the
speaker screeches with no other input to the mi-
crophone. To stop the oscillation, the gain of
the circuit must be decreased, either by moving
the microphone away from the speaker or by
reducing the volume.
In the design of real oscillator circuits, the
loop gain is greater than one, so that the oscil-
lation amplitude increases until the ampliers
no longer respond linearly. At saturation of this
circuit, the loop gain can only reach unity; thus
a nearly constant output level is maintained. In
general, real gains are complex, so the two con-
ditions for oscillation must include phase infor-
mation:
Barkhausen criteria: 1) The feedback loop
gain must be greater than one at the frequencies
of interest. 2) The sum of phase shifts around
the feedback loop must be an integer multiple of
360

.
A sine wave oscillator can be constructed
with the appropriate lters at the output of each
amplier. However, smooth oscillations are not
the only waveforms that can be generated in this
manner. For instance, a stable multivibrator is a
two stage amplier feedback circuit that oscil-
lates betweenquasi-stable states if the Barkhausen
criteria are met, yieldingnearlysquare-wave pulse
trains.
Oscillator design is not the only eld where
these conditions become important. In many
applications it is important to ensure there is not
oscillation. The criteria were named after physi-
cist G. Heinrich von Barkhausen (18811956).
Barkhausen effect This effect occurs when
the grid of an amplier tube is sufciently ca-
pacitatively coupled to the plate that oscillations
at very-high or ultra-high frequencies may take
place.
bar magnet Arectangular block of magnetic
material producing a static magnetic eld.
barrel distortion An image distortion re-
sulting in decreasing magnication for the rays
away from the axis. It results from the limita-
tions of some ray bundles by aperture and stops.
barrier capacitance The capacitance of the
depletion region in a diode junction. Under re-
verse bias, the depletion region (also called the
barrier region or space-charge region) does not
allowcurrent to ow(except for the dark current
of the device). The depletion depth depends on
the magnitude of the reverse bias voltage and the
dopant prole of the junction. The capacitance
is inversely proportional to the depletion depth.
barrier, insulating Insulating material
placed between signal lines or electrodes of a
device, electrically isolating them by increasing
the interelectrode impedance.
barrier potential The intrinsic voltage pro-
duced at the junction of two materials with dif-
ferent energy bands (say, p and n-type silicon,
or a metal-semiconductor junction). Before be-
ing joined the materials would have a different
chemical potential (or Fermi level). Uponreach-
ing thermal equilibrium, however, there will be
onlyone chemical potential. Diffusionof charge
carriers in the semiconductor will allowequilib-
rium to be reached, but in the process will pro-
duce a space-charge region near the junction,
depleted of carriers (the depletion region or bar-
rier region). There will be a non-zero electric
eld in this region, thus a difference in elec-
trostatic potential. The magnitude of the bar-
rier potential depends upon the resistivities (or
dopant proles) in the materials, but for many
photodetectors is measured in tenths of volts.
bars, vibration in Studies of different kinds
of vibrations that can occur in bars. A bar is a
solid elastic object the length of which is much
greater that its characteristic transverse size. Af-
ter excitation, longitudinal and transverse vibra-
tions can occur in a free bar. Transverse vibra-
tions can further be subdivided into those due to
twisting and bending of a bar. Any vibration in
a bar can be represented as a sum of longitudi-
nal and transverse vibrations. Studies of vibrat-
ing bars are important in practice and technique.
For example, vibrations in construction beams
are modeled as vibrations in bars. Furthermore,
vibrating bars are used as parts of many musical
instruments.
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base In a bipolar transistor, the base is the
center electrode and/or bulk, which is separated
by junctions from the emitter on one side, and
the collector on the other. In an npn transistor,
the base is the p-type semiconductor material,
while for pnp transistors, the base is the n-type.
Often, the lead connecting to the base bulk is
also termed the base. See transistor, bipolar.
base-emitter breakdown In a bipolar tran-
sistor, when the base-emitter junction is reverse
biased past the peak voltage, avalanche conduc-
tion occurs. This is called breakdown, and in
most transistors will destroy the device.
basilar membrane A soft partition that di-
vides the cochlea located in the inner ear length-
wise. The cochlea is a cavity in a form of a
snail shell, which is connected to the middle ear
by two membranes called the oval window and
the round window. The cochlea is lled with a
uid (the cochlea uid). The basilar membrane
has about thirty thousand nerve endings. The
cochlea uid and the basilar membrane are set
into vibrations by movements of the oval win-
dow caused by sound traveling from the outer
ear. The nerve endings feel these vibrations
and pass on information about themto the brain.
Vibrations of the basilar membrane have maxi-
mal amplitude at a certain point along the mem-
brane, the position of which depends on a fre-
quency of sound. This is a mechanism that al-
lows distinction between different frequencies.
bats, soundfrom Ultrasound emitted by bats
to orientate and to nd prey. Bats not only emit
ultrasound but also hear echoes fromobjects and
ying insects that enables them to y around
these objects and nd prey in darkness. In other
words, bats use a principle of echolocation. Bats
radiate ultrasound through the mouth or the nos-
trils. The radiated ultrasound is usually in the
band 20 100 kHz. The level of the radiated
ultrasound can reach the value of 120 dB at a
distance of 10 cm from a bat.
battery Twoor more cells connectedtogether
to form one unit that can convert chemical en-
ergy directly into electric energy. There are
many different types of battery, two major types
of which are (1) dry battery and (2) wet battery.
baud The baud represents the minimumtime
interval between successive signaling symbols.
It derives from the name of Emile Baudot, a
Frenchman considered by many as the father
of automatic telegraphy. The baud embodies
the shortest unit of modulation rate in a particu-
lar signaling scheme. The baud rate equals the
number of discrete signaling events in unit time
and, as such, determines the signal bandwidth.
The baud rate always exceeds or equals the bit
rate in bi-level signaling schemes.
beacon A coded signal transmitted for use
in identication or for navigational use in the
determination of position, direction, or distance.
The signal may be optical or in the formof radio
or radar waves.
Optical beacons, in the form of lighthouses
and channel buoys, are used for guiding ships.
Aircraft guidance is aided by rotating optical
airport and airway beacons. Airport beacons
are color coded to identify the airport as civilian
or military and land or sea.
Radio beacons are passive stations radiating
a coded signal for use in bearing determination
or the analysis of radiowave propagation condi-
tions. See beacon, radio.
Radar beacons may be either active or pas-
sive. A passive radar beacon consists of reec-
tors installed at a lighthouse or buoy to enhance
the reection of radar signals transmitted by a
ship. The known locations of the beacons are
used to nd the ships bearing and position.
Active radar beacons are used for identify-
ing and locating aircraft. The ATCRBS (air
trafc control radar beacon system), also called
SSR (secondary surveillance radar), consists of
a ground-based radar system and an airborne
transponder unit. The ground-based system is
used to query the transponder, which then re-
sponds by transmitting a selected code, and pos-
sibly other data such as the aircraft altitude. Be-
cause the transponder is actively transmitting,
the signal received by the ground station is gen-
erally larger and more reliable than that returned
by a radar echo.
beacon, marker A radio beacon used for
identifying a specic region or position. Air-
craft marker beacons are used to designate criti-
cal positions onprecisioninstrument approaches
2001 CRC Press LLC
to airport runways. These beacons radiate a 75
MHz low-power signal of 2 W in an upward-
pointing fan-shaped pattern. The signal is mod-
ulated to allow audio identication.
beacon, radio A beacon consisting of a sig-
nal transmitted at radio frequencies. These bea-
cons are generally used in air or sea navigation to
identify position or bearing. Asystemof coastal
beacons operating in the 285325 kHz band ex-
ists for nautical direction nding. These stations
radiate signals of 100 W to 10 kW, providing
ground-wave coverage up to 1800 km over the
sea.
Aviation radio beacons transmit azimuthally
uniform signals in the band 2001600 kHz us-
ing from 10 W to 2 kW of power. Aircraft auto-
matic direction nding systems (ADFs) can use
the signals from these non-directional beacons
(NDBs) to determine bearing at distances up to
320 km.
Radio beacons are also used to analyze prop-
agation conditions. By monitoring beacons in a
range of frequencies and from a variety of loca-
tions, an optimum radiowave propagation chan-
nel can be determined.
beam The totality of all ray pencils emanat-
ing from a source or aimed toward an image.
In the case of a point source, there is only one
pencil and the beam is made up of a single pen-
cil. With extended sources, the beam consists
of all pencils emanating from every point on the
source.
beam divergence The radius of the spot size
w at a distance z fromthe beamwaist in a Gaus-
sian beam is
z
w
0
where is the wavelength of
light and w
0
is the beam waist.
beam expander This is an optical system
with two lenses of focal lengths f
1
and f
2
ar-
ranged so that the separation is equal to f
1
+f
2
.
Both lenses could be positive or one of them
could be negative (see gure). The magnica-
tion is given by the ratio of focal lengths. The
device can be used as a beamreducer if the beam
traverses in the opposite direction.
beam, Gaussian The output of a laser, for
example, is the TEM
00
or fundamental mode,
has a perfect plane wavefront and a Gaussian
transverse irradiance prole. When consider-
ing a Gaussian beam propagating along the Z-
direction, the intensity distribution at the Z = 0
(at wavefront) plane is given by:
I(x, y, o) = I
o
exp
_
2
_
x
2
+y
2
_

2
_
= I
o
e
2r
2
/w
2
0
,
where I
o
is the intensity at the beam center and

o
is the measure of beam width, known as spot
size of the beam; it represents the distance at
which intensity falls off to I
o
/e
2
(13.5%).
As the beam propagates along the z axis,
diffraction occurs and the transverse intensity
distribution after a propagation distance z is
I(x, y, z) = I
o

2
o

2
(z)
exp
_
z
_
x
2
+y
2
_

2
(z)
_
= I
o

2
o

2
(z)
e
2r
2
/
2
(z)
where (z) is the z-dependent spot size of the
beam given by:
(z) =
o
_
1 +

2
z
2

4
o
_
1/2
.
beam, radio Beam of an antenna radiating
radiofrequency electromagnetic waves. See an-
tenna beam.
beamsplitter Any device (the simplest being
a partiallysilveredmirror) providingtransmitted
and reected beams of desired relative intensity.
One may use frustrated total reection by x-
ing the distance between two accurately parallel
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hypotenuses of two simple prisms (for example,
by coating the hypotenuse of one prism with a
solid lm of low refractive index material of de-
sired thickness and placing the other prism in
contact with it). A typical application is for mi-
croscopes where one could adjust the fractions
of light from the source going to the eyepiece,
photographic lm and to the light meter.
Beam splitter.
beam, waist The smallest radius (i.e., at the
focal plane) of a Gaussian beam. See beam,
Gaussian.
beam waist The minimum transverse size
of the beam after reections from the concave
mirrors inside a laser cavity.
bean critical state model In type II super-
conductors, magnetic ux quanta, vortices form
when the magnetic eld is above a critical eld,
H
c1
. These vortices move from the edges of
the superconductor into the interior until they
are pinned by defects or impurities. The bean
critical state model assumes that the pinning is
as strong as possible, such that the vortices are
unable to move from the pinning sites. As a re-
sult of this assumption, the ux density always
produces the critical current density for the su-
perconductor. That is,
|B(r)| =
0
J
c
where B is the ux density averaged over many
vortices,
0
is the permeability of free space,
and J
c
is the critical current density. Physically,
this means that as the magnetic eld is increased,
more vortices form, pushing the other vortices
around until they produce a maximal screening
current over a minimal area of the superconduc-
tor.
beat frequency Superposition of two waves
of closely spaced frequencies results in a wave
whose amplitude is modulated by the beat fre-
quency which is the frequency difference of the
two waves. One can determine an unknown fre-
quency by beating it with a reference frequency
and detecting the beat frequency. One popular
application of this idea is the tuning of acoustical
instruments. Advent of lasers has made it pos-
sible to detect a beat frequency of a few Hertz
out of 10
14
Hz. The ring laser gyroscope takes
advantage of such precision.
beat reception When two periodic signals
are close in frequency, the sum of the signals
exhibits an interference that is sometimes con-
structive, and sometimes destructive. This re-
sults in an oscillation of the amplitude envelope
of the sum that has a frequency of the difference
of the two initial signals. This low frequency
oscillation is termed the beat frequency. There
is also another higher beat frequency that has a
frequency of the sum of the two initial frequen-
cies.
Beat frequency envelope.
One method of receiving an amplitude mod-
ulated signal is to utilize the beat frequency
to convert the signal back to audio frequen-
cies. This canbe done without a transistor-based
mixer, by adding an appropriate, locally gener-
ated frequency. However, a mixer is still often
used in beat reception, so that the local oscillator
2001 CRC Press LLC
is at the intermediate frequency of the receiver.
In either case, this reception method allows de-
modulation of a single sideband by using the
local oscillator to provide the carrier synthesis
(or carrier insertion).
Circuit diagram for a simple beat frequency receiver.
beats Periodic variations in the amplitude of
a sum of two harmonic oscillations whose fre-
quencies are close to each other. In the simplest
case, these harmonic oscillations have the same
amplitudes B and different angular frequencies

1
and
2
so that they are given by: Bcos(
1
t)
and Bcos(
2
t), where t is time. The sumof the
oscillations is given by:
Bcos(
1
t) +Bcos(
2
t) = A(t) cos(t).
Here, = (
1
+
2
)/2 is the angular fre-
quency of the resulting oscillation, and A(t) =
2Bcos((
1

2
)t/2) is its amplitude. If |
1

2
|
1
+
2
, the amplitude A(t) periodically
and slowly varies in time in comparison with fast
variations with the frequency . This slow pe-
riodic dependence of Aon t is called a beat, and
the frequency of this dependence (
1

2
)/2 is
called the beat frequency. Beats are an example
of amplitude-modulated oscillations.
Beer-Lambert relation A combination of
two separate laws relating the amount of light
passing through an absorbing medium to the
properties of the medium. Lamberts law states
that equal paths in the same absorbing medium
absorb equal fractions of the light passing along
those paths. Beers law states that the absorp-
tion coefcient of a medium is directly propor-
tional to the concentration of the absorber. Put
together the Beer-Lambert Relation is
I = I
o
e
Kx
where I
o
is the light intensity incident on the
medium, I is the light intensity exiting the
medium, K is the absorption coefcient (related
to the extinction coefcient), and x is the path
length in the medium.
Beers law See absorption, Beers law of.
bel A logarithmic unit of the ratio of two
quantities having dimensions of energy, inten-
sity, power, etc. If I
2
and I
1
are such quan-
tities, then their ratio in bels is given by N =
lg(I
2
/I
1
). Bel is named after A. Bell, American
scientist and inventor, and is abbreviated by B.
bell A widening object of tapered shape,
closed at the narrow end and open at the wide
one. Bells are made of metals (copper, tin, etc.)
and are usually of nonuniform thickness that in-
creases to their open ends. Bells are used as
sound sources and musical instruments. They
are set into vibrations by hitting them close to
the open end. A vibrating bell radiates as a
quadrupole.
Bernstein model A mathematical model of
the heredity of human blood factors based on the
triple allelic theory.
betatron A device for accelerating electrons
to speeds approaching the speed of light. Elec-
trons are injected into strong magnetic elds
maintained in a toroidal-evacuated chamber.
The device is used to produce X-rays by hav-
ing the electron beam impact on a metal target.
Bethe-Slater curve This is the relationship
between the exchange energy for the transition
elements vs. the ratio of the interatomic distance
to the radius of the 3d shell.
B-eld In magnetic induction, the number of
lines of magnetic ux per unit area of a surface
perpendicular to the eld.
bias circuit The circuit that provides the
needed DC bias for device operation, often sep-
arate from the input and output active circuit
paths.
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bias current The current through a device
that is due solely to the bias voltage. Since the
bias voltage is necessary for operation but does
not provide information, the bias current is of-
ten a main source of inefciency in a device.
In photosensitive applications, the bias current
is sometimes referred to as the dark current,
since it ows with no light signal present.
bias, forward A real diode, any diode junc-
tion, or any rectifying portion of a device (such
as the emitter to base path in a transistor) has an
asymmetry in the current response depending
upon the polarity of the applied voltage. When
operated far frombreakdown, one polarity of ap-
plied voltage will allow more current ow (af-
fording a lower effective resistance) while the
other polarity will yield a lower current (a higher
effective resistance). An applied voltage with
polarity yielding the lower resistance (more cur-
rent owing) is termed a forward bias voltage,
or just forward bias. See also bias, reverse.
bias, reverse The voltage applied to a circuit
element or portion of a device that is of a polarity
yielding higher effective resistance is termed the
reverse bias voltage, or merely reverse bias. See
bias, forward.
bias voltage The voltage needed to operate
a device, provided by the bias circuit. For many
applications, the polarity of this voltage is im-
portant. See bias, reverse; bias, forward.
binary circuits Logic circuits with only two
logic states, which may be labelled 0 and 1. See
circuit, logic.
binary coded decimal (BCD) A way of rep-
resenting decimal numbers in binary format. In-
stead of being a true binary (base 2) number,
each decimal (base 10) digit is separately repre-
sented in a binary format.
binary symmetric channel A binary chan-
nel represents a communication channel over
which signals are transmitted only as a sequence
of binary-valued symbols. A binary symmetric
channel is a memoryless channel (i.e., each unit
of channel output depends only on the corre-
sponding unit of channel input but not on other
channel input units) with equal conditional error
probabilities (i.e., the probability that a transmit-
ted 1 symbol becomes received as a 0 equals
the probability of a 0 received as a 1). The
channel may thus be fully characterized by a
single error probability parameter, typically de-
noted as p. Such a simple channel model often
sufces for many practical applications.
binaural Pertaining to sound, process or sys-
tem that deals with listening with two ears by
humans and animals. Binaural listening allows
the listener to determine the direction of a sound
source upto3

inthe horizontal plane. This phe-

nomenon is based on the binaural effects, i.e.,
the ability of humans and animals to distinguish
the intensity and time arrivals of sound from a
source at both ears. The ear that is closer to
a source hears more intense sound and earlier
than the other. Binaural effects are a background
for performance of stereophonic audio systems.
binoculars Instruments (e.g., binocular
telescopes) offering comfortable telescopic-
enhanced viewing of distant objects while al-
lowing both eyes to remain active. The nal
image is made erect with the help of Porro or
other types of prisms. Thus, the distance be-
tween the objective lenses can be made larger
than the interpupillary distance. The designa-
tion, e.g., 630, means that the angular magni-
cation is 6 and the diameter of the objective
lens is 30 mm.
bioelectricity Electrical energy (cur-
rent/voltage) produced within a biological
organism, as in muscle tissue (see also action
potential), nerve synapses, photosynthetic path-
way, etc. Bioelectronics focuses on external
electronic control of physiological response in
plants and animals.
biofeedback A learned response whereby a
physiological output such as heart rate, blood
pressure, metabolism, anxiety is controlled by
conscious monitoring of the output (feedback)
leading to control of the physiological process.
biological control theory The theory of or-
ganism population control through the use of
2001 CRC Press LLC
naturally occurring enemies, pests, pesticides,
predators, etc.
biological effects, electric elds (1) Static:
Static electric elds inside an organism may
cause muscle reaction, nerve stimulation, death,
or accommodation. External electric elds be-
lowthe dielectric breakdown value (about 3 mil-
lion volts/meter in air) appear to little damage
larger organisms but do cause a stimulus to ap-
pear in the sensory nerves.
(2) Time dependent: Time dependent elec-
tric elds can have varying degrees of effects on
biological form and function, leading to defor-
mity and death. These effects are not strong if
the electric eld strengths are weak or the fre-
quency of oscillation is low.
biological effects, electromagnetic elds
Lowfrequency electromagnetic elds (less than
1000 MHz) appear to have no distinguishable ef-
fect on biological form and function. At higher
and higher frequencies, the biological effects
go from burning (infrared), sensory perception
(visible), DNA and cellular damage (UV, X-
ray), to death (gamma ray).
biological effects, gravity For all forms of
life on earth, the gravitational eld is always
present and the organisms adapt to the presence
of the gravitational force (mg). This force is ap-
parently responsible for plants knowing which
way to grow up, for the bone size and distri-
bution of walking mammals, for the limit to the
size of animals, a limit to the maximum height
of animals, and a limit to the longevity of ani-
mals by the work needed from the heart muscle
to pump blood through the organism against the
gravitational force.
biological effects, ionizing radiation High
frequency electromagnetic waves in the UV, X-
ray, and gamma ray end of the spectrum possess
enough energy to break atomic bonds and to lib-
erate electrons from atomic orbitals. This elec-
tron liberation is called ionization. Ionization
leads to damage to DNA, RNA, protein structure
and function and cell death by breaking these
atomic and molecular bonds allowing the con-
stituent atoms to recombine in non-functioning
congurations. Some of this damage may be re-
paired via RNA function; however, if the dam-
age is extensive or the DNA/RNA templates are
destroyed, cell death will be the end product of
ionizing radiation. If the repair is not correct,
cell deformity, including cancer, may result.
biological effects, magnetic elds Static
magnetic elds, more so than electric elds,
appear to strongly affect some biological or-
ganisms. It is believed that some birds and
mammals know North and South by sensing the
earths magnetic eld. Stronger magnetic elds
appear not to be dangerous unless the organism
is in possession of a ferromagnetic component,
in which case the organism will be accelerated
toward and held at one of the poles. The move-
ment of an organism in a magnetic eld will
cause induced electric currents (Faraday Effect).
If the magnetic eld strength is small and the or-
ganisms speed is low, then the induced currents
are very small and cause no damage or disrup-
tion. However, care must be exercised around
large magnetic elds, such as with magnetic res-
onance magnets, for even moderate speeds near
these magnets will induce appreciable currents.
biological effects, microgravity Recent ex-
periments in the space shuttle program and the
Mir program have provided a wealth of data on
the effect of small gravitational elds (micro-
gravity) on the form, development, and func-
tion of biological organisms. These space ships
have very small gravity because they are essen-
tially in free-fall orbit about the center of the
earth. There is a residual gravitational eld due
to the moon, sun, and the nonspherical shape
and the nonuniform density of the earth. Sig-
nicant effects of microgravity on humans, for
example, include muscle atrophy, loss of bone
mass, disorientation on returning to the earths
gravitational eld, etc.
biological effects, noise (1) Signal process-
ing noise is a normal component of signal trans-
mission within an organism. Optic nerve trans-
mission is an example. If the noise level be-
comes too large, then the receptor is confused
about the signal and loses its proper response.
This can lead to mental confusion for processed
signals; or to disablement and death if the nerve
2001 CRC Press LLC
signals to the heart, for example, have too much
noise.
(2) Sometimes referred to as unwanted ge-
netic mutations (not recommended).
(3) Noise has psychological and physiolog-
ical effects depending on amplitude, threshold,
or timbre. Physiological response may include
sleeplessness, anxiety, elevated blood pressure
or heart rate. Psychological responses may in-
clude stress, anger, depression. Severe acousti-
cal noise may lead to deafness, dysfunction, or
death.
biological effects, non-ionizing radiation
(1) Photosynthesis. Visible light supplies the
energy for photosynthesis in green plants.
(2) Infrared. Infrared radiation leads to local
heating and may assist or hinder plant/animal
growth and sustenance.
(3) Radiofrequencies. Appears to have little
to no effect on biological systems. Studies are
still in progress.
biological effects, statics Statics, the sci-
ence of equilibrium structures relating to their
forces and moments of interaction, attempts to
understand the structure of biological organisms
with respect to their structure. For example:
the variance of blood pressure with height, the
maximum size of a mammal for bone structure
integrity, or bone joint differences resulting in
different walk patterns for various species.
biological effects, ultrasound Ultrasound
is acoustic frequencies in the frequency range
above human hearing, approximately 20 kHz.
Ultrasound is used for two-dimensional imag-
ing of internal body structure because of the ap-
parent nonharmful character of low intensity ul-
trasound. Sometimes referred to as echography
or sonography.
biological effects, ultraviolet radiation Ul-
traviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation
with frequencies beyond the visible spectrum.
At these frequencies radiation is usually identi-
ed by wavelength from approximately 185
nm to 390 nm. Ultraviolet radiation is usually
harmful since it can energetically break DNA
bonds leading to cell death or harmful muta-
tions. Some ultraviolet radiation is necessary
for normal growth and calcium metabolism.
biological effects, X-rays Similar to the
harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation; however,
there are no benecial effects of X-ray radiation
since X-rays are so much more energetic than ul-
traviolet radiation that chemical bond breakage
leading to cellular death and harmful mutation
is guaranteed.
biological half-life The time required for one
half of an injected radioactive substance to be
excreted by a biological organism.
biological kinetics (1) A study of the pro-
cesses and rates of change of biological organ-
isms.
(2) A study of the motion of biological sys-
tems.
biological rhythm A regularly occurring
process in the maintenance or growth of a bi-
ological organism. Heartbeat for example is a
cardiac rhythm.
biomaterials Materials derived from, or at
least compatible with, biological organisms. A
specic class of biomaterials are those devel-
oped for synthetic prostheses.
biomechanics Sometimes referred to as bio-
physics. However, more properly biomechanics
is the science devoted to elucidating the under-
lying forces of interaction responsible for the
growth, maintenance, function, and form of bi-
ological organisms.
biorthogonal code A set of 2K biorthogo-
nal codewords may be formed from a set of K
orthogonal codewords by including the negative
of the K orthogonal codewords to the K orig-
inal codewords. The correlation coefcient be-
tween any two members in a biorthogonal code
set equals either 0 or 1.
biosphere (1) That part of the earth compat-
ible with living organisms.
(2) Aclosed thermodynamic model of a func-
tioning ecological system.
2001 CRC Press LLC
biosphere, energy stored in The amount of
free energy available for support of life func-
tions. Without any free energy, life would not
exist. The energy is composed of mechanical,
chemical, thermal, and nuclear parts.
biostimulation Any process, heat, light,
touch, chemical contact, etc. that induces a re-
action in a biological organism.
biotelemetry Remote monitoring of the con-
ditions within a biological organismwithout any
direct connection to the organism.
Biot-Savarts law This law gives the dif-
ferential contribution to the magnetic eld dB
produced at a distance r from a differential line
element dl that carries a current I. In SI units
dB =
o
Idl r
1
4 r
3
and r
1
is a unit vector in the direction of r.
Biots law The rotation of polarization
of plane-polarized light in an optically active
medium is nearly proportional to the inverse
square of its wavelength. The specic rota-
tion (degrees/mm) is given by Biots law as
= A +
B

2
where A and B are constants spe-
cic to the material.
bipolar code A bipolar code, also called an
alternating binary code or an alternate mark in-
version (AMI) code, represents a tertiary code
wherein a low bit is signied by a 0 and a
high bit is signied by a 1 or 1, such that suc-
cessive high bits would have opposite signs.
Bipolar coding possesses limited innate error
self-detection capability because error must
have occurred if the aforementioned alternating
sign rule is violated. Bipolar coding is charac-
terized by a spectral null at DC.
biprism Biprisms consist of 2 prisms placed
base to base.
biprism, Fresnel Fresnel used a biprism to
show interference phenomenon. It consists of
two acute angled prisms placed side by side, and
is constructed as a single prism of obtuse angle,
with the acute angles on both sides about 30

.
bird acoustics The discipline that stud-
ies songs and other sounds produced by birds,
mechanisms of their production and their func-
tions. Acoustic source of birds songs and
sounds is the syrinx located near the trachea and
bronchi. Songs and sounds produced by birds
are very complicated acoustic signals with rapid
modulation in both amplitude and frequency.
Frequency range of songs and sounds is from
100 Hz to 10,000 Hz. Functions of songs are
believed to be territorial maintaining, individual
recognition, mate attraction, and stimulating re-
production.
birefringence When a beam of light passes
through a uniaxial or biaxial crystal, it under-
goes double refraction with an ordinary and ex-
traordinary ray polarized in orthogonal direc-
tions. Birefringence is a measure of the differ-
ence between the refractive indices of the opti-
cal indicatrix of a crystal. If the refractive index
parallel to the optic axis is larger than that at
right angles to it, the crystal is said to be posi-
tive uniaxial birefringent (e.g., ice, quartz). The
opposite is said to be negative uniaxial bire-
fringent (e.g., calcite). Optically active sub-
stances, such as quartz, possess different refrac-
tive indices for left and right circularly polar-
ized light. This phenomenon is called circular
birefringence which leads to a rotation of po-
larization of linearly polarized light as it passes
through the material.
Bitter patterns These reveal the domain
structure of ferromagnetic materials. In the
technique used by Bitter, a drop of colloidal sus-
pension containing ne ferromagnetic colloidal
particles is applied to the ferromagnetic crystal
surface. The pattern of magnetic structures re-
vealed by the colloidal particles are called Bitter
or powder patterns.
blackbody radiation A blackbody is a per-
fect absorber or emitter of radiation of all fre-
quencies incident or emitted at all angles. The
spectral intensity distribution M per unit area in
a unit wavelength interval (units: W/m
2
- m)
of a blackbody as a function of wavelength
(unit: m), at a temperature T (unit: degree
2001 CRC Press LLC
Kelvin), is given by the Plancks formula
M(, T) =
(3.7415)10
8

5
_
1
e
14388
T
1
_
_
W/m
2
m
_
.
The wavelength at which the intensity peaks is
inversely dependent on temperature and is given
by the Wiens law

max
T = (2.8978)10
3
(mK) .
The total radiation (unit: W/m
2
) emitted by a
blackbody at the temperature T is given by the
Stefan-Boltzmann law

_
0
M()d = (5.6697)10
8
T
4
.
The blackbody radiation spectrum at 300, 1500
and 3000 degrees Kelvin is shown below. The
peak wavelengths
max
are at 9.7, 1.93 and 0.97
m as given by the Wiens law.
Blackbody radiation.
blackout, radio Also called fade-out or
short-wave fadeout, a loss of short-wave com-
munication along a specic propagation path
due to prolonged fading of the radio signal.
Blackout conditions occur whenever the lowest
usable frequency (LUF) exceeds the maximum
usable frequency (MUF) along a particular iono-
spheric propagation path.
Radio blackouts are often caused by iono-
spheric storms triggered by magnetic distur-
bances, resulting in a dramatic increase in iono-
spheric D-layer absorption. These storms may
build slowly and last up to a week. Sudden iono-
spheric disturbances (SIDs) cause shorter black-
outs, erupting very quickly and usually lasting
less than an hour. They are precipitated by
solar are activity causing a reduction of F2-
layer MUF and increase in D-layer absorption.
Polar-cap absorption is caused by high-energy
solar protons in high-latitude regions, resulting
in blackouts lasting from a few hours to several
days.
blanking In radar, turning off the receiver or
transmitter to reduce interference from a partic-
ular direction or during a particular time. Target
information can be lost if it arrives during the
blanking period, or originates from the blank-
ing direction.
In communications, silencing a receiver dur-
ing a short period to reduce impulse noise. The
period is chosen so that the loss of information
does not signicantly degrade the received sig-
nal.
In television, the use of a pulse waveform to
render the return trace of the raster scan invisi-
ble.
blazing, of grating The technique of shaping
the grooves of a ruled grating so that the maxi-
mumof the diffraction envelope due to the width
of each groove coincides with the desired order
of diffraction of the grating. As an example, a
grating with the reecting grooves making the
blaze angle
B
with the grating surface would
have the grating equation
a (sin
i
+ sin
m
) = m;
m
= 2
B

i
.
Here
i
,
m
and
B
are the angles of incidence
with respect to the normal to the grating sur-
face, angle of diffraction in the mth order, and
the blaze angle, respectively. Typically spec-
trographs are designed so that either
B
=
i
(Littrow mount) or
i
= 0 (Normal mount).
Blazing.
2001 CRC Press LLC
blindness, color The inability of the eye to
distinguish different colors. Due to genetic fac-
tors or disease, about 3% of the human popula-
tion does not have one or more types of cones,
which have three different absorption spectra
due to the three pigments present in them. If
only one type of cone is present, then the per-
son is a monochromat and can see only black
and white. This occurs in 0.003%of the popula-
tion. If two types of cones are present (about 5%
males and 0.4%females) the person is a Dichro-
mat. The most common among these are those
who lack green-sensitive cones. They cannot
distinguish red, yellow, and yellow-green. They
are called Deuteranopes.
blind spot A small region of the retina, typi-
cally oval in shape, approximately 7.5

along its
vertical axis and 5.5

along the horizontal axis,

with its center located approximately 15.5

to
the temporal side of the visual eld. This cor-
responds to the point of exit of the optic nerve
and is insensitive to light stimulation because
it is devoid of photoreceptors (rods and cones).
It is also called the physiological blind spot or
Mariottes spot.
blinking Alarmfunction in loran (long-range
radio navigation) indicating the loss of signal
integrity. Users are warned within one minute of
signal loss. For aviation applications, an alert is
given when the signal-to-noise ratio drops below
6 dB.
Bloch-Gruneisen formula The Bloch-
Gruneisen formula is an approximate formula
for the resistivity of a metal due to electron-
phonon scattering. The equation is

phonons
= A
T

D
5
_

D
/T
0
dx
x
5
(e
x
1)(1 e
x
)
for temperatures below the Debye temperature,
where
D
is the Debye temperature and A is a
material-dependent constant. This approxima-
tion is valid for a free-electron model of a Debye
solid if Umklapp processes are negligible.
Blochs equations Blochs equations are the
macroscopic equations of motion for a spin sys-
tem in a magnetic eld. For homogeneous,
isotropic systems, Blochs equations take the
form
dM/dt = M B + relaxation terms
where M is the magnetization of the sample,
is the gyromagnetic ratio, B is the applied
magnetic eld, and the relaxation terms will be
discussed below. If the external eld is constant
and in the z direction, in equilibrium, the Bloch
equations become M
x
= 0, M
y
= 0, M
z
=

0
B
0
where
0
is the magnetic susceptibility.
The relaxation terms take into account the
spin-spin and spin-lattice interactions. If a sys-
temof spins, initially unmagnetized, is placed in
a magnetic eld, the magnetization approaches
a newequilibriumvalue, M
0
. Since this magne-
tization is in the same direction as the external
eld, it is the longitudinal magnetization. This
relaxation to equilibrium takes place as energy
ows from the spin system to the lattice sys-
temand is therefore known as spin-lattice relax-
ation. The spin-lattice relaxation time, T
1
, must
be included in the Bloch equations in order to
describe these non-equilibrium processes. An-
other relaxation mechanism is present for trans-
verse components of the magnetization. The
spin-spin relaxation time, T
2
, is a measure of the
phase coherence of the spins. If, for example,
a given spin, spin , is in a local magnetic eld
B

and another spin, spin , is in local mag-

netic eld B

, these spins will precess at differ-

ent frequencies. After some time, the magnetic
moments of spins and will have different ori-
entations which cause their magnetic moments
to cancel each other out. At this point, these
spins no longer add to the total magnetization.
Including relaxation effects in Blochs equa-
tions, we obtain
dM
x
/dt = (M B)
x
M
x
/T
2
dM
y
/dt = (M B)
y
M
y
/T
2
dM
z
/dt = (M B)
z
+ (M
0
M
z
)/T
1
.
Note that Blochs equations are only approx-
imate equations. No effort is made to determine
the exact interactions in the system, which are
only included via T
1
and T
2
. As a result, the
Bloch equations must be modied to describe
accurately magnetic resonance in solids.
2001 CRC Press LLC
In nuclear magnetic resonance, an rf eld is
applied perpendicular to the static eld. If the rf
eld is at a frequency =
0
where
0
= B
0
,
the spins absorb energy from the rf eld reso-
nantly, thereby producing nuclear magnetic res-
onance. Nuclear magnetic resonance has be-
come a powerful tool in chemistry, biology, and
medicine.
Blochs law Arelation between the fractional
change in magnetization of a material and abso-
lute temperature based on spin wave interaction
and scattering in the material. Felix Bloch was
able to show that the fraction change in magne-
tization should be proportional to T
3/2
where T
is the absolute temperature.
Bloch walls In 1931 Bloch showed theoreti-
cally that the boundary between magnetic do-
mains is not sharp on an atomic scale but is
spread over certain thickness wherein the direc-
tion of spins changes gradually fromone domain
to the next. This layer is usually called a domain
wall or Bloch wall.
blood cell analysis, electrical impedance
method Asample of blood is placed between
two apposing conducting plates across which an
AC voltage is applied. The impedance is cal-
culated from the response as a function of fre-
quency and phase angle. From this information
structure and content function of the blood may
be inferred. Also referred to as impedance spec-
troscopy.
blood cell analysis, hydrodynamic method
Blood ow through a restriction creates a pres-
sure differential across the ow and a velocity
differential along the ow. From this informa-
tion blood density, viscosity, and volume may
be inferred.
blood cell analysis, photoelectric method
In this technique, a diluted blood specimen is
passed through a laser beam. Each blood cell
scatters the light; the amount of scattering and
the intensity of the scattered light reaching the
photodetector yields volume, optical density,
and number of blood cells.
blood ow The movement of blood past a
given point. The motion of blood in the cardio-
vascular system.
blood ow measurement, Doppler method
The Doppler effect is the shift in frequency of
sound upon reection by a moving object. If the
sound is reected by an object moving toward
you, the frequency increases in proportion to the
objects speed. If the sound is reected by an
object moving away from you, the frequency
decreases in proportion to the objects speed. In
the Doppler method, a pulse of sound is passed
into an artery and the frequency of the reected
sound is measured, yielding a plot of blood ow
speed as a function of time and location. For
example, this method is currently used to detect
constrictions in the carotid arteries.
blood owmeasurement, electromagnetic in-
duction method Blood is allowed to ow in
an artery through a magnetic eld. Because the
blood plasma is ionic, the Faraday effect causes
a transverse electric potential to appear across
the artery, the strength of which is proportional
to the ow rate of the blood.
blood ow measurement, ber-optic method
A ber optic probe is inserted into the artery
allowing direct measurement of blood ow by
count of the scattered light reected back into
the ber-optic probe.
blood ow measurement, ultrasonic method
Short pulses of ultrasound (8 MHz) are applied
to the skin via a transducer. The echo signals
are picked up acoustically and the Doppler shift
yields the blood ow rate.
blood pressure The pressure, relative to at-
mospheric, in the arteries of the circulatory sys-
tem. The larger pressure, systolic, occurs while
the heart is pumping and the lower pressure, di-
astolic, occurs while the heart is at rest. The typ-
ical range for humans at heart level is about 130
mm Hg to 80 mm Hg. However, the blood pres-
sure decreases with height, and is much larger
at the feet than at the head of a standing person.
Blood pressure also depends on mood, exercise,
chemical intake, and conditioning.
2001 CRC Press LLC
blood viscosity The resistance to ow of
blood. A function of blood content, artery wall
lining, and the presence of clotting factor which
results in a marked increase in blood viscosity.
blue color of sky When sun light traverses in
a region of clear sky, the elastic or Rayleigh scat-
tered light fromair molecules appears blue when
viewed in the lateral direction. This effect is due
to the spectral dependence of scattered intensity
(which is proportional to the fourth power of
the frequency of light) and the sensitivity of the
human eye. More violet and blue photons are
scattered than red but the eye is less sensitive
to violet. The scattered light is also partially
polarized in the vertical direction, the degree of
polarization being maximumwhen the direction
of the sun light in the region of the sky and the
viewing direction are perpendicular.
blue light, biological action Blue light, be-
ing closest to ultraviolet radiation, appears to
more strongly affect biological action than the
other visible wavelengths. Blue light appears to
set the circadian clock in mammals, stimulates
cell proliferation, and appears to activate some
of the transferase in cells. The mechanism ap-
pears to be proton transfer kinetics due to the
absorption energy of the blue light.
Bode plot Complex quantities that may vary
with frequency can be visualized by simultane-
ously graphing a measure of the amplitude of
the quantity (either directly or in decibels from
the minimum or maximum amplitude) vs. fre-
quency and the phase (measured in radians or
degrees). Such a plot is termed a Bode plot. For
a complex value Z = |Z| exp i, a Bode plot
shows |Z| and on separate traces as a function
of frequency.
bolometer A thermal detector of infrared ra-
diation. The detection mechanism is the change
in temperature produced by the absorption of
incident radiation. It consists of a thin black-
ened slab whose impedance is temperature de-
pendent. It can be used either in a DC(for steady
signals) or AC(for periodic signals such as those
from a pulsed laser or a chopped light beam)
mode. The range of wavelengths and operating
temperatures also vary. For some commonly
A Bode plot.
known bolometers. See bolometer, thermistor;
bolometer, free electron; bolometer, low tem-
perature.
bolometer, free electron The mobility of
free carriers in a semiconductor (e.g., indium
antimonide) increases via absorption of the in-
cident radiation leading to the bolometer effect.
These detectors operate at liquid heliumtemper-
atures and have two to three orders of magnitude
superior D star value compared to thermistor
bolometers. The response time is in microsec-
onds and the spectral range is in the mid- and far
infrared.
bolometer, low temperature Doped silicon
or germanium bolometers operate over a very
broad spectral range (1.7 to 1000 m) with D
star values of 10
13
cm. Hz
1/2
/W at 10 Hz. Op-
erating temperature is 2 K. The time constant is
inversely dependent on the thermal conductance
which is typically 1 W/K.
bolometer, thermistor The bolometer ele-
ment is made of thin akes (10 m thick) of
polycrystalline oxides of Mn, Ni, and Co whose
resistance can change by several percent per
change of temperature of 1 K. The spectral re-
sponse is in the mid-infrared and depends on
coating. The time constant is in the millisecond
range with the spectral D star values of 10
9
cm.
Hz
1/2
/W. The detector operates at roomtemper-
ature.
boolean algebra Aset of rules for the formal
representation of set or logic relationships. For
instance, the union of two sets A and B can be
2001 CRC Press LLC
represented as A B, while the intersection is
A B. The empty set is A

A where

A is the
complement of A. Algebraic relationships and
rules such as commutation are dened. When
applied to logic, the empty set is analogous to
false and the rules for formal logic can be stated
in symbolic form, e.g., by replacing AND with
the operator.
Common use of the term boolean algebra in-
cludes logical formalisms and some logic circuit
design rules.
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) As the
temperature of a system of N bosons is low-
ered, more and more of the particles occupy
a single quantum mechanical state, the ground
state. Bose-Einstein condensation, the pres-
ence of macroscopic numbers of particles in the
ground state, is a result of Bose-Einstein statis-
tics only and will occur even in the absence of
interactions. If the phase space density of a sys-
tem of non-interacting bosons reaches
n
c
= 2.612/
3
where is the de Broglie wavelength,
(2
2
/mk
B
T)
1/2
, Bose-Einstein condensation
takes place. If this equation is solved for the crit-
ical temperature, it is found to be
T
BEC
= 115/
_
V
2/3
M
M
_
where V
M
is the molar volume (cm
3
/mol)
and M is the molecular weight. The frac-
tion of particles in the ground state is (1
(T/T
BEC
)
3/2
). Superuid
4
He and exci-
tonic superuids are both physical realizations
of Bose-Einsteincondensation, but the highden-
sities involved result in highly interacting sys-
tems not easily described by weakly interacting
BEC models.
BEC was observed in dilute gases of alkali
atoms in 1995, and great progress has been made
since then in a variety of studies. Currently,
BECs consisting of tens of millions of atoms
can be made routinely.
The techniques used to create a BEC vary,
but most have several common features. The
source of atoms is rst heated in an oven, boiling
atoms off the surface. These liberated atoms are
then slowed (and thereby cooled) during loading
into an optical or magneto-optical trap. Such a
trap uses a set of lasers and/or a non-uniform
magnetic eld to conne the atoms. The mag-
netic elds are (usually) arranged such that only
atoms in a particular hyperne state are trapped,
all others are rejectedfromthe trap. These atoms
are cooled further by evaporation of the high
energy atoms. This is accomplished by inducing
Zeeman transitions in the high energy atoms by
using an rf eld tuned to put the most energetic
atoms into states that are not trapped. Eventu-
ally, the remaining atoms cross the critical phase
space density, resulting in a BEC.
For the alkali gases, the transition tempera-
tures are of the order of 0.1 1 K (but re-
call that the transition temperature is connected
to the density of atoms, so a denser gas results
in a higher T
BEC
). Present and future studies
of dilute gas BECs will probe for effects sim-
ilar to those found in superuid helium (e.g.,
the Josephson effect) and other new possibili-
ties (e.g., an atom laser). See also helium-4,
superuid.
Bose-Stoner hypothesis Stoner theory is a
theory of metallic ferromagnetism. Bose exci-
tations are spin waves in these systems.
Bougers law Describes the behavior of light
transmission through an optical medium as
log
10
()/d = constant
where is the internal transmittance, d is the
thickness of the medium, and the constant de-
pends on the optical properties of the material.
boundaryconditions Conditions that are im-
posed on the pressure and the uid velocity at an
interface of two media in uid-dynamics. The
pressure and the component of the uid veloc-
ity normal to an interface must be continuous
across the interface. No conditions are imposed
on the temperature. Continuity of pressure and
the normal component of the uid velocity result
in relationships for acoustic pressure and uid
velocity at both sides of an interface, which are
also called boundary conditions.
boundary conditions (magnetic eld)
When an electromagnetic wave is incident on
the boundary between two dielectric media such
2001 CRC Press LLC
that the electric eld is perpendicular to the
plane containing the media (the transverse elec-
tric mode), then the boundary conditions that
have to be applied to the magnetic eld compo-
nent require that the net magnetic elds on both
sides of the boundary be equal.
boundaryresistance Anytime twomaterials
are joined, a resistance (thermal and/or electri-
cal) will occur at the joint. This resistance is
due to imperfections in the joint and the differ-
ing properties of the two materials. In joints be-
tween two metals, electrons are scattered off the
interface between the two materials; the same
can be said for phonons in the case of two dielec-
tric media. Thermal boundary resistances are a
major concern in low temperature experiments
as they can easily limit the sample temperature.
Whenever such a resistance exists, there will
be a step in the temperature across the interface
according to T =

QR
Th
where

Q is the heat
incident on the surface and R
Th
is the thermal
boundary resistance. In metals, thermal bound-
ary resistance can be minimized by minimizing
the electronic boundary resistance. This can be
done by maximizing the actual area of contact
and ensuring clean surfaces free of oxide layers.
When two metals are pressed together lightly,
as little as one part in a million of the area will
actually be in contact. Therefore, pressure must
be exerted to improve contact.
Another technique is to weld the two pieces
together, but only if the metals do not produce
an alloy with large thermal resistance, of course.
To guarantee clean, oxide-free surfaces for press
joints, the metals are often gold-plated. It is also
common practice to use the thermal contraction
of materials to good advantage when designing
the parts to be joined. When these techniques
are combined, it is possible to get 10100 n of
boundary resistance between two metals.
For non-metals, heat is conducted primarily
by phonons, and so transmission of phonons
across the boundary is of utmost importance. In
this case, however, there is not as much for the
experimentalist to do except choose materials
wisely and maximize contact area. At the inter-
face between dielectrics, phonons scatter off the
surface according to acoustic mismatch theory.
In complete analogy with optics, a phonon is
much more likely to be scattered when crossing
the boundary between two very dissimilar ma-
terials than if the sound speeds are nearly equal.
In general, it is better to plan not to rely on
heat conduction through dielectrics unless ab-
solutely necessary. See also Kapitza boundary
resistance.
boundary waves Also known as surface
waves. When a ray of light is incident at the
interface of two media at an angle larger than
the critical angle, it is totally internally reected.
However, there is a tangential component of the
electric eld at the boundary of the interface.
The amplitude of the boundary waves decays ex-
ponentially with distance. This eld can couple
with another nearby mediumof higher refractive
index leading to frustrated total internal reec-
tion. See critical angle.
bound charge Bound charges are charges
due to the polarization of the material. There
are two types of bound charges:
1. surface bound charge,
b
, which is the vec-
tor product of polarization and surface normal
unit vector; and
2. volume bound charge,
b
, which equals the
negative of the divergence of polarization.
bowwave Awave occurring in front of a ship
in motion.
boys method A method of measuring the
refractive index n of the material of a lens. The
radii of curvature r and s of the two surfaces of
the lens, and the focal length f are measured by
determining the distances at which an object is
coincident with its image produced after reec-
tion from the respective curved surface of the
lens, and after putting a plane mirror behind the
lens. The relation 1/f = (n 1)(1/r + 1/s)
then gives the desired refractive index.
Braggs law The diffraction of a beam of X-
rays by the atomic planes of a crystal results in
bright spots obeying the Braggs law 2d sin =
m where d is the spacing of atomic planes,
the angle of the incident beam from the planes,
and is the wavelength of radiation. The inte-
ger mrefers to the order of diffraction. Different
sets of atomic planes in a crystal diffract X-rays
at different angles, as shown in the gure below,
2001 CRC Press LLC
leading to a pattern of bright spots. Analysis of
such data can yield information of the crystal
structure. Other applications of Braggs law in-
clude the scattering of light by a periodic refrac-
tive index grating generated by acoustic waves
in crystals. A special case of such an acousto-
optic effect is Brillouin scattering.
Braggs law.
Bragg-Williams approximation The
Bragg-Williams (B-W) approximation is a zero
order mean eld approximation often used to
study the Ising model, binary alloys, and other
similar systems. The primary assumption in the
B-W theory is that spatial correlations between
nearby spins (or lattice sites) are unimportant.
The Bragg-Williams approximation is equiva-
lent to the Weiss molecular eld model. It most
often produces qualitatively correct behavior,
but fails when uctuations and long-range
correlations become important in the critical
regime near phase transitions, for example.
Braun tube Cathode-ray tube (CRT). It was
invented by Braun (18501918) and was origi-
nally called Braun tube.
Bremsstrahlung A continuous spectrum of
X-rays (photon energies in the 100 to 100,000
eV ). Atypical X-ray tube consists of a hot cath-
ode and a rotating anode made of metals such
as copper, molybdenum or tungsten. Thermally
emitted electrons from the cathode are acceler-
ated toward the anode by an applied voltage (of
the order of kilovolts) between them. As the
electrons colliding with the target nuclei are de-
celerated, X-rays are emitted. The minimum
wavelength is inversely proportional to the ap-
plied voltage. At higher voltages, the electrons
colliding with the anode will have sufcient en-
ergy to eject the electrons of the target atom
from their inner shells. These ejected electrons
relax to the available empty shells giving rise
to X-rays of discrete energies. The sharp line
spectrum of the so-called characteristic X-rays
will be superposed on the continuous spectrum
called the Bremsstrahlung.
Brewster angle The angle of incidence (mea-
sured with respect to the normal) of a ray of
light traveling from a medium of refractive in-
dex n
1
to that of n
2
, so that the TM (trans-
verse magnetic) or p-polarized light, with the
electric vector parallel to the plane of incidence,
has zero reection. This angle is also called
polarizing angle because the reected light is
completely s-polarized or TE (transverse elec-
tric) with the electric vector perpendicular to the
plane of incidence. The transmitted light will be
partially TM polarized. In terms of the refrac-
tive indices, the Brewster angle,
B
, is given by

B
= tan
1
(
n
2
n
1
), where n
1
and n
2
correspond
to incident and transmitted media, respectively.
For the angle of incidence at
B
, the reected
and transmitted beams will be at right angles.
Brewster angle.
The gure below shows the reectance of
light for TE and TM polarizations as a func-
tion of the angle of incidence
i
. The gure (a)
is drawn for light traveling from air (n
1
= 1) to
glass (n
2
= 1.52). The direction is reversed in
gure (b).
Brewsters fringes Two plane-parallel
Fabry-Perot plates with exactly the same thick-
2001 CRC Press LLC
Brewster angle.
ness, or the thickness of one being an exact mul-
tiple of the other, are inclined at an angle of 1
to 2

and the interference due to white light is

observed. Straight line fringes called Brewsters
fringes appear if the ratio of interferometer spac-
ings is an exact integer. These measurements are
useful for accurate calibration of length such as
the determination of the standard meter.
Brewsters law Refers to the state of polar-
ization of reected and transmitted light from
one optical medium to other. See Brewster an-
gle.
Brewster window Suppose a beam of p or
TM polarized light beam is incident on a mate-
rial, in the form of a plate with parallel faces: at
the Brewster Angle it will be transmitted entirely
with no reection losses. Such perfect windows
are used extensively in lasers. See Brewster an-
gle.
brightness Also called luminosity of an ob-
ject; brightness is the power per unit solid angle
per unit projected area emitted or scattered. The
units used in radiometry are watt per steradian
per meter square.
broadcast Broadcast refers to a one-way
transmission of information to the general pub-
lic tuned to the particular transmission channel
within a given geographical area or to the gen-
eral public in a given user domain, with the
receivers providing no acknowledgment of re-
ceipt to the transmitter. The broadcast chan-
nel thus consists of one transmitter but many
receivers. Typical uses of broadcast includes
commercial television and radio, and trafc sta-
tion communication to ships or aircrafts. Ra-
dio broadcasting uses four different frequency
bands: pan-European broadcasting in the long-
wave frequencies between 150 and 290 KHz,
AM (amplitude modulation), broadcasting in
the medium-frequency range of 525 to 1700
KHz, long-distance international broadcasting
in several short-wave sub-bands lying between
5950 KHz to 26.1 MHz, and FM (frequency
modulation) broadcasting in the very-high fre-
quencies from88 to 108 MHz. FMbroadcasting
offers superior delity and robust reception over
AM broadcasting.
broad-side on (magnets) The broad-side on
position is a point that lies on a line through the
center of a magnet perpendicular to the magnetic
axis.
bubbles, suppression of (lowtemperature)
At temperatures above the superuid transition
in liquid
4
He, the thermal conductivity is suf-
ciently poor as to allowlocal heating andthereby
allow bubble formation. The thermal conduc-
tivity of superuid helium is very high, compa-
rable to that of a metal. As a result, the local
heating necessary for bubble formation cannot
occur, and superuid helium is quiet with no
bubbles formed in the interior of the uid. This
suppression allows visual identication of the
superuid transition in quite dramatic fashion.
See also helium-4, superuid.
bug A bug may refer to an error in a com-
puter programor a defect in an apparatus. Abug
may alternately refer to a miniature concealed or
secret electronic gadget for eavesdropping.
bus A bus refers to a single conductor or a
group of conductors for power or signal trans-
mission. The signal bus transmits data, ad-
dress and control commands to facilitate data
exchange among various components in a com-
munication or a computer system. In a computer
system, a bus embodies a standardized circuit
interface.
byte A byte refers to a batch of binary dig-
its (or bits) processed as one unit. Eight-bit
bytes are commonly used to represent an al-
phanumeric character or a control signal in the
American National Standard Code for Informa-
tion Interchange (ASCII). Two or more bytes
make up one word.
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C
cable A cable is a thick wire or a bundle
of wires inside an insulated covering used for
transmitting electric or electronic signals.
cable model, cell membrane Intracell com-
munication across intracellular membranes may
be modeled after the theory of transmission lines
in electronic engineering (cable model). Studies
suggest that the transmission of voltage signals
across membranes occurs with an effective cable
length on order of 100 micrometers.
cadmium cell The cadmium cell was devel-
oped by W. Jungner in the late 1890s and early
1900s. It is a rechargeable cell employing the
following chemical reaction:
AgO + Cd + H
2
O Cd (OH)
2
+ Ag .
The cadmiumcell is still incommon use todayas
a voltage reference, at 20

Cits voltage is 1.0186

volts. Cadmium cells are noted for their high
energy and power density, but the high cost has
limited their applications.
cadmiumred Compounds of color pigments
ranging from orange through red made of solid
solutions of the semiconductors cadmium sul-
phide and cadmium selenide.
cadmium wavelength standard An inter-
nationally agreed standard that in dry air at 15
degrees Celsius and a pressure of 760 mm of
mercury the red line of cadmium has a wave-
length of 6438.4696 .
calorimeter, adiabatic (1) A calorimeter
thermally isolated from all heat sources and/or
sinks not actively involved in the experiment.
If the temperature of a sample inside an adia-
batic calorimeter were measured while no heat
was being added to the sample, the temperature
would remain constant indenitely. Experimen-
tally it is possible to create such calorimeters
with heat leaks of below 1 nW.
(2) This is a bomb calorimeter for which the
insulating jacket temperature is kept equal to
that of the bucket. With the jacket and the bucket
temperatures equal, there is no heat transfer out
of the bucket and the necessary corrections for
isothermal systems are removed.
calorimeter, Nernst vacuum A Nernst
calorimeter consists of a sample inside a vac-
uumcan that is immersed in a liquid cryogen. A
thermometer and heater are attached to the sam-
ple in practice, they may be the same item.
The sample is cooled through the thermal con-
duction of a gas admitted into the vacuum can.
After reaching thermal equilibrium, the sample
is thermally isolated by evacuating the vacuum
can. Then, the temperature is recorded while
known amounts of heat are added to the sample.
calorimetry, lowtemperature Lowtemper-
ature calorimetry is fraught with complexities
beyond those found at higher temperatures. At
low temperatures, most materials under study
have very small heat capacities, making small
heat leaks and the heat capacity of the surround-
ing materials very important. Much of mod-
ern low temperature calorimetry is designed to
measure the specic heat of very small (meso-
scopic microscopic) samples attached to a sub-
strate. In many of these experiments, the sub-
strate and surrounding apparatus have a heat ca-
pacity which is much larger than that of the ac-
tual sample. This addendum heat capacity must
be measuredverypreciselyfor suchexperiments
to have any meaning whatsoever.
At lowtemperatures, the boundary resistance
between the sample and its surroundings be-
comes quite large, requiring care to thermally
anchor the sample properly. As at higher tem-
peratures, in order to measure the specic heat,
it is necessary to also understand all possible
sources of heat input into the system. The low
temperature experiment is sensitive to incredi-
bly minute heat leaks. It is common in ultra-
low-temperature calorimetry to be sensitive to
stray heat at the tens of pW (1pW = 10
12
W)
level!
At low temperatures, it is also necessary to
consider a wide variety of sources for heat in-
put, including heat leaks from residual atoms in
a vacuum chamber and the black body radia-
2001 CRC Press LLC
tion from surfaces at higher temperatures. As in
all low temperature experiments, it is necessary
to measure the temperature accurately and with
high precision. In measurements to determine
the specic heat, it is also important that the ther-
mometers do not deposit a substantial amount
of heat into the sample. As mentioned earlier,
sensitivity to very small heat sources makes this
problem additionally important. See also heat
switches; Kapitza boundary resistance.
camera Any instrument used to form an im-
age. The simplest camera is a pinhole camera
(see camera, pinhole). A typical camera con-
sists of a positive lens on one side of a box for
forming a real image on a photographic plate or
a screen situated on the other side of the box.
This image is later developed or printed to get
the nal picture. For fast moving objects or for
a handheld camera, shorter exposure time re-
quires large aperture for the lens, thereby neces-
sitating corrections for various aberrations. The
materials of the lens and the plate depend on the
wavelength of the radiation involved.
camera, aperture mechanism of The aper-
ture mechanism, which controls the throughput
of light from the object entering the lens, can
be set to a number of settings called f-stops or
f-number. The f-number is the ratio of the fo-
cal length of the lens system to the diameter of
the aperture. The sequence of f-stops denoted as
f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 and
f/32 imply aperture diameters beginning with
the largest at f/1.4 and decreasing so that succes-
sive stops have half the throughput of the former
one. To keep the amount of exposure xed, if
the f-stop is increased by one step the shutter
time should be doubled. See camera.
camera, depth of eld of The depth of eld
is the range of object distances in focus without
blur. The depth of eld is inversely related to
the aperture diameter. In order to increase the
depth of eld and maintain the same throughput
one should increase both the f-stop number and
the exposure time. See depth of focus; depth of
eld; camera.
camera, eld of view of The eld of view is
the angular width of the object that can t on the
lm. It depends on the lm size and the focal
length of the lens. For example, a typical 35
mm camera (i.e., the width of lm is 35 mm)
using a lens of focal length 50 mm has a eld
of view of 45 degrees. A telephoto lens of 200
mm focal length has 10 degrees. In contrast, a
28 mm wide angle lens will have a eld of view
of 75 degrees. See camera.
camera, lens of The lens system usually
consists of multiple lenses corrected for various
kinds of aberrations. See aberration; camera.
camera obscura Also known as a pin-hole
camera. The earliest form of a camera with a
light-tight box and a small hole. Light from an
object enters through the hole and an inverted
image is produced on a screen.
camera, pinhole The simplest optical device
consisting of a light-tight box with a very small
hole (pinhole) on one side which is placed to-
ward the object and a photographic plate or a
screen on the opposite side. There is an optimal
aperture size for a given distance of the aperture
from the plate. With long time exposure, excel-
lent inverted images of the extended objects can
thus be formed without distortion. This cam-
era is very useful in capturing the architectural
details of buildings.
camera, shutter mechanism of The shutter
mechanismcontrols the duration of time the lm
is exposed, which can range from a few seconds
down to a thousandth of a second in steps of
two. A leaf shutter contains metal blades that
swing open momentarily. Expensive cameras
contain focal plane shutters that slide past the
lm. The exposure time is a critical parameter
in fast action photography. See camera.
camera, television Instruments for convert-
ing audio-visual information to electric signals
that are ultimately used for display on a tele-
vision screen. The basic process is either col-
lection and acceleration of electrons when light
falls on the surface of photosensitive cathodes
(image-orthicon tubes) or recording changes in
the electrical conductivity of a photoconductive
layer deposited on one side of a transparent con-
ducting lm (Vidicon tubes).
2001 CRC Press LLC
camera, types of Cameras can be classied
into three types according to how the image is
viewed by the photographer.
1. The oldest kind is the View Camera, built
like an accordion, in which a large lm can be
used to record the details of a large landscape
or a group of people. The photographer views
the image on a glass plate and adjusts the pa-
rameters such as the focus and composition of
the image. The glass plate is replaced by the
lm and the picture is exposed. The image is
inverted on the viewing glass plate and can be
disconcerting to a novice photographer. The ad-
vantage is that one can tilt the lens relative to the
plane of the lm moving the bellows thus cor-
recting for distortions due to foreshortening and
depth of focus.
2. The second type is a reex camera, which
permits the lm in place all the time. A mirror
between the lens and the lm reects the image
on a viewing screen. The mirror is positioned
such that the image position is identical on the
lm without the mirror as it is on the viewing
screen with it in place. A single lens reex (or
SLR) also contains a ve-sided prism that cor-
rects the inversion of the image fromleft to right
caused by the mirror reection. When an expo-
sure is made, the mirror swings out of the way
momentarily to admit light on the lm.
3. The third type is a viewnder camera with
a separate optical system to view the image and
another to focus on the lm. Due to their sim-
plicity such cameras are inexpensive but suffer
from parallax. The two images may not coin-
cide exactly. Arange nder that views the image
fromtwo different angles can reduce this defect.
See camera.
candela Unit for luminous intensity equal to
one lumen per steradian. It is dened as the lu-
minous intensity of one sixtieth of one square
centimeter of the projected area of a black body
radiator operating at the freezing point of plat-
inum (2042 K). Abbreviation: cd.
candle, international See candela.
candle power Luminous intensity equal to
one candela.
capacitance Property of an electric conduc-
tor, or set of conductors, that is measured by the
amount of electric charge that can be stored on
it per unit change in electrical potential.
capacitance, cell membrane A cell mem-
brane, due to impermeability or diffusion-
limited ion ow, has unlike charges distributed
on either side. This is the basic structure of a ca-
pacitor; a physical separation of unlike charges
and hence a capacitance may be associated with
a cell membrane, the capacitance being the ra-
tio of charge to potential difference across the
membrane.
capacitance, distributed The effective ca-
pacitance of a circuit network that is physically
distributed through the circuit or device. For
instance, microstrip antennas have some capac-
itance per unit length, as well as resistance and
inductance per unit length. The proper calcu-
lation of all innitesimal impedances will yield
an effective reactance (possibly mostly capaci-
tance) that equals the measured capacitance in
the whole device, but which is not localized to
a specic portion of the circuit.
capacitance, interelectrode The (often un-
wanted) capacitance between the electrodes of
a device.
capacitance, junction In a diode, the capac-
itance across the diode junction is termed the
junction capacitance. For abrupt junctions, this
capacitance C
j
is inversely proportional to the
depletion depth, and therefore
C
j
(V
d
)
1
2
(for a reverse bias voltage V
d
).
capacitive discharge When two terminals of
a chargedcapacitor are connectedthrougha con-
ductor, the charge on the capacitor will be anni-
hilated by a current through the conductor. This
phenomenonis calledcapacitive discharge. The
time constant of the discharge depends onthe ca-
pacitance of the capacitor and the resistance of
the conductor. In the process, the energy stored
in the capacitor is dissipated through the Joule
heating of the conductor.
2001 CRC Press LLC
capacitive reactance Capacitive reactance is
dened as the inverse of the product of angular
frequency and capacitance, or X
c
= 1/C =
1/(2fC).
capacitor, blocking A capacitor placed in a
circuit for the purpose of blocking a DC offset
voltage from another portion of the circuit.
capacitor, by-pass A capacitor placed in a
circuit to allow the high frequency components
to bypass a part of the circuit. This may be to
eliminate unwanted signals to a power supply,
direct the AC signal elsewhere, or to protect the
biasing voltage of a device fromdropping below
the useful level when many devices become ac-
tive at once. This eliminates power spikes and
brownouts from the current drain of many de-
vices clocking at once in a synchronous circuit,
and is a crucial design feature in digital circuits.
capacitors Capacitors are electric compo-
nents that are made of two conductors embedded
in a dielectric medium. Capacitors are indis-
pensable electric components in an electric cir-
cuit. They can be used to store electric charges,
to block direct current ow, and to pass alter-
nate current. Capacitors can be combined with
resistors to form an RC circuit.
capacitors in parallel When two or more
capacitors are connected in such a manner that
one terminal of each capacitor is connected to
the same common point A, while the other ter-
minal of each capacitor is connected to another
common point B, as shown in the rst diagram,
this is called capacitors in parallel. When ca-
pacitors are connected in parallel, the voltage
difference between the two terminals of each ca-
pacitor is the same. The equivalent capacitance
of capacitors in parallel is equal to the sum of
each individual capacitance:
C = C
1
+C
2
+C
3
+. . . .
capacitors in series When two or more ca-
pacitors are connected in such a manner that one
capacitor is connected to the next sequentially as
shown in the next diagram, this is called capaci-
tors in series. When capacitors are connected in
Capacitors in parallel.
series, the inverse of the equivalent capacitance
is equal to the sum of the inverse of capacitance
of each individual capacitor:
C
1
= C
1
1
+C
1
2
+C
1
3
+. . . .
Capacitors in series.
cardinal planes/points Athicklens/lens sys-
tem can be described in terms of six cardinal
points allowing graphical determination of im-
ages for arbitrary objects. These six cardinal
points on the axis of a thick lens consist of rst
and second focal points, rst and second prin-
cipal points, and rst and second nodal points.
The corresponding planes normal to the axis at
this point are called cardinal planes.
cardinal points The six cardinal points of an
optical system are a) two focal points (F
1
and
F
2
), b) two principal points (H
1
and H
2
), and c)
two nodal points (N
1
and N
2
). As shown in the
diagram, ray 1 originating from the focal point
F
1
emerges parallel to the axis on the other side.
The intersection of these two rays denes the
rst principal plane, which cuts the axis at H
1
.
Ray 2, parallel to the axis, passes through F
2
on
the output side. The intersection of these two
rays denes the second principal plane, which
cuts the axis at H
2
. An off-axis ray 3, passing
through one nodal point N
1
emerges parallel to
it through another (N
2
). Planes passing through
the cardinal points normal to the axis are called
cardinal planes. The sketch below identies
these points and planes in an optical system. V
1
and V
2
are the input and output planes. The re-
fractive indices in input, optical system and out
2001 CRC Press LLC
media are n
3
, n
2
and n
1
, respectively. In terms
of the ABCD matrix elements, the distances to
various cardinal points, as dened in the gure
below, are
p =
D
C
, q =
A
C
, r =
D
n
3
n
1
C
, s =
1A
C
, v =
D1
C
, w =
n
3
n
1
A
C
, f
1
= p r and f
2
= q s.
Cardinal points and cardinal planes.
Note that the distances obey the following
sign convention: p, r and v are taken positive if
they are to the right of V
1
and negative other-
wise. q, s and w are positive if they are to the
right of V
2
. Similarly f
1
and f
2
are positive if
they are to the right of their respective principal
planes H
1
and H
2
and negative if to the left. As
an example, H
1
, H
2
, N
1
and N
2
coincide at the
center of a refracting sphere irrespective of its
radius of curvature and refractive index. How-
ever, p = q =
R(2n)
2(1n)
for a sphere of radius
R and refractive index n. See ABCD matrix.
carrier A carrier is the basic continu-
ous waveform or pulse train on which the
information-bearing signal is to be modulated in
order for many channels to share one transmis-
sion medium. The particulars about the carrier
are dened by the particular communications
system apart from the particular information-
bearing signal to be transmitted. The carrier is
often a sinusoidal wave at a specic frequency
set orders-of-magnitude higher than the band-
width of the information-bearing signal. The
carrier may alternatively be a similarly high-
frequency periodic pulse train or simply a con-
stant direct-current (DC) voltage offset. A set
of distinct carriers may be viewed as a strat-
egy to partition the total available transmission
bandwidth into distinct transmission channels.
In order for an information-bearing signal to
be transmitted on any of these channels, the
information-bearing signal modulates the car-
rier correspondingtothe channel tobe used. Un-
modulatedversions of the carrier mayor maynot
be transmitted alongside the modulated carrier.
If not, the carrier is said to have been suppressed.
At the receiver, the information-bearing signal
is decoupled from the carrier.
carrier binding The attachment mechanism
for the cotransporter binding to the transporter
in carrier-mediated diffusion.
carrier frequency The carrier frequency
refers to the frequency of an unmodulated sinu-
soidal wave carrier or the pulse repetition rate of
a periodic pulse-train carrier. In frequency mod-
ulation schemes, the carrier frequency is equal
to the center frequency.
carrier level The carrier level refers to the
power level of the unmodulated carrier at a spe-
cic position within the communication sys-
tems; may be expressed in absolute terms in
watts or in relative terms, in reference to some
system ground level, in decibels (dB).
carrier, majority, of current In doped semi-
conductors, one polarity of current carrier will
provide the dominant charge transfer mecha-
nism, usually by simply being the most plen-
tiful. These types of carriers are the majority
carrier.
For instance, in boron doped silicon (p-type),
the boron is an electron acceptor. This allows
holes to be the majority carrier of current. In n-
type semiconductors, electrons are the majority
carriers. See also acceptor; donor.
carrier mediated transport, macroscopic
model General description of the transport
model using free energy, kinetic, and entropic
modelling for the prediction and the description
of the rate constants.
carrier mediated transport, microscopic
model Detailed molecular modelling of the
stoichiometry and energy analysis of the carrier
transport mechanism.
2001 CRC Press LLC
carrier mediated transport, steady state
process Transport of biomolecules through a
membrane restriction not normally permeable to
the biomolecules. The biomolecule reacts with
a transport molecule A to form transportable
molecule B which passes through the mem-
brane. B is then decomposed to yield Aand the
original biomolecule. A diffuses back through
the membrane to start the process again.
carrier, minority, of current The minority
type of charge carrier in a semiconductor. For
example, in p-type boron doped silicon, most
charge transfer is through hole migration. How-
ever, some electrons do diffuse in the crystal.
These electrons are minority carriers. In n-type
semiconductors, the holes are the minority car-
riers. See carrier, majority, of current.
carrier models (cell) Modelling of the ac-
tive transport of biomolecules across mem-
branes upon reversible attachment to a trans-
porter molecule.
carrier power The average power of an un-
modulated sinusoidal carrier over one sinusoidal
period. The carrier power may deviate from
the nominal value when awed modulation pro-
duces unequal envelope amplitudes on the pos-
itive and negative sides. This phenomenon is
called carrier shift.
carriers (cell) A molecule to which an-
other molecule may become reversibly attached
for transport through a membrane, in effect, a
molecule that can be reduced by attachment to
the second molecule and after transport may be
re-oxidized.
carrier-to-noise ratio The carrier-to-noise
ratio refers to the ratio of carrier power to noise
power at the same position within the commu-
nication system. The carrier-to-noise ratio is
typically expressed in decibels (dB).
carrier wave A wave in which amplitude,
frequency and/or phase are varied in time to pro-
duce modulated oscillations (signals). The fre-
quency of the carrier wave is much greater than
those of amplitude, frequency or phase modula-
tions.
CARRY, half-adder The ag in binary ad-
dition signifying the carry operation.
A half-adder is a binary logic circuit that
gives two outputs for two binary inputs. One
output S (for Sum without carry) is, in the sin-
gle binary digit case, an exclusive OR operation
of the inputs. The other output, C (for carry) is
true if S is not the binary sum. In the simple bi-
nary digit case, this is the AND operation of the
inputs. For this case, given single binary digit
inputs A and B, the S and C outputs are
A 0 0 1 1
B 0 1 0 1
C 0 0 0 1
S 0 1 1 0
Since in general the carry is only a ag,
two half-adders (plus some logic operations) are
needed for true binary addition.
cartesian surface Refracting or reecting
surfaces that form perfect images, named after
Ren Descartes. Each object point requires its
own surface. In case of reection, such surfaces
are invariably conic sections.
Cary-Foster bridge Cary-Foster bridge is
used to measure the small difference between
two nearly equal resistances. The bridge is of
the slide-wire type and the resistance of the slide
wire per unit length, r, is accurately known. R
x
and R
s
are to be compared. A balance is rst
secured with the contact C at a distance a
1
from
the D. Then R
x
and R
s
are interchanged and
another balance obtained with C at a distance
a
2
from D. It can be shown that.
R
x
R
s
= (a
1
a
2
) r .
Cassegrain telescope In this design of the
reecting telescope, the light from the primary
mirror is incident on a secondary mirror shaped
as a convex hyperboloid. The light reected by
the secondary mirror passes through an aperture
in the primary mirror to secondary focus, f
s
, for
viewing. The primary f
p
and secondary f
s
focal
points are adjusted to coincide with the foci of
the hyperboloid which results in a distortion free
image.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Cary-Foster bridge.
Cassegrain telescope.
cataracts A disorder that causes pockets of
cloudy or opaque discoloration of the lens tis-
sue of the eye; a surgery involves removal of
the lens and replacing it with a plastic implant.
Often the membranes that hold the implant be-
come opaque and a corrective procedure known
as posterior capsulotomy uses a highpower laser
to rupture the membrane and restore vision.
catheters, blood pressure measurement A
catheter is any instrument designed for the free
ow passage of uid into or out of the body.
When used for blood pressure measurement the
catheter allows the blood to be in direct con-
tact witha manometer thus allowingdirect blood
pressure measurement.
cathode The electrode that emits electrons
into a space, medium or device. May also be
viewed as the path for positive current to leave
the medium.
cathode ray oscilloscope A device based on
a CRT that allows visualization of input signal
voltage waveforms. There are two main modes
of operating the device.
1. One mode is a two-input mode where the x
coordinate of the electron beam is proportional
to the rst input, while the y coordinate is pro-
portional to the second.
2. The other mode uses a synthesized volt-
age for the x input signal that is proportional to
time (modulo the repeat time). When the y po-
sition is proportional to the input voltage, a rep-
resentation of the waveform (voltage vs. time)
is traced out on the screen. If the signal wave-
form is periodic, triggering circuitry allows the
phase matching of successive traces, producing
a sustained trace of the waveform.
cathode ray tube An evacuated tube or bulb
in which a voltage difference of separated con-
ductors produces accelerated electrons (cathode
rays). These electrons may be used in the pro-
duction of X-rays, for physical measurements,
or other purposes. However, the most promi-
nent use of the cathode ray tube (CRT) is the
focusing of the electron beam in a phosphores-
cent surface for the displaying of information in
two dimensions.
Most television screens, computer monitor
screens, and oscilloscope displays are the phos-
phorescent end of a CRT. The x and y posi-
tion the beam strikes is controlled by a mag-
netic (or sometimes electric) eld perpendicu-
lar to the electron beam direction. The intensity
may be varied by control circuitry in the elec-
tron gun producing the beam. This electron gun
also has the cathode/heater circuit, focusing el-
ements and the accelerator system.
catoptrics Optics of reecting surfaces.
Telescopes and microscopes built entirely of re-
ecting optics are called catoptric systems. In
contrast, systems with a combination of lenses
are called dioptric systems. Combinations of
lenses and mirrors are catadioptric systems.
Cauchy dispersion formula The refractive
index of transparent material is dependent on
the wavelengths. When the refractive index is
plotted as a function of the square of the wave-
lengths, the resulting curve is known as the dis-
persion curve which appears to be asymptote in
the UV region and is somewhat linear in the
2001 CRC Press LLC
near infra red (up to 1m). This is called nor-
mal dispersion. When the refractive medium
has characteristic excitation that absorbs light of
wavelengths within the range of the dispersion
curve, the curve in general will be monotoni-
cally decreasing, but will have a positive slope
in the wavelength region of the absorption. This
is called anomalous dispersion.
An empirical relation that gives n as a func-
tion of for normal dispersion is called the
Cauchy dispersion formula:
n = a +b
2
+
c

2
0.028
+
d
(
2
0.028)
2
where a, b, c and d are empirical constants. A
more general expression is
n() = a +
b

2
+
c

4
+. . . .
Often, the rst two terms in the above expression
are sufcient to provide a reasonable t and if we
have experimental knowledge of n at 2 distinct
wavelengths, then the constants can be deter-
mined. The dispersion is dened as
dn
d
, and is
approximately equal to
2b

3
.
caustic curve The geometrical envelope of
the meridian section of a bundle of refracted or
reected rays. The points of intersections of
pairs of consecutive rays lying in the plane of
a meridian section of a refracting or reecting
spherical surface form a curve lying symmet-
rically above and below the optical axis, if the
incident bundle is symmetrical with respect to
the optical axis. This plane curve is called the
caustic curve of the meridian rays. The two
branches on the opposite side unite in a double
point or cusp at the point on the axis where the
paraxial rays intersect, so that the axis is tangent
to both branches at this point. Each refracted or
reected ray in the meridian plane touches the
caustic curve.
cavitation Formation and collapse of cavities
and bubbles in liquids, lled with gas and vapor.
Cavities and bubbles may be formed by several
mechanisms: due to working pumps or rotating
turbines and ship propellers (hydrodynamic cav-
itation); due to intense sound radiated into a liq-
uid (acoustic cavitation); and due to laser beams
and elementary particles propagation through a
liquid. In the cases of hydrodynamic and acous-
tic cavitation, formation of cavities and bubbles
occurs at points where the local pressure is be-
low a threshold that allow so-called cavitation
nuclei (tiny bubbles lled with gas or vapor) to
grow. Collapse of cavities and bubbles produce
intense noise. This collapse can also destroy
materials of different kinds, for example, ship
propellers.
cavity dumper Energy can be built up in a
laser cavity for a length of time and deected
outside the cavity to get a sudden burst of en-
ergy. Such a device is called a cavity dumper.
An acousto-optic deector placed inside a laser
cavity can spoil the alignment temporarily when
turned on and dump the energy. See acousto-
optic deector.
cavity modes of a laser Alaser resonator can
sustain two types of resonant modes of oscilla-
tion depending on the separation and curvature
of the mirrors. These are (a) axial or longitudi-
nal modes and (b) transverse modes.
If Lis the length of the laser cavity resonator,
the axial mode frequencies are f
m
= m
_
c
2L
_
where m is an integer (usually very large) and
c is the speed of light. The separation between
successive modes is the free spectral range of
the resonator, and a typical laser transition line
is broad enough to accommodate several modes.
A single axial mode can be sustained at the ex-
pense of others by inserting an etalon of appro-
priate length in the cavity.
The transverse modes, denoted by TEM
mn
(transverse electric magnetic; m and n are in-
tegers), have characteristic intensity patterns in
the plane normal to the beam direction. The
lowest order TEM
00
mode has a Gaussian pro-
le of intensity over the cross section. Some of
the other less desirable patterns, sketched below,
have multiple spots. The electric eld directions
are shown by arrows.
cavity resonance Resonant vibrations in a
cavity. Cavity resonance occurs when the fre-
quency of a sound wave incident on a cavity is
equal to one of its natural frequencies. In this
case, the ratio of the acoustic pressure ampli-
tude inside the cavity to that of the incident wave
2001 CRC Press LLC
Cavity modes of a laser.
reaches its maximum. Cavity resonance is used
in acoustic devices to amplify specic frequen-
cies of a complex sound. A resonant cavity is
called a resonator.
CCD Charge coupled device, a planar de-
vice for holding and moving charge in two di-
mensions. The charge is managed by potential
wells controlled by pixel electrodes over (or un-
der) the area of the well. These charge bins can
be multiplexed out to an analog to digital con-
verter or any other application.
CCDs are generally used in optics (like
video cameras, telescope readout electronics,
or infrared imagers). However, other uses are
also possible, such as charged particle radiation
tracking detectors.
cell An electric device that converts chemi-
cal energy into electric energy. There are many
different types of cell depending on the materi-
als or type of chemical reaction employed. A
cell consists of a positive and a negative elec-
trode immersed in a chemical solution (elec-
trolyte). Cells are classied into two ma-
jor types: primary (non-rechargeable) and sec-
ondary (rechargeable). In both types of cells,
the electric energy released is derived from the
chemical reaction that takes place between the
electrodes and in the electrolyte.
centered optical system An optical system
where all surfaces are rotationally symmetric
about a common axis.
centrifugation Separation of molecular or
particle species by placement in a rapidly rotat-
ing environment. The particles with the greater
centripetal force ow to different depths in the
gel medium. The centripetal force being equal
to m
2
r where is the angular speed of the
centrifuge, r is the radius from the center of ro-
tation, and m is the mass of the particle.
centrifugation, isopycnic Centrifugation of
a mixture when the separation is based on den-
sity, not mass difference.
centrifuges Instruments consisting of tube
holders distributed in a circular array about a
common axis of rotation and capable of achiev-
ing very high frequencies of revolution. This
gives rise to a strong centripetal force (some-
times referred to by the non-inertial term cen-
trifugal force) yielding separation of mixtures
in solution.
ceramic magnets These are ferrimag-
nets composed of the hard magnetic material
BaO.6Fe
2
O
3
.
Cerenkov radiation Radiation emitted by
charged particles traveling in a medium at a
speed faster than the speed of light in that
medium. The wavefront of such a shock wave
will be in the shape of a cone in three dimensions
with the apex at the source. The half angle is
given by = sin
1
_
V
V
s
_
where V and V
s
are
the speeds of light and that of the charged par-
ticle, respectively, in the medium in question.
One can observe a blue shimmer of Cerenkov
radiation in nuclear reactors with the core im-
mersed in a pool of water. The speed of charged
nuclear fragments can easily exceed the speed
of light in water which is about two thirds the
speed of light in vacuum.
channel Achannel represents what separates
the transmitter from the receiver in a communi-
cation channel. The channel embodies a com-
munication connection for the transfer of infor-
mation signals from the data source to the data
sink. The channel may be unidirectional or bi-
directional in how the information may ow. A
channel may correspond to one particular car-
rier frequency in a frequency-division multiplex
communication system, a particular time-slot in
a time-division multiplex system, or a particu-
lar spreading code in a code-division multiplex
system. The channel may distort the transmitted
signal if the transmitted signal is altered by other
than a real-valued constant multiplicative factor
and/or a constant time delay, thereby modifying
the signal shape.
2001 CRC Press LLC
channel (cell) A corridor through the lipid
bilayer of the plasma membrane often created by
macromolecular proteins. This channel allows
an imbalance of electrical potential across the
membrane resulting in the assisted ow of ions
through the plasma membrane.
channel bank Achannel bank embodies that
part of a carrier-multiplex terminal that multi-
plexes a set of channels onto a higher frequency
band or demultiplexes a higher frequency band
into distinct channels.
channel capacity The channel capacity of a
channel refers to that channels theoretical max-
imum information transfer rate, typically de-
noted as C. If the information rate of the in-
formation signal (typically symbolized by R)
remains below the channel capacity, then arbi-
trarily small error probability may be attained by
suitable signal coding. Otherwise, transmission
error is unavoidable, regardless of any coding.
For a bandlimited channel (with a bandwidth of
BHz) affected by additive white Gaussian noise
with signal-to-noise ratio at S/N, the channel
capacity (C) equals C = Blog
2
(1 +S/N) bits
per second. Channel capacity rises with in-
creasing bandwidth or improved signal-to-noise
ratio. The bandwidth and the signal-to-noise
ratio thus become two design variables to be
traded off each other for any particular com-
munication system and application. For exam-
ple, limited power resources onboard a space
satellite means wider bandwidths may be used
for a lower signal-to-noise requirement. It is
false that channel capacity would become un-
limited as channel bandwidth grows towards in-
nity. This is because the wider the bandwidth,
the more channel noise there would be while
signal power remains constant, thereby decreas-
ing the signal-to-power ratio. If noise is com-
pletely absent, S/N equals innity, and C be-
comes unlimited regardless of channel band-
width. If the additive channel noise is other than
white Gaussian, then channel capacity may ex-
ceed that given by the above expression.
channel capacity and distortion Channel
distortion occurs whenever the transmitted sig-
nal is altered other than by a real-valued constant
multiplicative factor and/or a constant time de-
lay, thereby modifying the signal shape. The in-
formation signal may also be distorted by signal
transients during modulation; such distortion,
called characteristic distortion, depends in part
on the particular information signal and carrier
signal concerned.
channel capacity and interference For a
Gaussian interference channel with power con-
straint, the channels capacity region in the pres-
ence of very strong interference is surprisingly
equivalent to the case when there exists no in-
terference.
channel capacity and rate distortion If the
source information rate R exceeds the channel
capacity C, then distortion must necessarily oc-
cur, regardless of the type of source coding and
channel coding used to process the source data
stream. The distortion incurred in representing
a source alphabet cX by a reproduction alpha-
bet

cX is measured by the distortion function D
of that particular source alphabet-representation
alphabet set. The rate distortion region of a
source is dened as the closure of the set of
achievable rate distortion pairs (R, D). The rate
distortion function, R(D), is dened as the in-
mum of rates R such that (R, D) lies in the
rate distortion region of the source for a given
distortion D.
channel capacity and self-information The
self-information I(X = x
n
) of the event X =
x
n
(that is, symbol X is valued at x
n
) is dened
as:
I (x
n
) = log
2
1
P (x
n
)
.
The self-information, when averaged over all I
gives the entropy H(X) of a source:
H(X) =
N

n=1
P (x
i
) I (x
n
) .
Both I(x
n
) and H(x
n
), as dened above, have
units of bits per symbol. If the sources symbol
rate equals Rsymbols per second, then H(X)R
C or transmission error must occur despite
any encoding.
channel capacity, energy per bit To suc-
cessfully transmit information froman informa-
tion source with information rate R through a
2001 CRC Press LLC
channel of capacity of C bits per second, band-
width B Hz and additive Gaussian noise level
N
o
, the minimum signal power level in energy
per bit equals:
E
b
=
N
o
B
R
_
2
C
B
1
_
_
T
0
{s(t)}
2
dt
K
.
channel kinetics (cell) The study of the mo-
tion of ions and particles in membrane channels.
channel noise level The channel noise level
equals the noise power in the channel, typi-
cally expressed in decibels (dB). The channel
noise level may also be dened relative to the
noise power at some reference point. Channel
noise may arise from thermal noise, intermod-
ulation products, adjacent channel crosstalk, or
other unwanted interference. The channel noise
power density measures the noise level per hertz
of channel bandwidth.
Chapman-Kolmogorov relation A predic-
tive mathematical relation between system pa-
rameters subject to random, or chaotic, noise
generation.
character A character embodies a uniquely
dened cluster of consecutive bits representing
an alphanumeric mark (such as A, 9), a non-
printable control token (such as the escape char-
acter or the carriage-return character). A -
nite ordered set of distinct characters constitute
a character set. Eight-bit bytes are commonly
used to represent a character in the American
National Standard Code for Information Inter-
change (ASCII) character set. The character
mean entropy of a particular information source,
in units of shannon per character, measures the
information-content of that source.
character generator The character genera-
tor embodies a device used to control a display
writer to display any character graphically on
the display devices display surface (such as the
display screen of a cathode-ray tube).
characteristic curve Aplot showingthe rela-
tionship of two variables, which may show use-
ful information about a device. For instance,
current vs. voltage for a diode, collector current
vs. base voltage for a transistor with a specied
emitter voltage, or the capacitance vs. reverse
bias voltage for a diode junction.
characteristic function The characteristic
function C(f) of a randomvariable xwith prob-
ability distribution p(x) is dened as:
C(f) =
_

p(x)e
j2fx
dx .
In other words, the characteristic function C(f)
embodies the Fourier transform of p(x). The
characteristic function facilitates the determina-
tion of the moments (i.e., expected values of
powers) of the random variable as follows:
E {x
n
} = (j2)
n
d
n
C(f)
df
n
|
f=0
.
Moreover, the characteristic function C
x+y
(f)
of a sum of two random variables (x and y)
equals the product of the two random variables
respective characteristic functions (C
x
(f) and
C
y
(f)):
C
x+y
(f) = C
x
(f)C
y
(f) .
charge coupled device Consists of a two-
dimensional array of photo diodes on a sub-
strate. The incident radiation produces elec-
tric charges that are stored in a potential well
created by the gate voltage. The stored charge
in each pixel is proportional to the irradiance
which is later scanned and read out along rows
of such devices referred to as CCD. The charge
is cleared and the device is reset for the next
measurement. By a sequential reading of the
stored charge a two-dimensional image is con-
structed. Such CCDarrays are used in detectors
in telescopes and spectrographs, television and
video cameras. See also CCD.
charge density Charge per unit volume is
called charge density. Charge density is an im-
portant physical quantity that appears in many
physical laws. For example, Gauss law states
that the divergence of the electric eld is equal
to 4 times charge density.
charge, diffusion When p-type and n-type
semiconductors join together to form a diode,
2001 CRC Press LLC
some electrons fromn-type semiconductors will
migrate into p-type semiconductors, while some
holes from p-type semiconductors will migrate
into n-type semiconductors. These minority
charge carriers are called diffusion charges.
charge, electric A fundamental characteris-
tic of matter. All fundamental particles can be
either positively charged, negatively charged, or
neutral. Charge is quantized, which means that
charges come in multiples of 1.602 10
19
Coulomb, the amount equal to the magnitude
of the charge of one proton, or one electron.
charge injection device This is similar to a
charge coupled device (CCD) with the excep-
tion of the method of processing of the photo-
induced charge. The charge is injected to the
underlying substrate semiconductor. See charge
coupled device.
charge transfer device Any device capable
of storing signal charge, and transferring that
charge from one capacitor to the next at some
clock rate. A CCD is a specic type of charge
transfer device, which uses eld-produced en-
ergy wells without discrete capacitors.
charging by friction When two different
substances rub against each other, one may give
up its electrons while the other may gain elec-
trons. Once they are separated, one carries pos-
itive charges while the other carries negative
charges. This process is called charging by fric-
tion.
charging/discharging capacitors When a
battery is connected to a capacitor, the positive
charge ows into one terminal of the capacitor
while the negative charge ows into the other
terminal until the potential difference between
the terminals reaches the emf of the battery. This
is called the charging of a capacitor. In this pro-
cess, energy is converted from chemical energy
stored in the battery to the electric energy stored
inside the capacitor, = 1/2QV = 1/2CV
2
. Discharging a capacitor is the reverse pro-
cess of charging a capacitor. When a resistor is
connected to the two terminals of a charged ca-
pacitor, a current will ow through the resistor.
This process is called the discharging of a ca-
pacitor. The energy stored in the capacitor will
be dissipated through Joule heating.
chemiluminescence The luminescence, or
emission of light, due to chemical reactions tak-
ing place. If the chemical reactions are of an
organic nature it is also referred to as biolumi-
nescence.
Child-Langmuir Law The relationship be-
tween current in a tube (thermionic diode) and
the applied voltage and distance. For the cath-
ode current I limited by space charge
I = GV
3
2
where V is the applied anode voltage and G
is termed the perveance. In general the per-
veance depends on the geometry, and, for in-
stance, may be inversely proportional to the dis-
tance between cathode and anode.
chip Achip may refer to an integrated circuit
or to one basic time unit between signaling tran-
sitions for one digit such as in a pseudo-random
(PN) sequence used in code-division multiple
access (CDMA) communications.
chirality A property of left/right, or mirror,
asymmetry of a molecule. The molecule is dis-
tinguishable in such a way that it cannot be su-
perimposed on its mirror image. Chirality is a
cause of asymmetric optical scattering.
chirp A short, high pitched sound.
choke An inductor in some specic applica-
tion is called a choke. It consists of many turns
of wire wound on a support.
cholesteric crystals These are organic com-
pounds that can ow like liquids yet maintain
their molecular orientations. Such liquid crys-
tals have a helical structure and exhibit very
large optical rotatory powers. The polarization
axis of an incident beam can rotate by as much
as 40,000 degrees per mm of the liquid crystal.
The pitchof the screw-like molecular structure is
much smaller than that in crystals such as quartz.
chopper Asimple switchingcircuit that opens
and closes the primary circuit at some clocking
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rate. The time open need not be any set fraction
of the period.
chromatic resolving power mR The term
used to denote the limit of resolution between
two neighboring wavelengths as observed in a
diffraction grating with N slits. Application of
the Rayleigh criterion yields
R = mN ,
for the mth order of the spectrum.
chromatography A percolation procedure
where particle, chemical, or pigment separation
is achieved by passing the substance through a
two phase (usually liquid/solid) system in the
earths gravitational eld.
chromatography, exclusion Chromatogra-
phy in which the gel phase is a stationary phase
of controlled pore size. Hence, molecules are
separated as a function of their size and their
shape (exclusion).
cineradiography A motion picture radio-
graph, or in todays terms a video radiograph
of a moving biological organ such as the heart,
the lungs, or blood ow through a constriction.
Another related process is cineuorography.
cipher A cipher represents a cryptographic
system transposing or displacing alphanumeric
characters in a plain text with other alphanu-
meric characters in accordance with predeter-
mined code. A cipher may also refer to such a
cryptosystem or a message written or transmit-
ted in such a cryptosystem.
ciphony Ciphony (or cyphony) refers to the
use of ciphering for telecommunication signals,
typically for condentiality.
circle of least confusion When a circular ob-
ject is imaged by a sphero-cylindrical or cylin-
drical lens, the circle of least confusion is the
circular section found in between the two im-
ages forming the Conoid of Sturm. It is dioptri-
cally halfway between the two images and has
the smallest cross-section of the images.
circuit A circuit consists of various elec-
tric/electronic components connected together
to perform a specic task. It could be as simple
as a ash light that consists of batteries, resis-
tor, and a switch, or it could be as complex as a
computer motherboard. When a circuit is built
monolithically on a single semiconductor wafer,
it is called an integrated circuit, IC.
circuit, active A circuit that contains one or
more active elements or devices. These devices
do not merely store or dissipate energy, but may
introduce energy into the primary circuit. See
active device.
circuit, astable A circuit that oscillates be-
tween unstable states of the device. Devices
that alternate between the states at a regular fre-
quency can be used as a clock for synchronous
switching circuitry.
circuit, bipolar A circuit including a bipo-
lar element or device. See transistor, junction;
bipolar code.
circuit, bootstrap An amplier circuit using
resistors to lower the effective input impedance.
An AC amplier and a bootstrap version of the same
circuit.
circuit breaker A switch that automati-
cally disconnects the circuit when the current
owthrough becomes larger than a preset value.
circuit, clipping A circuit that limits the
maximum or minimum voltage level of a sig-
nal that traverses it.
circuit, logic Aswitching circuit in which the
quantized states represent logical states. This
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allows the denition of circuit elements anal-
ogous to logical operations (AND, OR, NOT,
etc.). These can also be seen as logical ones and
zeros for use in any type of binary numbering
system.
All computer circuits are logical circuits. An
example of an actual (in this case binary) logic
circuit type is the standard TTL, for bipolar
transistor-transistor logic, where anoutput about
the high voltage represents true or logical one,
and no voltage (or below the low cutoff) repre-
sents false or logical zero. Additionally, other
values may be chosen to represent the logical
states, including current and optical intensity.
circuit, master-slave A segmented circuit
in which one portion (the master) provides the
time base or other specication for the other
segments (slaves). For instance, a master clock
may provide timing signals, to which the slave
clocks must synchronize, providing the master
time base to the slave circuit instead of an inde-
pendent clock pulse.
circuit, parallel tee Abridge circuit contain-
ing at least ve known impedances, with a sixth
unknown impedance element fromone diagonal
to common. Balancing the known impedances
allows for the calculation of the unknown value.
So named because the oscillating signal sent
through the other diagonal can be seen as trav-
elling through two T-circuits in parallel.
A parallel tee bridge circuit.
circuit, passive A circuit that contains only
passive elements, storing and releasing energy
applied to the circuit. See passive device, active
device.
circuit, switching Early switching circuits
were devices that selected which additional cir-
cuits to complete. The limited number of (quan-
tized) selections possible, along with the history
of the development of digital circuitry, has al-
lowed an extension of the term to include any
circuit that handles quantized (or digital) infor-
mation or outcomes.
Relay circuits and phone dialing systems are
switching circuits, but so are digital computers.
Since the success of digital computing, most
switching circuits are purely binary.
There are two main types of switching cir-
cuits. Combinational, in which the inputs
uniquely dene the switch/output state, and
state-dependent (or sequential), where the inter-
nal state(s) or memory of a device may be set,
changing the response to inputs.
circuit, synchronous A logic switching cir-
cuit in which all the state changes occur on
system clock pulses (at the same time or syn-
chronously).
circular intensity differential scattering
Optical spectroscopy using the scattering of cir-
cularly polarized light to elucidate structure and
function of optically active materials. A non-
destructive investigation.
circular polarizer A device that can pro-
duce or analyze circularly polarized light. When
unpolarized light passes through a linear polar-
izer followed by a quarter wave plate (90 degree
phase retarder) with their principal axes at 45
degrees from one another, the emerging light
is circularly polarized. The handedness (left or
right) depends on whether the transmission axis
of the polarizer makes +45 or 45 degrees to
the fast axis of the retarder.
cisternography A specic investigative tool
using radioactive contrast imaging (roentgenog-
raphy) for visualization of the subarachnoid
spaces containing cerebralspinal uid.
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citizens band (CB) The citizens band (or
CB) represents a frequency band in the electro-
magnetic spectrum allocated by governments in
the U.S., Canada, Germany and other countries
for short-range voice communications among
private individuals. In the U.S., CB occupies
from 26.965 to 27.225 MHz and from 460 to
470 MHz. Due to government regulations on
CBradio transmitter power and receiver antenna
heights, CBradiointhe U.S. maytypicallyreach
up to 15 miles when used at a mobile or up to
30 miles at a xed location.
cladding, ber optic Fiber optic materials
are usually encased in a material of lower refrac-
tive index than that of the ber. This cladding
material prevents degradation of light in the ber
by protecting it from surface scratches, dust,
moisture, etc. Another important function of
the cladding material is to prevent the frustrated
total internal reection from occurring. Under
the condition of total internal reection, a longi-
tudinal electric eld exists at the surface of the
ber and the electromagnetic energy, whose am-
plitude exponentially drops, penetrates across
the boundary. It can couple with the external
medium leading to leakage and cross-talk of the
signal. The maximum acceptance angle,
m
, of
light that can transmit through an optical ber
of index n
1
enclosed in a cladding material of
index n
2
is
m
= sin
1
_
(n
2
1
n
2
2
)
n
0
. The re-
fractive index of the surrounding medium is n
0
.
Cladding, ber optics.
clamping diode The diode used in a clamp
circuit, which is capable of adding a DC offset
to an input signal.
coagulation The transformation of a liquid to
a gel via chemical reaction rather than by evap-
oration. For example the coagulation of blood
upon exposure to air.
Clamping diode.
coaxial cable A circular cross-section trans-
mission line made up of a central conductor sur-
rounded by a dielectric layer which in turn is
covered by a metallic shield. An insulated coat-
ing or outer layer is often used to protect the
shield conductor.
cochlea A section of the inner ear looking
like a spiral canal consisting of two and a half
turns around the modiolus and containing the
organ of Corti.
code A code represents an unambiguous set
of explicit rules to represent information. A
code set means the set of all possible code val-
ues allowed by the code. Acode book embodies
a systematic ordering of the set of all codes in
a particular coding system and the respective
characters they encode. Encoding refers to the
conversion of information via such a set of rules
into a specic code value. The source encoder
maps the original data from one alphabet set to
another alphabet set, which may or may not be
identical as the rst set of alphabets. Decod-
ing refers to the recovery of information given a
particular code value.
code division multiple access (CDMA)
Code division multiple access (CDMA) repre-
sents a multi-user transmission coding scheme
wherein each user is assigned its unique pseudo-
random signature spreading code sequence at
the transmitter to modulate (i.e., to spread) its
information-bearing message bits and at the re-
ceiver to demodulate (i.e., to de-spread) the re-
ceived digits back into the information-bearing
message bits. Each users information-bearing
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signal is recovered at the receiver by correlating
the received signal with that users unique signa-
ture sequence. All system users simultaneously
share the same frequency band but are mutually
distinguishable by their respective unique signa-
ture sequences. Different users in a CDMAsys-
tem are typically assigned orthogonal or near-
orthogonal signature spreading code sequence,
such that the transmitted digits from different
users have no or little interference against each
other at the receiver after de-spreading. CDMA
represents a spread spectrum transmission tech-
nique because the bandwidth of the transmit-
ted signal is spread to become much wider than
the bandwidth of the original message signal.
The spreading may involve amplitude modu-
lation (as in direct sequence CDMA) or fre-
quency modulation (as in frequency hopping
CDMA). The aforementioned spreadingprocess
disperses signal energy over a very wide fre-
quency spectrum, rendering it very difcult for
hostile jammers to detect or to jam the transmit-
ted CDMA signal.
coercive force (See hysteresis.) Coercive
force is the value of the magnetic eld to be
applied to magnetic materials that exhibit hys-
teresis in order to reduce the intensity of its mag-
netization to zero.
coercivity This is a measure of the ease with
which materials may be magnetized. Materials
with a high coercivity are difcult to magnetize.
coherence The phase correlation between
twodistinct parts intime or space of the radiation
eld of electromagnetic radiation. If the corre-
lation is due to the same eld, it is described as
self coherence; the correlation between two dif-
ferent elds is called mutual coherence. This is
the property that enables interference between
two elds resulting in a pattern of bright and
dark fringes. The fringe visibility i.e., contrast
between successive bright and dark fringes, is a
measure of the degree of coherence. The phase
correlation between the wave functions of sub-
atomic particles (e.g., neutrons, electrons) can
also exhibit coherence and interference.
coherence, acoustic Correlated in space
and/or time behavior of two or more acous-
tic waves (oscillations); correlated behavior of
parts of a single wave, taken at different spatial
points or at different time moments. Acoustic
coherence is similar to optic coherence. Acous-
tic waves (oscillations) are coherent only if the
difference between their phases is changed de-
terministically, not randomly. Random uctua-
tions in phases and amplitudes of acoustic waves
occur, for example, when they propagate in a
turbulent or random medium (in a turbulent at-
mosphere, ocean, etc.). One of the quantitative
measures of coherence in a turbulent or random
medium is the coherence function of a sound
pressure eld p, determined by (R, R

, t, t

)
= p(R, t) p

(R

, t

). Here, R is the Carte-

sian coordinates, t is time, denotes ensemble
average, and the asterisk denotes complex con-
jugation. is 1 if R = R

and t = t

, and
decreases if the difference |RR

| (or |t t

|)
is increased.
coherence, degree of The normalized cor-
relation function,
12
, between two radiation
elds E
1
(t) and E
2
(t +t) as a function of t
depends on the time variation of the phase differ-
ence between the two elds. For two elds with
equal amplitudes the interference fringe visibil-
ity, V , is
V =
I
max
I
min
I
max
+I
min
= |
12
| .
The visibility, V , which is a measure of the de-
gree of coherence, is zero for complete incoher-
ence and one for complete coherence. In general
it is less than one for partially coherent radiation
elds and decreases as t increases. See corre-
lation function.
coherence length The temporal or transverse
coherence length is the average length of wave-
trains separated by abrupt changes in phase in
a quasi monochromatic source. It is related to
the coherence time, , by = c =
c
f
. c is
the speed of light and f is the bandwidth of
the radiation eld. The coherence lengths can
range from a few centimeters in gas-discharge
lamps to several kilometers in lasers. The spa-
tial or longitudinal coherence length in the lat-
eral plane is a measure of the phase correlation
between different parts of an extended source
of radiation. Extended sources can be rendered
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spatially coherent by limiting their wavefront
with apertures and masks. The spatial coher-
ence length is (/) for slit-like sources emit-
ting radiation of wavelength and subtending
an angle . For sources with circular geometry
spatial coherence length is (1.22 /).
coherence, partial A radiation eld is par-
tially coherent if the normalized correlation
function at different points in time or space is
between zero and one. The two extremes cor-
respond to complete incoherence and complete
coherence, respectively. See coherence, degree
of and coherence.
coherence time Quasi monochromatic radia-
tion elds contain harmonic wavetrains of nite
duration separated by others by abrupt changes
in phase. The average lifetime of the wavetrains
is called the coherence time. By Fourier analy-
sis it can be shown that the coherence time is the
reciprocal of the frequency spread of the eld.
See coherence; coherence length.
coherent bundles Fiber optic assemblies in
which the bers are assembled in the same re-
lationship at both ends. The signals entering at
one end emerge at the other end with their mu-
tual coherence in tact.
coherent sources Sources of radiation eld
with temporal and spatial phase correlation.
The temporal coherence is obtained by highly
monochromatic elds such as those from lasers
and masers. The temporal or transverse coher-
ence length is
c
f
where c is the speed of light
and f is the bandwidth of the quasi monochro-
matic radiation. The spatial coherence in the
lateral plane is obtained by a point source. Ex-
tended sources can be rendered spatially coher-
ent by limiting their wavefront with apertures
and masks. The spatial coherence length is
_

_
for slit-like sources emitting radiation of wave-
length and subtending an angle . For sources
with circular geometry spatial coherence length
is
_
1.22

_
.
coil foil A coil foil is a group of wires, lam-
inated side by side, forming a close-packed at
array of wires. A coil foil is made by winding a
wire around a cylinder, diameter d, several times
with each turn of wire wrapped tightly against
the previous one making a solenoid with one
layer of wires. After the needed number of turns
(N) are wound, the coil is glued together using a
varnish or epoxy and then cut lengthwise. This
produces N wires, d long, varnished together
side by side. Such bundles of wire are often used
in any cryogenic apparatus where the wires need
to be wrapped around a post for heat sinking pur-
poses.
coincidence circuit An electric circuit that
gives an output only if two input-signals appear
simultaneously or within a specic time interval
of each other.
coincidence method The method for extract-
ing information about different wavelengths of
light emitted by a source using a Fabry-Perot
interferometer. Suppose, in some given direc-
tion, maxima of two wavelengths coincide for
a given separation of the plates. The plate sep-
aration is slowly increased till the two maxima
coincide againinthe same direction. One counts
the number of fringes that pass a given mark in
the eld of viewof the instrument, thereby deter-
mining the ratio of the two wavelengths. If one
of the wavelengths is known, then the difference
from the second wavelength can be calculated.
cold inactivation A hardening and function
ceasing of a biological organism subject to pro-
longed cold.
cold plate A cold plate is a metal plate in-
side a cryostat that is anchored at a well-known
temperature. In many cases, the cold plate tem-
perature can be varied in a controlled manner.
cold resistance A resistance to hardening
and/or system shutdown of a biological organ-
ism subject to prolonged cold.
cold shock Shock induced in a biological
organism due to prolonged cold; includes con-
striction of blood vessels, contraction of invol-
untary muscles, reduced blood ow, and marked
pallor.
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cold stress Negative effects on the function-
ing and efcacy of a biological organism due to
experiencing prolonged cold.
collector In a bipolar transistor, the collec-
tor is one of the bulk regions on the outside of
the bi-junction laminate of the device. In most
amplier applications, the collector is the path
for the output signal. See transistor, junction;
bipolar code; amplier, bipolar.
collimator Any device that produces parallel
rays for an optical system. The emergent beam
is then called collimated. The simplest collima-
tor is a device with a small aperture or pinhole
at the principal focus of a well-corrected convex
lens. For a beam of charged particles, a colli-
mator is a heavy metal tube used to restrict the
solid angle of the emergent beam. Also, a term
used for a small telescope attached to a large
telescope to set the line of sight.
collinear transformation The relationship
betweenthe object andimage withinthe paraxial
region, since for any plane object perpendicular
to the optic axis, a plane image perpendicular
to the axis is formed. The image can act as an
object for the next system. Thus, one speaks of a
collinear transformation between the object and
the nal image formed by an optical system.
color In general, electromagnetic radiation
of different wavelengths can be said to have dif-
ferent colors. However, this term has a special
meaning for those wavelengths in the 400-700
nm range where human visual perception can
distinguish the amount of radiation of differ-
ent wavelengths reected by objects. The ta-
ble shows approximate ranges of wavelengths of
electromagnetic radiationandthe corresponding
names of colors.
Wavelength (nm) Color
380430 Violet
430500 Blue
500520 Cyan
520560 Green
560590 Yellow
590630 Orange
630740 Red
The perception of color is often described in
terms of three attributes: hue, saturation and
brightness. These three formthe coordinates for
each color in a three-dimensional color space.
The attributes of human visual perception that
give rise to color names, such as blue, green,
yellow, purple, etc., is called the hue. Satu-
ration refers to how much a color differs from
white. Brightness is the perceived intensity of
light. Black through different grays to bright
are called achromatic colors. They lack hue and
are characterized by brightness alone. As an ex-
ample, the bright sun seen at noon has a yellow
hue which is unsaturated whereas the dim red
hue at sunset is strongly saturated. See colors,
primary.
color code A method of representing circuit
element parameters by bands of color. Usually,
the rst two color bands represent the rst two
signicant digits of the value of interest. The
third band is an exponent for the tens multiplier,
and the fourth is the tolerance. The digits 0
through 9 are represented by the colors:
digit color
0 black
1 brown
2 red
3 orange
4 yellow
5 green
6 blue
7 violet
8 gray
9 white
In general, the value represented is (10d
1
+
d
2
)10
d
3
where d
k
is the kth digit. Special col-
ors for the tolerances are gold (5%) and silver
(10%), and if no fourth band exists 20%. If
the third band is gold use (1) for the digit in
the multiplier, and for silver use (2). The units
are natural units for real devices, i.e., ohms for
resistors, picofarads for capacitors.
color, complementary Any two colors that
produce white when added together are called
complementary. The complement of a primary
color is called secondary. Red (R) and cyan (C)
are complementary; so are green (G) and ma-
genta (M). Blue (B) and yellow(Y ) are another
pair. See colors, primary.
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color, desaturated Color saturation refers to
the hue referenced to white light. For example,
a desaturated hue in white background makes
it indistinguishable. Desaturation of colors in
rocks and dry wood surfaces comes from the
partial specular reection by tiny facets in con-
trast to the diffuse reection from the texture of
the surface. For example, moistening a surface
darkens it and provides more saturated colors.
Glossy surfaces are more desaturated when ob-
served at angles at which they reect light spec-
ularly; otherwise they are more highly saturated
than matte surfaces. See color.
colorimetry The Commission of Interna-
tionale dEclairage (CIE) has determined an ob-
jective system of colorimetry in which a col-
ored object illuminated by a standard source will
have a spectral power distribution (SPD) from
which the three color coordinates luminance,
which determines brightness, and chromaticity,
which determines hue and saturation are de-
rived. The eld of color specications in terms
of these color matching functions valid for ob-
servers with normal color vision is termed col-
orimetry. See color match.
color match Aspecic color in consideration
can be obtained by an additive mixture of three
primary colors in appropriate values known as
tristimulus values. The color-matching func-
tions are the tristimulus values as a function of
wavelength. The normalized (i.e., x+y+z = 1)
tristimulus values are called the trichromatic co-
efcients or chromaticitycoordinates. The color
match for a standard observer were determined
by CIE, an international organization of col-
orimetry in 1931 and a supplement was pub-
lished in 1964. It can be found in handbooks
such as the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and
Physics. The graph below shows the trichro-
matic coefcients as a function of wavelength.
See color, colorimetry.
color printing The process involves several
steps that can be described as follows: The pic-
ture is photographed through a ne mesh screen
using a blue lter. The screen is rotated by ap-
proximately 30

and is photographed through

a red lter. The screen is rotated again and the
process repeated with a green lter. Three plates
Trichromatic coefcients.
are made by exposing the lmto ultraviolet light
and etching away the exposed areas. Inks of ex-
act complementary colors of the lters used for
each plate (yellow, cyan and magenta, respec-
tively) are laid down on the unexposed areas.
To reconstruct the picture, the three plates are
printed on the same sheet. In some cases, a
fourth print using black ink is made to enhance
the color contrast. The degree of overlap of the
dots of the three colors produces different shades
of colors. The quality of reproduction is deter-
mined by the number of inks used, the degree
to which the inks and their corresponding lters
are complementary and the number of dots per
inch.
colors, primary The additive primaries are
red (R), green (G) and blue (B). These col-
ors have very little overlap and a suitable ad-
ditive mixture of them can produce all other
colors including white (W). The subtractive
primaries are cyan (C), magenta (M) and yel-
low(Y ) which essentially remove red, green and
blue colors fromwhite light. One can obtain red,
for example, by using yellow and magenta l-
ters in front of a projector producing white light.
If the brightness of each color is the same, the
following relations hold good: G + R = Y ;
B +R = M; B +G = C; B +G+R = W.
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color stimulus Radiant ux of a given spec-
tral composition that produces a sensation of
color. See color match.
color, surface It is the common primary color
of the light falling on the surface and the color
reected by the surface under illumination of
white light. For example, if a surface appears
yellow (Y ) under white light, and is illuminated
by cyan (C), the color of the surface is green
(G). Since Y = G + R and C = B + G , the
common color is green (G).
color temperature The color temperature of
a specimen is the temperature of the blackbody
whose spectrum is closest to that of the speci-
men. For example, the spectral distribution of
the sun can be best t by the blackbody spec-
trum at 5500K. Hence one can specify the color
temperature of the sun as 5500K. See blackbody
radiation.
coma Adistortion of the image due tooblique
and non-paraxial rays incident on a lens or mir-
ror. It derives its name from the comet-like im-
age of a point object located off-axis. Rays strik-
ing different parts of the lens or mirror lead to
image points with differing magnication. If
the magnication for the outer rays is greater
than that compared to the central rays, the coma
is said to be positive. If the reverse is true the
coma is termed negative. For positive coma the
tail of the comet spreads away from the axis as
shown in the gure below. This defect is cor-
rected by satisfying the Abbes sine condition.
Coma.
combinational logic Operations that pro-
duce the same result or output from a specic
array of inputs. Thus the output only depends
on the input vector now, not at any time previ-
ously, nor on an internal state history of a device.
For instance, logic operations like ANDand OR
are combinational. Flip-op circuits, where an
input changes the state and output of the device,
are not combinational devices, neither are com-
puter CPUs or memory arrays.
common A connection to a common voltage
of the circuit. Often called common ground or
local ground, the common is not necessarily re-
lated to earth ground at all. For instance, the
common may be connected to the metal chassis
of aninstrument, allowingall voltages withinthe
circuit to be dened in reference to the chassis.
However, if the chassis itself is not connected
to earth ground, this voltage level may take any
voltage. Since the difference between circuit
elements and common remain unchanged, the
voltage to common remains a good local refer-
ence for many devices.
communication by balloon A balloon may
be used as a low-altitude satellite to relay
telecommunication signals over a wide geo-
graphic region. One of the most famous prim-
itive satellites, Echo I, launched on August 12,
1960, was a plastic balloon thinly coated with
aluminum. Echo I was a passive experimen-
tal satellite for voice and data telecommuni-
cations. Echo II, launched in 1964, embod-
ied another metalized Mylar balloon function-
ing as a passive communication satellite. High-
altitude balloons, more easily launched than tra-
ditional satellites and may stay aloft for years
during their lifetime, can function like very-
low-altitude satellites to offer wireless cellular
service in a stratospheric telecommunications
networks. For example, a communication bal-
loon platformat 70,000 feet can cover about 625
miles in diameter on the ground. There also ex-
ist balloon-borne meteorological telemetry in-
struments to relay data collected onboard the
balloon to ground-based communications base
stations.
communicationprocessing unit (CPU) The
message control and processing unit of a com-
munication network switching center. CPUalso
stands for the central processing unit of a digi-
tal computer, which houses arithmetic and logic
2001 CRC Press LLC
processing electronic circuitry that carries out
the execution of instructions.
communication satellite A communication
satellite, which may range from a few kilo-
grams to several metric tons, embodies a space-
based re-transmission and routing station orbit-
ing the earth to link disparate geographic points
on earth. A communication satellite receives
a radio communication signal from one earth-
based station, amplies and processes this re-
ceived signal, and then re-transmits it to another
earth-based station. The function played by a
communications satellite, thus, resembles that
of a ground-based microwave repeater and rout-
ingstationbut covers a muchwider geographical
expanse interconnecting many more mobile as
well as xed nodes in the communication net-
work.
Communications satellites often orbit the
earth near the equator, thereby covering the most
densely populated regions. A low earth orbit-
ing satellite, with an orbit about 100 to 300
miles in altitude and about 17,500 miles per
hour in speed, can circle the earth in about 90
minutes. A geostationary or synchronous satel-
lite, in contrast, possesses an orbit 22,280 miles
(or 35,860 km) high and synchronized with the
earths own rotation, thus allowing the satellite
to remain roughly xed above a particular geo-
graphic point. Communication satellites need to
continually adjust their orbit and pointing direc-
tions to compensate for gravitational and other
inuences from the sun, the moon, the earth,
and other planets. The very high orbital speed
of low earth orbit satellite is to avoid having
the satellite pulled out of orbit by gravity, but
geostationary satellites can nonetheless main-
tain their orbital position more readily than low
earth orbit satellites. Several satellites on com-
plementary orbits may form a group to provide
continuous communication service over a wide
geographic expanse on earth. The higher al-
titude of geostationary satellites permit them
to cover about a third of the earth at any one
time. As few as three synchronous satellites are
sufcient to cover the entire earth continually.
Thus, many fewer geostationary satellites than
low-earth orbit satellites are needed to cover a
given geographic region on earth. Geostation-
ary satellites suffer no Doppler effects and are
less affected by radiation, eclipse-induced ther-
mal stresses and battery drain, or perturbation
by the earths magnetic elds. However, the
geostationary satellites higher altitude requires
greater transmission power and longer transmis-
sion delays signicant disadvantages for real-
time two-way voice and data communications.
Both low-orbit and geostationary satellites are
vulnerable to catastrophic failure, because there
essentially exists no economic way to repair
them after launch.
Other essential characteristics of a commu-
nication satellite, besides the choice of its or-
bit, are its antenna system, transponders, mech-
anismfor position and orientational control, link
budget, and the mechanismthat places the satel-
lite into its orbit.
communication satellite, passive A passive
communication satellite has no active transmis-
sion power source onboard and thus only reects
back, and does not re-process and re-transmit
the signals it receives. Hence, only a very mod-
est proportion of the signal energy transmitted
by the ground station or other satellites to the
passive communication satellite is forwarded,
thereby restricting the communications capacity
of the satellite network. While most early com-
munication satellites were passive, essentially
all current communication satellites are active
satellites.
commutative law An algebraic statement
that the order of two operations does not matter.
If AB = BA, then the operators A and B are
said to commute. Commutation for a single op-
eration means that the order of the operands does
not matter. Addition commutes, and the AND
and OR operators are commutative. Transla-
tions do not commute with rotations, a fact that
makes parallel parking possible.
commutator A device employed in a gener-
ator or motor to provide (1) electric connection
between the rotating armature winding and the
stationary terminal, (2) a mean to reverse the
current.
comparator Comparators, like operational
ampliers, are high gain difference ampliers.
The schematic symbol is shown below. It is
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a device that ideally provides one of two xed
output levels depending on the relative values
of its input levels, V
+
and V

. Specically, if
V
+
> V

then the output V

out
will be some
xed DC value, say V
1
. On the other hand, if
V
+
< V

then V
out
= V
2
. Usually, V
1
and V
2
are the positive and negative saturation voltages
operating the circuit.
Schematic symbol for a comparator.
When V

passes through V
+
, V
out
will there-
fore make an abrupt change. These output volt-
age characteristics are summarized in the pre-
sented transfer function.
Comparator output V
out
as a function of the input volt-
ages V
+
and V

.
Comparators oftenformthe basis of analogue
to digital converters. They provide an input volt-
age of one of two levels to a logic gate; i.e., one
of two logic levels. Thus the logic level trans-
mitted depends on if V
+
< V

or if V
+
> V

.
compass A device consisting of suspended
magnetic material that rotates under the inu-
ence of the earths magnetic eld to point due
magnetic north or south.
compensation The shaping of an op-amp fre-
quency response in order to obtain stable oper-
ation.
Operational ampliers (see operational am-
plier) generally have high frequency limita-
tions. This is due to either frequency limitations
of the constituent active components or due to
stray capacitance inherent in the construction of
the circuit. Typically, when the input signal fre-
quency is increased, the magnitude of the open
loop gain will decrease. Also, the output signal
will suffer a phase shift as a function of fre-
quency. If the open loop gain is greater than
one when the loop phase shift is 2 radians, un-
wanted oscillation of the amplier can occur.
This will also depend on the feedback network
in the amplier circuit. By denition, an invert-
ing amplier already has a loop phase shift of
.
It may not be necessary to have an input sig-
nal with high frequencies to cause an uncompen-
sated opamp to oscillate. If the gain is much
greater than 1 where the phase shift is 2, the
oscillation can growout of noise in the amplier
circuit.
Therefore, it is desirable to make the gain less
than 1 when the phase shift is 2. Then it is guar-
anteed that the amplier will not oscillate and it
is said to be unconditionally stable. This is ac-
complished by adding non-essential frequency
sensitive circuits to provide gain. Some op-
amps are internally compensated; they are built
in. Others provide connections for external
compensation circuits, such as a capacitor. Fre-
quency compensation, however, does reduce the
high-frequency gain of the amplier.
compensator A plate, usually of variable
thickness, to provide additional optical path
length for a ray and for production and anal-
ysis of elliptically polarized light. In a Babinet
compensator, for example, one uses two narrow
angle quartz wedges, one xed and the other
movable, with parallel refracting edges and hy-
potenuses facing each other. The optical axes
of the wedges are respectively parallel and per-
pendicular to the refracting edges, so as to have
opposing effects on the E (extraordinary) and
O (ordinary) rays passing through them. At any
one point, proper sliding of the lower wedge
can thus change the phase between the emergent
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rays. In a Soleil compensator, with the addition
of a parallel plate, the effective thickness of the
plate is not dependent on the point of incidence.
complementary apertures Two apertures
are said to be complementary if the openings
and opaque sections in one are exactly reversed
in the other. The gure below shows an exam-
ple. See Babinets principle.
Complementary apertures.
complementary emitter follower Or a
classB push pull amplier stage. Uses two
complementary transistors, e.g., npn and pnp.
Each transistor, considered separately, is used in
an emitter follower scheme. An emitter follower
stage has high input resistance and low output
resistance, hence it will increase the power level
of a signal. In the complementary emitter fol-
lower, one transistor conducts for positive values
of the input voltage, while the other complemen-
tary transistor conducts for negative input volt-
ages. This type of conguration is more efcient
than other amplier schemes and has near zero
power loss at zero input signal. However, its
disadvantage is that distortion may be greater,
particularly crossover distortion.
This transistor connectionscheme is alsouse-
ful in improving the transient response in tran-
sistor switches (e.g., logic gates). In single tran-
sistor switches, the transient response can be
limitedbystraycapacitance. Generally, the stray
capacitance is easily charged through the low
impedance of a turnedon transistor, but dis-
charges more slowly when the transistor is off.
By adding a second complementary transistor
to be turned on when the other is off (and vice
versa), any stray capacitance will be discharged
more quickly.
complementary error function The error
function of an independent variable z is dened
as
erf(z) =
2

_

0
e
z
2
dz
and represents the integrated probability of a
Gaussian probability function with unit standard
deviation. The complementary error function is
dened as
cerf(z) = 1 erf(z)
and is plotted in the following graph. The com-
plementary error function, under certain bound-
ary conditions, is the solution of the differential
equation describing diffusion. Thus it repre-
sents the dopant density as a function of distance
from the surface in a semiconductor doped by
diffusion process.
complex radius of curvature The radius of
curvature of the wavefront of a Gaussian beamis
often expressed as a complex quantity in which
the real part is related to the radius of curva-
ture R and the imaginary part is related to the
beam waist (i.e., beam radius at the narrowest
part) w as shown:
1
q
=
1
R
+

1

w
2
. Here q
is the complex radius of curvature and is the
wavelength.
compole This is an auxiliary pole arranged
between the main poles of a commutator in order
to produce an auxiliary ux to assist in commu-
tation.
compressibility The property of a substance
to change its volume due to the application of
pressure. Compressibility is quantitatively de-
ned as
1
V
dV
dP
, where dV is the change in the
volume V of a substance due to change dP in
the pressure. Compressibility depends on con-
ditions under which the pressure is changed, and
may be adiabatic, isothermal, etc.
compression, acoustic An increase in the
density of a mediumat a point at which the pres-
sure peak of a progressive sound wave arrives. A
half period later, this pressure peak is followed
by the peak underpressure so that the density of
the medium is rarefacted at this point. Because
of compression and rarefaction of a medium at
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a given point due to passage of sound, sound
waves are called compressional waves.
Compton effect First observed by A.H.
Compton in 1922, this effect consists of the
scattering of monoenergetic X-ray photons by
weakly bound electrons in a metal target. The
scattered photon has a reduced energy that de-
pends on the scattering angle. This process can
be treated as a collision of a photon with a free
electron consistent with the conservation of en-
ergy and momentum. The difference in wave-
length, , between the scattered photon and
the incident photon is called the Compton shift
and is given by =
h
m
0
c
(1 cos ). Here
h is the Plancks constant (6.626 10
34
J.s),
c, the speed of light (3 10
8
m/s), m
0
, the rest
mass of the electron and , the angle between
the direction of the scattered photon to that of
the incident photon.
computer A device consisting of hardware
for the input, processing, and output of data or
information. Input of rawdata can be froma va-
riety of sources, by human input via a keyboard,
for example, or by remote kinematic sensing
as in a robotic application. The processing of
data is usually accomplished digitally with a
scheme of gates, memory, processing units, etc.
The computer also has a list of instructions, the
software, which details how the computer is to
gather and process the information. Thus, by
simply changing the software (instructions), the
computer can perform a variety of tasks.
computer, analog A system that uses ana-
log components such as operational ampliers
to performspecic computational tasks. Simple
operations such as addition, subtraction, mul-
tiplication, differentiation, and integration are
easily accomplished with operational amplier
circuits. These can be combined into a larger,
more sophisticated system to solve more dif-
cult problems. As an example, the differential
equation
d
2
V
dt
2
+k
1
dV
dt
+k
2
V = V
app
or
d
2
V
dt
2
= k
1
dV
dt
k
2
V +V
app
can be solved with the use of some basic opera-
tional amplier circuits. The analysis of a block
diagramof a circuit to performthis task starts by
assuming the signal
d
2
V
dt
2
is available. It is inte-
grated twice with integrating circuits, each with
a time constant RC = 1, to obtain
dV
dt
and V as
a function of time. These are scaled and added
with an applied signal as per the above equation.
Since this sum is equal to
d
2
V
dt
2
, it is sent back to
the rst integrator, as initially assumed.
Initial values of
dV
dt
and V at t = 0 can be
programmed into the circuit by charging the ca-
pacitors of the respective integrators to the ap-
propriate value. The solution of the above dif-
ferential equation is obtained by recording the
output V as a function of time.
computers, use incommunication Comput-
ers, dened as programmable electronic devices
that perform high-speed mathematical, logical
operations and that process and store informa-
tion, are essential and ubiquitous components of
a communication system. Computers are used
toacquire, analyze, organize, store, disseminate,
and present information.
On the physical level, computers are used as
source encoders to condense raw information
into an compact source code. They then serve
as channel encoders toaddincodingredundancy
to render the message more robust against chan-
nel distortions and noises. Computers also act
as modulators to transform these digital chan-
nel codes into continuous waveforms for con-
tinuous channels. They then further multiplex
various modulated signals to share one multiple-
access communication system. The reverse ac-
tions channel demultiplexing, signal demod-
ulating, channel decoding, and source decoding
are also effected by computers at the receiver.
On the network level, computers serve as rout-
ing switches to process each transmitted mes-
sage packets routing control signals to direct
such message packets fromnetwork node to net-
work node toward their nal network destina-
tion. These computer switches may temporally
store the message packet if the next network link
is momentarily congested.
On the other hand, the various traditional
parts of a computer a keyboard/screen for
human/machine interface, computation process
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and memory devices may be geographically dis-
persed but linked via a local-area communica-
tion network. For example, instead of provid-
ing each user on the network one fully imple-
mented computer, individually equipped soft-
ware library, printers, modem, andstorage disks,
each user may instead have access to only a min-
imally equipped work station linked to network
servers that have access to centrally adminis-
tered software libraries, printers, modems, stor-
age disks, or high-power corporate main-frame
computers. Different users can communicate
with each other and access each others data and
les via this network.
concave grating A grating on a concave sur-
face (rather than plane). The advantage of such
a grating is that the diffracted beams come to a
focus without the need for additional focusing
optics. It is useful in spectrographs in which the
entrance and exit slits are located at the radius
of curvature of the grating. The disadvantage is
the expense of fabrication.
concentrator A concentrator embodies a
functional unit in a communication system al-
lowing a common path to handle more trans-
mission sources than the number of currently
accessible channels within that path. A con-
centrator can often handle numerous low-speed
asynchronous channels with diverse transmis-
sion speeds, coding and protocols using con-
tention schemes with buffering, or one or more
high-speed synchronous channels.
condensation, counterion The binding of
counterions to the phosphate groups of nucleic
acids in solution.
condensation in longitudinal wave Quan-
titative measure of change in the density of a
medium due to progressive sound wave. The
condensation s is mathematically dened as s =
(
0
)/
0
, where
0
is the ambient density of
a medium, and is the instantaneous value of
the density that is different from
0
due to prop-
agation of a sound wave.
condenser (Abbe) A condenser obeying the
Abbe sine condition.
conductance The real part of admittance of a
material or a circuit. It is a measure of the ability
to conduct electricity of a material or a circuit.
In the DC case, it is the reciprocal of resistance.
conductance, acoustic The real part of the
acoustic admittance; i.e., if Y = G+iB is the
admittance, G is the conductance. The imag-
inary part of the admittance, B, is called the
susceptance.
conductance, membrane The ability of a
membrane to pass owing charge (electrical cur-
rent) be it electrons or ions. Membrane conduc-
tance is a function of frequency, with DC con-
ductance on the order of 10
2
to 10
5
siemens.
Membrane conductance is often measured by
impedance spectroscopy.
conductance, state attribute Treating the
conductivity of a subsystem (biological) as a
state variable. That is, conductivity sufces to
unambiguously identify the state of the biosys-
tem.
conduction current Movement of electric
charge carriers constitutes a conduction current.
The charge carriers can be electrons, protons,
ions, or holes. Conduction current in a metal-
lic wire is the result of electrons movement in
the conductor. The direction of the current is
conventionally dened as the direction of posi-
tive charge carriers. The MKS unit of current is
ampere.
conductioninmetals Inmetals, valence elec-
trons of atoms are free to move and are not asso-
ciated with any particular atom; they are called
free electrons. The free electron in the metal
can move freely inside the metal, which makes
metal a good conductor.
conduction, nerve Usuallybyionowwhere
the modelingis a series of resistors (impedances)
due to the conductivity jumps at the ion chan-
nels. This is a very complicated process. An
introduction may be found in K.S. Cole, Mem-
branes, Ions, and Impulses, Univ. Calif. Press
(1972), an older but useful introductory text.
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conduction, saltatory Discontinuous con-
duction of nerve impulses in myelinated nerve
bers.
conductor, cytoplasm Cytoplasmis richer in
potassium ion concentration and poorer in cal-
ciumand sodiumion concentration as compared
with the extracellular uid. Hence the cyto-
plasm has an ionic pump for transporting ions
across it. This pump mechanism increases the
conductivity of the cytoplasm relative to the ba-
sic membrane conductivity. Hence, active trans-
port is important in making cytoplasma conduc-
tor.
cones Cones are one of two kinds of pho-
toreceptor cells found in the human retina. It
derives its name from its microscopic appear-
ance. Cones are responsible for photopic vision.
There are three distinct types of cones, each
having absorption spectra within peaks around
440 nm, 530 nmand 560 nm. They are called S-
cones, M-cones and L-cones, respectively. S-
cones (blue cones) refer to short wavelength
sensitive cones, M-cones (green cones) refer
to mid-wavelength sensitive cones, and L-cones
(red cones) refer to long-wavelength sensitive
cones. In the human eye, there are approxi-
mately 8 million cones.
confocal microscopy A special kind of mi-
croscopy that can image one plane at a time
in a thick transparent medium. This is partic-
ularly useful in imaging biological specimens
with features in different layers requiring con-
trast in the axial direction as well as in the object
plane. Confocal microscopy takes advantage of
the property of conjugate points in an optical
system. A point source S, the object O, and a
pin hole in the image plane I are all made con-
jugate or confocal to one another (see gure) so
that only the object is illuminated by the source
and its image passes through the pin hole. An-
other object in an adjacent plane is neither illu-
minated nor is its image passed through the pin
hole. A scanning confocal microscope images
one object plane at a time when the specimen is
translated on the axis.
confocal resonator Anoptical resonator with
two identical concave spherical mirrors sepa-
Confocal microscopy.
rated by a distance equal to their radius of cur-
vature. The focal points will be coincident on
the axis midway between the mirrors. The sur-
faces of constant phase match the curvature of
the mirrors in the vicinity of mirrors while they
are planar at the focal point. The beam waists
at the position of mirrors and at the center of
the resonator are
_
d

and
_
d
2
, respectively.
Here is the wavelength and d is the mirror
spacing.
conjugate distances/conjugate planes
When imaging by a lens (or lens system) for ev-
ery object point, there is an image point. By the
principal of reversibility, one can consider the
image point tobe imagedbythe lens tothe object
point. These two points, object and image, are
the conjugate points for the lens. The distance
fromthe lens to these points are called conjugate
distances. Planes passing through these points
are called conjugate planes. In an ideal optical
system, every ray fromthe object intercepted by
the lens also passes through the image.
conjugate points The point object and the
corresponding point image for an ideal optical
system. The rays froman object point take equal
time to converge to the image point. According
to Fermats principle, the reverse is also true.
conjugate rays The incident ray in the object
space and the corresponding emergent ray in the
image space.
conjunction (logic) A fundamental boolean
logic operation over two or more logical vari-
ables. Sometimes referred to as AND, it is the
logical product
AB A AND B ,
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where the variables Aand B are elements of the
set {1, 0} (or, equivalently, the set { true, false
}). In other words, the conjunction of these two
variables is true if and only if A and B are true.
The postulated rules of the logical product
are
0 A = 0
and
1 A = A .
Also, for every variable A there exists the prod-
uct inverse, NOT A

A, such that
A

A = 0 .
The logical product is commutative and associa-
tive:
AB = B A
A(B C) = (AB) C .
Given these rules, all possible values of the
conjunction Y = A B can be tabulated in a
truth table and are presented in the accompa-
nying table.
Conjunction (logical product) of
all possible values of the
variables A and B
A B Y = AB
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
In implementing this operation in digital
electronics, voltage signals are used to represent
the logical variables A and B following a pre-
dened logic convention. A circuit, frequently
referredtoas a gate, is usedtodetermine the con-
junction, and the result is provided on an output,
Y . The symbol representing such an electronic
circuit performing an AND operation is shown
below. See also disjunction (logic).
conservation of charge The law of conser-
vation of charge states that in any type of in-
teraction, electric charges cannot be created or
destroyed. This is one of the most fundamental
laws of physics.
Symbol representing conjunction ( AND) in digital
electronics.
consonance When two or more notes played
simultaneouslyproduce a harmonious andpleas-
ant sound. Consonance occurs if the frequency
of tones are in simple ratios, i.e., 2 : 1, 3 : 2,
4 : 3. These frequency ratios are called the oc-
tave, the fth, and the fourth. When two or more
tones do not produce a harmonious and pleasant
sound, they are said to be in dissonance.
constant current source An electronic com-
ponent that allows or forces a xed amount of
current to pass. Ideally, this current source
maintains the prescribed current ow regardless
of the voltage droppedacross it. This canbe con-
trasted with a constant voltage source that main-
tains the voltage dropped independent of the cur-
rent owing through the device. A schematic
symbol for a constant current source is shown
below as well as a realization based on a tran-
sistor. This realization assumes the collector-
emitter current of a transistor is equal to the
baseemitter current times the current gain, in-
dependent of the collector-emitter voltage.
Schematic symbol for a constant current source and a
realization using a transistor.
constant deviation Arrangements, usually
with the help of three prisms (e.g., Pellin-Broca
prism, Abbe prism), to render the emergent ray
at a constant angle of deviation fromthe incident
ray regardless of wavelength. Thus, in contrast
to the ordinary arrangement for examining the
spectra where the telescope is moved to view
2001 CRC Press LLC
the different parts of the spectrum, in the con-
stant deviation conguration, the collimator and
telescope are xed and the prismarrangement is
rotated.
constant deviation prisms Prisms that have
a constant angle of minimum deviation (which
corresponds to maximumdispersion) for a range
of wavelengths of light. They are used in spec-
trographs in which the incident light direction
is at a xed angle to a photographic plate or a
viewing telescope. Different wavelengths are
selected by simply rotating the prism about an
axis normal to the plane of the beam. The an-
gle of rotation can be calibrated to identify the
wavelength. Most common constant deviation
prisms are the Pellin-Broca and the Abbe prisms
for which the angle of deviation is 90 and 60 de-
grees, respectively.
constringence See aberration, chromatic.
contact electrication The transfer of charge
from one object to another (one molecule to an-
other) due to physical contact between the two
objects (molecules). The natural tendency of
like charges is to repel; hence the charge will re-
distribute itself across two objects (molecules)
if in contact with both simultaneously.
contact interaction Chemical, biological, or
dynamic interaction due to physical contact be-
tween the interacting species, as opposed to ac-
tion at a distance (induced interactions).
contin. Standard abbreviation for the Latin
cintinuetur meaning to let be continued.
continuity conditions, acoustic Conditions
governing change in acoustic pressure, displace-
ment, uid velocity and density across an inter-
face between two media. An example of such
media are two homogeneous layers with dif-
ferent values of the sound speed, density and
medium velocity, divided by a plane interface.
Acoustic pressure, displacement and density are
continuous across an interface. The component
of acoustic uid velocity normal to a boundary
is continuous across this interface in motionless
media, but is in a general case discontinuous if
at least one of the two media is moving.
contrast For a system of fringes with the
maxima and minima in irradiance denoted by
I
max
and I
min
, respectively, the contrast (also
known as visibility or modulation) is dened as
I
max
I
min
I
max
+I
min
.
convection current Convection current is
produced by the motion of unneutralized change
in plasma.
convention (logic) An assignment of volt-
age levels used to represent the two logical states
true and false in the implementation of Boolean
algebraic computation with electronic signals.
In practice, there is usually a range of allowed
voltage levels for each state with an unambigu-
ous voltage range separating the two. There are
two distinct conventions:
1. Positive logic convention: Voltage levels
that represent logical false are frequently de-
noted by L (for low) and are in a range near
zero volts,
0 V
L
V
L
max
.
Similarly, voltage levels said to represent logical
true are denoted by H (for high) and are in a
range greater than that for V
L
,
V
H
V
H
max
with V
H
min
> V
L
max
.
For example, the most frequentlyusedlogic con-
vention in TTL (transistor-transistor logic) cir-
cuits, has 0 V
L
< 0.8 volts and V
H
2
volts and is sometimes referred to as a 5-volt
positive logic system. These voltage ranges are
illustrated in the accompanying line graph.
Voltage ranges corresponding to logical true and
false in the positive logic convention employed by
most TTL circuits.
2. Negative logic convention: Voltage levels
representing false are denoted by H and are in
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the range
V
H min
V
H
0 .
Voltages representing logical true are denoted
by L. These voltages are in the range
V
L
V
Lmax
with V
Lmax
< V
H min
.
Logic circuits based on ECL (emitter-coupled
logic), especially those of early discrete semi-
conductor circuits, use a negative logic conven-
tion. Modern ECLintegrated circuits nominally
assume 0.9 V
H
0 volts and V
L
1.7
volts as illustrated in the following line graph.
Voltage ranges assumed for logical true and false
in typical ECL circuits; an example of a negative logic
system.
Logic gates based on one logic convention
can be made to operate using the opposite logic
convention by redening 0 volts. However, this
inverts the denition of true and false relative to
V
H
and V
L
and, therefore, the logical operation
of the gate must be converted by applying the
principle of duality. See also duality principle.
convention, sign of current and voltage The
relative sign of voltage difference between any
two points in a circuit is determined by the rela-
tive electrostatic potential energy felt by a pos-
itive test charge, e.g., a proton. An applied
voltage difference in a circuit creates an elec-
tric eld. The electric eld direction is deter-
mined by the direction the positive test charge
moves under the inuence of this eld. As the
test charge moves in the direction of the applied
electric eld, it will lose potential energy. Thus,
the positive test charge will tend to move away
from the point with greatest electrostatic poten-
tial, the +, and move towards the point with
lesser electrostatic potential, labeled .
This can be compared with a ball rolling
down a hill under the inuence of a gravita-
tional eld; it moves towards the point with
lesser gravitational potential energy. Of course,
the direction of movement and relative poten-
tial energy difference for a negative test charge
will be opposite, but the convention assumes a
positive test charge as above.
The sign or direction of current ow in a cir-
cuit is determined by the direction that positive
test charges would ow under the inuence of
the applied electric eld. In metals, it is well
known that negatively charged electrons are the
mobile charge carriers and are hence responsible
for current ow. However, the dened direction
of current ow is still the direction that positive
charges will ow.
converging wave A wave in which ampli-
tude and energy are increased with the distance
of propagation. Most sound sources emit di-
verging waves in which amplitude and energy
are decreased with the distance of propagation.
Sound waves can be converging only under cer-
tain circumstances or conditions. For example,
convergingwaves canbe producedbyusingcon-
verging lenses and mirrors, can be radiated by
specially designed transducers, and can appear
in an inhomogeneous medium due to random
focusing.
converter A machine or device for chang-
ing alternating current to direct current, or the
converse. If a conversion is made from DC to
AC, the machine is called an invented converter,
with an alternator DC generator combined in
one machine having a single-eld circuit. Con-
verter losses consist of friction, resistance heat
and core losses. The converter is frequently
called a synchronous converter or rotary con-
verter.
converter, analog/digital Analog/digital
converters are used to interface digital equip-
ment such as computers with their binary op-
erating scheme to real-world analog signals as
from a sensor. Applications include digital
voice communication where analog voice sig-
nals are converted to digital information and re-
constructed after transmission.
(1) A digitaltoanalog converter (DAC)
generally converts a given digital number into
a corresponding analog voltage level. This cor-
respondence depends on the binary encoding
2001 CRC Press LLC
scheme used (e.g., sign-magnitude, 2s comple-
ment, etc), the resolution, and the voltage range.
The resolution, or equivalently the smallest ef-
fectual output change, of the DACis determined
by the number of bits in the digital number. For
example, if the converter can accept 8 bits of
digital input data, the smallest change available
is
1
256
of the output voltage range. The volt-
age range is the minimum and maximum output
voltage levels.
For an ideal DAC, the output voltage is lin-
early dependent on the input digital information.
Each increment in digital number n will yield
an equal analog increment V . The slope of this
linear dependence is given by =
n
V
. In the
nonideal DAC, however, each n may have an
error from the ideal linear dependence. These
points are illustrated in the graph.
Example output voltages (solid squares) for a 3bit
DAC. The line represents a least squares t.
Two common types of digitaltoanalogue
converters are briey described below. In the
description, the digital voltage levels are not ap-
plied directly in the conversion scheme; rather,
they are used to select between one of two set
voltage levels. This is accomplished with, for
example, a transistor switching network, the de-
tails of which are not important in describing the
converter.
The weightedresistor DAC applies the se-
lected voltage levels through resistors whose
value is inversely proportional to the numeri-
cal signicance of the corresponding digit. An
example of a converter based on this scheme is
shown below.
An example of a 4bit weighted resistor digitalto
analog converter. The digital information chooses be-
tween one of two voltages, V
0
and V
1
, corresponding
to logical false and true. Details of the switching
arrangement are not given.
The resistance effected by the least signi-
cant bit (LSB), bit 0, is given by R and the re-
sistance associated with the nth bit is R/2
n
. As
may be noted, this scheme requires a wide range
of resistor values.
The R2R Ladder only requires two dif-
ferent resistor values, R and 2R, but requires
twice as many resistors as the previous scheme.
The digital information is converted by provid-
ing inverse-proportionally weighted current di-
vision for each of the corresponding bits. The
voltage selected by the LSB has the most sig-
nicant attenuation while the one controlled by
the most signicant bit (MSB) has the least.
(2) An analogtodigital converter (ADC)
performs the opposite conversion of a DAC, i.e.,
it converts an analog signal into a digital number.
An ADC must be able to sample and hold the
input analog voltage long enough to determine
its value. It must then quantize the value and
represent it using some binary coding format.
Quantization errors are introduced because of
the limited amount of information that can be
conveyed in the binary coding. Hence, a digital
value provided by an ADC actually represents
a range of analog voltages as determined by the
quantization error. The resolution of an ADC is
similar to that of a DAC: more digital bits imply
more, and smaller, voltage ranges that can be
discerned.
2001 CRC Press LLC
An example of a 4bit R2R ladder digitaltoanalog
converter. Again, digital information chooses between
one of two voltages: V
1
and analog ground, in this
example.
The most elementary converter, and the
fastest, is the comparator ADC. It comprises
2
n
1 analog comparators, where n is the num-
ber of digital bits available to encode. There is a
resistor chain that determines the reference volt-
age of each comparator. The reference voltages
are usually set up such that the quantization error
is minimized for any input voltage. The outputs
of the comparators drive a systemof digital gates
that encode the information into a usable binary
format.
As an example, the gure below illustrates
the concept behind a 2bit comparator ADC.
With only 2 bits of digital information, there
are four voltage ranges to be considered by the
converter. To minimize the quantization error,
the rst and last cover a range of V
0
/6 while
the middle two ranges cover V
0
/3. The rela-
tionship between input voltage range and output
digital information is given in the table. Exten-
sion of this scheme to output more digital bits,
and hence better resolution, is straightforward.
The successive approximation converter is
popular as it is relatively fast and can provide
good resolution with less hardware than the
comparator type. It works by successively
adding and comparing known voltages, V
i
, with
the one to be measured. The values of the known
V
i
s are determined by their corresponding bit
signicance. For an nbit converter, the known
voltages are V
0
/2 (associated with the MSB,
V
0
/4, V
0
/8, . . . , and V
0
/2
n
(associated with the
An example 2bit comparator type ADC.
Input voltage ranges for the indicated
2bit comparator-type ADC and its
output information
Binary Interpreted
V
in
Encoding Value
5V
0
/6 < V
in
< V
0
11 V
0
3V
0
/6 < V
in
< 5V
0
/6 10 2V
0
/3
V
0
/6 < V
in
< 3V
0
/6 01 V
0
/3
0 < V
in
< V
0
/6 00 0
LSB). To convert the input voltage, it is rst
compared with V
0
/2. If V
in
> V
0
/2 then the
MSB is set true, and the next smaller voltage
V
0
/4 is added to the rst. Otherwise, the MSB
is set to false. The next most signicant digit is
determined by evaluating V
in
> (V
0
/2 +V
0
/4)
or V
in
> V
0
/4, depending on the result of the
MSBevaluation. This process is continued until
the LSB is reached. To minimize the quantiza-
tion error, the input voltage is shifted smaller by
onehalf the voltage associated with the LSB.
Input voltage ranges for an example
2bit successive approximation-type
ADC and its output information
Binary Interpreted
V
in
Encoding Value
5V
0
/8 < V
in
< 7V
0
/8 11 3V
0
/4
3V
0
/8 < V
in
< 5V
0
/8 10 V
0
/2
V
0
/8 < V
in
< 3V
0
/8 01 V
0
/4
0 < V
in
< V
0
/8 00 0
2001 CRC Press LLC
Other common types of analogtodigital
converters are the counting and dual slope con-
verters.
convolution Also known as folding or su-
perposition. Mathematically, convolution of a
function f(x) with the function g(x) results in
another function h(X) such that
h(X) =
_
f(x) g(X x) dx .
The result can be extended to higher dimensions
and several variables.
convolutional code For everyframe of k con-
secutive information symbols, a convolutional
code generates a resulting frame of n consec-
utive symbols (where n > k) such that these
n encoded symbols values depend also on the
previous m 1 frames of k information sym-
bols. The convolutional encoder thus possesses
memory and stores the mmost recent frames of
information symbols; when the encoder outputs
a new frame of n encoded symbols, the oldest
frame of k information symbols is discarded and
a newframe of k information symbols is input to
the encoder. The rate of the convolutional code
is dened as k/n and typically ranges from 1/4
to 7/8. The n k parity bits in each encoded
frame provide a convolutional code error detec-
tion as well as error correction capability. The
Viterbi algorithm and the Fano algorithm repre-
sent well-known convolutional decoding algo-
rithms.
convolution theorem If two functions f(x)
and g(x) have their respective Fourier trans-
forms F(k) and G(k), the convolution theorem
states that the convolution of f(x) with g(x)
is equal to the Fourier transform of the prod-
uct of F(k) and G(k). In some situations it
is more convenient to carry out Fourier trans-
forms than the convolution integral. The con-
volution theorem allows circumvention of this
problem. One important application of this the-
orem is in signal smoothing. A spectrum can
be smoothed by convoluting it with a smooth-
ing function. Instead the Fourier transform of
the spectrum is obtained and multiplied with
the Fourier transform of the smoothing func-
tion which is band limited. The noise at high
frequencies is thus eliminated in the spectrum
which is smooth when a reverse transform is
performed.
cooling, magnetic A system of noninter-
acting magnetic moments, , can be used as a
coolant in low temperature experiments. Such
moments in thermal equilibrium at temperature
T and magnetic eld B will have an entropy
which is a function of B/k
B
T. The cool-
ing process begins with increasing the magnetic
eld while keeping the temperature constant.
The sample is then thermally isolated, and the
magnetic eld is decreased isentropically. As a
result, the sample temperature will be
T
f
=
B
f
B
i
T
i
.
In reality, a magnetic moment is effected by the
magnetic eld produced by the surrounding mo-
ments, changing all of the magnetic elds listed
above to
_
B
2
+B
2
0
where B
0
is the eld pro-
duced by the magnetic moments. At tempera-
tures of a few Kelvins, paramagnetic salts can
be used as the coolant, but most of these order at
temperatures above several milliKelvins. In or-
der to reach even lower temperatures, adiabatic
nuclear demagnetization using nuclear param-
agnets is necessary. See also adiabatic nuclear
demagnetization.
cooling, nuclear See adiabatic nuclear de-
magnetization.
cooperativity In general, subsystems work-
ing together for a common effect. In the biolog-
ical realm, organisms working together for mu-
tual survival. In the chemical/physical realm,
molecular movement in tandem rather than in
random motion.
Cooper pairs In a system of fermions with
long-range interactions, it is possible for the in-
teractions to become attractive at sufciently
low temperatures. This causes two fermions to
form a composite boson, a Cooper pair. The
temperature at which this occurs is the super-
uid or superconducting transition temperature,
T
c
. In low temperature superconductors (e.g.,
Pb, Sn, Al), the pairs form as an s-wave pair,
with one up- and one down-spin of equal and op-
2001 CRC Press LLC
posite momenta. In the high temperature super-
conductors, the pairing is d-wave, while super-
uid
3
He is a p-wave superuid. Some heavy-
fermion superconductors show evidence of also
being in a p-wave state. In all cases, the Cooper
pairs behave collectively and coherently, lead-
ing to the superuid and superconducting prop-
erties associated with such materials. In real-
ity, a given electron will not remain paired with
another electron for very long, rather the rst
electron will be paired with rst one, then an-
other, and then yet another electron. An analogy
often made is with a dancer who, while contin-
uing to dance, changes partners quite often but
never misses a beat. See also superconductivity;
helium-3, superuid.
CO
2
laser Emits infrared radiation of wave-
length 10.6 m in the continuous mode. The
output power can be very large. The laser is
used in medical surgery due to the high absorp-
tion of 10.6 m radiation in water to make pre-
cise incisions and to vaporize malignant tissue.
Industrial applications such as welding and cut-
ting are also common.
cords, vocal Triangular shapedfolds of tissue
located in the larynx. Vocal cords consist of two
pairs: the tone cords and the false cords. There
is no gap between them at the front, and there
is a varying gap at the back, which is called the
glottis. The voice is produced by air streamfrom
the lungs through larynx and mouth, which is
affected by vibrating vocal cords.
core Generallysome ferrite or powdered-iron
material placed inside a coil or transformer to
increase its inductance.
core, ber optic The inner portion of an op-
tical ber. See cladding, ber optics.
core loss Loss of energy due to induced cir-
culatingcurrents andhysteresis effects produced
in the core.
cornea A transparent tissue devoid of blood
vessels but full of nerve cells throughwhichlight
enters the eye. It is 12 mm in diameter and 0.6
mm thick at the center with a refractive index of
1.376.
corner cube reector Three mutually per-
pendicular reectors meeting at the corner of a
cube. Such a device reects incoming rays back
along their original direction.
Cornus spiral This is a useful way of graphi-
cally evaluating the Fresnel integrals that appear
in diffraction theory. In the integral
s
_
0
exp
_
i w
2
2
_
dw = C(s) +iS(s) ,
a graph of C(s) vs. S(s) is called the Cornu
spiral. A straight line segment drawn from two
points corresponding to s
1
and s
2
gives the value
of the integral between those two limits. The
real and imaginary parts are given by the projec-
tions on the C(s) and S(s) axes, respectively.
corona discharge The discharge of electric-
ity causing a faint glow adjacent to the surface
of an electric conductor.
correlation function The time correlation
function between two radiation elds E
1
(t) and
E
2
(t + ) is dened as the time average over a
period T(> ),

12
() =
1
T
T
_
0
E
1
(t)E
#
2
(t +) dt .
The normalized correlation function,
12
, is ob-
tained by dividing the irradiances of the two
elds from
12
().
correspondence principle Aprinciple enun-
ciated by Niels Bohr in 1923, which states that
the predictions of quantumtheory for the behav-
ior of any physical systemmust agree with those
of the classical physics in the limit the quan-
tumnumbers specifyingthe systembecome very
large. This principle reconciles the apparent
differences in the behavior of microscopic (de-
scribed by quantummechanics) vs. macroscopic
(described by classical mechanics) phenomena.
Another situation where this principle is applied
is to reconcile the predictions of the relativis-
tic (Einsteinian) mechanics which should agree
with those of non-relativistic (Newtonian) me-
chanics in the limit the speed of light is very
2001 CRC Press LLC
large compared to the speeds of particles in the
system.
cosine law of emission Suppose the radi-
ant intensity (unit: W/sr) from a plane-diffuse
radiator is viewed at a xed distance from it,
the intensity at an angle from the normal to
the surface, I(), decreases with according to
the Lamberts cosine law: I() = I(0) cos .
The radiance or the intensity per unit solid an-
gle per unit of projected area (unit: W/sr-m
2
),
however, is constant with . A surface with a
constant radiance independent of the viewing
angle is called a Lambertian surface.
cosine lawof illumination Suppose a surface
of area A
2
is illuminated by a diffuse radiating
surface of area A
1
, and the line joining one el-
ement of the radiator to one of the receiver (at
a distance r) makes angles
1
and
2
with the
normals to the radiating and receiving elements,
respectively: the total radiant power (unit:
Watts) received by A
2
is
=
_
A
1
_
A
2
LdA
1
dA
2
cos
1
cos
2
r
2
.
Here L is the radiance (unit: W/m
2
-sr) of the
source.
cotransporter A substance that is actively
transported across a plasma membrane and that
brings another substance across the membrane
with itself in the same direction.
Cotton-Mouton effect (1) Magnetic eld in-
duced double refraction in optically isotropic
substances. This is a magnetic analog of the
Kerr electro-optic effect. It is observed in liq-
uids and is proportional to the square of the ap-
plied magnetic eld.
(2) This effect occurs when a dielectric be-
comes doubly-refracting when in a magnetic
eld H. The ordinary ray becomes retarded rel-
ative to the extraordinary ray by an amount
given by = C
m
lH
2
where is the wave-
length of the light, l is the length of the path and
C
m
is the Cotton-Mouton constant.
coulomb Unit of electric charges in mks.
One coulomb is dened as the amount of charges
transported in one second through a wire carry-
ing a current of one ampere.
coulomb eld/force The electric eld (or
electric force on a test charge) produced by a
point charge q. Coulomb eld is proportional to
the inverse of distance square, E = kq/r
2
.
Coulombs law This is an empirical law dis-
covered by Charles Coulomb. It states that the
force between two charges Q
1
and Q
2
sepa-
rated by a distance d is proportional to the prod-
uct of the two charges and inversely propor-
tional to the distance square. In mks, the pro-
portional constant in vacuum is given by k
o
=
8.987551 10
9
N m
2
/C
2
.
counter A basic digital counter counts an
input strobe or clock signal. It is assumed that
the clock signal makes regular and periodic tran-
sitions from logical low to high and back. The
counter counts clock transitions and provides an
output, in some format, representing the count.
Counters are used in diverse applications; com-
puters, industrial applications such as counting
nuts and bolts, and measuring speed are a few
examples.
The fundamental components of a counter
are set of JK ipops (FF). There are two
basic topologies for connecting the ipops,
and hence ways of encoding the output.
1. A ring counter is a ring of JK ipops
connected in a manner similar to a shift regis-
ter, except that the output of the last FF, Q
n
, is
returned to the input of the rst, J
1
.
A simple ring counter using n ipops (FFs).
Initially, all outputs of the FFs are set to log-
ical 0 except the rst, which is loaded with a
2001 CRC Press LLC
logical 1. Upon each clock transition, the 1 is
shifted to the next FF. Hence, the count is repre-
sented by determining which FF is set to 0. The
maximum count with n FFs in a ring counter is
n. For example, consider the output of a ring
counter with 4 ipops as a function of the
number of pulses received:
Clock JK Output
pulse 1 2 3 4
0 1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 0
2 0 0 1 0
3 0 0 0 1
4 1 0 0 0
Atwistedring, Moebious, or Johnsoncounter
is similar, except that the complement of the last
FFs output, Q
n
, is returned to the rst FF. Ini-
tially, all FFs are set to 0. Upon the rst clock
transition, a 1 will be loaded into the rst FF due
to the twisted ring. The next n clock pulses
continually load a 1 into the rst FF while shift-
ing the 1s across the ring until all FFs are set to
1. The next clock will load a 1 = 0 into the rst
FF and the next n pulses will successively load
0s into each FF. Thus, this counter can count to
2n with n ip-ops. Again, consider the output
of a counter with 4 ipops as a function of the
number of clock pulses:
Clock JK Output
pulse 1 2 3 4
0 0 0 0 0
1 1 0 0 0
2 1 1 0 0
3 1 1 1 0
4 1 1 1 1
5 0 1 1 1
6 0 0 1 1
7 0 0 0 1
8 0 0 0 0
9 1 0 0 0
2. The second topology encodes the count
modulo 2
n
, since each FF can have two states.
Hence, each FF represents a binary order of
magnitude, and the counter can count to 2
n
. An
asynchronous counter uses the output of each
FF, Q
i
, for the clock input for the next higher
signicant bit. This type of counter suffers from
propagation delays, i.e., an input clock transi-
tion must ripple through each ipop. A
synchronous counter, on the other hand, has the
input clock signal going to each FF as in the
ring counter/shift register. Proper counting is
controlled by logic gates between each stage.
Thus, each ip-op changes states simultane-
ously and the propagation delay of the counter
is minimized. See counter, asynchronous.
counter, asynchronous A basic counter us-
ing a set of JK ipops. Each JK output is
used to represent a binary order of magnitude.
The clocking signal is sent to the rst ipop
representing the least signicant bit (LSB). This
output is used as a clocking signal for the next
higher signicant bit; see gure. Thus, the rst
ipops output is toggling between 1 and 0 in
response to the clock, causing the next ipop
to toggle. Each ipop makes a toggle only
when the preceding ipop has made a 1 to 0
transition. Each J and K input are tied to logi-
cal 1 and hence have no effect on the counting.
This type of counter arrangement is relatively
simple, however it can suffer from propagation
delays causing decoding errors as the LSB will
complete its change before the last ipop.
An asynchronous counter using n ipops (FFs).
counterions Counterions are ions of oppo-
site charge to that of the colloidal particles in
suspension.
countertransporter Asubstance that moves
across a biological membrane in the opposite
direction to active transport.
coupled circuit A coupled circuit is a circuit
that consists of several subunits that are con-
nected through a capacitor or an inductor. Typi-
2001 CRC Press LLC
cally a coupled circuit is designed such that only
the ACcomponents of the signal are transferred.
coupling, intercellular Apairing, or joining,
of one or more cells in a biological system.
creep See lm, Rollin.
critical angle When light passes from a
medium of high index (n
1
) to low index (n
2
),
it will bend away from the surface normal. The
angle of refraction is given by Snells Law. At
the critical angle of incidence
c
, the angle of re-
fraction will be 90

. The critical angle is given

by:

c
= sin
1
_
n
2
n
1
_
.
For angles of incidence greater than
c
, the ray
will experience total internal reection, i.e., it
will be reected back into the medium.
critical damping See damping factor.
critical magnetic eld This is the eld below
which a superconducting material is supercon-
ducting and above which the material is normal
at a specied temperature and in the absence of
a current.
cross talk (1) Leakage of light from one op-
tical ber to another by frustrated total internal
reection. This can be caused by inadequate or
defective cladding material. See cladding, ber
optic.
(2) Crosstalk in a multi-channel communica-
tion system refers to the undesirable spill-over
of the transmitted signal in one communica-
tion channel onto another channel. Crosstalk
may be caused by the nearness of the transmis-
sion media, such as electromagnetic mutual cou-
pling between different pairs of twisted copper
wires in a telephone cable. Crosstalk may arise
from intermodulation distortion in frequency-
division multiplexed systems. Crosstalk may
also occur as inter-symbol interference for
time-division multiplexed systems due to chan-
nel non-linearities such as that in frequency-
selective mobile communications channels.
Crosstalk in these various cases may be re-
duced by, for example, better insulation among
the twisted pairs, a wider frequency guard-band
between adjacent frequency-division channels,
and pulse-shaping, respectively. Crosstalk re-
sistance refers to the capability of a multiplexed
communication system to forestall crosstalk.
Although various channels are separated from
each other in frequency, time and/or space,
transmission efciency and systems economics
are at times maximized at the expense of
crosstalk resistance. In an optical transmission
system, crosstalk refers to the leakage of opti-
cal power fromone optical conductor to another
optical conductor.
crown glass Optical crown glass is a low
index, commercial quality glass. It is designated
as B270 and has a dispersion n
F
n
C
, equal
to 0.0089. The Abbe factor (constringence) is
equal to 58.8.
cryobiology The study of the effects of low
temperature on biological systems.
cryogen, biological and medical uses of
Cryogens and low temperature technology have
found their way into hospitals and doctors of-
ces in several areas. Specically, liquid nitro-
gen is nowused to remove small growths such as
moles. Both liquid helium and liquid nitrogen
are used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
machines. A relatively new eld, magnetic en-
cephalography (MEG, the magnetic analog to
EEG) uses superconducting quantum interfer-
ence devices (SQUIDS) to measure processes
in the brain. These SQUIDS need liquid ni-
trogen to work. In most hospitals, the oxygen
used for patients throughout the hospital is now
shipped to the hospital as liquid oxygen where
it is boiled off as necessary before use. In bio-
logical research laboratories, liquid nitrogen is
often used to preserve cell cultures for future
study and use.
cryogenics The science of producing and
measuring extremely low temperatures, usually
temperatures below roughly 100 K. Low tem-
perature physics utilizes cryogenic techniques
to study the properties of matter at reduced tem-
peratures.
cryogens Liquids used in cryogenic appli-
cations, also known as liqueed gases. Typ-
2001 CRC Press LLC
ical cryogens include nitrogen, argon, hydro-
gen, helium. The cryogens used most frequently
are liquid nitrogen, with a liquefaction point of
77 K, and liquid helium, with a liquefaction
point of 4.2 K.
cryopumping Cryopumps use physi-
adsorption to decrease the pressure in a vessel.
The physi-adsorption is accomplished through
the use of a material with large specic sur-
face area, e.g., activated charcoal, contained in a
closed container. This closed container is often
attached to a dipstick to allow easy immersion
in a storage dewar of liquid helium. The con-
tainer is connected to the region of interest via
a tube, and the cryopump is then immersed in
liquid helium. When the cryopump becomes
very cold, gases adsorb onto the surface of the
charcoal, thereby decreasing the pressure in the
system. One gram of charcoal can adsorb half
a liter of helium gas (STP) when the charcoal is
at 4.2 K, producing a nal pressure of 10
4
to
10
5
mbar.
cryostat A cryostat is a device that allows
a region to be maintained at low temperatures
for extended periods. In its simplest form, a
cryostat is often a dewar containing a cryogen
in which an experimental sample is immersed.
More complicated cryostats may include multi-
ple cryogens separated by vacuum spaces (ac-
curately described as dewars-within-dewars)
to allow operation at very low temperatures for
extended periods of time. See also cryogens,
dewar.
cryotron A three-terminal electronic de-
vice in which the control element is controlled
through a magnetic eld. The control element is
a superconductor, and the magnetic eld limits
the current through the control element.
crystal A particular form of solid, charac-
terized by periodicity of building blocks called
cells in all three directions. Many crystals show
fascinating optical properties. Partial crystals
can exist in one or two dimensions.
crystal, biaxial Triclinic, monoclinic and or-
thorhombic crystalline systems possess two dif-
ferent optic axes and are called biaxial crystals.
These crystals, such as crypsum, feldspar, mica,
or topaz have three distinct indices of refraction.
crystallography The study of the architec-
ture of atoms in a crystal constitutes crystallog-
raphy. Scattering and diffraction studies using
X-rays or neutrons is a technique to determine
the structure and dynamics of crystals. For de-
tails of this extensive eld, see Crystal Struc-
tures by R.W.G. Wyckoff, Vol. 1-5, New York,
John Wiley & Sons. See also Braggs law.
crystal, optically negative In crystals show-
ing double refraction or birefringence, an inci-
dent unpolarized ray of light causes the emer-
gence of two refracted beams in addition to a
reected beam. One of the refracted rays does
not follow Snells law of refraction and hence is
called an E (for extraordinary) ray in contrast
to the other which is called the O (for ordinary)
ray. In an optically negative crystal, e.g., cal-
cite, the index of refraction of the E ray is less
than that for the O ray. In biaxial optically neg-
ative crystals (e.g., mica, aragonite), is nearer
to than to . (For a biaxial crystal, , and
are the principal refractive indices such that
< < .)
The axes in a birefringent crystal in which the
ordinary and extraordinary rays of light propa-
gate with the same velocity. In other directions,
the light passing through the crystal is divided
into two polarized rays that pass with different
velocities. The difference of the speed increases
fromzero along the optic axis to a maximumfor
propagation normal to the optical axis. An uni-
axial crystal and a biaxial crystal have one and
two optical axis, respectively. See also optical
axial plane.
crystal, optically positive If the index of re-
fraction for the E ray is greater than that for the
O ray, the uniaxial crystal (e.g., quartz) is called
an optically positive crystal. In biaxial opti-
cally positive crystals (e.g., topaz, turquoise),
is nearer to than to . See crystal, optically
negative.
crystals, quartz piezoelectric Quartz crys-
tals that exhibit the piezoelectric effect. At the
end of the last century, quartz crystals were used
for detailed study of piezoelectric effect. Piezo-
2001 CRC Press LLC
electric properties also have many other natural
and articially grown crystals and piezoceramik
materials (polycrystal solid solutions exposed
to polarization in electric eld). Piezoelectric
crystals and materials are widely used in piezo-
electric transducers such as loudspeakers, mi-
crophones, etc. See piezoelectric effect.
crystal symmetry An ideal crystal contains
an innite regular repetition of identical struc-
tural units. A periodic lattice with a group of
atoms (called the basis) situated at each lattice
point constitutes a crystal. The crystal structure
remains unchanged under certain symmetry op-
erations of translation, rotation and reection (or
a combination of these) due to the property of
crystal symmetry. For example, a crystal with a
cubic symmetry remains indistinguishable if it
is translated by one or integer multiples of the
lattice spacing. See crystallography.
Curie law For paramagnetic materials the
magnetization M produced by a magnetizing
eld H is proportional to H and inversely pro-
portional to the temperature of the material. The
constant of proportionality is the Curie constant.
Curie temperature This is the temperature
above whichthe arrangement of electronspins in
a ferromagnetic material becomes randomized
by thermal agitation. At that point, the sponta-
neous magnetization of the material vanishes.
Curie Weiss law This gives the relationship
between the paramagnetic susceptibility of a
material well above the Curie temperature T
c
at
which a ferromagnetic material becomes para-
magnetic, i.e., = C/(T T
c
), where T is the
absolute temperature and C is the Curie constant
of the material.
current, acoustic Mean owin a uid or gas
caused by absorption of intense sound. Propa-
gation of a sound wave in a medium always re-
sults in acoustic displacements of medium par-
ticles. These displacements can be converted
into a mean ow in the medium if the absorp-
tion of sound in the medium and the intensity of
sound are sufciently high. The acoustic cur-
rents can occur near walls and away from them,
and always have a form of eddies.
current balance This is a type of balance in
which the force required to prevent the move-
ment of one current-carrying coil in the mag-
netic eld of a second coil carrying the same
current is measured by means of a balancing
mass.
current density A physical quantity that
measures the amount of charge that passes
through a unit area per unit time, J = Q/(At).
current generator A type of generator that
generates a constant current through a load and
is independent of the resistance of the load.
current, membrane A ow of ions and po-
lar molecules across the membrane. Movement
of ions and polar molecules may be facilitated
by active transport or restricted by proteins em-
bedded in the membrane.
current source See constant current source.
curvature of a surface The reciprocal of the
radius of a circle that most nearly approximates
the sectionof a surface. It is one of the geometric
factors determining the reective and refractive
properties of a surface. Only for a spherical sur-
face, the curvature (measured in diopters) is the
same in all meridians and is equal to the inverse
of the radius of curvature (measured in meters),
the sign depending on the sign convention used.
curvature of eld An aberration caused by
off-axis rays leading the image plane to be
curved rather than at. This defect is undesir-
able in cameras, enlargers and projectors. If
the image is obtained on a at surface, the cen-
tral region will be in sharp focus and blurred
at the edges. In a two-lens system, correction
is obtained by meeting the Petzval condition
n
1
f
1
+ n
2
f
2
= 0, where n
1
, n
2
are the indices
of refraction and f
1
and f
2
are the focal lengths
of the lenses.
cutin voltage For diodes this is the approx-
imate voltage for which it begins to conduct.
Current will always ow through an ideal diode
for any applied voltage. However, given the ex-
ponential current dependence on the voltage and
practicalities in dealing with real, physical de-
2001 CRC Press LLC
vices, currents of the order of 1mA or 1% of
maximum rated current may be considered as
a turn-on current. The corresponding voltage
for a silicon diode is 0.6V and 0.2V for a
germanium diode.
cut-off region Region in frequency where
an ampliers gain has fallen by 3 dB. See also
half-power frequency.
c-w wave Also known as continuous wave.
Lasers that produce a steady output with time as
opposed to a pulse or series of pulses of short
duration.
cybernetics Cybernetics represents the the-
oretical study of control and communication
within large-scale complex engineering sys-
tems, human organizations, or human society
as a whole. Cybernetics also study the con-
trol and communication between engineering
devices and humans, and further studies the sim-
ilarity between human-made machines and bio-
logical organisms. Man-made engineering sys-
tems studied in cybernetics may be electronic
or mechanical, and human systems investigated
in cybernetics may relate to corporate organiza-
tion and management, education, public health
care, urban development, socio-economics, na-
tional policies, the environment, or human ecol-
ogy. Cybernetics also investigates the behav-
ior of a complex system involving as its pivotal
component a human being monitoring and re-
sponding to the dynamic behavior of the rest of
the complex system. Cybernetics models, sim-
ulates, optimizes, tests, and evaluates various
electronic or mechanical assemblages or human
organizational systems using techniques in tra-
ditional numerical analysis, automatic control
theory, articial and computational intelligence,
pattern recognition, adaptive and learning sys-
tems, cognitive sciences, game theory, data fu-
sion, neural networks and fuzzy logic.
cycle, acoustic One complete oscillation (vi-
bration). Suppose that a one-dimensional os-
cillation is mathematically described as =

0
sin(2t/T 2x/). Here, is an oscil-
lating quantity,
0
is its amplitude, T and are
a period and a wavelength of oscillations, t is
time, and x is a spatial coordinate. Then, at a
given point x = x
0
, one time cycle of oscilla-
tions is a dependence of on t from any time
moment t
0
to the time moment t
0
+ T. Simi-
larly, for a xed time moment t = t
0
, one spatial
cycle of oscillations is a dependence of on x
from any point x
0
to the point x
0
+.
cyclotron A particle accelerator in which
positively charged particles are accelerated in
Dshaped magnets (dees); the energy is supplied
by a high frequency voltage applied across the
dees. When the radius of the paths of the parti-
cles reaches that of the dees, they are electrically
deected out of the dees to form a high energy
beam for use in nuclear experiments.
Czerny-Turner mount An arrangement of
diffraction grating and other optical elements in
a spectrometer. In this system, the light fromthe
entrance slit is collimated by a concave mirror,
dispersed by the grating and focused on to the
exit slit by another concave mirror.
Czerny-Turner mount.
2001 CRC Press LLC
D
damped oscillations Oscillations in which
the amplitude decreases over the course of time
t. The decrease is caused by a loss of energy
in the oscillations due to friction and/or other
mechanisms. The simplest model of damped os-
cillations is one-dimensional damped harmonic
oscillations, which are described by the follow-
ing second order differential equation:
M
dx
2
dt
2
+R
dx
dt
+Sx = 0 .
Here, x is a coordinate of a physical quantity un-
der oscillation, M is the mass of the quantity, R
is the damping coefcient, and S is the stiffness
coefcient. For R < 2

SM, this equation has

the following solution
x = Ae

Rt
2M
sin
_
_
S/M (R/2M)
2
t +
_
,
where Aand are arbitrary constants. This for-
mula describes damped harmonic oscillations
in which the amplitude exponentially decreases
over the course of time t.
damping coefcient A coefcient R of ve-
locity termin the equation for damped harmonic
oscillations. The damping coefcient deter-
mines a rate at which the amplitude of oscil-
lations is decreased over the course of time.
damping factor Adimensionless index used
in second order systems. This index describes
the systems tendency to oscillate. Examples
of mechanical second order systems are driven
vibrating strings and pendulum with a means
of mechanical energy loss, i.e., friction. The
damping factor would inuence the response of
the system to the driving frequency, in contrast
to the natural, undamped frequency.
This parameter is used in the analysis of
amplier and lter circuits with a double-pole
transfer function. It thus governs the overall
frequency response of the circuit. Considering
a general lter with an input (driven) voltage,
the output voltage (response) as a function of
frequency for a low pass circuit is given by
V
out
V
in
(dB) = 20 log
_
(1
2
)
2
+ 4
2

2
,
where is the ratio of the input frequency
(
driven
) to the natural, undamped frequency
(
n
) and is the damping factor. As illustrated
in the graph, controls the overall shape of the
systems frequency response.
For = 1/

2, the response is maximally

at. For values of <

2, the response of the

systemis peakednear the natural frequency. The
smaller , the closer the peak response will be
to the natural frequency. In lter design, prac-
tical values are between = 0 and 2. A lter
amplier with zero damping will thus tend to
oscillate at its natural frequency.
Low pass frequency response of a secondorder lter
for various values of the damping factor, .
The damping factor also determines the sys-
tems transient response to an instantaneous step
input. In solving the transfer function of a sec-
ond order system and thus determining the out-
put due to a step input, there arise three special
cases for the value of .
1. Underdamped < 1: The output over-
shoots the step response and tends to oscillate
with an exponentially decaying sinusoidal wave,
i.e., ringing. The output response is proportional
2001 CRC Press LLC
to
V
out
V
in
1
_

1
2
sin
_
_
1
2

n
t
_
+cos
_
_
1
2

n
t
__
e

n
t
.
2. Overdamped > 1: The output slowly
approaches the nal output value. The response
function is given by
V
out
V
in

1
2

2
1
_
1
d
1
e
d
1

n
t

1
d
2
e
d
2

n
t
_
with d
1
=

2
1 and d
2
= +

2
1.
3. Critically damped = 1: The output
also approaches the nal output asymptotically.
This, however, is the fastest response without
oscillation.
Usually, a damping factor of
1

2
is accept-
able as a best compromise between ringing and
slow response.
Temporal response of a secondorder systemto an in-
stantaneous step input for various values of the damp-
ing factor, .
Daniell cell Atype of cell that was originally
invented by J.F. Daniell in 1836. It consists of
a zinc anode and a copper cathode immersed in
sulfate electrolyte containing zinc ions and cop-
per ions separated by porous wall. The chemical
reactions during discharging include the release
of electrons at the Zn electrode and the recom-
bination of electrons and copper ions at the Cu
electrode.
Darcys law In percolation theory, this law
yields a model of gravitational ow of a liquid
through a permeable membrane. Let J be the
rate of ow of the liquid through the membrane
in cubic meters per second, G be the amount
of hydraulic pressure lost per ow distance (hy-
draulic gradient), and A be the cross sectional
area of membrane through which the liquid
passes. Then Darcys law states: J = kGA
where k is the proportionality constant.
Darlington connection A useful connection
scheme for a direct coupled transistor ampli-
er. Shown in the gure are two transistors
connected in the commonemitter (CE) form
of the Darlington compound connection. The
main advantages of this connection scheme are
increased input impedance and improved power
handling capacity as compared to a single tran-
sistor. The overall current gain is approximately
the product of the CE current gain, h
fe
(see h-
parameters), of each individual transistor. Tran-
sistor T
1
is assumed operated as a common col-
lector (CC) stage, thus it has a relatively high
input resistance. The base current of T
2
is sup-
plied via T
1
emitter current. So T
2
carries most
of the current and is usually a higher power tran-
sistor.
Two transistors connected in the commonemitter Dar-
lington connection.
2001 CRC Press LLC
DCbias A constant voltage or current that is
superimposed with an ACsignal. Vacuumtubes
generally require a bias voltage added to the sig-
nal applied to the control grid. Transistors, on
the other hand, generally require a current bias
applied to the base in addition to the signal to be
amplied. This is done, in both cases, to ensure
that the device operates in the intended area of
its characteristic curve.
DC feedback The constant, or average, di-
rect current component of the return signal in a
feedback control system. See also feedback.
DC source Provides voltage to power elec-
tronic circuits, e.g., V
CC
or V
EE
voltages for op-
erational ampliers. The voltage source main-
tains a prescribed DCvoltage level, independent
of current loading. The compliance is the cur-
rent range for which the source can maintain the
desired voltage level.
DC voltage regulator A device that con-
ditions a poorly specied input voltage source
and provides a stable, well-specied DC volt-
age. The regulators output voltage should be
independent of such things as load current, tem-
perature changes, or any temporal behavior of
the input voltage source. Sometimes, protec-
tion circuitry is incorporated in the regulator to
prevent overload conditions.
deafness Partly or completely impaired hear-
ing. There are three main types of deafness:
cortial, nerve, and conductive deafness. Cortial
deafness is the inability of a human brain to ap-
propriately understand nerve signals from the
inner ear even if these signals are unimpaired.
Cortial deafness is typical mainly of elderly peo-
ple. Nerve deafness is due to impairment of
the cochlea located in the inner ear. Conductive
deafness is caused by defects of sound transmis-
sion from the outer ear to the cochlea. Deafness
is studied by audiometry. Hearing aids are com-
monly used devices to compensate deafness.
Debeye-Huckel constant Peter Debeye and
E. Huckel described the behavior of strong elec-
trolytes in dilute solutions yielding the distribu-
tion of and the interaction forces between ions
and counterions [Debeye, P. and Huckel, E.Z.,
Phys. vol. 24 (1923)]. For low potentials, the
decay of the potential away from a membrane
surface follows an exponential law in which the
decay length (Debeye-Huckel constant) is pro-
portional tothe charge densityof the counterions
and inversely proportional to the square root of
the temperature.
De Broglie wavelength The wavelength,
of a particle of momentum p given by the for-
mula =
h
p
where h is the Plancks constant
(6.626 10
34
J.s). For sub-atomic particles,
this wave aspect is signicant, resulting in the
observation of wave-like phenomena such as in-
terference and diffraction. This wavelength also
describes the uncertainty in the position of a par-
ticle with the uncertainty in momentum of the
order of p.
debugging The process whereby faults in
software are corrected. If the software is faulty,
the problem, which may be in just a small mod-
ule, is corrected and the software generally re-
leased as a newer version. If there is a signi-
cant amount of reworking, it is then released as
a higher version.
Debye-Scherrer rings Diffraction of X-rays
by a powder sample (usually contained in a ne
glass tube and rotated about a vertical axis) pro-
duces a set of reections for different atomic
planes satisfying Braggs law. As shown in the
drawing, a monochromatic beam of X-rays is
scattered by a sample in the middle of the cir-
cle. The lm is a circular strip, and diffracted
beams are cones coaxial with the incident beam
and intersect the lm in arcs. The exposed lm
will contain rings, named Debye-Scherrer rings,
centered around the incident beamdirection. By
measuring the diameter (s) of a given ring and
the radius (R) of the lm cylinder, one can de-
duce the Bragg angle, which is =
s
4R
, and
hence the atomic spacing of the corresponding
planes that cause diffraction. This technique is
used for identication of samples by comparing
the ring pattern to that of known substances.
decay of sound A decrease of acoustic en-
ergy density E in a room over the course of
time t after the shut-down all sound sources. In
most cases, sound decays exponentially E =
2001 CRC Press LLC
Exposed lm strip; Debye-Scherrer ring.
E
0
e
t/
. Here, E
0
is acoustic energy density
at time t = 0, and is the characteristic decay
time.
DECCA A radio navigation system operat-
ing in the range of 70 to 130 kHz that is used
by the British. Positions in air or at sea can be
determined by comparing the phase differences
received from two or more xed synchronized
radio stations. The operating range is about 400
km.
decibel One tenth of a bel. 1dB = 0.1B,
where dB and B are abbreviations for decibel
and bel. If I
2
and I
1
are quantities having di-
mensions of energy, intensity, power, etc., their
ratio in decibels is given by N = 10 lg(I
2
/I
1
).
In acoustics it is customary to measure and re-
port sound pressure levels in decibels.
declination, magnetic The angle between
the magnetic meridian and the geographical
meridian is known as the magnetic declination.
decoding In communication, a message in
source symbols at the transmitter can be recov-
ered at its destination fromthe string of values or
symbols from its coded representation. This is
done by using an algorithm for decompressing
data at the destination. It is of great importance
that the decoded symbols be error free.
decoding, decision Transmission can cause a
signal to degenerate and interfere with the task
of the receiver to establish the transmitted se-
quence. The accuracy with which the decision
threshold must be placed depends on the severity
of the distortion suffered during transmission. A
single decision threshold is therefore required
for binary sequence.
decoding, feedback A type of decoding in
which each decoding decision on transmitted in-
formation is fed back to affect future decisions.
This method can cause the undesirable property
of error propagation caused by an incorrect de-
cision in a previous step.
decoding, hard decision A type of decision
fromthe demodulator when regenerating the in-
formation sequence. The Hamming distance be-
tween the received symbols and the estimated
transmitted symbols in the trellis are used as
a measure of condence, known as the metric.
This decoding method is optimum since it min-
imizes the probability that the entire sequence
is in error. The demodulated signal at the de-
modulator output is sampled and hard limited to
regenerate the binary signal for channel decod-
ing.
decoding, likelihood ratio Noise degener-
ates the decision-making process at the output-
stage of transmitted signals. It is therefore nec-
essary that the decision-making is statistically
quantied by indicating the probability of mak-
ing an erroneous decision. The error probability
is generally treated as that due to Gaussian noise.
The likelihood ratio is the ratio of two Gaussian
point distribution functions of receiving a signal
x under the hypothesis that y and z are trans-
mitted. Small changes in signal to noise greatly
affect the error probability. The path with the
smallest distance, from all the paths in the trel-
lis, is selected, in Viterbi algorithm. This results
in a minimum bit error rate. Equalizers are em-
ployed in circuits to reduce such problems. See
decoding, Viterbi.
decoding, metric The test statistic that is
used in maximum likelihood decoding for each
complete path in a tree, and determines the
path for which certain optimized values will be
largest. This is useful for minimizing errors as-
sociated with decoding. See decoding, trellis
diagram.
decoding, soft decision In this approach, the
signal variations at the output of the demodu-
2001 CRC Press LLC
lator are sampled and quantized. The demod-
ulator passes a sequence of quantized levels to
the decoder instead of a sequence of data bit.
Sometimes incorrect decoding that occurs with
hard decision decoding can be rectied by us-
ing soft decision decoding. See decoding, hard
decision.
decoding, state diagram A convolutional
code tree with k inputs can be represented by
this type of diagram. In general, each state is
associated with a previous k 1 input bits lead-
ing to it and the transition between states by the
output sequence produced by the input bit caus-
ing the transition. See decoding, trellis diagram.
decoding, trellis diagram This method is
used for more effective utilization of available
bandwidth and power, where convolutional cod-
ing and modulation are treated as a single en-
tity. There is dependency between successive
signal points such that only certain patterns or
sequences of signal points are permitted. This
produces the trellis structure. Maximum likeli-
hood of decoding trellis codes consists of nd-
ing that path through the trellis with minimum
squared Euclidean distance to the received se-
quence. The coding of points is done to maxi-
mize the chance of detecting errors. See decod-
ing, Viterbi.
decoding, Viterbi An algorithm procedure
that involves considering paths through a trellis
diagram, in comparing the received sequences
of codes with all the possible sequences that
can be obtained with the encoder. This pro-
cedure involves considering the retained paths
in the trellis diagram so that a continuous path
is formed through the trellis with a minimum
aggregate Hamming distance. The decoding al-
gorithm makes use of the repetition property of
the convolutional code tree to reduce the number
of comparisons.
de-coupling Removing the inter-relationship
between two entities. For example, in a multi-
stage amplier, it is necessary to de-couple the
power supply of the input stage fromthe remain-
der of the amplier. The reason for this is that
the supply voltage changes with current because
of the effective internal impedance of the power
supply. Any small change in the power supply
voltage alters the bias on the rst stage, and is
amplied in the same way as an input signal.
dedicated line Generally refers to phone
lines in which the path is set up from source to
destination such that it is assigned exclusively
to a particular connection or call.
debrillator An instrument that provides an
electric shock in such a way as to restore a nor-
mal heartbeat by arresting brillation of the ven-
tricular muscle.
deector coil The coil used in a cathode ray
tube to deect the direction of electron beam is
called the deector coil.
degeneracy acoustic Existence of different
normal modes in a vibrating system that have
the same frequency. For example in a vibrat-
ing square membrane, there can be two different
normal modes corresponding to the allowed fre-
quencies. Various linear combinations of these
normal modes give an innite number of pos-
sible vibrations in a square membrane for the
given frequency.
degree of coherence See coherence, degree
of.
de Haas van Alphen effect If the magnetic
susceptibility of metals is measured at low tem-
peratures in a magnetic eld, is found to os-
cillate as a function of magnetic eld. Careful
analysis shows that the oscillations are actually
periodic in 1/H, not in H. It can be shown that
the length of the period in 1/H is inversely pro-
portional to an extremal cross-sectional area of
the Fermi surface normal to the magnetic eld.
For an ideal Fermi sphere, the extremal area is
simply a circle of radius k
F
, not providing much
information. In real metals, however, the shape
of the Fermi surface can be fairly convoluted.
It is possible, by varying the direction of the
magnetic eld, to reconstruct the Fermi surface
using this effect, the de Haas van Alphen effect.
This can be a complicated task when the Fermi
surface has several extremal cross-sections in a
given direction, so it is often easier to develop a
theoretical Fermi surface, and then match a the-
2001 CRC Press LLC
ory to the data. Similar oscillations are found
in the electrical conductivity (where they are
knownas Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations), ther-
mal conductivity, magnetoresistance, sound at-
tenuation, and all other physical properties of
metals that depend on the electronic density of
states.
dehardening The thawing of a biological
system that had been subjected to prolonged
cold.
delay Generally refers to the transient time
involved in switching networks or digital gates
in response to a stimulus. When considering the
switching properties of a device (e.g., a transis-
tor), the delay time is the time required for the
output to rise to 10% of the full asymptotic out-
put in response to a step input. Other parameters
used to describe the response are the rise, stor-
age, and fall times. These are illustrated below.
Denition of delay, rise, storage, and fall times for a
device responding to a step input.
delay distortion A type of transmission im-
pairment caused by different Fourier compo-
nents travelling at different speeds. For digital
data, fast components from one bit may catch
up and overtake slow components from the bit
ahead, thereby increasing the probability of in-
correct reception.
delay equalizer This is used as a solution to
the problem of a receiver getting several signals
from a transmitter, each of which has traveled a
different path between transmitter and receiver.
In this method, delayed and attenuated images
of the direct signal are subtracted fromthe actual
received signal.
delay line A communications or electronic
circuit that has a built-in delay. Acoustic delay
lines were used to create the earliest computer
memories by using tubes of liquid mercury that
would slowdown the digital pulses long enough,
e.g., a fraction of a second, to serve as storage.
An optical ber of a precise length can also be
used to introduce a delay in a light wave pulse
which is equal to the time required for the pulse
to propagate from beginning to end.
delay, signal Associated with multipath dis-
persion, where multiple signals originating from
the same transmitter followdifferent paths to the
receiver. This causes signals relating to a previ-
ous bit/symbol to interfere with the signals relat-
ing to the next bit/symbol. See delay equalizer.
Dellinger effect A sudden fade-out of radio
signals that can occur in the band from about 1
MHz to about 30 MHz. This is caused by partial
or complete absorption in the ionosphere often
as a result of abnormal solar radiation affecting
the transmission path.
delta connection In a three-phase, three-wire
motor, an arrangement such that the phases be-
tween any two wires are 120

apart. There are

several advantages including:
1. compactness of the device,
2. greater initial torque,
3. ease of starting, and
4. minimization of the Joule loss on the lead
wires.
A schematic diagram of a three-phase circuit
is shown in the gure below. The name delta
connection comes from the geometry of the cir-
cuit.
delta network One of two common connec-
tion schemes in the generation and loading of
three-phase electrical power, the other being Y
network. These are a system of three sinusoidal
voltage sources, each with the same magnitude
and frequency, but 120

out of phase with each

other. The delta connection scheme is shown
below for both source and load. If the currents
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Delta network.
in each side of the delta are equal, then the
system is said to be balanced. In this case, the
equivalent Ynetwork can be easily computed.
demagnetization The process of rendering
the orientation of magnetic domains randomly
to reduce the magnetization to zero.
demagnetization, adiabatic One technique
for demagnetizing in which the material is
heated to its Curie point and then cooled in the
absence of an external magnetic eld.
demodulation The process of extracting
meaningful informationfroma composite wave-
form by performing the inverse process of mod-
ulation. Knowledge of the modulation scheme
(e.g., amplitude, frequency, or pulsewidth mod-
ulation) is required to decode the waveform. See
modulation.
de Morgans laws A statement of the re-
lationship between the elementary operations
conjunction and disjunction in boolean algebra.
De Morgans laws are a direct implication of
the duality principle and are useful in simpli-
fying complicated boolean expressions. Con-
sider an arbitrary number of boolean variables
A, B, C, . . . each of whose value is either 1 or 0
(true or false) and can represent an input vari-
able, constant, or functional result. Then, the
two forms of de Morgans law are
1. the inverse of a product of variables is equal
to the sumof inverses of the individual variables,
AB C . . . =

A

B

C . . . .
2. and the inverse of a sum of variables is
equal to the product of inverses of the individual
variables.
AB C . . . =

A

B

C . . .
In the above equations, the bar (. . . ) repre-
sents the inverse of that variable or expression
(NOT), represents the conjunction (AND) op-
eration, and is the disjunction (OR) opera-
tion: the three elementary boolean operations
and their implementations in digital electronics.
These rules serve as a mathematical basis
for constructing arbitrary logic functions based
on a subset of the elementary gates. For ex-
ample, in TTL (transistor-transistor logic) cir-
cuitry, it is usually more economical to construct
NORNOT OR circuits. Thus, the AND gate
can be formed by applying de Morgans law:
AB =

A

B ;
that is to say,
A AND B = (NOT A) NOR ( NOT B) .
This functional equivalence of the electronic
gates is illustrated below.
Equivalent digital electronic circuits as shown by
de Morgans laws.
depletionlayer The electrostatic dipole layer
formed at a p-n semiconductor junction. It is
formed by electrons in the n-type region near
the junction diffusing to the p-type side, leaving
behind positively charged donor ions. Addition-
ally, holes will ow from the p-region to the
adjacent n-type side leaving behind negatively
charged acceptor ions. Therefore, there are
two adjacent layers of xed equal-but-opposite
charges at the p-n junction. See also diode junc-
tion.
The effective width of the depletion layer can
be calculated by solving Poissons equation:
d
2
V
dx
2
= ,
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Pictorial representation of the depletion layer formed
at a p-n semiconductor junction.
where is the charge density and V , the elec-
trostatic potential. The junction is assumed to
be positioned at x = 0 and the depletion layer
extends into the p- and n-type sides by l
n
and
+l
p
respectively (see accompanying gure). In-
tegrating Poissons equation in the n-type region
yields
dV
dx
=
D
x + constant ,
where
D
is the donor ion density. Given the
boundary condition
dV
dx
0 at x = l
n
, then
dV
dx x=0
=
D
l
n
.
By a similar argument on the p-side of the junc-
tion,
dV
dx x=0
=
A
l
p
,
thus implying
D
l
n
=
A
l
p
, or, owing to the
opposite charges of
A
and
D
,
N
A
l
d
= N
D
l
p
,
where N
A
and N
D
are the number densities of
the acceptor and donor ions, respectively. The
depletion layer (l
d
+ l
n
) therefore depends on
the relative degree of doping (see also doping)
of each side of the junction.
depolarization The effect that leads to the
loss of the polarization state of a beam of light
as it interacts with a medium. When light is re-
ected from mirrors or transmitted through in-
terfaces of dielectrics at angles other than nor-
mal incidence, the ratio of TE (s-type) to TM
(p-type) polarized light changes according to
Fresnels equations. Polarization-dependent ab-
sorption and scattering can also lead to depolar-
ization.
Calculation of the width of the depletion layer (see text).
depth gauges See liquid refrigerant level;
surface detection.
depthof eld The range of distances of anob-
ject from an optical system to produce an image
considered to be in focus (see depth of focus).
The depth of eld is greater for smaller aper-
tures (larger f-stop number) and longer object
distances. See camera, depth of eld of.
depth of focus The greatest distance through
which an image screen (and hence image of an
object) can be moved with a tolerable blur (or
noticeable lack of sharpness of an image). This
is similar to depth of eld, which is the greatest
distance through which an object can be moved
with tolerable blur. Depth of eld and depth of
focus depend on the aperture of the system.
depth sounding Finding water depth by us-
ing an echo sounder.
de Sauty bridge A type of AC variation of
Wheatstone bridge. It is used to measure un-
known capacitance. The balance condition for
the de Sauty bridge is given by the following
equation;
C
X
= C
S
_
R
2
R
1
_
.
desorption Desorption, the reverse of ad-
sorption, is when an adsorbed atom or molecule
leaves the surface of the substrate andmoves into
the gas phase. Desorption and re-adsorption of
gases at low temperatures can cause problems
for the experimentalist due to heat transport.
The desorbed molecules can increase their ther-
mal energy by coming into contact with warmer
surfaces, then deposit that energy on a cold sur-
face, providing another source of heat into the
2001 CRC Press LLC
de Sauty bridge.
experiment. Desorbed gases can also be used to
control the temperature of a sample located in
the path of gas ow by controlling the rate of
desorption.
detectivity It is the reciprocal of the mini-
mum detectable power, called the noise equiv-
alent power (NEP), of a detector. The NEP
(unit: W/Hz
1/2
) of a detector is the rms value
of sinusoidally modulated monochromatic radi-
ation in a 1 Hz bandwidth, which gives rise to
a signal voltage equal to the noise voltage of
the detector. The detectivity, D(), is limited
by the inherent noise mechanisms such as radi-
ation noise (that result from statistical uctua-
tions of photons) and Johnson noise (caused by
thermal uctuation of charge carriers). Spectral
Dstar, D

(, f), is obtained by normalizing the

effects due to the detector area and bandwidth
(unit: cm.Hz
1/2
/W).
detector (1) In communication, a device that
recovers information from a transmitted signal.
Also referred to as a demodulator.
(2) Aunit or device used to measure the pres-
ence of a given entity, such as the emission of
energy, uxof particles, or static electric or mag-
netic elds. Usually, the output of the detector
is an analog voltage proportional to the strength
or amount of that which is detected.
detector, crystal A crystal used as a trans-
ducer to convert mechanical energy into electri-
cal energy. The operating principle is the piezo-
electric effect; the unbalancing of the positive
and negative charges in the crystal due to me-
chanical stress.
detector, phase sensitive Phase sensitive
(synchronous) detection is a useful technique
for measuring small signals that are obscured by
larger and/or noisy background signals. Phase
sensitive detection is the basic operating princi-
ple of lockin ampliers.
This detection scheme requires an excitation,
or reference, modulation signal with frequency
. In an experimental measurement, this signal
is used to modulate a parameter of the exper-
iment and hence indirectly modulate the mea-
surement signal, as exemplied by the gure.
Representative measurement illustrating phase sensi-
tive detection.
The principle of phase sensitive detection is
based on mixing (multiplying) the detected sig-
nal with a sine wave in phase with the modu-
lation reference, as illustrated in the following
block diagram:
Block diagram illustrating phase sensitive detection.
2001 CRC Press LLC
It is assumed that the detected signal is A =
V
sig
cos(t +
sig
) where
sig
is the phase dif-
ference measured relative to the modulation sig-
nal. A reference sine wave is generated from
the modulation signal, usually with a phase-lock
loop (PLL), and is given by B = V
ref
cos(
ref
t+

ref
). The product of the two signals is deter-
mined by the trigonometric identity:
cos(A) cos(B)

1
2
[cos(AB) + cos(A+B)] ;
thus, the mixed output signal is
V
mixed
=
1
2
V
sig
V
ref
[cos(
ref
t +
ref
t
sig
)
+cos(
ref
t +
ref
+t +
sig
)] ,
and there will be two beat frequencies in the
output, one at the difference and one at the sum
frequency. Since
ref
= , then
V
mixed
=
1
2
V
sig
V
ref
[cos(
ref

sig
)
+cos(2t +
ref
+
sig
)] .
A low pass lter is used to block the double
frequency component, therefore leaving a DC
signal proportional to the desired signal. Noise
signals far from the reference frequency are at-
tenuated by the low pass lter. Signals with
frequencies close to
ref
will yield a very low
frequency AC component in the output. The at-
tenuation depends on the bandwidth of the low
pass lter, and the bandwidth of detection for
the whole device is determined by the lter. Se-
lecting a longer time constant for the lter will
improve signal-to-noise ratios; however it will
also reduce response times.
With the nal output ideally given by
V
X
V
sig
V
ref
cos (
ref

sig
) ,
the phase of the reference-generated signal is
adjusted such that
ref
=
sig
for a maximal
V
X
. Alternatively, the detected signal can be
independently mixed with another reference V
ref
cos(
ref
t +
ref
+

2
), yielding
V
Y
V
sig
V
ref
sin(
ref

sig
) ,
after proper ltering. Then the nal, phase-
independent, output can be determined from
V
out
=
_
V
2
X
+V
2
Y
. This alternate scheme is
not shown in the gure.
detector, square law (1) In communication,
noncoherent AM demodulation can be accom-
plished by rectifying the input signal (AM mod-
ulated carrier). If the rectier has a characteris-
tic
V
out
= constant V
2
in
,
then the detector is said to follow a square law.
However, the detector alsogenerates secondhar-
monic frequencies and thus leads to some dis-
tortion of the demodulated carrier.
(2) Inverse square law: The signal detected
as a measuring device is moved away from the
source it is viewing, e.g., an optical power meter
detecting the light emitted froman incandescent
light source. Assuming the source emission is
isotropic in space, the square law indicates that
the detected signal will decrease as a function
of 1/r
2
where r is the distance from the source.
This is because the emitted power, or ux, is
being distributed over larger and larger (imagi-
nary) spheres centered on the source. So a de-
tector that views the source with a xed area of
detection will be intercepting less and less radi-
ation as the detector is moved away because the
solid angle of detection is decreasing.
deuterium arc lamp Deuterium gas (also
called heavy hydrogen) under high pressure in
a high voltage discharge tube produces intense
continuous ultraviolet (UV) radiation from 180
nm to 400 nm. The emission in the 400 to 700
nm range contains broadened line spectra. The
lamp is used as a source of radiation in UV spec-
troscopy.
deviationratio Ratio of the maximumallow-
able deviation in the frequency to the maximum
allowable modulating frequency for FM trans-
mission.
dewar A container that holds a cryogenic
coolant such as liqueed nitrogen or helium.
Also called a cryostat.
dextrorotatory When linearly polarized
light propagates through some optically active
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substances, the polarization direction rotates
with distance. Viewing the beam head-on, if
the rotation is clockwise, the substance is called
dextrorotatory (as in a type of sugar called dex-
trose). In contrast, levorotatory materials pro-
duce a counter-clockwise rotation.
D-eld The electric displacement eld given
by: D =
o
E + P where
o
is the permittivity
of free space, E is an external electric eld and
P is the polarization produced.
dial A device used to generate the pulse sig-
nals needed for the automation of telephone ex-
changes. The rotary dial used contacts within
the dial to make and break an electrical cir-
cuit from a battery in exchange-through loop
made by the line to the customers premises and
through the phone itself.
dialysis The separation of salts fromsolution
by placement of the solution on one side of a
permeable membrane with water on the opposite
side. The ions diffuse across the membrane due
to osmotic pressure; however, larger molecules
are held back in solution.
diamagnetic materials Materials that ex-
hibit diamagnetism and that consequently have
a negative susceptibility.
diamagnetism A weak magnetism in which
a material exhibits a magnetization that is oppo-
site in direction to the applied eld.
diaphragm A exible membrane or a thin
plate that is used in transducers to radiate or re-
ceive sound. In order to radiate a sound wave by
loudspeaker or other source, a diaphragm is set
into vibrations. In receiving transducers such as
a microphone, a diaphragm is set into motion
by an incident sound; this motion is then trans-
formed into an electrical signal. The theory of a
vibrating diaphragm is that of a vibrating mem-
brane or a thin plate.
dichroic mirror A mirror that can reect a
specic color of light. Such mirrors are used
in color television cameras. The principle of
operation depends on the property that the color
of some dyes is concentration-dependent. See
dichromatism.
dichroism A class of anisotropic media that
polarize light by selective absorption of only one
of the two rectangular components of vibration
of the electric eld vector. The wavelength of
the absorption edge of a crystal depends upon
the linear polarization of the light. A common
dichroic crystal is the mineral tourmaline; some
organic compounds suchas Polaroidalsoexhibit
this effect.
dichroism, circular Unequal absorption of
left- and right-handed circularly polarized light.
First observed in solutions by Cotton in 1895;
the anomalous rotatory dispersion observed is
called the Cotton effect.
dichroism, circular, uorescence detected
(FDCD) Anomalous dispersion of circularly
polarized light near an absorption edge in a
chemical substance and leading to uorescence
light with preferred circular polarization.
dichroism, linear Dichroismis polarizartion
of light (electromagnetic radiation) by selective
absorption of the radiation along one preferred
axis of two referred to as the O and E axes.
Dichroismresults fromasymmetryinthe molec-
ular structure of the substance.
dichromate cell A primary cell in which
poles of carbon amalgamated zinc are im-
mersed in a solution of potassium dichromate
(K
2
Cr
2
O
7
) in dilute sulfuric acid. The emf of a
dichromate cell is 2.03 volts.
dichromatism The presence of two absorp-
tion bands in an optical material with different
absorption coefcients. This effect is seen in,
for example, the material used for green sun-
glasses that look red when doubled over so that
observation is through twice the normal thick-
ness.
dielectric A material that does not conduct
electric charge is called a dielectric. It is also
known as an insulator. There are two types of di-
electric: polar and non-polar. A polar dielectric
consists of polar molecules that have permanent
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dipole moment. When an external electric eld
is applied to a polar dielectric, the molecules
can be aligned, while in the non-polar dielectric,
the applied eld will induce an electric dipole
moment in the atom or molecule and align the
dipole moment.
dielectric breakdown When the electric
eld applied to a dielectric material exceeds
the dielectric strength of the material, the elec-
tric charges will force themselves through the
dielectric material. This is called a dielectric
breakdown.
dielectric constant The ratio of permittivity
of the material to that of the free space, =
/
o
, is known as the dielectric constant of the
material.
dielectric heating Heating of a dielectric ma-
terial through the use of radiation of high fre-
quency electromagnetic wave.
dielectric hysteresis The dependence of the
polarization of ferroelectric materials on their
previous history is called dielectric hysteresis.
The dielectric hysteresis in dielectric materials
is analogous to the magnetic hysteresis in ferro-
magnetic materials. It is also known as ferro-
electric hysteresis.
dielectric strength The maximum electric
eld a dielectric material can withstand without
breakdown is called dielectric strength of the
material.
difference frequency One of the signal com-
ponents obtained by mixing two signals with
different frequencies. Ignoring phase and am-
plitude differences, the two signals can be de-
scribed as
V
1
= cos (
1
t)
V
2
= cos (
2
t)
The mixed signal will yield two components:
V
1
V
2
cos (
1

2
) + cos (
1
+
2
) ,
a component at the difference frequency and one
at the sum frequency.
differential conductance The inverse of the
differential resistance. See differential resis-
tance.
differential input The voltage difference be-
tween the two input terminals of an amplier,
particularly an emitter-coupled amplier stage
as shown below. Referring to the diagram, the
differential input voltage is V
in
= V
in 1

V
in 2
.
Most operational ampliers use an emitter-
coupled amplier as their rst amplication
stage.
A basic emittercoupled transistor amplier.
differential output The difference between
the two output voltages of an emittercoupled
pair. Referring to the above gure, the differen-
tial output is V
out
= V
out 1
V
out 2
. See also
differential input.
differential resistance The effective resis-
tance between the two input terminals of an
amplier, particularly an emitter-coupled am-
plier stage. Contrast this with the common
mode input resistance, which is the resistance
from either input to analog ground. An ideal
operational-amplier will have these resistances
innite. See also differential input.
differential voltage gain The change in dif-
ferential output voltage per unit change of dif-
2001 CRC Press LLC
ferential input, expressed as:
g

=
V
out
V
in
.
See differential input, differential output.
differentiator A basic circuit, commonly
based on an operational amplier, that differ-
entiates an input voltage with respect to time.
Shown below is a simple differentiator circuit.
The input capacitor does not allow any direct
current to ow, only the displacement current
which depends on the time rate of change of the
voltage across the capacitor. Since the voltage
at the terminal of the op-amp is an effective
null, it can be shown that the output voltage of
the presented ideal differentiator is given by
V
out
= RC
dV
in
dt
.
Thus, a differentiator circuit is useful for mea-
suring the rate of change of an input voltage.
A simple differentiator.
diffraction The propagation of light waves in
any manner that departs from rectilinear propa-
gation predicted by the laws of geometrical op-
tics. The term originates from the observation
that light bends around opaque obstacles, result-
ing in shadows that have slightly blurred bound-
aries. Patterns are produced near the edges of
the shadow that depend on the size and shape of
the obstacle. This breaking up of the light as it
passes the object is diffraction and the observed
patterns are diffraction patterns.
Since the dimensions of obstacles encoun-
tered by light are not large compared with the
wavelength, the effects are subtle but ubiqui-
tous in our common experience. The luminous
border outlining a mountain prole in the rst
seconds prior to the sun rising behind it and the
streaks of light seen with half shut eyes viewing
a strong light source are but a few of the many
common examples of the diffraction phenom-
ena. It was rst commented on by Grimaldi in
his book published in 1665.
Diffractionis nowknowntobe a direct conse-
quence of the wave nature of light. Much of the
phenomena can be quantitatively described by
a mathematical form of Huygens principle for-
mulated by Kirchoff that is an approximation to
the wave equation, making it unnecessary to rig-
orously solve the wave equation to understand
diffraction. There are two convenient catego-
rizations of diffraction phenomena, depending
on whether a parallel beam of light passes the
diffracting object. When either the light source
or the observingdetector, or both, are a nite dis-
tance from the diffracting obstacle or aperture,
the diffractionis classiedas Fresnel diffraction.
Wheneither the source or detector, or both, are at
innite distance, effectively making the beamof
light passingthe obstacle parallel, the diffraction
is termed Fraunhofer diffraction, for historical
reasons. Fresnel diffraction is easiest to observe
of the two as no lenses are needed and it was the
rst to be investigated. However the mathemat-
ical theory is much more difcult than the plane
waves of Fraunhofer diffraction.
diffraction, crystal Destructive and con-
structive interference of waves scattered by the
periodic placement of electrons, nuclei or force
elds in the lattice of a crystal, resulting in a
pattern of discrete spectra.
diffraction, Fraunhofer The diffraction
phenomena observed when both the source and
observation point are at very large distances
from the diffracting object. In this limit, the
mathematics of diffraction is much simpler than
Fresnel diffraction. A point source at the fo-
cal point of a converging lens or collimator is
frequently substituted for an innitely far light
source. The diffracted light may be collected by
lenses and fringes observed in the focal plane
of the lens, rather than from an innite distance.
For diffraction froma slit, it is readily found that
the diffraction pattern has an absolute maximum
at the center of the line appearing on the focal
plane of a lens, and a diffraction pattern that is
2001 CRC Press LLC
symmetrical about this center. The width of the
principal maximumis twice the width of the sec-
ondary maxima, and both the principal and sec-
ondary maxima are inversely proportional to the
width of the slit. For a point source, the Fraun-
hofer diffraction pattern is a line perpendicular
to the slit, whereas with Fresnel diffraction it
would be a band. More elaborate mathemat-
ics is required for Fraunhofer diffraction from
a circular aperture than from a single slit. In
this case, the diffraction pattern consists of a
bright circular disk surrounded by a series of
dark and bright fringes that rapidly decrease in
intensity. The detailed results for the circular
aperture are of practical use for the properties of
optical instruments. Typically a lens is limited
by the circular rim, so a converging lens does not
produce an exact point image of far-away point
sources, despite careful correction for aberra-
tion. Concave spherical mirrors such as those
used for telescopes also exhibit this spreading.
These diffraction disk images limited by the re-
solving power of the optical instrument, and for
this reason objective lenses and mirrors of tele-
scopes are made with large diameters.
diffraction, Fresnel Diffraction phenomena
observed when either the source and observ-
ing screen or both are at a nite distance from
the diffracting object. In the case of a circu-
lar aperture, one or more Fresnel zones are un-
covered, and the amplitude of the optical dis-
turbance is estimated from the area of the zone,
and neighboring zones have opposite signs. The
light intensity goes through a series rings of
maxima and minima due to the appearance and
disappearance of successive positive and nega-
tive Fresnel zones. Near the axis of an aper-
ture with dimensions comparable to the distance
from the observation point, the illumination is
nearly identical to that produced by the unob-
structed wave. If a circular obstacle is used
rather than an aperture, then given the contribu-
tions of various Fresnel zones, the pattern con-
sists also of concentric bright and dark rings, but
at the center the intensity is always a maxima.
diffraction, Kirchoffs formula A mathe-
matical form of Huygens principle formulated
by Kirchoff that is an approximation to the wave
equation, making it unnecessary to rigorously
solve the wave equation to understand diffrac-
tion phenomena. Using Greens theorem, the
light wave at any point in space is expressed as
integral over a closed surface surrounding the
point. The differential contributions from sur-
face elements provide the Huygens secondary
wavelets. In principle, if the part of the closed
surface coincides with the diffracting screen,
then the solution of any diffraction may be ob-
tained by evaluating this integral with suitable
boundary conditions.
diffraction of waves Propagation of acous-
tic and electromagnetic waves that follows laws
of geometrical acoustics and optics. Many phe-
nomena in wave propagation are the result of
diffraction, for example: penetration of a wave
into a region of geometrical shadow; penetration
of a wave through a small opening in a screen;
and propagation of waves along a surface (sur-
face and greeping waves). Usually diffraction
effects become important when > d, where
is a wavelength, and d is a characteristic geo-
metrical scale of a problem such as the diameter
of an aperture, the size of an inhomogeneity in
a medium, etc. Diffraction pattern also depends
signicantly on the distance x of sound propa-
gation. If x d
2
/, rays fromthe opposite side
of the aperture, inhomogeneity, etc. have differ-
ent phase increments at the point of observation.
This case is called Fresnel diffraction (diffrac-
tion in converging rays). If x d
2
/, these
phase increments are almost the same. This is
known as Fraunhofer diffraction (diffraction in
parallel rays).
diffractometer An apparatus used in con-
junction with optical diffraction methods to
solve problems of X-ray structure analysis. A
source of light is imaged by a lens onto a pinhole
and the emerging light from the pinhole is made
parallel by a lens after the pinhole. The interfer-
ing beams are made to focus with an additional
lens identical to the rst lens after the pinhole.
A plane mirror is then used to reduce the length
of the instrument, and either a diffracting screen
or a microscope is used to view the resulting
diffraction pattern.
diffuse spectra There are three main se-
quences of lines in the spectra of neutral al-
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kali atoms: the principal, sharp and diffuse se-
ries. The principal series are the strong lines,
the sharp series are the very narrow lines, and
the diffuse series spectra quite broad. This ter-
minology applies as well to series arising from
the same types of electron transitions in other
atoms. The physical characteristics of the lines,
however, may be very different from the sim-
ple observational character of the alkali atomic
spectra.
diffusion, cell membrane (1) Lateral dif-
fusion: Two-dimensional effective transport of
molecules within the cell interior. Mechanisms
consist of Brownian motion and percolation, in
addition to active transport.
(2) Translational diffusion: One-dimension-
al transport of molecules across a membrane.
Mechanisms include facilitatedtransport andac-
tive transport.
diffusion coefcient, translational A mea-
sure of the rate of owacross a permeable mem-
brane due to diffusion, having units of square
meters per second and relating the ratio of ux
to concentration gradient. That is diffusion co-
efcient, D = J/(dC/dx), where J is the
ux and dC/dx is the concentration gradient.
diffusion, cytoplasm The specic diffusion
of potassium, calcium, and sodiumatoms across
the cytoplasm giving rise to an action potential.
The kinetics of this diffusion.
digital arithmetic Digital arithmetic is per-
forming mathematical operations on numbers
using digital electronic circuits. The operations
are performed in a binary number system be-
cause they are easiest to implement with logic
circuits. Addition and subtraction are the two
basic operations on which all others are based.
Since only the two states true and false are
available to represent a digit in digital electron-
ics, decimal numbers are represented in their
base 2 (binary) equivalent. Instead of the char-
acters 0, 1, 2 . . . 9 to represent digits, there are
only 0 and 1. For example, 13 in base 10 rep-
resents 1 10
1
+ 3 10
0
. Using the natural
representation scheme, this is written in binary
as 1101 implying 12
3
+12
2
+02
1
+12
0
.
However, to represent signed numbers, i.e.,
negative numbers, a convention must be used.
The three most common schemes to represent
signed numbers are signed magnitude, 2s com-
plement, and 1s complement. Positive numbers
in all three schemes are identical to the natural
representation. In signed magnitude, one of the
number digits is reserved to indicate the sign. It
is usually the rst digit with 1 indicating a neg-
ative number. So, 1011 represents 3 in this
scheme. In 1s complement, a positive num-
ber is represented with 1 in the rst digit and
the remaining digits inverted. Therefore, 1011
implies negative (011) which is 4. Negative
numbers are represented in 2s complement by
using 1 in the rst digit position and 1 X for
the numerical part.
Example representation of
decimal numbers in different,
3digit binary representations
Scheme 000 001 010 011
natural 0 1 2 3
signmag 0 1 2 3
1s comp. 0 1 2 3
2s comp. 0 1 2 3
Scheme 100 101 110 111
natural 4 5 6 7
signmag 0 1 2 3
1s comp. 3 2 1 0
2s comp. 4 3 2 1
Digital arithmetic operations are based on the
additionand/or subtractionof single digits, start-
ing with the least signicant digit position and
propagating a carry or borrow digit to the next
higher position. First consider addition of two
single-digit binary numbers, an addend and au-
gend. The addition is dened for all possible
values as: Thus, aside from the sum, a carry is
2001 CRC Press LLC
generated as well when adding the single digits.
In adding multiple digit numbers, however,
consideration must be given to a carry from the
next least signicant digit. Let x
i
be a digit of
the addend and y
i
a digit of the augend. We also
want to consider a carry from the i 1 sum,
c
i1
. Then, the sums
i
and carry c
i
fromadding
these two digits are dened in the accompanying
table. A subtraction truth table can be dened
as well.
Digital addition truth
table
i y
i
c
i1
c
i
s
i
0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 1 0 1 0
0 0 1 0 1
0 1 1 1 0
1 0 1 1 0
1 1 1 1 1
Digital subraction
truth table
i y
i
c
i1
b
i
d
i
0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 1
1 0 0 0 0
1 1 0 0 1
0 0 1 1 1
0 1 1 1 0
1 0 1 1 1
1 1 1 0 0
As an illustration, consider adding the binary
numbers 0110 and 0111 (which represent 6 and
7 respectively in the natural scheme). Using the
tabulated rules, which is consistent with 7+6 =
13. The rules for subtraction vary somewhat
depending on which number-coding scheme is
being used.
The implementation of the addition and sub-
traction tables with electronic circuits is done
with a fulladder. A fulladder comprises two
halfadders (see halfadder), and will accept
x
i
,y
i
, and c
i1
inputs. It will generate s
i
and
c
i
as per the truth table. Multiple digit addition
can be carried out serially or in parallel. In serial
addition, the digits to be added are delimited by
a clock pulse. The addition is carried out by only
one fulladder with the carry being held in a D
ipop for the next digit. In parallel addition,
there are separate full adders for each digit.
digital circuit See digital electronics.
digital combining In digital transmission,
some processingtasks are involvedfromthe data
source via a communication channel to a dis-
tant data terminal. The two main categories are
source coding and channel coding. Greatly im-
proved efciency can be obtained by combining
some tasks. See multiplex.
digital communication Digital communica-
tion refers to a mode of communication wherein
the transmitted information signal is dened
only at a discrete set of time instances, when
the signal may take on any one value from a
discrete set of values.
A common block-diagram model of a digi-
tal communication system involves the follow-
ing blocks connected in series: a source, source
encoder, discrete channel encoder, digital mod-
ulator, communication channel, digital demod-
ulator, discrete channel demodulator, source de-
coder, and a user. The source outputs a streamof
information-bearing signal, which may be ana-
log (for example, speech, music, a photographic
image) or digital (for example, digitized data or
computer les). The source encoder takes the
source output and reconstructs it into a stream
of binary bits with a lower data rate while impos-
ing minimum distortion of the information con-
tained therein. The source encoder achieves this
data compression task by removing the redun-
dancy in the information-bearing signal output
by the source. The channel encoder accepts and
transmutes the binary bit streamfromthe source
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encoder into another streamof discrete-time and
discrete-valued symbols with a higher data rate.
This increased data rate aims to incorporate cer-
tain intelligent redundancy in the data stream to
endow it with the capabilities of transmission
error self-detection and transmission error self-
correction against possible distortions caused by
the modulator-channel-demodulator unit. The
modulator inputs and transforms the digital data
stream from the channel encoder into an analog
waveform for the multi-user multiplexed ana-
log channel. Note that all physical communica-
tions medium, including optical bers carrying
laser light pulses, must necessarily be analog.
This transmitter unit (consisting of the source
encoder, channel encoder and modulator, con-
nected in series) sends onto the channel the mod-
ulators analog output, which is received by the
receiver. Each component in the receiver de-
modulator, channel decoder, and source decoder
performs the reverse function of its corre-
sponding counterpart in the transmitter.
Digital communication contrasts with
discrete-time analog communication, wherein
the discrete-time signal may take on any one
value from an uncountably innite set of
values. Digital communication also differs
from fully analog communication wherein the
information signal is dened over a continuous
time duration and may take on any one value
from an uncountably innite set of values.
An analog communication system would
need to perform any source compression,
channel coding and modulation all in analog
a difcult task, which often means the
source output would be directly modulated
without source compression or channel error
self-detection/self-correction coding. The
major advantages of digital communications
are easy error detection and correction, easy
signal manipulation, and increased dynamic
range. These advantages arise partly because
the source/channel encoder/decoder transmutes
the wasteful redundancy in the source output
into an intelligent redundancy that facilitates
transmission error self-detection and self-
correction by the received signal itself. The
main disadvantages of digital communications
are the requirement for wider bandwidth than
analog communication and the need for signal
synchronization.
digital electronics Electronics applied to the
processing of binary variables or numbers. The
processing circuits which employ components
such as diodes, transistors, resistors, etc. to con-
struct gates, which perform logical operations.
These logic circuits are generally operated in a
non-linear, switching mode to accomplish their
intended design. They are the building blocks
of larger and more complicated functions like
arithmetic operations and memories, also en-
compassed in digital electronics. See also gate.
digital signature Used for message authen-
tication as a trailer at the end of a message. The
encrypted trailer is analogous to a signature at
the end of a letter since it veries the person who
actually sent the message.
digital switch Amechanical or electronic de-
vice that can be used to direct the owof electri-
cal or optical signals from one side to the other.
Switches with more than two ports, such as a
LANswitch or PBX, can be used to route trafc.
The semiconductor switch, known as a transis-
tor, performs the same function as the familiar
on/off light wall switch. The switch is elec-
tronically closed by pulsing the semiconductor
material, which makes it conduct.
digital television Digital TVor DTVdebuted
in major cities in the United States in 1988. In
order to receive DTV, a new digital TV set or a
set-top box for an existing analog TV is needed
since transmission in the radio frequency is done
digitally. Digital TV sets will support analog
TVtransmission, which is expected to be broad-
cast until at least 2006. Digital TV offers 18
formats from SDTV (Standard Denition TV),
without snow or ghost. More SDTV channels
can be transmitted within the same bandwidth.
Therefore, it will be up to the broadcasters, cable
providers and satellite companies to determine
the amount of content versus quality. Digital TV
can provide 14 progressive scan and 4 interlaced
formats.
digital voltmeter Device that can sample
an analog signal and quantize the voltage level.
It converts the analog signal to a usable digi-
tal number with an analogtodigital converter.
The digital number is then presented to a user
2001 CRC Press LLC
indicating the measured voltage in decimal for-
mat. See converter, analog/digital.
diode An electronic circuit element. Adiode
is the simplest integrated semiconductor struc-
ture. It consists of a junction between an n-
type and p-type semiconductor. Ideally, cur-
rent is only allowed to ow in one direction.
Shown in the gure are the diodes electronic
schematic symbol and its semiconductor con-
struction. Also shown is an illustration of a typ-
ical discrete diode; the n-type side is marked
with a band. See diode junction.
Diode, a) semiconductor junction, b) schematic sym-
bol, and c) discrete diode with marking scheme. See
text.
When the voltage of the p-type side is posi-
tive with respect to the n-type side, the diode is
forward biased. Then, current ow is dened as
positive from p to n, the magnitude of which
depends on the magnitude of the applied volt-
age. When V is such that the p-type side is more
negative than the n-type side, only a very small
amount of current ows through the diode. The
current ow through a diode as a function of
applied V (for either direction) is given by
I = I
s
_
exp
_
eV
kT
_
1
_
with I
s
, the reverse saturation current, e =
1.602 10
19
, C the electronic charge, k =
1.38 10
23
J/K Boltzmann constant, and T
in Kelvin. Atypical diode I V curve is plotted
below.
Quintessential diode I-V curve.
Froma practical standpoint, a current owof
1%of rated current can be considered as a nomi-
nal turnon current for most applications. For
typical silicon diodes, this corresponds to an ap-
plied forward bias voltage of V

750mV ;
the cutin voltage. In reverse bias, only a small
amount of current is allowed to ow, I
s
indepen-
dent of reverse bias. However, if the reverse bias
is large enough, then reverse breakdown will oc-
cur (see diode, avalanche) and current will ow
in the reverse direction. Provided that power
dissipation in the diode does not exceed design
limits, reverse bias breakdown will not harmthe
diode.
If a diode is being used in a high speed appli-
cation where the reverse bias voltage can change
rapidly, then consideration must be given to the
capacitance of the reverse biased diode junction.
If this barrier or transition capacitance is large
enough, then the current intended to be stopped
in reverse bias will still owdue to the displace-
ment current of the capacitance. The reverse
bias capacitance varies as
1

V
and this behavior
can be exploited in frequency locking or modu-
lating circuits or in parametric ampliers.
There are different special types of diodes
engineered to have special properties. Exam-
ples include the Zener, the tunnel, and the light
emitting diode.
diode, avalanche A diode with sufcient
power dissipation capabilities to be intentionally
operated in a reverse bias breakdown condition.
Such a diode is useful in a voltage regulation
2001 CRC Press LLC
circuit. A simple voltage regulation circuit is
shown belowillustrating this. Provided that R
x
,
I
Load
, and V
Supply
are such that the design V
Load
is in the breakdown region (V
B
) of the diodes I
V curve, the diode will accommodate moderate
changes in V
Supply
or I
Load
thus regulating V
Load
.
See also diode.
A basic voltage regulation circuit based on an
avalanche diode.
Characteristic IV curve for an avalanche or Zener
diode.
Asimilar device to the avalanche diode is the
Zener diode. It has a qualitatively identical IV
curve as the avalanche diode and behaves simi-
larly in circuit. However, the physics behind the
Zener diode are quite different.
In a reverse bias situation, an extremely
large electric eld can be imposed in the re-
gion of the pn junction. Considering a genuine
avalanche situation, the charge carriers (elec-
trons and holes), which constitute the relatively
small reverse conduction current, can be accel-
erated to large kinetic energies. If the energy
is large enough and they spend sufcient time
in the junction, these carriers can ionize atoms
upon impact with the crystal lattice thus excit-
ing free electron-hole pairs. These extra carriers
are also subject to the large electric eld and can
continue the process until a very large (reverse)
current is obtained hence the term avalanche
multiplication. This effect strongly depends on
the applied electric eld, therefore accounting
for the rapid increase of reverse current at the
breakdown voltage. The degree of doping de-
termines the physical distance of the depletion
layer and how much time a charge carrier will
spend under the inuence of the electric eld.
This, in turn, determines what V
B
will be.
On the other hand, by tailoring the doping of
each semiconductor, it is possible to make the
junction between p and n become physically
very narrow. Then at some particular value of
reverse bias, it is possible for the electrons to
quantum-mechanically tunnel from the valence
band of the pside to the conduction band of the
nside. This is essentially the Zener effect and
is shown in the gure below.
In silicon diodes, breakdown voltages in the
range of 10 to 100V is due to avalanche mul-
tiplication. The Zener effect is responsible for
diodes with V
B
1 to 2V. Diodes with V
B
in
the range of 6 to 8Vare due to both mechanisms
simultaneously.
Energy band levels in a diode junction illustrating the
mechanisms behind reverse bias avalanche and Zener
operation.
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diode, Gunn Adiode withI-Vcharacteristics
similar to that of a forward biased tunnel diode.
The electrical characteristics of a Gunn diode,
however, arise from the peculiar band structure
of bulk GaAs (gallium arsenide) rather than any
characteristics due to a p-n junction.
The band structure of GaAs essentially per-
mits the existence of two different types of elec-
trons. One, which is normally responsible for
conduction in the semicondutor, has an effec-
tive mass of 0.08m
e
, where m
e
is the normal
free electron mass. The other allowed electron
has an effective mass of 1.2m
e
.
Under normal electric elds, the semicon-
ductor behaves normally, the light electronbeing
responsible for current ow. However, at higher
appliedelectric elds ( 10
4
V/cm) some of the
light electrons can be excited into the other en-
ergy band, thus becoming a heavy electron. This
causes the conductivity to decrease since the ef-
fective mobility of the electrons has decreased
with increasing effective electron mass. This,
in turn, decreases the current through the de-
vice although the applied voltage is increasing.
Hence, the device exhibits negative differential
mobility.
Under these conditions, moving domains of
high electric eld strengths are created within
the material. The thickness of the active mate-
rial can be chosen so that the frequency of these
electron-waves is of the order 10 GHz. Gunn
diodes nd uses in high frequency oscillator cir-
cuits (e.g., police radar) as well as high speed
logic switching circuits.
diode junction A junction formed by the
mutual contact of an n and ptype semicon-
ductor. This junctionhas unique anduseful elec-
trical properties (see diode) that result from the
physics of the junction.
In the bulk of an ntype material, an abun-
dance of conductionelectrons canbe found, neu-
tralizingthe space charge of the donor ions. Sim-
ilarly, there will be an abundance of holes avail-
able in the bulk of the ptype material. When
the n and ptype materials are joined, the elec-
trons and holes cannot remain separated unless
there is an electric eld at the interface.
When the two materials are in contact, charge
transfer will occur until the Fermi levels are
equalized. Initially, the excess electrons on the
nside will diffuse into the empty electron states
on the pside. Simultaneously, excess holes on
the pside will diffuse and ll vacant hole states
on the nside. This initial ow of charge will
leave behind the negatively charged donor ions
in the nside and positively charged acceptors
on the pside of the junction. This will form an
electrostatic dipole layer at the junction. ( See
depletion layer.) Therefore, the resulting elec-
tric eld (and associated potential energy differ-
ence) will generally oppose further diffusion.
In the p and ntype materials, the Fermi en-
ergy (E
F
) lies approximately at the acceptor and
donor levels respectively. When the junction
is formed, charge transfer equalizes the Fermi
levels. Thus, the positions of the valence and
conduction band edges must vary relative to E
F
within the transition region of the junction.
A pn junction (diode junction) in thermal equilibrium
and zero applied voltage. Shading suggests electron
population in lling of energy bands. For clarity, poten-
tial energy, current ow, and band lling shown are for
electrons only.
A very simple argument explaining the rec-
tication nature of the diode junction is now
given. In what follows, only electron currents
and energies will be considered. There is also
hole transport in the junction as well. The de-
scription for hole current parallels that for the
electron case since the energy of a hole is mea-
sured opposite that of an electron and because
its charge is opposite of the electron.
Even though the depletion layer produces a
potential energy difference E, which prevents
electrons from owing to the pside, there will
be a small number of electrons with non-zero
thermodynamic probability to have an energy
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greater than E. These electrons can owto the
pside where they recombine with holes. This
is the recombination electron current ow, J
r
,
and its magnitude will depend on the doping in
the material. There will also be conduction elec-
trons thermally generated on the pside as well,
but they can easily drift down the potential hill
at the junction; this is the generation current J
g
.
If there is zero voltage across the diode (as in the
gure), then these two currents must balance.
J
r
(V = 0) J
g
(V = 0) .
Now, if a voltage is applied such that the n-
side is more positive than the pside then the
potential barrier will be raised. This condition
is reverse bias. Again, the electron current ow
through the junction is determined by the ther-
modynamic probability of an electron having
sufcient energy to overcome the barrier. The
recombination current will therefore be reduced
by the Boltzmann factor
J
r
(V
reverse
) = J
r
(V = 0) exp
_
e|V |
kT
_
.
The generation current J
g
is nominally unaf-
fected by the reverse bias as this current is going
down the potential hill anyway.
Reverse biased diode junction.
If the applied voltage is now forward biased,
the potential barrier is reduced and more current
can ow. The increase in ow is again deter-
mined by the thermodynamic probability factor
J
r
(V
forward
) = J
r
(V = 0) exp
_
+e|V |
kT
_
.
And again, the generation current is mostly un-
changed.
Forward biased diode junction.
There will also be a contribution to the total
conduction current by the hole current as well.
Hole current through the pn junction will be-
have similarly and the currents due to electrons
and holes will add. The total current through the
diode as observed in a circuit is then given by
I = I
S
_
exp
_
eV
kT
_
1
_
where I
S
is the sum of the two generation cur-
rents and is essentially the reverse bias current.
The current I is dened using common circuit
conventions as positive owing from p to n
side with positive V indicating the pside poten-
tial with respect to the nside. Thus the diode
junction current ow depends on the relative
bias of the applied voltage. See also diode.
diode-transistor logic (DTL) A realization
of logical gates using discrete or integrated elec-
tronic components; particular logic family; de-
tailed electronic circuit implementation of logic
gates exhibiting a common theme or convention
in the operation of the circuit.
A simple example circuit employing DTL is
shown below. This discrete component circuit
operates as a NAND gate assuming the positive
logic convention. It has two inputs, Aand B, as
well as the output C. The basic electronic oper-
ation of the DTL gate is nowdescribed. If either
input Aor B is a logical 0 (i.e., either V
A
or V
B
is near 0 volts) then the current owing through
2001 CRC Press LLC
R
x
is shunted by the diodes DA or DB respec-
tively. In this situation, the baseemitter current
of the transistor, I
BE
, is small and the transistor
is turned-off. Thus the output voltage V
C
is
near 5 volts, logical 1.
On the other hand, if both A and B are logi-
cal 1 (i.e., V
A
and V
B
are near 5 volts) then the
current owing through R
x
is no longer shunted
and is divided between resistor R
z
and the tran-
sistor. Then, I
BE
is such that the transistor is
saturated and the output V
C
is near zero volts.
The resistor R
z
is used to remove charge from
the transistor during the transition time fromsat-
uration to off.
When driving other gates, the transistor must
be able to sink the current provided through the
input diodes of the other gates. This consid-
eration leads to the maximum number of gates
which can be driven the fan-out by the
circuit. The DTL logic family has a greater
fan-out capability over RTL (resistor-transistor-
logic) but is somewhat slower.
A simple DTL circuit implementation of a NAND gate.
diopter The curvature of a wavefront at a
given distance from the source is given in terms
of the diopter and is expressed in reciprocal me-
ters. Powers of lenses and other optical systems
are usually expressed in terms of diopters.
dip A perfectly freely suspended magnet
would in general align itself with the direction of
greatest eld strength. The angle between this
direction and the horizontal is called the dip.
dip circle This is a mechanical device con-
sisting of a thin steel magnet suspended so that
it can rotate in the vertical plane and also be
rotated about the vertical axis to determine az-
imuth. The instrument is used to measure dip.
diplex operation The use of a single circuit,
carrier or antenna for the simultaneous transmis-
sion or reception of two signals.
dipole acoustic Two identical monopoles lo-
cated at a distance d with the amplitudes equal
in magnitude and opposite in sign. A dipole is
called the point dipole if kd 1, where k is a
wavenumber of a sound eld radiated by both
monopoles. An acoustic pressure eld p of a
dipole is the superposition of those of the two
monopoles. For a point dipole, p contains a fac-
tor (1+i/kr) cos that is not present in the eld
of a monopole. Here, r is the distance to the ob-
servation point, and is the angle between the
radius vector to this point and the dipole axis
(the line connecting the two monopoles). Due
to this factor, a directivity pattern of a dipole (the
dependence of p on ) and its near eld (acoustic
pressure eld for kr 1) is different from that
of a monopole.
dipole, in dielectric In dielectric material,
each atom or molecule can be either a perma-
nent dipole or an induced dipole. These dipoles
can be aligned by an external electric eld and
contribute the properties of the dielectric mate-
rial.
dipole magnetic A permanent magnet, cur-
rent loop or particle with angular momentum
that experiences a torque when placed in a mag-
netic eld. It acts as if it consists of twomagnetic
poles separated by a small distance.
dipole magnetic moment A vector whose
cross product with the magnetic induction of a
magnetic eld is equal to the torque exerted on
the system by the eld.
dipstick A dipstick is a colloquial term used
to describe a small experimental probe that is
designed to be inserted directly into a storage
dewar of a liquid cryogen, most often liquid he-
lium. Such a probe consists of whatever elec-
2001 CRC Press LLC
trical connections and wiring are necessary at-
tached to a tube or rod with the experimental
sample clamped at one end. The other end con-
tains the electrical connections that interface the
experiment with any peripheral equipment.
direction nder A device used for the de-
termination of ones terrestrial location. It is
usually a radio receiver and becomes an inte-
gral part of a larger system of radio transmitters
of known location. Early direction nders em-
ployed a rotating loop antenna; the direction to
an established transmitter could be determined
from the known detection pattern of a dipole
antenna. Modern location usually involves an
array of transmitters; location is determined us-
ing a form of hyperbolic differential distance
ranging (see gure).
The transmitters may be one of two basic
types:
1. Pulsed with a common carrier. The differ-
ential distance is determined fromdifferences in
pulse arrival times, or
2. Continuous wave using different, but re-
lated carrier frequencies. Here, the difference
is determined from phase differences.
Hyperbolic ranging to determine position. The hyber-
bolic ranges are such that AB + BO AO is a
constant.
directivity of sound Angular distribution of
radiated or received sound power by an acous-
tic antenna, array, loudspeaker or microphone.
Directivity of an antenna, etc. characterizes its
ability to radiate (receive) sound from one di-
rection better than from others. This property is
mathematically characterized by the directivity
function which is dened as the ratio of the ra-
diated (received) power in a particular direction
to the maximum possible power in the direction
known as the acoustic axis.
discharge The release and eventual re-
combination of opposite electric charges of a
battery or a capacitor when a load is connected
to its terminals. Energy is released during the
discharge process.
discharge tube Enclosure used in the pro-
duction of a glow discharge. The inside is evac-
uated and partially lled with the intended gas
to be used in the discharge. See also glow dis-
charge.
discrete channel A discrete channel may re-
fer to a communications channel that allows the
transmission and reception of information rep-
resented as a discrete sequence of alphabets. A
discrete channel may alternately refer to a com-
munication channel whose effect on the trans-
mitted signal may be represented as a discrete-
time lter. A discrete-time channel refers to a
communication channel whose response is de-
ned only at a set of discrete time instances.
disjunction (logic) A fundamental boolean
logic operation over two or more logical vari-
ables. Sometimes referred to as OR, it is the
logical sum
AB A OR B ,
where the variables A and B are elements of
the set {1, 0} (or, equivalently, the set {true,
false}). In other words, the disjunction of these
two variables is true if either Aor Bis true. The
postulated rules of the logical sum are
0 A = A
and
1 A = 1 .
Also, for every variable A there exists the sum
inverse, NOT A

A, such that
A

A = 0 .
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The logical sum is commutative as well as asso-
ciative:
AB = B A
A(B C) = (AB) C .
Given these rules, all possible values of the
conjunction Y = A B can be tabulated in a
truth table. This is illustrated in the accompa-
nying table.
Disjunction (logical sum) for
all possible values of the
variables A and B
A B Y = A OR B
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
In implementing this operation in digital
electronics, voltage signals are used to represent
the logical variables A and B following a pre-
dened logic convention. A circuit, frequently
referred to as a gate, is used to determine the dis-
junction and the result is provided on an output,
Y . The symbol representing such an electronic
circuit performing an OR operation is shown
below. See also conjunction (logic).
Symbol representing disjunction ( OR) in digital elec-
tronics.
disk of least confusion See circle of least
confusion.
dispersion The variation of refractive in-
dex, n, with frequency of electromagnetic elds
traversing a material medium. The dielectric
constant is a function of the frequency of the
elds and phase velocity is not the same for
each frequency component. In a nondispersive
medium, the index of refraction is independent
of the frequency, and the phase and group ve-
locities are both c/n. In a dispersive medium
the velocity of energy ow differs greatly from
the phase velocity, or may even lack a precise
meaning. Dispersion is explained by taking into
account the actual motion of the charges in the
optical medium traversed by the light. This mo-
tion is modeled using the damped forced oscil-
lator of the charge bound to a xed atom site.
The solution gives a polarizability which is in-
versely proportional to the mass, so it is the elec-
trons that determine the index of refraction in
the transparent regions of the optical spectrum.
The ionic polarizabilities only dominate in de-
termination of the refractive index in resonant
regions.
dispersion, anomalous In the vicinity of an
absorption band, the index of refraction cannot
usually be measured because the substance will
not transmit radiation of this wavelength. On
the long wavelength side of the band, the index
is quite large, but decreases very rapidly with in-
creasing wavelength. On the short wavelength
side the opposite behavior of the index is ob-
served it is very small but increases rapidly
as wavelength is decreased. The index of refrac-
tion thus has a large discontinuity in the vicin-
ity of an absorption band, which causes anoma-
lous dispersion. The longer wavelengths have
a higher value of the refractive index and are
more refracted than the shorter wavelengths in
this region. This situation is anomalous, unlike
the rest of the dispersion curve where index of
refraction increases as wavelength decreases.
dispersion, chromatic The decomposition
of a beam of white light into separate beams of
color that spread out to produce spectra.
dispersion, normal Away from an absorp-
tionband, the indexof refractionexhibits normal
dispersion. The index of refraction increases
with decreasing wavelength, and the rate of its
increase becomes larger at shorter wavelengths.
For a variety of materials, the refractive index
versus wavelength curve is steeper if the mate-
rial has a larger refractive index, but the curve
for one substance cannot be merely shifted in or-
dinate scale to obtain the curve for another. This
latter property of normal dispersion means that
the spectra from prisms of different substances
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never agree exactly in the relative spacing of
spectral lines. Since there is no simple rela-
tion between the normal dispersion curves of
different substances, their dispersion is termed
irrational. In the visible region, all transparent
substances that are not colored exhibit normal
dispersion.
dispersion, partial Difference in the index
of refraction at two specied wavelengths. Used
by optical designers to compare various pairs of
glasses to determine which will give the least
secondary spectrum in an achromat. The spec-
ied wavelengths are usually at the so-called
Fraunhofer lines that are designated by the let-
ters A, B, C, . . ., starting at the extreme red. C
denotes the red C line of hydrogen at 656.3
um, D denotes the average wavelength of the
two yellow D lines of sodium, agreed on as
589.3 um, F denotes the blue F line of hydro-
gen at 486.1um. Glass catalogs denote the var-
ious partial dispersions at these wavelengths by
nD nC, nC nA, nF nD, the subscripts
denoting the spectral lines at which the indices
were determined.
dispersion, sound Dependence of the phase
velocity of a harmonic wave on the frequency
of this wave. Sound dispersion can occur in
ducts, waveguides, and dispersive media. In the
latter case, sound dispersion is caused by inclu-
sions in a medium (i.e., bubbles in water), by
effects of thermoconductivity and viscosity on
sound propagation, or by acoustic relaxation.
Sound dispersion due to acoustic relaxation is
well studied; in this case the dependence of the
sound speed c on the frequency is given by
c
2
() = c
2
0
+ (c
2

c
2
0
)

2

2
r
+
2
. Here, c
0
and
c

are the values of c at = 0 and = ,

respectively, and
r
is the relaxation frequency.
dispersive medium A medium in which the
phase velocity of a harmonic sound wave de-
pends on a frequency of this wave. Propagation
of a sound wave through a dispersive medium
results in sound dispersion.
dispersive power A measure of the way the
refractive indexvaries withwavelengthina sam-
ple of glass. Let F and C denote the blue F line
and the red C line of hydrogen. The disper-
sive power is dene by the equation 1/nu =
nF nC/nD1 where the subscripts denote
the spectral line at which the index of refrac-
tion is determined. The reciprocal of dispersive
power, denoted by the Greek letter , is between
30 and 60 for most optical glasses.
displacement, acoustic Deviation of a parti-
cle ina mediumfromits equilibriumpositionbe-
cause of the passage of a sound wave. This wave
also causes deviations (uctuations) in pressure,
uid velocity and density in a medium.
displacement current Is the partial time
derivative of the displacement, i.e.,
D
t
. It was
rst introducedbyJames ClarkMaxwell tocom-
plete Amperes Law.
dissipation, acoustic Transformation of en-
ergy of acoustic oscillations into other forms of
energy, such as heat.
dissonance Nonharmoniuos sounding of two
or more tones played together. The term disso-
nance is opposite to consonance. Dissonance
occurs when unpleasant beats occur between
partials of tones that form an interval.
distortion When the output of an amplier
is not simply a scaled exact replica of the input
signal; i.e., the transfer function of the amplier
is not perfectly linear for all inputs.
Different types of distortion can be iden-
tied based on how the ampliers imperfec-
tions affect the output signal. Linear distor-
tion describes amplitude distortion: different
frequency components are amplied by differ-
ent effective gains, and phase distortion: differ-
ent frequency components have unequal phase
shifts. Non-linear distortion produces new fre-
quencies in the output of an amplier that were
not present in the original signal. See distortion,
harmonic.
distortion (optical) In the third order the-
ory of aberrations, distortion is the fth of the
ve Seidel sumrepresenting deviations fromthe
path prescribed by the Gaussian ray tracing for-
mulas. A system is free of distortion when it
has uniform lateral magnication over its entire
eld. Pinhole cameras show no distortion as
2001 CRC Press LLC
all straight lines connecting each pair of conju-
gate points pass through the opening. Lenses
show barrel distortion when the magnication
decreases toward the edge of the eld, and pin-
cushion distortion when there is greater magni-
cation towards the edge.
distortion acoustic Any undesired change in
an amplitude, frequency or phase of a signal in
its transmission or reproduction in devices such
as microphones, earphones, loudspeakers, etc.
The main types of acoustic distortion are ampli-
tude distortion, frequency distortion, and non-
linear distortion. Amplitude distortion occurs
when the ratio between the amplitudes of the
output and input in a device is not constant for
different values of the input amplitude for a xed
frequency. Frequency distortion occurs when
the ratio between the amplitudes of the output
and input is not constant for different frequen-
cies of the harmonic input signal. Non-linear
distortion occurs when there is no linear rela-
tionship between the input and the output. This
distortion can result in production of harmonics
in the output even if they are not presented in
the input.
distortion, cross over In push-pull ampli-
ers that employ two Class B transistor ampli-
ers, one transistor is used to amplify the pos-
itive going portion of an input signal while the
other is used to handle the negative going por-
tion. In principle, the amplier should oper-
ate linearly for all portions of an input wave
form. However, due to the initial curvature
of the emitter-base diode characteristics of the
transistor (i.e., increased input impedance for
low signal levels), small signals are not accu-
rately reproduced. Therefore, a sinusoidal base-
voltage excitation will not yield a sinusoidal out-
put current.
For example, shown in the gure is a typical
dynamic characteristic transfer function for the
two transistors of a pushpull amplier. It is as-
sumed that the bases of the transistors are given
a pure sinusoidal input signal. The peaks of the
sine wave are reproduced in the transistor out-
put currents, but the signal near zero is distorted.
This shows up as distortion in the output wave
form as the output swings through zero volts:
cross-over distortion.
Dynamic transfer showing cross-over distortion of
pushpull transistor amplier.
distortion, harmonic A convenient means
by which the deviation from a sought wave-
form from an amplier or signal generator can
be measured. For example, it is a measure of
how accurately an amplier (or generator) can
reproduce (generate) a sinusoidal wave. The de-
viation froma pure sinusoidal wave is expressed
by the total harmonic distortion as
THD = 100%
_
A
2
2
+A
2
3
+A
2
4
+
where A
k
is the ratio of the amplitude of the kth
harmonic to the amplitude of the fundamental
frequency in the Fourier series representation of
the given waveform.
diverging wave A wave in which amplitude
and energy are decreased with the distance of
propagation. Point source, dipole, quadrupole
and most other sources emit diverging waves.
Two important particular kinds of diverging
waves are a spherical diverging wave, the am-
plitude of which decreases with the distance r
of propagation as 1/r, and cylindrically diverg-
ing wave, the amplitude of which decreases as
1/

r.
diversity system This refers to the technique
of providing more than one path for the estab-
lishment of a channel or circuit, thus providing
a more reliable service.
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divider (1) Voltage or current divider. A
system of resistors, or loads, intended to reduce
a given voltage or current to a desired fraction
of the original value. A simple voltage divider
is shown below. The output voltage is
V
out
=
R
2
R
2
+R
1
V
in
,
assuming no current is drawn on the output.
A voltage divider based on two resistors.
(2) Frequency divider. See frequency divider.
D-lines of sodium The emission spectra of
sodiumvapor consists of twobright yellowspec-
tral lines called the sodium D
1
and D
2
lines.
Their wavelengths are 5889.95 and 5895.92
, respectively. They result fromtransitions be-
tween the spin-orbit split 3p excited states and
the 3s ground state.
DNA structure DNA (deoxyribonucleic
acid) is a polymeric molecule in which the
monomer is composed of a ribose sugar, a phos-
phate group and one of four bases (the purines
adenine and guanine, and the pyrimidines cyto-
sine and thymine). The deoxyribose and phos-
phate groups form the backbone of the polymer.
Double-helical DNA is formed by hydrogen-
bonding of the bases on two strands of DNA.
The nature of the hydrogen bonding is such that
adenine always binds with thymine and gua-
nine always binds with cytosine. The stabil-
ity of the double helices are affected both by
the hydrogen-bonding within base pairs and by
stacking interactions (van der Waals in nature)
of the planar bases. Four different right-handed
conformations (denoted A, B, C and D) have
been observed and one left-handed conforma-
tion (called Z) has been reported. DNA in so-
lution adopts the B conformation, making it
clearly important for living cells. The A con-
formation might have biological relevance since
RNA is always found in the A conformation. Z-
DNA has been associated with gene regulation.
The C and D conformations appear to exist only
in the laboratory. The right-handed conforma-
tions differ by their helical pitch as well as the
position and orientation of the base pairs within
the double helix. The genetic code itself is con-
tained in the sequence of the bases along one of
the two strands (known as the sense strand).
dominant wavelength One of the three ob-
jective parameters (dominant wavelength, col-
orimetric purity and luminosity) used in colori-
metric representation of the psychological sen-
sation of light. In the monochromatic method of
colorimetry, half the photometric eld is illumi-
nated by the color to be matched, and the other
half by a mixture of controllable amounts of
monochromatic light of adjustable wavelengths
and white light of denite spectral quality. The
dominant wavelength is the wavelength of the
monochromatic light. The luminosity is the sum
of the monochromatic and white light luminosi-
ties. The colorimetric purity is the ratio of the
luminosity of the monochromatic radiation to
the total luminosity.
Donnan equilibrium Gibbs-Donnan equi-
librium exists when, on opposite sides of a
semipermeable membrane, the product of dif-
fusable anion and counterion concentrations are
equal, and when the sum of the concentrations
for diffusable and nondiffusable anions and the
sum of the diffusable and nondiffusable coun-
terions are equal. This creates the membrane
potential.
donor A donor is an impurity added to
a semiconducting material, either during the
crystal growing process, or later by diffusion.
The donor atoms are substituted for the origi-
nal semiconductor atoms within the crystaline
structure. However, in forming the covalent
bonds with neighboring atoms, the donor atom
has one (or more) extra electron(s) that can act
as extra charge carriers in the bulk of the crystal.
For example, pure silicon (Si) has four elec-
trons in its outermost unlled shell (valence
electrons). In forming the crystal, Si forms four
2001 CRC Press LLC
covalent bonds with four different neighbors;
each bond is two electrons with opposite spins.
The geometrical arrangement of the four bonds
is tetrahedral. Thus, the crystaline structure is
diamond-like.
If a pentavalent atom (like P, As, Sb, or Bi)
is substituted for one of the original Si atoms,
four of the ve valence electrons will partici-
pate normally in the diamond-like structure and
there will be an extra electron. (See the rst
accompanying gure.) Normally this electron
would be tightly bound to the donor ion. How-
ever, because the electron moves in the bulk of
the semiconductor, the binding energy of this
atom to the donor ion is greatly reduced. This
is because the electron now moves in a material
with a dielectric constant, , much higher than
vacuum and thus feels a reduced Coulumb at-
traction, and also because the effective mass of
the electron, m

e
, is reduced within the solid.
Two-dimensional projection of a tetrahedral crystaline
structure. Also shown is a donor atom with its (extra)
loosely bound electron.
An estimation of the binding energy of this
electron to the donor can be calculated by ap-
proximating the donor ion and electron pair as
a hydrogenic system. Then, from elementary
quantummechanics, the binding energy is given
by
E
D
=
e
4
m

e
2
2

2
,
or 0.02 eV , using numbers for a typical semi-
conductor. Here, e is the elementary charge of
the electron and is Plancks constant divided
by 2.
In the solid state, the allowed energies of the
electrons form bands and for the pure semicon-
ductor, most of the electrons are in the valence
band and cannot contribute to the bulk conduc-
tivity. However, the electrons associated with
the donors are only 0.02 eV (see above) from
the conduction band. Since thermal energies at
roomtemperature are
1
40
eV, this electron can
easily be ionized by thermal agitation and partic-
ipate as a charge carrier. (See the second acom-
panying gure.) Thus, donor electrons also have
the effect of raising the Fermi level (the energy
of a state for which the probability for occupa-
tion is
1
2
) closer to the conduction band. See
also acceptor; doping.
Qualitative illustration of allowed electron energies in
a donor doped (n-type) semiconductor.
doping Doping is the deliberate addition of
impurities to a semiconductor. If the impurity
atom is approximately the same size as the in-
digenous semiconductor atoms and does not dis-
rupt the normal crystalline structure, thenadding
impurities has the effect of replacing some of the
original atoms with the impurity atoms. This is
done to change the available number of charge
carriers in the bulk semiconductor, thus enhanc-
ing the conductivity. When this is done, the
conductivity changes from intrinsic to extrinsic
conductivity and can have vastly different tem-
2001 CRC Press LLC
perature dependencies. See also intrinsic con-
ductivity.
If an impurity contributes extra electrons to
the semiconductor, it is called a donor and the
crystal as a whole becomes an ntype semi-
conductor. If, on the other hand, the impurity
contributes a hole, then it is called an acceptor
and the semiconductor becomes ptype. This is
summarized in the accompanying table.
Summary of basic
semiconductor doping
schemes
impurity type contributed
class carrier
donor n-type electron
acceptor p-type hole
Electrical devices with desirable electrical
characteristics can be constructed by judiciously
forming junctions of different types and concen-
trations of impurities. For example a suitable
junction between an ntype and a ptype semi-
conductor forms a pn junction a basic diode.
See also donor; acceptor; diode.
Doppler effect (1) The change of the appar-
ent frequency of the source of electromagnetic
or acoustic radiation due to the relative motion
of the source and observer. If the source emits
light of frequency , wavelength , and its mo-
tion is towards the observer with a velocity u, the
observer receives u/ waves in addition to the
number = c/ that would reach the observer
in the absence of relative motion. If the motion
is away fromthe observer, then u/fewer waves
are counted.
(2) Difference in frequencies of a sound or
electromagnetic wave radiated by a source and
received by an observer which are in relative
motion. In acoustics, the Doppler effect in a
homogeneous non-moving medium is given by
the formula

=

1nu/c
. Here, and

are
the angular frequencies of the radiated and re-
ceived wave, u is the source velocity, c is the
sound speed, n is the unit vector in the direc-
tion of wave propagation, and it is assumed, for
simplicity, that the receiver is at rest. The differ-
ence =

is called the Doppler shift.

The Doppler shift is positive (negative) if
the source is moving toward (away from) the re-
ceiver. In electrodynamics, the Doppler effect in
a vacuum is given by

1u
2
/c
2
1nu/c
, where
the notations are the same, except c, that is, light
velocity. The difference between the formulae
for the Doppler effect in acoustics and electro-
dynamics is the factor
_
1 u
2
/c
2
, which is
due to the Lorentz transformation in the theory
of relativity.
Doppler shift The change in frequency seen
by an observer of a source of sinusoidal waves
when the observer and source are in relative
motion. For electromagnetic waves, all inertial
frames are physically equivalent, so the Doppler
shift depends only on the relative velocity. For
sound waves, the medium is the preferred ref-
erence frame, and the shift can depend on the
velocity of the medium as well.
dosimetry A procedure for measuring ab-
sorbed radiation dose.
dosimetry, thermoluminiscent Measure-
ment of radiation dose absorbed by lithium u-
oride by quantication of the light output of the
heated material.
double Kevin bridge Double Kevin bridge
is a type of resistance bridge designed to min-
imize the effects of lead or contact resistance.
It is used to measure low values of resistance
precisely. A diagram of double Kevin bridge
is shown below. Here, the unknown resistance,
x, and the standard resistance, S, are connected
in series with a battery, variable resistor, a Gal-
vanometer, and lowresistance wire, l. The resis-
tances r
1
, r
2
, r
3
, and r
4
are contact resistances.
When the balance is achieved, the value of X is
given by
X = S
A
B
+Bl(a +b +l)
_
A
B

a
b
_
.
Balance is achieved by adjusting variable resis-
tance on the other two arms until they are equal.
double refraction The presence of two re-
fracted beams from an unpolarized incident
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Double Kevin bridge.
beam on an anisotropic material in place of
the usual single refracted beam observed for
isotropic materials. By measuring the angles
of refraction, one of the double refracted beams
is found to obey Snells law, and is termed the
ordinary ray, while the other does not and is
termed the extraordinary ray. Double refrac-
tion in crystals of calcite and quartz allow the
production of polarized light over a wider range
of wavelengths than is possible using dichroic
materials such as Polaroid. The frequency of
the light appears to the observer to be increased
by the ratio of the propagation speed to the prop-
agation speed reduced by the relative speed. If
the motion is away from the observer, the fre-
quency appears to the observer to be decreased
by the ratio of the propagation speed to the sum
of the propagation speed and the relative speed.
doublet Alens combination of opposite signs
used for the elimination of spherical aberration.
The amount of spherical aberration introduced
by one lens of such a combination must be oppo-
site to that introduced by the other. Neutraliza-
tionis possible ina doublet because the spherical
aberration varies as the cube of focal length and
therefore changes sign with the focal length.
downlink The transmission of data from a
space vehicle, e.g., a missile or satellite, to the
ground. It is usually modulated onto subcarriers
and then onto RF carriers.
drain One of the connections to the chan-
nel of an FET (eld effect transistor). See also
transistor, eld effect.
drift (1) Slow changes in operating param-
eters or conditions that affect the output of, for
example, an electronic amplier. This would
be indistinguishable from a very low frequency
input signal.
(2) Electron motion in a conductor or semi-
conductor under the inuence of an applied elec-
tric eld. The drift velocity is given by
v = E
where is the (material-specic) mobility coef-
cient and E is the applied electric eld.
drift velocity Mean velocity of the current
carrying particles upon the application of an
electric eld. It is given by v = J/(ne), where
J = current density, n = density of charge car-
riers and e = their charge. Typical values for
metals are 10
(5)
m/s.
drum Anearlyhigh-speed, direct access stor-
age device that used a magnetic-coated cylinder
withtracks aroundits circumference. Eachtrack
had its own read/write head.
drum factor The ratio of the length of the
drum usable for scanning to its diameter, for a
receiver or transmitter drum.
drumreceiver Facsimile apparatus in which
the recording medium is attached to a rotating
drum. This is scanned helically by a recording
head.
drum speed The speed with which the mag-
netic coated cylinder, used as a direct access de-
vice, rotates. See drum.
drum transmitter Facsimile apparatus in
which the document to be transmitted is attached
to a rotating drum. This is scanned helically by
a reading head.
dry cell A cell in which the electrolyte is
soaked by absorbing material to prevent the
spilling or leakage of the electrolyte is called
2001 CRC Press LLC
a dry cell. A common example of a dry cell is a
carbon-zinc (Laclanche) cell.
duality principle The duality principle states
that the logical value of an boolean expression
remains unchanged if
1. every conjunction is replaced with a dis-
junction,
2. every disjunction is replaced with a con-
junction, and
3. every variable, term, and functional result
is inverted.
An example of the duality principle is
de Morgans laws. To illustrate the principle,
the expression
Y = AB
is logically equivalent to
Y =

A

B ,
where the bar (. . .) represents the inverse of that
variable, represents conjunction, and is the
disjunction operation.
One application of the duality principle is de-
termining the logic function of a circuit if one
changes the logic convention. If a circuit is de-
ned in, say, positive logic, then the correspond-
ing function implemented by the same circuit
using negative logic is found by replacing each
conjunction with a disjunction and vice versa.
Note, however, that by inverting the logic con-
vention, the truth value of each input signal (the
input boolean variable) and output (functional
result) is necessarily inverted. This can be illus-
trated by using the equations above as an exam-
ple.
Consider a circuit with two inputs A and B
which, when operated with a positive logic con-
vention, acts as an ANDgate. Shown in the rst
section of the acompanying table is the output of
the gate, Y , for all possible states of the inputs
using 1 and 0 to represent logical true and false.
The second section is obtained by re-writing this
information in terms of voltage levels H and L
(see convention; logic gates) with the view that
the gate is now just an arbitrary circuit. Now, if
the circuit is operated using a negative logic con-
vention (by redening the relative potential of 0
volts and being mindful of proper power supply
connections), the truth table shown in the third
section is obtained. Thus, by inspection of the
table, the circuit now operates as an OR gate in
negative logic.
Operation of a circuit used in positive or
negative logic
Positive Arbitrary Negative
logic circuit logic
A B Y A B Y A B Y
0 0 0 L L L 1 1 1
0 1 1 L H L 1 0 1
1 0 1 H L L 0 1 1
1 1 1 H H H 0 0 0
duct (waveguide), acoustic (1) A pipe or
tube along the interior of which sound is trans-
mitted. These ducts can be of various shape
and form (i.e., rectangular, cylindrical) and are
widely used in practice.
(2) A medium where sound can propagate
only between two layers or surfaces. Examples
of these waveguides are an atmosphere between
the ground and the height of temperature inver-
sion, where sound waves can be trapped, and an
ocean where sound is trapped between its sur-
face and bottom.
duplexing Term used to describe two sys-
tems that are functionally identical. They both
may perform the same functions, or one may be
standby in the event the other fails.
duty cycle The capacity of a machine to work
under normal conditions. For example, for a
printer, it would indicate the number of pages
that can be printed per month without a problem.
dynamic characteristics The dynamic char-
acteristic curve determines the output of a cir-
cuit or circuit element for a given input voltage.
Usually, characteristic curves are a simple, one-
to-one functional relationship between the input
and output. With more complex characteristic
curves, the output may be multivalued and de-
pend on the previous value of the input, e.g.,
hysteresis.
As an example, consider the dioderesistor
circuit shown below. A voltage from a source
is applied, V
s
, across the series diode and re-
2001 CRC Press LLC
sistor circuit, and the voltage developed across
the resistor will be considered the output volt-
age. From elementary circuit analysis, the volt-
age dropped across the diode is
V
diode
= V
s
I
diode
R .
Example circuit for determining a dynamic character-
istic curve.
To actually determine the voltage dropped
across the diode, its static characteristic is re-
quired, relating the voltage across and current
through the diode. The solution can be deter-
mined graphically by plotting, on the same
graph, the load line,
I
diode
=
V
s
R

V
diode
R
where V
diode
is treated as the independent vari-
able and plotted on the xaxis and I
diode
is plot-
ted on the y-axis (see the second gure). Thus,
the intersection of the static characteristic and
load line determines the actual voltage and cur-
rent for the given (and instantaneous) value of
applied V
s
.
To determine V
R
, the output voltage, the dy-
namic characteristic I
diode
as a function of V
s
is
to be determined. This is done by drawing a line
from the solved value of I
diode
and intersecting
with a line extended from the applied V
s
(this is
shown in the gure by the dashed lines). Differ-
ent values of applied voltage, V

S
for example,
will yield a family of load lines and thus a family
of currents corresponding to the applied voltage.
In this manner, the dynamic characteristic of the
circuit can be determined from the static curve
of the diode. This curve is also shown.
Given the dynamic characteristic of the cir-
cuit, the resulting output for a given input can be
determined. For time varying signals, the input
is plotted as a function of time below the hori-
zontal axis of the dynamic characteristic curve.
This is illustrated in the third gure, using the
dynamic characteristic above as an example and
Graphical construction of dynamic curve from static
characteristic and load line for the example circuit
above.
assuming a sinusoidal input. The output is de-
termined by reecting the input waveformabout
the dynamic characteristic curve, also shown.
A dynamic characteristic curve used to determine the
output voltage as a function of time for a given input
waveform.
dynamometer A device, consisting of a set
of parallel rollers, which allows the wheels of a
vehicle to be driven while the vehicle remains
stationary. Typically used for engine diagnos-
tics.
dynamotor A device that contains a motor
and one or more generator(s). The motor and
the generator(s) have a common magnetic eld
and separate armature windings. One of the ar-
mature windings receives direct current and op-
erates as a motor. The motor rotates and the
2001 CRC Press LLC
other armature windings operate as generators.
It is used for transformation of DC voltage.
E
ear A component of a complex acoustical
system of hearing. Three main parts of the hu-
man ear are the outer ear, the middle air, and
the inner ear. The outer ear consists of the pinna
and the auditory canal which is closed at the end
by the eardrum. The middle ear has three small
bones: the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup,
which are connected to each other. The hum-
mer and the stirrup are attached to the eardrum
and to the oval window, respectively. The oval
window is a membrane that divides the middle
ear from the inner ear, which consists in part of
the cochlea and the basilar membrane. A sound
from the outer ear sets the eardrum into vibra-
tions. These vibrations are further transmitted
through the bones of the middle ear to the oval
window and the basilar membrane, which has
nerve endings connected to the brain. This pro-
cess results in the hearing of sound. Human ears
can localize a source of sound and distinguish its
loudness, timbre and pitch. See also audibility,
limits of; audio frequency; binaural.
ear, articial An articial device to permit
hearing for those whose ears do not function.
earthquake Sudden motions in the earths
crust. The most common mechanism of earth-
quakes is displacement along a fault that gen-
erates seismic waves. Earthquakes can lead to
devastating distractions on the earths surface
and tsunami in the ocean. Seismic waves gener-
ated by an earthquake can propagate through the
crust, the mantle and the core of the earth, en-
abling retrieval of information about the internal
structure of the earth.
echelette Diffraction grating with large in-
tervals and at grooves inclined at an angle to
reect radiation in the direction of the order in-
tended to be brightest. Termused by R.W. Wood
for infrared grating of this type. Echelette grat-
ings are now generally called blazed grating.
echelon Diffraction grating for high reso-
lution studies of a small portion of the spec-
trum, such as the hyperne structure of lines
or the Zeeman effect. Twenty to forty accu-
rately plane-parallel plates are stacked together
and staggered to form a series of steps with a
constant offset of about 1 mm. The thickness
of each plate is usually about 1 cm, so the grat-
ing space is very large and the concentration oc-
curs in an extremely high ordering. The light
is concentrated in a direction perpendicular to
the fronts of the steps. At most, two orders of
a given wavelength appear under the diffraction
maxima. But the order is so large that the resolv-
ing power (order times the number of plates) is
100,000 to 1,000,000 even though the number
of plates is relatively small. Echelon was pio-
neered by A.A. Michelson and was the rst use
of the principle of concentrating a light in par-
ticular order.
echo A wave reected or scattered by an
object, surface or inhomogeneity in a medium.
Echoes are a very common phenomenon in the
propagation of sound. For example, a listener in
a roomhears not only direct sound froma source
but also multiple echoes from walls (see acous-
tics of rooms). Bats use echoes to navigate and
to nd prey. Echoes are also used in acoustical
instruments, such as sonar and echo sounders,
to measure the distances to an object.
echocardiography The use of ultrasound to
study heart structure and motion. In this non-
invasive technique, a transducer is held against
the chest to send a beam of very high frequency
sound waves to the heart. A certain fraction
of these ultrasonic waves are reected by the
interface between two different types of tissue.
The same transducer receives the reected sig-
nal that is then displayed to reveal the structure
of the heart and the motion of the various parts
of the heart throughout the cardiac cycle.
echoes, utter A succession of echoes from
a single impulse source that do not overlap and
occur rapidly one after the other. Flutter echoes
canappear inauditoriums androoms withhighly
reective walls. Flutter echoes signicantly de-
crease the acoustic quality of auditoriums and
rooms and, therefore, should be eliminated.
2001 CRC Press LLC
echo, harmonic An echo produced by scat-
tering or reection of an overtone rather than
the fundamental frequency of a complex sound.
Harmonic echoes can occur because scattering
amplitude is proportional to a power of fre-
quency and the frequency of overtone is always
greater than the fundamental frequency. There-
fore, the amplitude of the harmonic echo can be
greater than that produced by scattering of the
fundamental frequency.
echo, musical A specic kind of utter
echo. Musical echoes occur when scattering
objects are located at approximately uniformly
increased distances from a source, resulting in
periodic multiple echoes.
echo sounder A navigational acoustic sys-
tem that is used to measure water depth. An
echo sounder consists of a transducer that emits
an acoustic pulse, which propagates from the
ocean surface to the bottom, reects and comes
back to the transducer. A measured characteris-
tic is the time interval t between pulse emis-
sion and reception. The ocean depth h is calcu-
lated by using the formula h = ct/2, where c
is the sound speed in water.
eddy currents Currents induced in a con-
ductor due to the presence of an applied, chang-
ing magnetic eld through the conductor. These
currents always circulate in such a way that the
produced magnetic eld opposes the change in
the applied eld, in accordance with Lenzs law.
effusive beam A beam of molecules formed
by leakage of gas through a ne orice. Gra-
hams law applies when the mean free path is
small compared to the dimensions of the orice,
the owbeing analogous to a uid jet forced out
by pressure. At low pressures, the mean free
path is large compared to the dimensions of the
orice, the mechanism of escape of gas is dif-
ferent, and it is termed molecular effusion. In
this case the volume diffusing per second into
a vacuum is directly proportional to the area of
orice and inversely proportional to the square
root of molecular weight.
Einstein function The Einstein model for
the heat capacity of phonons assumes all of the
phonons are at the same energy. This assump-
tion produces a heat capacity C
V
C
V
= 3Nk
B

k
B
T

e
/k
B
T
(e
/k
B
T
1)
2
where is the energy of an oscillator. At high
temperatures, the heat capacity becomes 3Nk
B
,
the classical DulongandPetit value. At lowtem-
peratures, the model predicts the heat capacity
will decrease as exp(-/k
B
T) incontrast toex-
periments which show the heat capacity follow-
ing the Debye model (T
3
at low temperatures).
The equal-energy approximation for the oscil-
lator energies is valid for the optical branches
of the phonon spectrum, and this is where the
Einstein model is most often used.
electric attraction According to Coulombs
law, electric charges with opposite polarity will
attract each other. This is known as electric at-
traction.
electric conductivity The ability of a mate-
rial to conduct electric current. It is expressed in
terms of the current per unit of applied voltage.
electric conductor An electric conductor is
a material that conducts electric current. Typi-
cal electric conductors are metals with free elec-
trons as carriers.
electric dipole When two charges, opposite
in sign (q and q), are placed a very short dis-
tance d apart, they form an electric dipole with
electric dipole moment p = qd. An ideal elec-
tric dipole exists where q goes to innity and d
goes to zero while maintaining the product qd
constant.
electric dipole moment A measure of the
strength of an electric dipole. In the simple point
charge model, the electric dipole moment is de-
ned as p = qd, where q is the charge and d is
the distance between the two point charges. In
a more general form, p =

x(x) dx.
electric displacement The vector D, which
is related to the sum of the electric eld E and
the electric polarization P, by D =
0
E + P.
By Gausss law it can be shown that the ux of
2001 CRC Press LLC
D through a closed surface is equal to the free
charge within the surface.
electric eld The force per unit charge on
a test charge in a given electric eld. For the
case of a static charged point particle Q, its elec-
tric eld is found via Coulombs law E(r) =
F(r, q)/q = Q/(4r
2
)r.
electric eld, energy in The energy stored in
an electric eld is given by E =
0
/2

E.E dv.
Thus the energy per unit volume in the eld is

0
/2E
2
.
electric eld gradient The gradient of the
electric eld vector. The articial electric eld
gradient is used for particle acceleration. The
electric eld gradient around an atomis affected
by the anisotropy of the electric charge distribu-
tion of the atom. It can be observed by using the
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique.
electric eld, induced The electric eld pro-
duced by a time variance.
electric ux By denition, this is E.da,
where E is the electric eld, and da is a vec-
tor normal to an innitesimal surface of area da.
Gausss law states that the electric ux through
a closed surface is related to the enclosed charge
Q.
electric ux density Also known as elec-
tric displacement, and normally denoted by a
symbol D. The density of theoretical lines of
force that extend in all directions from an elec-
tric charge or a charged body. It is measured in
coulombs-per-meter squared. The permittivity
of the medium is given by D/E. The electric
ux density D can dened as:
D =
0
E + P ,
= E ,
where
0
, E, and P are the permittivity of free
space, electric eld, and polarization, respec-
tively. The permittivity of the mediumis given
by D/E. The divergence of the electric ux
density is from surface charge density :
divD = .
The rotation of the electric ux density is zero;
rotD = 0. The energy stored in a capacitor U
is calculated from E and D:
U =
1
2

E DdV .
There is a relationship between magnetic eld
strength H, magnetic ux density B, magnetism
M, and D:
rotH = rot

0
M

=
D
t
,
where
0
is the permeability.
electric intensity Normally electric intensity
is denoted by a symbol E. Currently, it is called
the electric eld strength or electric eld inten-
sity. The electric intensity is the strength of an
electric eld at a given point in the eld and is
equal to the force exerted by the eld on unit
charge at the point.
It is measured in volts per meter. Electric
eld strength E is the total electric eld strength
due to the set of point charge q
i
:
E(r) =
1
4
0

i
q
i
(r r
i
)
|r r
i
|
3
,
where
0
is the permittivity of free space. A
scalar function electrostatic potential (r) is de-
ned as:
(r) =
1
4
0

i
q
i
|r r
i
|
.
E is derived from Phi as:
E = .
electric moment The torque exerted on an
electric dipole in an electric eld. A distribu-
tion of charges can be regarded as a dipole and
its electric moment can be calculated as a vec-
tor equal to the product of the magnitude of the
charges and the distance between the charges of
the virtual dipole.
electric polarization P, the electric dipole
moment per unit volume, given by Np, where p
is the dipole moment of the molecule/atom, and
N is their number per unit volume. One can
2001 CRC Press LLC
show that P is related to the volume density
b
and surface density
b
of bound charges via the
relationships
p
= .P and
b
= P.n, where
n is the surface normal.
electric screening A screen of conductive
material used for the reduction of electric elds
entering a particular region. See electrostatic
shielding.
electric shock A physiological stimulation
caused by electric current passing through tis-
sue. It sometimes causes involuntary contrac-
tions of the muscles. A severe shock can dam-
age heart and even cause death.
electroacoustics The branch of acoustics and
technique that deals with basic principles and
design of electroacoustical transducers that are
used to convert sound energy into electrical en-
ergy or vice versa. One of the main tasks of
electroacoustics is to nd a relationship between
an acoustic (electrical) input and an electrical
(acoustic) output of a transducer. To solve this
task, equivalent electrical circuits of acoustic
systems are often used. The other important task
of electroacoustics is to achieve maximum ef-
ciency of an electroacoustical transducer and
minimal acoustic distortion.
electrocardiography The study of electrical
potential produced by the heart beat at various
locations on the surface of the body. The rhyth-
mic contractions of the heart are controlled by
an electrical signal generated in a specialized
region of the right atrium called the sinoatrial
node, the hearts natural pacemaker. This elec-
trical signal spreads throughout the heart, caus-
ing its contraction.
electrocorticography The study of the elec-
trical activity of the brain via electrodes placed
directly on the exposed cerebral cortex.
electrode A conductor for emitting, deect-
ing, or collecting electric charge carriers in a
cell, an electron tube, a semiconductor device,
and so on. A positive electrode is usually called
an anode and a negative electrode is called a
cathode.
electrode dissipation The power dissipated
in the form of heat by an electrode. It is caused
by bombardment by electrons and/or ions.
electrode efciency The ratio of the actual
yield of metal deposited in an electrolytic cell
to the yield that could be deposited theoretically
as a result of electric current passed through the
cell.
electrode, implanted A conductor that has
been placed inside tissue in order to detect elec-
trical activity or to supply exciting pulses. Im-
plantation may be accomplished surgically.
electrodes, beveled A conductor used to es-
tablish contact with a part of a circuit.
electrodes, intercerebral A conductor at-
tached to the cerebrum in order to monitor elec-
trical activity of that part of the brain.
electrodes, pHsensitive Aconducting mate-
rial that is sensitive to the concentration of pos-
itive hydrogen ions in solution.
electrode, surface A conductor attached to
the outside of a body in order to monitor the
electrical activity inside.
electrodynamometer Instrument for mea-
suring small currents.
electroencephalography The study of the
electrical activity of the brain as measured by
electrodes attached to the scalp. Potential dif-
ferences up to 100s of microvolts are recorded
with this technique. Spectral analysis of elec-
troencephalograms (EEG) show wave-like phe-
nomena in several different frequency ranges,
particularly when the subject is asleep. The low-
est frequency components (between 1 and 3 Hz)
are termed delta waves and are associated with
deep sleep. theta waves have frequencies be-
tween 4 and 7 Hz. Most brain waves are found
in the frequency range between 8 and 13 Hz.
These waves are called alpha waves and are as-
sociated with light sleep. The highest frequen-
cies wave, called beta waves, are in the 13 to 30
Hz range.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Several diseases, such as cerebral tumors and
epilepsy, can be diagnosed by causing unusual
features in the EEG. Electroencephalography
has also been used very extensively in research
on sleep and its various stages.
electrogenic pump The mechanism respon-
sible for transferring electrical charge across a
membrane, resulting in a potential difference
across that membrane.
electrokinesis The movement of charged
particles through a continuous medium under
the inuence of an electrical eld. Such physi-
cal phenomena are frequently associated with
a charged surface in an electrolytic solution.
The four principal electrokinetic phenomena are
electrophoresis, electroosmosis, streaming po-
tential and sedimentation potential.
electroluminescence Process by which elec-
trical energyis converteddirectlyintolight with-
out thermal losses, e.g., electron recombination
of a pn junction.
electrolysis The production of a chemical re-
action by an electric current passing through an
electrolyte. The chemical action is a oxidation-
reduction reaction depending on an electron
transfer at the electrodes. Positive ions migrate
to the cathode. Positive ions are reduced (gain
electrons) to form a neutral species at cathode.
Negative ions migrate to the anode to be oxi-
dized at the anode. Negative ions are oxidized
(lose electrons) to forma neutral species at cath-
ode.
electrolyte A liquid that contains positive or
negative ions as electric carriers and conducts
electricity. It contains substances that act on one
or both of the electrodes and cause a chemical
action to generate an electric current ow. Elec-
trolytes are moltenionic compounds or solutions
containing ions, i.e., solutions of ionic salts or
compounds that ionize in a solution. Usually, a
liquid metal is not regarded as an electrolyte.
electrolytic dissociation The separation of a
neutral ionic compound into positive and nega-
tive ions, usually caused by dissolution. In case
of reversible dissociation, the equilibrium con-
stant of the reaction is called dissociation con-
stant.
electrolytic polarization The phenomenon
of the existence of the electrolytic polarization
voltage, which is required for a steady current
to ow through an electrolytic cell. The irre-
versible chemical reaction around the electrode
causes the electrolytic polarization voltage. The
delayof diffusionandtransport of the substances
to the reaction around the electrode also cause
electrolytic polarization. Depolarizing agents
are used to reduce the electrolytic polarization,
also known as electrochemical polarization.
electrolytic tank A device used to make a
model for solving electrostatic problems analo-
gously by measurements made on a model elec-
trolyte in the tank.
electromagnetic pump This type of pump
operates on the principle that a force is exerted
upon a conductor that carries current in a mag-
netic eld. Liquidmetals have highconductivity
and can be conveniently used in such pumps.
electromagnetic units Electromagnetic units
(EMU) are a systemof electrical units. For each
system,

0
=
1
c
2
,
where
0
is the electric constant (the permittivity
of free space),
0
is the magnetic constant (the
permeability of free space), and c is the speed of
light in free space. It is used in the centimeter,
gram, second (CSG) system. Usually, electro-
magnetic units have the prex ab- attached to
the names of conventional units. In the EMU
system, the unit of electric current is dened by
making the coefcient constant of the force be-
tween a pair of parallel electric currents equal to
two:
F = 2
ii

r
2
,
where F is the force between a pair of parallel
currents i, i

with distance r. The ab-ampere

is the EMU of a current 1 ab-coulomb per sec-
ond. It also can be said that, in the EMUsystem,
the unit of magnetic poles is dened to make
the coefcient constant of the force between the
2001 CRC Press LLC
magnetic poles equal to one:
F =
gg

r
2
,
where F is the force between a pair of magnetic
poles g, g

with distance r. The dimension of

the ab-coulomb is different fromthe coulomb of
SI units. The quantity of electric charge mea-
sured in electrostatic units q
EMU
is related to one
measured in SI units q:
q
EMU
=

0
4
q
SI
,
=
1
c
1

4
0
q
SI
.
The unit of the electric charge is (s dyn
1/2
)
and its dimension is (length
1/2
mass
1/2
).
electromagnets Electromagnets are tempo-
rary magnets that make use of electric currents
to generate the magnetic eld.
electrometer A voltmeter with a very high
resistance (10
1
4 ohm), suitable for measuring
voltages on small capacitors, etc.
electrometer, Hoffmann A sensitive elec-
trometer consisting of a half-vane (only one
blade vane) in a pair of segmented metal boxes
(binants).
It is also known as a binant electrometer.
electrometer, Lindemann A highly sensi-
tive electrometer. It has a light needle supported
by a torsion ber surrounded by metal plate
quadrants on all sides. The opposite metal plate
of the quadrants are connected. The voltage be-
tween the plates causes a force on the needle. A
microscope measures the deection of the nee-
dle tip.
electrometer, quadrant An electrometer
consisting of a set of quadrants and a light vane
suspended by a quartz ber between the quad-
rants. The quadrants are oppositely connected
in pairs. Aquadrant electrometer is used to mea-
sure voltages and charges. The voltage between
the pairs of quadrants causes the deectionof the
vane. The angle of deection is proportional to
the voltage. The Dolezalek quadrant electrom-
eter is well known.
electromotive force Old termfor the induced
electric potential given by Faradays induction
law.
electromotive force, motional An emf that
arises in a conductor in relative motion to an ex-
ternal magnetic eld due to Faradays induction.
electromotive force, self induced An emf
that arises in inductances when their self eld
changes.
electromyography The study of the elec-
trical signals associated with muscular activity,
usually the skeletal muscles. The voltage sig-
nals are detected either with electrodes attached
to the surface of the skin or with needle elec-
trodes. This technique is useful in studying neu-
romuscular function, possible damage to nerves,
and in kinesiology.
electron charge The charge of one electron
is equal to 1.60218 10
19
coulombs. This
quantity is a fundamental constant of nature and
a basic unit of charge.
electronic mail (email) The ability to com-
pose, send and receive mail via the computer
using some type of email program. That is, ter-
minals can transmit documents such as letters,
reports, and telexes to other computers or ter-
minals. Such services can be accessed using a
public network through a host computer and can
be retrieved at other terminals.
electronic musical instruments Musical in-
struments that generate electromagnetic vibra-
tions of desired form and spectrum that are then
converted into sound by means of electro-
acoustical transducers. Examples of electronic
musical instruments are an electronic piano, gui-
tar, organ, and carillon. Electronic musical in-
struments are used to imitate sound of stan-
dard musical instruments, to simplify their con-
struction and minimize their size, and to develop
new musical instruments. Sound produced by
electronic musical instruments is called syn-
thetic sound.
electron multiplier A device primarily used
for the detection of single, elementary atomic
2001 CRC Press LLC
particles such as electrons, photons, and ions.
An electron multiplier consists of a sequence
of electrodes called dynodes and produces an
output pulse of charge for each incident particle.
If the particle to be detected is incident on
the rst dynode and has sufcient energy, it will
cause some electrons to be ejected fromthe dyn-
ode surface upon impact. These secondary elec-
trons are accelerated toward the next dynode in
the sequence (by proper arrangement of rela-
tive electrostatic potentials) and they eject more
electrons upon impact. These tertiary electrons
are accelerated to a fourth dynode, and so on.
Assuming that, nominally, three electrons are
ejected from a dynode surface per incident elec-
tron, a multiplier with n dynodes will have a gain
of approximately 3
n
. For example, an electron
multiplier with 10 dynodes will have a shower
of 10
6
electrons collected on the last dynode for
a given single particle incident on the rst dyn-
ode. Thus, there is now a sufcient amount of
charge collected on the last dynode that can be
processed with conventional electronics.
The quintessential discrete dynode electron multiplier.
Illustrated is electron multiplication of a single event
(the incident particle) creating a shower of charge col-
lected on the last dynode.
It is possible to have an electron multiplier
with one continuous dynode instead of the dis-
crete dynode chain described above. Here, the
dynode is a lm of moderately high resistance
material with suitable secondary electron emis-
sion characteristics and is coated on the inside of
a glass tube. A particle impinging on the begin-
ning of the tube will eject secondary electrons
and cause a shower of electrons to be acceler-
ated and multiplied (in a manner similar to the
discrete dynode multiplier) for collection at the
end of the tube. A continuous dynode electron
multiplier is usually physically smaller than a
discrete multiplier with comparable gain.
A continuous dynode electron multiplier illustrating
electron multiplication of a single event (the incident
particle). Operation of the device is similar to the dis-
crete dynode electron multipler.
electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR)
technique Atechnique inwhichthe magnetic
resonance of a nucleus is detected by observing
the resonance absorption of an associated un-
paired electron. This effect is due to hyperne
coupling of the nuclear and electron magnetic
moments. The statistical distribution of nuclear
spin alignments within the sample causes each
unpaired electron to experience a different local
magnetic eld. Because of the differences in the
time scales for spin ipping, the electrons expe-
rience inhomogeneous broadening. To perform
an ENDOR experiment, the sample chamber is
bathed in both microwave and radio-frequency
elds. The applied static magnetic eld and
the microwave radiation are tuned to an elec-
tron resonance. The intensity of the microwave
eld is sufcient to saturate the spin states for
those matching electrons, a subset of all of the
unpaired electrons. The frequency of the ra-
2001 CRC Press LLC
dio waves is slowly scanned and the microwave
absorption of the cavity is monitored. When
the frequency of the radio waves is correct to
ip more nuclei into the orientation correspond-
ing to the subset of unpaired electrons, the ob-
served absorption of microwave radiation will
increase. In this technique, the absorption of
the microwave eld is observed while the fre-
quency of the radio eld is scanned.
electron optics Mathematical analogy be-
tween the passage of an electron beam through
magnetic and electric elds and the passage of a
beam of light through refracting media. A lim-
ited magnetic or electric eld is considered to
form a lens, which can be combined in ways
analogous to optics to form various focusing in-
struments, such as an electron microscope.
electron-phonon interaction parameter
See superconductivity.
electron transport chain, photosynthesis
The chain by which an electron, excited by the
absorption of light, moves through the pigment-
protein complex of the light-harvesting struc-
tures to create a potential difference. All sub-
sequent chemical reactions which convert CO
2
and water to carbohydrates are driven by this
potential difference. In the purple bacterium
Rhodobactersphaeroides, optical excitationof
a pair of chlorophyll molecules in the reaction
center leads to the movement of an electron to a
pheophytin molecule within a few picoseconds.
This electron hops to a quinone molecule within
about 200 psec. The electron hops to a second
quinone molecule in about 100 sec. After this
process is repeated, a complex composed of two
excited quinone molecules participates in chem-
ical reactions which create the potential differ-
ence across the membrane in which the complex
sits.
electron-volt Energy equivalent to the ki-
netic energy gained by a particle with one elec-
tronic charge that is accelerated across one volt.
It equals 1.6 10
(19)
J.
electrooptic effect The changes in the prop-
agation of light through matter due to the ap-
plication of electric elds. Electrooptic effects
include the Kerr effect, electric double refrac-
tion, the Stark effect, and the inverse Stark ef-
fect. In the Kerr effect, double refraction ap-
pears with the application of an electric eld.
Glass, some liquids (nitrobenzene), and gases
exhibit this effect. The magnitude of this ef-
fect is proportional to the electric eld strength
squared. Electric double refraction effect refers
to the appearance of double refraction at fre-
quencies close to the absorption lines with the
application of an electric eld. In the Stark ef-
fect, spectral lines are split with the application
of a strong electric eld. The Stark effect with
the lines appearing in absorption is called the
inverse Stark effect.
electrophoresis The movement of charged
particles (usually macromolecules or colloidal
particles) due to the presence of an electrical
eld. In most biochemical applications, a gel
is used as the medium. Application of an elec-
trical eld to a collection of dissimilar charged
particles in a gel will cause the particles to mi-
grate in a direction determined by the sign of
their charge and the polarity of the applied elec-
trical eld. The particles will move at different
speeds depending on their net charge, size and
shape. Since most species are in low-charged
states (usually +1e and occasionally +2e), the
geometric differences of the species are the dom-
inant factor for determining the speed of the
particle. The weight of the macromolecule it-
self is the usual cause for differences in size
and shape, making electrophoresis an excellent
method for separating macromolecules on the
basis of weight.
electroretinography The study of the elec-
trical potential of the retina in response to stim-
ulation via light.
electroscope Instrument for detecting static
electric charges. It consists of two thin sheets
of conducting material that hang freely from a
conducting pivot. When a statically charged ob-
ject is brought near the pivot, the plates separate
due to the mutual repulsion of the like charges
that are on both plates.
2001 CRC Press LLC
electrostatic eld The electric eld created
by stationary charges. The force on test charges
placed in such a eld is given by Coulombs law.
electrostatic focusing Focusing of the elec-
tron beam by use of an electrostatic lens that
varies the electric eld. See electrostatic lens.
electrostatic hazards General term ap-
plied to potentially dangerous situations that
are caused by the build-up and eventual dis-
charge of static electric charges. Such dis-
charges can cause res/explosions in environ-
ments with high concentrations of amable or
powered materials.
electrostatic induction The generation of an
electrical charge on a conductor by a electric
eld. Apositive charge causes a negative charge
on the uncharged object that is nearest to the
original positive charge.
electrostatic lens An device that generates
an electrostatic eld to cause electron beams to
converge or diverge. It is used in a cathode ray
tube (CRT) and a electron microscope. See also
microscope, electron. In a CRT, the electrostatic
lens consists of a focus anode, accelerating an-
ode, and a control grid. The electrodes of an
electrostatic lens have cylindrical formand con-
centric with the electron beam. The focus anode
and accelerating anode are maintained at a pos-
itive potential with respect to the cathode. The
potential of the accelerating anode is higher than
that of the focus anode. The control grid con-
trols the energy of the beam and consequently
the intensity of the beam spot. The focal length
of this lens depends on the potential of the focus
anode. The potential of the acceleration anode
also affects the focal length.
electrostatics The branch of electricity study
that studies electrical charges at rest, such as
charge objects and stationary electric elds, and
the electric elds associated with them.
electrostatic screening An electrostatic
shield that consists of a number of parallel con-
ducting wires or rods connected at one end in
order to obstruct electric ux, while permitting
the passage of magnetic ux.
electrostatic shielding A grounded conduc-
tive screen or enclosure placed around a de-
vice or between two devices to obstruct electric
elds.
electrostatic units Electrostatic units (ESU)
are a systemof electrical units in the centimeter,
gram, second (CGS) system. For each system,

0
=
1
c
2
,
where
0
is the electric constant (the permittivity
of free space),
0
is the magnetic constant (the
permeability of free space), and c is the speed
of light in free space.
Electrostatic units have the prex stat- at-
tached to the name of conventional units. In an
ESUsystem, the unit of electric charge is dened
to make the coefcient constant of Coulombs
law equal to two:
F =
qq

r
2
,
where F is the coulomb force between a pair of
charges q, q

with distance of r.
The ESU of electric charge is the stat-
coulomb. ESU is based on this stat-coulomb,
a unit of electric charge that exerts a force of
1 dyne on another unit charge at a distance of
1 cm in a free space. The dimension of the
stat-coulomb is different from the coulomb of
SI units. The quantity of electric charge mea-
sured in electrostatic units q
ESU
is related to one
measured in SI units q:
q
ESU
=
1

4
0
q
SI
,
= c

0
4
q
SI
.
This unit systemhas been replaced for most pur-
poses by SI units. Some of the relationships be-
tween a quantity in an ESU unit system and one
in SI unit system are
E
ESU
=

4
0
E
SI
,
H
ESU
=
H
SI

0
/4
,
where E and H are the electric eld strength
and the magnetic eld strength, respectively,
2001 CRC Press LLC
Dimension of ESU units
unit dimension
q cm dyn
1/2
L
3/2
M
1/2
T
1
E cm
1
dyn
1/2
L
1/2
M
1/2
T
1
H s
1
dyn
1/2
L
1/2
M
1/2
T
2
L: length, M: mass, T: time.
electrostatic voltmeter A voltmeter that
measures the voltage applied between a xed
metal plate and a rotating metal plate placed
close to each other. The applied voltage causes
an electrostatic force that deects the rotating
plate against the torque of a spring. The arc of
the plate rotated is proportional to the applied
voltage.
electrosurgery Surgery performed using an
active electrode as a cutting device or to promote
coagulation. An alternating current in the MHz
range is frequently used.
emitter One of three connections on a bipo-
lar transistor. It is responsible for injecting the
majority charge carriers into the transistor, i.e.,
electrons for n-p-n type transistors and holes for
p-n-p type transistors. See also transistor, junc-
tion; bipolar code.
emmetropia A visual condition in which an
innitely distant object is imaged sharply on the
retina without inducing any accommodation of
the eye lens.
encoder (channel) A communication chan-
nel by which digital signals are transmitted.
Channel coding is concerned with the character-
istics of the transmission channel; the processed
data must be compatible with the requirements
of the channel. For example, a television cam-
era produces a signal in two clear parts lumi-
nance and chrominance. These two signals are
combined at the transmitter by this process and
the signals are decoded at the receiver.
encryption The process by which data is
scrambled, or made unreadable, toprevent unau-
thorized access. It is the process of changing
original data to ciphertext so that they cannot be
understood until the ciphertext is decrypted into
cleartext at the distant end of link.
end-of-pulsing signal See end-of-trans-
mission character.
end-of-transmission character Also known
as end-of-pulsing signal. A signal sent forward
to indicate that the address signals have all been
transmitted.
endoscopy The inspection of an internal cav-
ity through a device made for that purpose. En-
doscopy is important both in diagnosis of dis-
ease or injury as well as in surgery. The in-
creased vision made possible via endoscopy per-
mits surgeons to make much smaller incisions.
This results in much less trauma to the tissues
of the patient and speeds recovery time.
energy conservation, acoustic, law of The
relationship between the acoustic energydensity
Eand the acoustic energy ux I:
E
t
+I = 0.
Here, t is time, and = (/x, /y, /z).
According to this relationship, acoustic energy
is conserved in a process of sound propagation.
The law of acoustic energy conservation holds
in a non-moving medium, where E and I are
determined by E = p
2
/(c
2
) and I = Ecn.
Here, p is the acoustic pressure, is the am-
bient density, c is the sound speed, and n is a
unit vector in the direction of wave propagation.
However, the law of acoustic energy conserva-
tion can be violated in a moving medium due to
an exchange of energy between the mean ow
and a sound wave. The total energy in a system
of the medium and the sound wave remains, of
course, the same.
energy, exchange See interaction, exchange.
energy, inmagnetic eld This is given by the
volume integral of the energy density 1/2
o
H
2
where
o
is the permeability of free space and
H is the magnetic eld strength.
energy, zero point The energy present in
a quantum mechanical system at absolute zero
temperature. In the quantum harmonic oscilla-
tor, for example, the zero point energy is 1/2
where is the angular frequency of the oscil-
lator. In a molecule, the zero point energy can
make up a substantial fraction of the binding en-
2001 CRC Press LLC
ergy. In a crystal, the zero point energy is found
in the lattice vibrations.
entrance window The stop image on the ob-
ject side that subtends the smallest angle at the
center of the entrance pupil. Alternately, the im-
age of the eld stop formed by the part of the
optical system that precedes it.
envelope A group of waves having slightly
different frequencies travelling together charac-
terized by the group velocity. In a public data
network, a group of binary digits consisting of a
byte together with additional digits required for
the operation of the network, such as start and
stop pulses. See envelop delay.
envelope delay Also known as frequency de-
lay. Different frequencies arrive at the remote
end at different times; frequencies around 1200
Hz are received rst with the lower and higher
frequencies arriving later. Frequencies in range
2900 Hz may come in more than 2 ms later; that
is, bands of frequencies travel together in en-
velopes. It creates a degradation of the signal
similar to what attenuation causes.
EOR An abbreviation for an exclusive OR
logic function, where OR represents the dis-
junction. In other words, the output of this func-
tion is logical true if and only if one of the inputs
are true. Compare this to the OR whose output
is true if either (i.e., all) input variables are true.
The EORis a basic (but not elementary) logic
gate that frequently occurs as an independent
unit. If A and B are input boolean variables,
the output of the function EOR can be dened
using the elementary AND and OR functions
(see conjunction; disjunction) by the boolean
expression
Y = A EOR B (

AB) (A

B) ,
where

A NOT A is the logical inverse of
A. Given this equation and the rules concern-
ing AND and OR, all possible values of Y =
A EOR Bcan be tabulated in a truth table. Us-
ing 1 and 0 to represent true and false respec-
tively, a truth table is presented below.
A circuit performing the EOR function in
digital electronics is represented by a symbol
similar to that for the ORwith an extra curved
Output values of EOR for all
possible values of inputs A
and B
A B Y = A EOR B
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
line on the input side of the gate. This is illus-
trated in the following gure.
Symbol representing exclusive OR(EOR) in digital
electronics.
episcope An optical system used to project a
real, enlarged image of an opaque object (gen-
erally a at picture). The object is illuminated
as strongly as possible. Light reected from the
object is reected from a mirror and then fo-
cused by a projection lens. The lens has to have
the largest possible aperture to collect the scat-
tered rays, resulting in rather poor image quality.
(Also called epidiascope.)
equalization The process of compensating
for frequency-dependent gain in the amplica-
tion, transmission, and/or reproduction of data,
particularly voice data.
Transmission lines do not transmit all fre-
quencies at the same velocity or suffer the same
attenuation. So, to compensate for losses and
distortion, equalization circuits can be inserted
that compensate for the frequency-dependent
transmission. This is accomplished by tailor de-
signing the frequency response of the equaliza-
tion amplier.
Also, in sound recording and playback, dif-
ferent analog recording techniques will natu-
rally have different frequency responses inher-
ent to each process. Upon playback, equaliza-
tion circuits can compensate the recorded signal.
Recommended frequency responses to be used
on playback with the various techniques (mag-
2001 CRC Press LLC
netic tape, magnet phonograph, crystal phono-
graph, etc.) have been provided by societies
such as the Record Industry Association of
America (RIAA).
equipotential surface A surface in space
over which the electric potential is constant. For
a point charge, the equipotential surfaces are
concentric spheres centered on the charge. The
electric eld E is always normal to the equipo-
tential surface.
equivalent circuit A circuit that can replace
a given circuit while maintaining the same func-
tionalitywithrespect tomeasurable voltages and
currents. Usually such replacement is done in
the context of an approximation or simplica-
tion for the purpose of analyzing a complex cir-
cuit. Circuits with two terminals can be replaced
with their Thevenin or Norton equivalents. Cir-
cuits with three terminals, particularly those in
electricity generation and distribution, can be
analyzed using Y or equivalent circuits. An
example of the application can be found in the
analysis of transistors. See h-parameters.
equivalent electrical circuit of an acoustic
system An electrical circuit that is de-
scribed by the same differential equations as
those for an acoustic system under consider-
ation. Many acoustic systems and electrical
circuits are described by analogous differential
equations. Therefore, an analysis of an acous-
tic system can usually be reduced to that of a
certain electrical circuit that is called the equiv-
alent electrical circuit. Then, a consideration
of this equivalent electrical circuit is done by
well-developed methods of circuit analysis, and
the results obtained are used in analysis of the
acoustic system. Equivalent electrical circuits
are often used in theory and design of acoustic
devices and electroacoustical transducers.
ergodicity Refers to behavior of randompro-
cesses. Deals with correlations that may exist
between parts of the same signal or between
parts of one signal or another. If a process is
ergodic, the autocorrelation function obtained
froma member function, of sufciently long du-
ration, is the same as that obtained fromthe pro-
cess as a whole, i.e., the autocorrelation function
may be expressed equivalently as an ensemble
average or as a time average.
erlang Unit of measure of telephone trafc
engineering, which gives a measure of the total
trafc load on link, after Danish engineer A.K.
Erlang. For example, if the average number of
simultaneous calls in progress in a given period
over a particular group of trunks is N, then the
trafc intensity is N erlang. If there is one per-
manently engaged circuit, the trafc is 1 erlang.
etalon Fabry-Perot interferometer that con-
sists of two semi-silvered optically at plates
that are xed accurately parallel to each other,
with an air separation gap ranging from mil-
limeters to centimeters. Etalons produce sharp
fringes and high resolving power, and are used
to accurately compare wavelengths and in the
study of hyperne line structure.
ether Medium lling all space that was be-
lieved necessary for propagation of electromag-
netic waves. The mediumhad mechanical prop-
erties that were adjusted to provide a consistent
theory for electricity, magnetism, action at a dis-
tance, and the transmission of light and heat.
To account for the transmission of light, ether
was assumed to pervade all space and matter,
and have greater density in matter than in free
space, and be so elastic as to transmit transverse
waves with the speed of light. Michelson and
Morely attempted by optical means to measure
the motion of the earth through the ether, and
failed to detect any ether drift. Einsteins theory
of relativity has shown that these experimental
results and all theoretical ideas connected with
the concept of an ether can be systematized in a
self-consistent manner without reference to the
properties of the ether medium. From this point
of view, the ether is no longer required for an ex-
planation of the empirical facts and has become
an unnecessary appendage of physical theory.
Ethernet A method of connecting devices in
a local environment developed by Xerox corpo-
ration. It allows for transmission of data, using
network topology at up to 10 million bps for up
to half a mile. Workstations can exist on the
same cable but are only able to communicate
one at a time. To overcome these problems,
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switched Ethernet and fast Ethernet were in-
vented and combinations of them are also used.
evaporation (low temperature) At low
temperatures, evaporation, like so many other
physical processes, takes on a quantum nature.
Quantum evaporation occurs when an excita-
tion propagates to a free surface of the material
in question, annihilates, and emits one atom or
molecule into free space. This can only hap-
pen when the energy of the excitation is greater
than the binding energy of the material. In most
solids, the atoms or molecules are bound too
tightly to be liberated from the surface by a sin-
gle excitation. Quantum evaporation is possible
in superuid
4
He, however. Both phonons and
rotons can carry enough energy to cause quan-
tum evaporation. Experiments studying quan-
tum evaporation can provide direct measure-
ments of phonons and rotons at high energies
(E>10 K) while at lowtemperatures (T<0.2 K).
excimer A molecular complex of two, usu-
ally identical, atoms or molecules that is stable
only when one of themis in an excited state. Lit-
erally, a contraction of excited dimer. An ex-
cimer laser is a rare-gas halide or rare-gas metal
vapor laser emitting in the ultraviolet range (126
to 558 nm). It operates on electronic transitions
of excimer molecules whose ground state is es-
sentially repulsive. Lasing gases include the di-
atomic molecules ArCl, ArF, KrCl, KrF, XeCl
andXeF. Excitationmaybe byelectric discharge
or electron beam.
exciplex Strictly used, the term excimer
refers to excited species made by the combina-
tion of two identical atoms or molecules. Ex-
cited complexes that do not fall into this cat-
egory are more accurately called exciplexes or
heteroexcimers.
excitation of vibrations Setting an acousti-
cal, electrical or mechanical system into vibra-
tions. Excitation of vibrations always results in
supplying energy to the system. Vibrations can
be excited by direct action on a system, e.g., by
a driving force that starts acting on a system(see
forced oscillations). An example of such excita-
tion is a pendulumpushed at some time moment.
Vibrations can also be excited by changing pa-
rameters of a system, e.g., by changing a length
of an oscillating pendulum.
excitons A bound electron-hole pair found
in nonmetallic solids. The two main types of
excitons are Frenkel and Wannier. The Frenkel
exciton usually exists in molecular solids and is
highly localized. AFrenkel exciton may be con-
ned to a single molecule, but can move through
the solid by a hopping mechanism. The Wannier
exciton usually exists in semiconductors and is
very delocalized with the electron in the con-
duction band and a hole in the valence band.
The coulombic interaction binding the electron
and hole together is diminished by the dielectric
screening of the material.
exercise testing The process of performing
medical examinations on a patient during phys-
ical exercise, such as walking or running on a
treadmill. This allows for observation of bod-
ily functions under a wide variety of physical
stresses and helps with the diagnosis of disease
conditions.
exit window The image of the entrance win-
dow, as formed by the complete optical system.
Alternately, the image of the eld stop formed
by the part of the optical system that follows it.
extinction coefcient The imaginary part of
the complex index of refraction. The extinc-
tion coefcient simplies expressions of light
intensity in the vicinity of the absorption band
in dispersion theory, and refers to the extinc-
tion of electromagnetic waves during propaga-
tion through an absorbing medium. The term
attenuation index is also used. The term ex-
tinction ratio refers to the ratio of the power of a
plane-polarizedbeamthat is transmittedthrough
a polarizer with its polarizing axis parallel to the
electric eld vector of the beam, to the transmit-
ted power when the polarizers axis is perpen-
dicular.
eye It is the sense organ of vision.
eye diagram Deterministic degradations
such as errors in equalizing, offsets in decision
timing, and gain errors in digital systems are as-
sessed using this type of diagram. In the absence
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of noise, the width of the eye opening gives the
time interval over which the received signal can
be sampled without error. The rate of the closure
of the eye gives the sensitivity of the system to
decision timing errors. The height of the eye at
a specied decision time determines the margin
over the noise.
Eye diagram.
eye, far-sighted Also known as hyperopia.
Inthis condition, sharpfocus inthe relaxed(non-
accommodating) eye occurs behind the retina,
resulting in defective vision for near objects.
This is a form of ametropia.
eye, near-sighted Also known as myopia.
In this condition, sharp focus, in the relaxed
(non-accommodating) eye occurs in front of the
retina, resulting in defective vision for far ob-
jects. This is a form of ametropia.
eyepiece An eyepiece magnies the image
from a microscope objective and presents this
image to the observers eye.
eyepiece, compensating Modications of
the Huygens eyepiece in that both the lenses
used are doublet lenses, thus avoiding the chro-
matic differences in the magnication.
eyepiece, erecting Usually, a systemconsist-
ingof twoconvexlenses torender the nal image
erect. The use of lenses introduces aberrations
and may make the optical system considerably
longer. These disadvantages may be avoided by
using a pair of erecting prisms.
eyepiece, Gaussian A modication of the
Ramsden eyepiece obtained by adding a thin
parallel-sided plate of glass at an angle of 45

to the optical axis. When light enters an aper-

ture on the side of the tube and, after partial
reection by the plate, travels through the axis
of the eyepiece, it illuminates the crosswires at
the foci of the objective and the eyepiece. When
used in a telescope, such an eyepiece enables the
telescope to be focused and to be placed perpen-
dicular to a plane surface by requiring that the
images of the crosswires formed from a plane
mirror placed at the objective end be focused
and coincide with the crosswires themselves.
eyepiece, Huygen Also called the negative
type eyepiece. It consists of two simple plano-
convex lenses separated by half the sum of the
focal lengths, and the focal plane falls close to
the eld lens. This eyepiece is usually used with
low-powered standard objectives.
eyepiece, Kellner A modication of the
Ramsden eyepiece, in which the eye lens is re-
placed by an achromatic doublet.
eyepiece, Ramsdens Also called the pos-
itive type eyepiece. It consists of two plano-
convex lens facing each other and having the
same focal lengths. The focal plane lies outside
of the optics on the objective side and therefore a
reticule can be placed in the tube of the eyepiece
at the focal plane.
Eyring theory A theory, based on statistical
mechanics, that determines the rate of a given
reaction in terms of the allowed energy levels
and the temperature.
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F
facsimile A method of transmitting images
or printed matter by electronic means. The im-
age is optically scanned line by line at the trans-
mitter, and the light and dark areas are con-
verted into digital information. This is trans-
mitted over the network using telephone lines
or fax modems and reconstructed at the receiv-
ing station and duplicated in some form of lm
or paper. More sophisticated machines are able
to skip over blank lines thereby reducing trans-
mission times.
fading (signal) Adverse transmission condi-
tions can cause signals to be received simulta-
neously over more than one transmission path.
In microwave transmission it can be caused by
reections from large objects such as buildings
or aircraft.
farad The unit of capacitance, equal to one
coulomb per volt.
Faraday cage Acage made of an electrically
conducting material that is used to protect inter-
nal devices fromoutside electric elds. It works
on the principle that there can be no electric eld
inside a conductor.
Faraday disk dynamo A device consisting
of a copper diskinwhicha radial EMFis induced
when the disk is rotated between the poles of a
magnet.
Faraday effect Rotation of the plane of po-
larization of a beamof light passing through cer-
tain materials in the direction of applied mag-
netic lines of force. First discovered by Faraday
in 1845 in heavy int glass, which exhibits the
effect markedly; it was one of the earliest indica-
tions of a connection between light and electro-
magnetism. The effect was also discovered in
water and in quartz, and has since been observed
for many solids, liquids, and gases. The effect
is thousands of times stronger for thin transpar-
ent lms of ferromagnetic materials. The Fara-
day effect is not restricted to optical frequencies,
and has been observed with microwave and ra-
dio frequencies. The rotation of polarization in
the Faraday effect is independent of the sense
in which the beam follows the eld lines, which
distinguishes it from the natural optical activity
of the media if the beam is reected back
along its path, the rotation is doubled only for
the Faraday effect. The angle of rotation is pro-
portional to the strength of the magnetic eld
and to the path length in the material. The pro-
portionality constant is called Verdets constant,
and is the ratio of the angle turned to the dis-
tanced traversed evaluated for a unit magnetic
eld. The phenomenon can be understood in
terms of a difference in the index of refraction
for left- and right-hand circularly polarized light
the velocity of circularly polarized light de-
pends on the direction of rotation. This variation
of velocity comes about because the absorption
frequencies and thus the dispersion of light de-
pend on the polarization. The theory of the Fara-
day effect is closely related to the theory of the
Zeeman effect. A well-known present day ap-
plication of the Faraday effect is in protective
devices used to prevent the destruction of high-
power laser systems by back reections fromthe
target.
Faradays lawof induction The lawof elec-
tromagnetic induction states that the current in-
duced in a conductor when it is subjected to c
changing magnetic ux is proportional to the
time rate of change of the magnetic ux.
far-eld pattern A region sufciently far
from an aperture or source (such as a light-
emitting diode, injection laser diode, or the end
of an optical waveguide) where the diffraction
pattern is essentially the same as that at inn-
ity. For all points within the far-eld region, the
diffraction pattern does not change signicantly
with distance.
fault current The current that ows in a cir-
cuit under abnormal conditions. It typically oc-
curs in a circuit in which there has been a loss
of insulation between conductors or between a
conductor and the ground.
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Fechner fraction If the threshold in bright-
ness (also known as luminous ux or luminous
sterance) for the eye to just distinguish an ob-
ject differs by an amount dB from a large back-
ground of brightness B, the contrast sensitivity
is dB/B, a fraction of the total brightness, and
is termed the Fechner fraction. It is the small-
est difference of brightness that can be detected
by the eye as a fraction of the total brightness
when the two objects are side by side, as in pho-
tometry. Fechners Law (1860) states that the
sensation of brightness varies as the logarithm
of the stimulus and can be deduced from the as-
sumption that the Fechner fraction is a constant.
For moderate degrees of brightness, it is only
roughly constant. The term has been applied
for sensations other than brightness.
feedback The principle of sending part of an
output signal from a device to be re-evaluated
with the original input signal.
A basic feedback system is shown in the g-
ure. It consists of a summing network indicated
by , an amplier with an open loop gain given
by a, and a feedback network with transfer func-
tion b. The signals processed by such a system
can be pneumatic or mechanical, but electrical
voltage signals will be used in the following.
There are two broad distinctions of feedback: In
a negative feedback system, the feedback signal
is subtracted from the input signal by the sum-
ming network and generates an error signal,
V

= V
in
V
feedback
.
On the other hand, if the summing network pro-
vided
V

= V
in
+ V
feedback
,
then the system would be a positive feedback
system. Negative feedback is normally used for
general signal processing ampliers, while pos-
itive feedback is used in non-linear systems such
as comparators.
The amplier in the system provides an am-
plied signal,
V
out
= aV

.
This signal is sampled by the feedback network
and produces the feedback signal
V
feedback
= bV
out
.
Thus the amount of signal sent back is deter-
mined by b, and hence b is sometimes referred
to as the feedback factor. The closed loop gain,
G, of the entire system is found by eliminating
V
feedback
and V

from the above,

G =
V
out
V
in
=
1
b
1
1 + 1/ab
.
If a is sufciently large, as is usually the situ-
ation with operational ampliers, then the gain
reduces to
G =
1
b
Basic feedback system.
feedback, acoustic Feedback in an acoustic
system. Acoustic feedback can occur when a
portion of the output sound in a system comes
back to the input of the system.
feedback factor See feedback.
feedback network The circuit responsible
for sampling the output of a feedback system
and producing a feedback signal. The transfer
function of the network, or sometimes the feed-
back factor, determines how much of the output
signal is resampled by the system. It can also
be reactive and thus make the entire system fre-
quency dependent. See also feedback.
feedback voltage See feedback.
Fermats principle Also known as the prin-
ciple of shortest optical path. It states that the
optical length:
_
B
A
nds ,
of a ray between two points Ato B in a medium
of index n is shorter than the optical length of
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any other curve that joins these points. It is also
known as the principle of least time.
ferrimagnetism A specic type of ordering
in a system of magnetic moments. A material is
ferrimagnetic when (a) all moments on a given
sub-lattice point in a single direction and (b) the
resultant moments of the sub-lattices lie parallel
or anti-parallel to each other.
ferrite Ferrite, or ferrimagnetic oxide, is a ce-
ramic material that is usually dark grey or black
and very hard and brittle. The material has good
magnetic properties and high bulk resistivities.
It is therefore suitable for low loss transformer
and inductor cores. The crystaline structure of
a simple ferrite is cubic, mineral spinel. The
magnetic properties arise from the metallic ion,
usually a diavalent transition metal such as Mn,
Fe, or Co, occupying a particular position rela-
tive to the oxygen atoms in the ceramic. Some
ferrites have near-rectangular hysterisis curves,
thus miniature toroidal ferrites have been used
in early memory elements.
ferromagnetism Ferromagnetic materials
exhibit a high magnetic permeability, e.g., fer-
rite and powdered iron.
ber An optical ber consists of a glass
core that is completely surrounded by a glass
cladding used in transmission of light pulses for
telecommunications purposes. See ber optic
cable.
ber absorption Transmission of light
through ber undergoes attenuation, which de-
pends on the wavelength being used. The at-
tenuation properties are of the order of about
5% loss per kilometer for bands centered on 1.3
and 1.55 microns. Absorption is one of two ba-
sic loss mechanisms in optical bers. The other
mechanismis dispersion. Small traces of metal-
lic impurities, e.g., Fe, Cu, in the silica can in-
crease the loss in the ber considerably. Acom-
mon impurity is water as hydroxyl ions.
ber, inhomogeneous An optical ber in
which the refractive index changes throughout
the ber, as a function of the spatial coordinates.
ber, lowloss Optical ber transmission sys-
tems have low transmission loss, which permits
longer repeater sections than with a coaxial ca-
ble system, thereby reducing costs. Fibers are
so free from impurities that very little energy is
lost and there is usually an attenuation of less
than 1 dBper kilometer; i.e., there is lowenergy
loss per unit length of ber. The energy loss is
inversely proportional to the square root of the
frequency being transmitted.
ber, multimode Optic bers with thicker
cores, typically 50 or 62.5 microns, that allow
manydifferent modes of transmissionsince light
travels in multiple paths such that it is reected
from the cladding back into the core as it travels
down the core. Examples are stepped index, and
graded index multimode.
ber optic cable Transmission systems em-
ploying the use of a pulsed light-wave as a car-
rier. This is sent in digital form using a bi-
nary code. The optical cable consists of a glass
core that is completely surrounded by a glass
cladding. The core transmits the lightwaves
and the cladding minimizes surface losses and
guides the lightwaves. It has low transmis-
sion loss, wide bandwidth, small cable size and
weight, and immunity to electromagnetic inter-
ference. Its great advantage is that it can carry
thousands of different frequencies without data
loss.
ber optics The branch of optical technol-
ogy concerned with the transmission of radiant
power through bers made of transparent ma-
terials such as plastic, glass, or fused silica. A
ber is a thin lament of these materials that is
2001 CRC Press LLC
drawn or extruded so as to have a central core
and a cladding of a material of a lower refractive
index so as to promote total internal reection
and travel along the length of the ber with-
out escaping reection. It may be used as a
single ber to transmit pulsed optical signals
(communications ber) or in bundles of bers
to transmit light or images. Cables of opti-
cal bers used for this purpose are smaller and
lighter than conventional cables using copper
wires or coaxial conductors, yet they can carry
much more information, making them useful
for transmitting large amounts of data between
computers and for carrying data-intensive video
or large numbers of simultaneous phone con-
versations. Optical bers are immune to elec-
tromagnetic interference and to crosstalk from
adjoining bers. To keep a signal from deterio-
rating over long distances, optical bers require
fewer repeaters than does copper wire over a
given distance. Most bers for long distance
purposes are made of quartz because of the low
losses down to 0.1dB/km, while some short-
distance bers have less expensive and easier-
to-handle plastics as the core material. In every
case, the light guidance is provided by total re-
ection inside the ber core, which has a slightly
larger index of refraction than the rest of the
ber (the cladding). An additional outer plas-
tic coating protects the ber from mechanical
or chemical damage. Standard telecommunica-
tion bers have core diameters of 9 microns and
an outer cladding diameter of 0.125mm (9/125
monomode ber) or 50 microns (50/125 multi-
mode ber). For long distance telecommunica-
tions only monomode bers are used, because
of the absence of modal dispersion.
ber optics communications Fiber optics
communications represent a form of optical
communication through optic bers made of sil-
ica glass. Because free unguidedlaser beams are
highly vulnerable to obstruction by fog, rain or
snow, laser beams need to be transmitted within
protective pipes for earth-bound telecommuni-
cations. The efcacy of information transmis-
sion via optical bers is a result of the orders-of-
magnitude more superior transparency of silica
glass to visible and infrareds, as compared to
any other previously known solid medium for
electromagnetic waves of any other frequency
spectrum. Transmission is typically in base-
band, with the information signal represented
as a sequence of on-and-off light pulses. Trans-
mitted signals may lose half their power only af-
ter having traveled along optical bers for over
10 km or up to 50 km, depending on the op-
tical ber and optical source used. A signal
repeater takes attenuated incoming on-off op-
tical pulse trains, converts them into electronic
pulses, thenamplies andre-times the electronic
pulse trains and uses them to excite an opti-
cal transmitter to regenerate the received opti-
cal pulse trains to travel another length of the
optical cable network. Semi-conductor photo-
diodes represent the most common optical com-
municationreceivers. Because the optical signal
generally travels unidirectionally along the op-
tical ber, network nodes are typically arranged
in a ring conguration (rather than, say, a star-
shaped topology). Signal distortion, however,
occurs in long-distance transmission as the light
wave reects off the boundary between the two
glass layers in the coaxial cylindrical step-index
ber optical ber, wherein the core layer is made
of glass with a slightly higher refraction index
than the coaxial outer layer. Because optical
bers would accept only light entering the ber
at a low angle from the ber axis, laser sources
(with their narrow spatial directivity) are typ-
ically used. Fiber optics communications us-
ing laser beams is characterized by lasers very
wide frequency spectrum, thereby permitting
very high data transmission rates. Optical bers
can also be more easily insulated from outside
interference, and are smaller and lighter than
metallic cables. Fiber optics link the central
telephone switching ofces of major American
and European cities.
ber optics data link An optical link capa-
ble of handling data in digital form. This deals
with layer 2 of the open systems interconnec-
tion (OSI) networking model, which concerns
data packets and reliable data transfer. The data
link layer detects and may correct errors in the
physical layer (layer 1). The data link layer is
responsible for several specic functions such
as providing a well-dened service interface to
the network layer as well as regulating the ow
of frames.
2001 CRC Press LLC
ber scattering Also known as dispersion.
Light pulses sent down a ber spread out in
length as they propagate, the amount dependent
on the wavelength being used. Rayleigh scat-
tering of the light occurs within the molecules
of glass material itself. This loss is independent
of the light intensity but varies inversely with
the fourth power of wavelength. It is therefore
advantageous to operate at longer wavelengths.
Favorable operating windows for ber optics are
in the region of 800 nm, 1300 nm, and 1500 nm.
Dispersion effects can be canceled out by mak-
ing pulses in a special shape known as solitons.
These can be sent for thousands of kilometers
without distortion.
ber, single mode Optic bers with very
small diameter core, typically 8 - 9 microns,
that allow only a single mode of transmission
of light pulses. An example is the stepped index
monomode.
Single mode ber.
ber, W-type A doubly cladded optical ber
with two layers of concentric cladding, in which
the core usually has the larger refractive index
and the inner cladding has the lower refractive
index. There are several advantages of this type
over conventional bers, such as reduced bend-
ing losses.
Ficks rst law Entropy drives diffusion of a
substance in the presence of a concentration gra-
dient. Ficks rst lawconnects the ux (J) of the
substance to the concentration gradient (c/x
in one dimension) via the diffusion coefcient
D:
J = D
c
x
.
Ficks second law Connects the time rate of
change of the concentration of a solute (c/t)
in terms of the diffusion coefcient D and the
spatial rate of change of the concentration gra-
dient (
2
c/x
2
):
c
t
= D

2
c
x
2
.
delity The degree to which an electronic
signal can be reproduced at the output compared
to the input signal.
gure of merit This indicates the perfor-
mance of a device for a particular application.
1. For a magnetic amplier: the ratio of
power amplication to control time constant
2. For a transistor: the ratio of gain to the
bandwidth
3. For a galvanometer: the ratio of the de-
ection to the current, also called sensitivity
4. The ratio of reactance to resistance.
lm, Rollin A Rollin lm is the lm of su-
peruid helium found on any surface in contact
with bulk superuid helium. This lm ows,
or creeps, along all surfaces that are below the
lambda temperature, 2.1768 K. Due to the high
thermal conductivity of the lm, a superuid
lmcan increase the heat owinto a lowtemper-
ature experiment. In such cases, heaters or knife
edges are used to prevent such lms. The heater
boils off the lm using less heat than would be
carried by the lm, and the knife edge is a sharp
edge over which the superuid lmcannot ow.
As the superuid ows over the knife edge, it
becomes thinner and thereby must ow faster
to keep the mass ow the same. A sufciently
sharp knife edge will force the uid to exceed the
critical velocity, thereby turning the uid nor-
mal. See also helium-4, superuid.
lter circuits Circuitry that selectively elim-
inates or passes.
lters (optical) A homogeneous optical
medium that is used for attenuating particular
2001 CRC Press LLC
wavelengths or frequencies of light (including
infrared and ultraviolet) while passing others
with relatively no change. Filters are used to
control or alter the relative energy distribution
of a beam of light. In photography, lters may
be placed over the light source or over some part
of the optical path to the camera, frequently over
the lens. Typically, transparent substances (col-
ored glasses or lms) are used. One type of col-
ored lter is the gelatin lter, which can be dyed
with a wide range of materials. Another type
of colored lter is made from polyester and has
some of the same characteristics. A lter based
on a completely different principle is the inter-
ference lter, which uses destructive interfer-
ence of waves transmitted directly through the
lter and those reected 2n times from the front
and back faces of the lter to yield a narrower
band of wavelength 10 to 100 angstroms. A
linear polarizing lter transmits light waves that
vibrate in a single direction only. It eliminates
various degrees of reected light fromglass, wa-
ter, plastic, paper and similar surfaces. It can
also eliminate light reections from vapors or
oating dust to emphasize a blue sky. Polariz-
ing lters transmit light waves that vibrate in a
single direction only; the effect can be seen in
the viewnder as the lter is rotated. A circular
polarizing lter converts linear polarized light
waves to circular polarized light waves. Re-
quired whenever polarizing is desired, as with
use of autofocus cameras and cameras that have
a semi-silvered reex mirror. A neutral den-
sity (ND) lter reduces the amount of transmit-
ted light without affecting color balance. Ex-
posure change is rated by lter factors, such as
ND2 or ND4. ND2 reduces light to 1/2 and
ND4 to 1/4. A color compensating (CC) lter
enables ne adjustments of color tone or color
density in color photography. A color (temper-
ature) conversion lter alters color temperature
of light to make it suitable for the lm in use,
thereby enabling the photographer to use day-
light lm indoors or tungsten lm outdoors. A
contrast-control lter is used with black-and-
white lmto emphasize contrast in a picture. An
orthochromatic lter is a green or yellow-green
lter used with black-and-white lms to com-
pensate the difference between the color sen-
sitivity of lms and the relative luminous ef-
ciency of the human eye. A skylight lter re-
moves a portion of the blue light. Taking color
pictures in the shade under a clear, midday sky
results in an overall slightly bluish cast. This
excess blue can be corrected with a skylight l-
ter to produce a more natural effect. UV lters
eliminate invisible ultraviolet light, rendering
pictures with higher contrast, since ultraviolet
rays of shorter wavelengths are easily reected
by vapors or oating dust, causing lower pic-
ture contrast. A soft focus lter diffuses light
and imparts a slight are to the image, provid-
ing a soft-focus effect, which is ideal for portrait
photography.
lters, acoustic Devices that signicantly
decrease amplitude of a complex sound in cer-
tain frequency bands while the amplitude in oth-
ers remains almost unchanged. Alow-pass lter
cuts off all frequencies above a critical one. It
can be designed as a number of cavities of the
same form, arranged in a row and connected by
narrow tubes. A high-pass lter cuts off all fre-
quencies belowa critical one. It can be designed
as a tube with holes at regular distances along the
tube. A band-pass lter cuts off all frequencies
above and below a denite band of frequencies
and can be designed as a combination of low-
pass and high-pass lters. Acoustic lters are
widely used in practice for noise reduction in
air-conditioning systems, jets, and exhaust sys-
tems of internal combustion engines in motor
vehicles.
sh, hearing organs of The otolith organs,
consisting of ne hairs. The otolith organs al-
low sh to have only a rough impression about
a received sound without detailed analysis. The
otolithorgans canbe consideredas anearlyhear-
ing mechanism in animals.
Fizeau fringes The interference pattern that
results from the interference of light transmit-
ted by wedge-shaped thin lm. These are the
fringes obtained with the Fizeau interferometer,
an optical arrangement in which light from a
quasi-monochromatic source is collimated by a
lens andfalls ona planar-wedge-shapedthinlm
at nearly normal incidence. The light reected
by both surfaces of the lm are collected by the
same lens which converges it to an aperture in
the focal plane. To an eye or lm immediately
2001 CRC Press LLC
behind this aperture, the Fizeau fringes are vis-
ible over the entire area illuminated by the lens
when lines of equal optical thickness are fol-
lowed. The fringes may also be obtained from
an optically thick lm, provided the source is
sufciently small. The method is used in opti-
cal workshops to test the optical thickness uni-
formity of transparent plane parallel plates.
Fizeau method (velocity of light) The
method used in the rst successful measurement
(1849) of the velocity of light not involving as-
tronomical observations. A brief ash of light
was sent out and the time to travel to a distant
mirror and back was measured. Atoothed wheel
or cogwheel with 720 cogs was rotated at high
speed so as to break up a light beam passing
through its riminto a series of short ashes. The
light was rendered parallel with a lens, and then
focused with another lens onto a distant mir-
ror (5.36 miles in Fizeaus original experiment).
After reection, the light retraced its path and
was focused again onto the rim of the cogwheel
by the rst lens. If, during the time the light has
traveled, the wheel had turned enough for a cog
to be interposed, the ash would be blocked out.
Afurther increase in speed would cause the ash
to reappear as the returning light could then pass
through an opening in the cogwheel. Fizeau was
able to say that light moved at 313,300 kilome-
ters per second which is close to what we now
knowtobe 299,792.458. The largest uncertainty
in this method is the determination of the con-
dition of total eclipse by the cog. Young and
Forbes overcame this difculty by placing an
additional lens and mirror at somewhat greater
distance so that two images were observed si-
multaneously, and the speed of the cogwheel de-
termined at the time the images appear of equal
intensity, a more accurate experiment since the
eye is very sensitive to the detection of slight dif-
ferences in intensity of adjacent images. These
experiments were soon improved by replacing
the cogwheel with a rotating mirror by Fizeau
and Focault independently in 1850.
ame, singing A gas ame located at the
lower end of a vertically positioned narrow tube
opened at the upper end, that generates sound.
The gas ame causes and upward current of air
and vibrations of the air column in the tube with
its natural frequency. This results in sound radi-
ation from the open end of the tube. A singing
ame is also called a signing tube. Signing tubes
are often used in physics demonstration experi-
ments.
ash A type of converter with extremely
rapid conversion times using comparators for
coding voltages to give binary outputs.
Flemmings rule Arule relatingthe direction
of force, velocity and magnetic eld felt by a
moving charged particle. It can be summarized
as F = q(V B), where the direction of F is
given by the cross product of V and B.
ip-op A sequential logical circuit whose
output depends on the present values as well as
the history of its inputs. It is a basic building
block of larger and more complicated sequential
circuits such as counters and shift registers.
The most important characteristic of a ip
op is that it is capable of remembering binary
signals. Thus, it is viewed as a memory storage
element with control inputs. There are three dif-
ferent types of control inputs: static, where the
ipops output will change according to the
present inputs (and their history), preparatory,
which set up the ipop but are not able to
change the output directly, and dynamic, where
a clock signal is required to instigate any
changes of the output state as determined by the
preparatory inputs.
There are three basic types of ipops,
which are identied by the way their outputs
respond to the inputs:
1. Direct RS. This is the most elementary
ipop. It has two static control inputs S and
Rlabelled for set and reset. It also has an output
Q as well as an ancillary output Q. The normal
state of the inputs is R = S = 0, and Q is
allowed to be either 0 or 1. If S is changed to
1, then Q = 1 and will hold this value even if S
returns to 0. If, on the other hand, R changes to
1, then Q = 0 and will remain so when Rreturns
to 0. The output Q is not dened if both R and
S are 1. The operation of the RS ipop
can be summarized in the accompanying table
where Q
prior
refers to the prior state of Q before
the R, S values changed. Thus, by examining
2001 CRC Press LLC
the output Q, one can determine the previous
values of R and S: a rudimentary memory.
The operation above can be illustrated by
considering the realization of an RS ipop
using NAND gates as shown in the gure.
Realization of an RS ipop.
By using the truth table for the ANDgate (see
conjunction; logic gates) as a starting point, the
output value of Q can be veried for any given
valid input state. Observe that if both R and S
change to 1 (from 0) simultaneously, Q is logi-
cally indeterminable as both 0 or 1 are equally
valid outputs, hence this ambiguous input con-
dition is avoided.
2. D Flip-Flop. This device also has two in-
puts, a preparatory input, D, and a dynamic in-
put, clock. The output, Q, changes to the current
state of D when the clock signal makes a par-
ticular state transition. Depending on the con-
vention used by the particular circuit involved,
the ipop will effect the change in Q when
clock changes 01 or 10; the former is the
most common. If we assume this convention for
illustration purposes, then the truth table for the
D ipop can be determined as shown in the
accompanying table. Note that when clock is 0
(or even 10), the output does not depend on
the input D, indicated in the table as X. Thus in
operation, D is sampled at the clock transition
instant and held indenitely; hence D for delay.
3. JK Flip Flop. This device has two
preparatory inputs J and K, and a clock input
to instigate a change in the output Q based on
these inputs. The operation of this ipop is
dened as follows: If J = K = 0, then the out-
put will hold its previous value, even on a proper
clock transition. If K = 1 while J = 0 during
a clock transition, then Q is set to 0; similarly,
if K = 0 while J = 1 then Q = 1. Thus, so
far the JK is operating in a manner similar to
an RS except that a clock is required. How-
ever, if J = K = 1, an ambiguous condition for
the RS ipop, then Q = NOT Q
prior
(tog-
gled) upon a clock transition. Assuming the
same previous conventions, the operation of the
JK ipop is summarized in the accompa-
nying table.
oating of circuit Conduction wherein a cir-
cuit is not grounded or tied to an established
voltage supply.
ow cytometry A technique for counting,
sorting or selecting individual cells as they ow
through a tube of pipe.
ow impedance Flow impedance is a de-
vice designed to regulate ow of a cryogenic
gas in a low temperature apparatus. In a con-
tinuous
3
He refrigerator, the condensed liquid
3
He must have its pressure throttled from that
at the condensation stage (of order 0.1 bar) to
the low pressure found in the
3
He pot (a few
2001 CRC Press LLC
mbar). This is usually accomplished by insert-
ing a high impedance segment of the tube into
the ow path. The most common material for
such constrictions is cupro-nickel tubing with
the proper conductance:
F =
a
4
8
P
a
where a is the radius of the tube, is the length
of the tube, is the viscosity of the liquid or
gas in question, and P
a
is the average pressure
in the tube. (The impedance is the reciprocal of
the conductance.)
ow measurements The determination of
the rate of movement of a uid.
ow measurements, continuous The deter-
mination of the rate of movement of a uid at
all times.
owmeters Any device used to measure the
rate and direction of movement of a uid.
ow pattern, cerebral uid The particular
manner in which the cerebral uid moves.
uidity, cell membrane The degree to which
the cell membrane is able to ow.
uorescence Radiationcausedbya transition
between two well-dened energy states of atoms
of solids, liquids and gases due to absorption of
incident light. According to Stokes law, the
wavelength of the emitted uorescent light is
always longer than that of the incident light.
uorescent screen Screen coated with uo-
rescent material used, for example, to detect the
presence of ultraviolet light or X-rays. Fluo-
rescent materials emit characteristic light when
exposed to ultraviolet radiation.
uorescent spectroscopy, nanosecond The
analysis of light given off by a sample dur-
ing excitation by light of a higher energy. For
pulsed excitation, light emitted within about 10
nanoseconds of the exciting pulse is considered
to be uorescent. The uorescent light is emit-
ted after the energy of the original excitation has
been transformed by radiationless transitions to
different energy levels. Detailed information
about the energy levels can be obtained by this
technique.
uorography Photography of an image pro-
duced on a uorescent screen by X-rays.
utter Rapid uctuation of frequency of re-
produced sounds due to uctuations in speed
during the processes of recording and reproduc-
tion. These uctuations in speed can be caused
by variations in speed of a turntable, for exam-
ple.
ux ball Atest coil in which a series of coax-
ial cylindrical windings of different lengths are
wound to form a sphere. It is used to measure
magnetic ux density.
ux density, magnetic Avector quantity that
is used as a quantitative measure of a magnetic
eld; the force on a charged particle moving in
the eld is equal to the particles charge times
the cross-product of the particles velocity with
the magnetic induction.
ux gates These are used to determine the
magnitude and direction of an external magnetic
eld. They generate electrical signals whose
magnitude and phase are proportional to the ex-
ternal eld acting along its axis.
ux, luminous In photometry, the time rate
of ow of light per unit solid angle, weighted
with respect to its efciency to evoke the visual
sensation of brightness. Sources of light emit ra-
diant energy at a certain rate, which ows at the
speed of light past any point, but only the part of
this energy in the visible range of wavelengths
will excite vision. Flowor ux can be expressed
in mechanical units, ergs per second, but when
visual stimulation is to be measured, the ow is
expressed in luminous ux units (lumens). The
unit lumen is dened in terms of the ux from a
standard luminous source (which implicitly in-
vokes luminous sensation, as for example the In-
ternational candle, black-body radiation at 2046
K, etc.) into a unit solid angle. Equal luminous
uxes produce equal sensations of brightness,
but different uxes do not produce sensations of
brightness in direct proportion. The luminous
2001 CRC Press LLC
ux density gives the intensity of illumination
in lumens per unit area.
ux, magnetic Lines used to represent mag-
netic induction, B. Lines of ux are used to
represent the eld in magnitude and direction
at any point. The number of lines of ux per
unit area of a surface perpendicular to the eld
is equal to the magnitude of the magnetic in-
duction. The total number of lines of induction
through a surface is the magnetic ux.
ux, magnetic, changing This produces an
induced EMF in a conductor subject to the
changing magnetic ux that results from Fara-
day induction.
uxmeter An instrument to measure mag-
netic ux. It consists of a moving-coil ballistic
galvanometer with a long period. A search coil
is connected to the galvanometer and the change
in the ux that results from the motion of the
search coil that is detected by the galvanometer.
uxoid The quantum of magnetic ux in a
superconductor is one uxoid:

0
= 2/2e = 2.06785 10
15
T m
2
.
See also superconductivity.
ux quantization The quantum mechanical
expression for the current density in a supercon-
ductor located in a magnetic eld is

j =
_
2 e
2
mc

A +
e
m

_
| |
2
where

A is the magnetic vector potential,
is the phase of the superconductor wavefunc-
tion, and is the amplitude of the supercon-
ductor wavefunction. If the superconductor is
in the form of a closed ring, it is possible for the
magnetic eld threading the ring to be non-zero
while the magnetic eld inside the superconduc-
tor is zero. If we integrate the current density
along a path inside such a ring, the integral sim-
plies to
2 e
2
mc
+
2 ne
m
= 0
where is the magnetic ux, and nis an integer.
This further simplies to the ux quantization
rule:
=
nhc
2 e
= n
0
where
0
is one ux quantum, or uxoid. See
also uxoid; superconductivity.
ying spot A moving spot of light that is
controlled by external signals.
focal length The distance along the optical
axis between a focal point and its corresponding
principal point, which, for a thin lens, is approx-
imately the same as the distance of a focal point
from the lens.
focal lines For an off-axis cone of light, as
a result of astigmatism, the fan of rays in the
tangential (or meridional plane) and the sagit-
tal planes come to focus on the so-called tan-
gential focal lines and the sagittal focal lines,
respectively. The tangential (or meridional or
primary) focal line is perpendicular to the merid-
ional plane, and has a smaller image distance
than the secondary or sagittal focus. The sagit-
tal (or secondary) focal line is in the meridional
plane.
Tangential and sagittal focal lines.
focusing, acoustic The convergence of sound
waves. Acoustic focusing is similar to optic fo-
cusing. Due to diffraction, a sound wave cannot
be focused to a point; it is rather focused to a
spot. The point where the sound intensity is
maximal is called focus. Since in most cases
sound waves are diverging, acoustic focusing is
achieved only under certain circumstances. It
can be achieved by specially constructed trans-
ducers, by converging acoustic lenses and mir-
rors, and also as a result of random inhomo-
geneities in a medium. Acoustic focusing is
2001 CRC Press LLC
widely used in technique and medicine for con-
centrating acoustic energy.
focusing, magnetic In some opto-electronic
devices, magnetic elds are employed to pro-
duce an effective focusing of accelerated elec-
trons to form electron images, for example.
focusing of electron beam Focusing of an
electron beam by use of an electrostatic lens in
a cathode-raytube (CRT). Ina CRT, electrostatic
lens consists of a focus anode, accelerating an-
ode, and so on. The focus anode and accelerat-
ing anode are maintained at a positive potential
with respect to the cathode. The potential of
the accelerating anode is higher than that of the
focus anode. The focal length of this lens de-
pends on the potential at the focus anode. The
potential at the acceleration anode also affects
the focal length. See also electrostatic lens.
focus, tangential See focal lines.
folded cascode A cascode constructed with
two different types of transistors such as an n
pn and pnp bipolar transistor pair, an n
channel and pchannel FET pair, or a FET and
bipolar transistor combination. See amplier,
cascode.
footprint (communication) This concerns
satellite communication, and refers to down-
ward beamcovering a substantial fraction of the
earths surface. It is therefore the area covered
by the satellite and reached by its radio beams
on earth. This area can be broad or narrow, cov-
ering up to hundreds of kilometers in diameter.
forced oscillations Oscillations that are due
to a driving force. The simplest model of this
is one-dimensional oscillations governed by the
equation
M
dx
2
dt
2
+ R
dx
dt
+ Sx = Fe
it
.
Here, x is a coordinate of a physical quantity
under oscillations, t is time, F and are the
amplitude and angular frequency of the driving
force, and other notations are the same as those
in the equation for one-dimensional damped os-
cillations. The solution of the equation in ques-
tion is the sum of two terms. The rst one cor-
responds to free oscillations and exponentially
decays in the course of time t. The second term
is the steady state solution given by
x =
F exp(it i)
_
(S
2
M)
2
+ R
2

2
,
where tan = R/(S
2
M). The ampli-
tude of the steady state oscillations |x| reaches
a maximum value at a given frequency =
(S/M R
2
/2M
2
)
1/2
. This phenomenon is
called resonance.
format (1) Different software applications
save data in certain ways. There are several stan-
dard le formats; some examples of graphical
formats are .gif or .jpg.
(2) Hard drives need to be formatted after
partitioning so that they can be used by the op-
erating system. It allows the hard disk to be
ready for use. Floppy disks also need to be for-
matted. There is also the SCSI low-level format
that makes the drive ready to be used by a SCSI
controller.
form factor The ratio of the effective value
(root mean square value) of an alternating quan-
tity to the average value during half of an interval
(cycle). It compares the various kinds of peri-
odic waveforms. The effective value V
eff
of
alternating voltage v of interval T is
V
eff
=

_
_
1
T
_
T
0
v
2
_
.
When the alternating voltage has a sinusoidal
waveform, the effective value is
V
eff
=

_
_
1
T
_
T
0
_
V cos
2t
T
_
2
_
,
=
V

2
.
The average value during a half of the interval
of this sinusoidal waveform is 2V/. The form
factor of sinusoidal waveform is /2

2.
Forster critical distance The characteris-
tic distance associated with the energy transfer
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between two chromophores. This distance de-
pends on the spectral overlap between the donor
emission and acceptor absorption bands, the re-
fractive index of the medium, the quantumyield
of the donor in the absence of the acceptor, and
a geometric factor depending on the relative ori-
entation of the donor and acceptor.
Forster dipole-dipole approximation The
interaction between two chromophores is ap-
proximated according to the interactions of their
associated dipole moments. The success of this
approach was rst shown by the experiments of
Stryer and Haugland (L. Strayer and R.P. Haug-
land, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA98 (1967) 719).
fountain effect Also called the thermome-
chanical effect, the fountain effect is a manifes-
tation of zero viscosity in Helium II. Consider
two containers of superuid helium at a pres-
sure, p, and temperature, T, connected by a nar-
row tube or a tube lled with closely packed
particles. (See gure.) If we increase the pres-
Fountain effect. The thin connecting tube is lled with
packed powder.
sure in container A, the normal component of
the helium will be unable to ow through the
narrow channel due to the large viscosity of the
normal uid. The superuid component, how-
ever, will ow unimpeded through the orice
into container B. This process will increase the
temperature in container A and decrease it in
container B such that
p
T
= S ,
where is the density of the uid and S is the
entropy of the normal uid. Conversely, if we
begin by increasing the temperature in container
B, superuid ows into container B, producing
the hydrostatic pressure difference given above.
These effects are quite large at 1.5 K, a tem-
perature difference of 0.001 K produces a 2 cm
pressure head in the liquid helium.
Fraunhofer doublet One of the three types
of small aperture objective lenses used in most
prismatic binocular telescopes, low-power mi-
croscopes and telescopes. The eld of view in
these objectives is very small and the aperture
is usually smaller than f/5. In this case the most
important aberrations are the primary spherical,
coma, and chromatic. Cemented achromatic
aplanatic doublets are commonly used. Image
quality deteriorates rapidly away from the axis,
but there is little that can be done to improve it,
so either the crown or int component of the ce-
mented meniscus lens pair can be placed on the
long conjugate side of the lens. If the crown is on
the long conjugate side, the achromatic doublet
is of the Fraunhofer type. If the int is on the
long conjugate side, it is a Steinheil type. Fraun-
hofer types usually have shallower surfaces and
the advantage that the more stable crown glass
is on the exposed side for a telescope objective.
A third type is the Gauss type, which consists
of uncemented meniscus lenses with an air gap,
so it is possible to achieve better correction for
spherical aberration at the expense of coma.
Fraunhofer lines The thousands of ne dark
absorption lines that cross the spectrum of the
photosphere (the glowing outer layer) of the sun.
A few of the lines are due to absorption in the
terrestrial atmosphere. The most prominent 600
of these lines were observed and named by J.
Fraunhofer in 1814, who recognized that the
D lines coincided with the emission lines of
sodium. G.R. Kirchoff in 1859 gave the mod-
ern interpretation of these lines. They are use-
ful spectral benchmarks, used in the specica-
tion and measurement of refractive indices, for
example. Some of these benchmarks, together
2001 CRC Press LLC
with their origin and approximate wavelength in
angstroms, are:
A terrestrial O2 7594-7621
B terrestrial O2 6867-6884
C H-alpha 6562.816
Alpha terrestrial O2 6276-6287
D1 Sodium 5895.923
D2 Sodium 5889.953
D3 He 5875.618
E2 Fe 5269.541
B1 Mg 5183.618
B2 Mg 5172.699
B3 Fe 5168.901
B4 Fe 5167.491
F H 4861.327
D Fe 4668.140
E Fe 4383.547
F H 4340.465
G Fe 4307.906
G Ca 4307.741
G Ca 4226.728
H H 4101.735
H Ca+ 3968.468
K Ca+ 3933.666
The lines A, B, and alpha are oxygen bands
caused by absorption in the earths atmosphere.
free vibrations Vibrations that continue after
eliminating a driving force.
freeze resistance The ability of certain or-
ganisms to function below the normal freezing
temperature by the use of specic molecules that
depress the freezing point of their bodily liquids.
frequency The number of cycles completed
by a periodic quantity, the acoustic disturbance,
in a unit time. The units of frequency f are
hertz (Hz); 1 Hz corresponds to 1 cycle per
second. Frequencies audible to the average hu-
man ear are in the range between 20 and 20,000
Hz. The frequency is the inverse of the period
T, f = 1/T, the time interval during which one
oscillation cycle is executed.
frequency allocation Bands of frequencies
for specied services are allocated by interna-
tional agreement and refer to the frequency on
which a transmitter has to operate within speci-
ed tolerance.
frequency, angular For any oscillation, the
number of vibrations per unit time f, multiplied
by 2, = 2f. Also known as angular ve-
locity or radian frequency. The units of angular
frequency are radians per second (rad/s).
frequency, audible The range of frequencies
that the average human ear can hear, from 20
to 20,000 Hz. Disturbances below the useful
frequency range for human hearing (below 20
Hz) are classied as infrasound, and those with a
frequency too high (above 20,000 Hz) are called
ultrasound.
frequency band A continuous range of fre-
quencies extending between two limiting fre-
quencies, the nth band having a lower fre-
quency f
min
(n) and upper frequency f
max
(n).
The frequency scale is divided into contigu-
ous bands, and is said to be proportional if
f
max
(n)/f
min
(n) is the same for each band.
The center frequency of a band f
c
(n) is
dened as the geometric mean, f
c
(n)
_
f
min
(n)f
max
(n). In an octave band the rela-
tion f
max
(n) = 2f
min
(n) holds. In noise con-
trol the
1
3
-octave frequency partitioning scheme
is used, for which f
max
(n) = 2
1/3
f
min
(n). The
principle of xed frequency ratios is also ap-
plied in the theory of musical temperament. Fre-
quency ratios corresponding to classic music in-
tervals that sound harmonious are 2:1 (octave),
3:2 (perfect fth), 4:3 (perfect fourth) and 5:4
(major third).
frequency compatibility This refers to the
ability of television sets to receive color broad-
cast in black and white without special adaption.
frequency conversion The shift from one
frequency band to another using multiplication
by a sine wave. See mixer.
frequency, cut-off A frequency at which
axially decaying modes develop (for example
in waveguides or horns). These modes de-
cay exponentially with distance from the sound
source or the reectionlocation. For modes with
frequencies above the cut-off frequency, axial
propagation takes place, and the corresponding
modes are termed cut-on.
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frequency discriminator A device used to
provide frequency amplitude conversion when
frequency demodulation occurs. The process
requires that output voltage or current amplitude
is linearly proportional to the frequency of the
input signal.
frequency, distress Withrespect tothe S.O.S.
signal, the international code signal used by air-
craft or ships at sea when in distress.
frequency divider A unit or device that di-
vides (reduces) an input frequency by a preset
number. If the input frequency is f
in
, then the
output of the circuit will be
f
out
= f
in
N ,
where N is the preset divisor. Frequency di-
viders are usually based on binary counters,
hence they will operate on and generate square
waves. Programmable counters are often used,
allowing a user to change the value of N. See
also frequency synthesizer.
frequency doubler A circuit or device ca-
pable of providing power at twice the input AC
frequency.
frequency, fundamental The lowest reso-
nant frequency of the system. The lowest fre-
quency in a complex wave. Other resonant fre-
quencies are called overtones.
frequency, maximum usable (MUF) In ra-
dio wave propagation via the ionosphere, the
highest frequency that can be used between two
points at a particular time. It therefore gives the
best frequency for long distance transmission.
frequency meter A device capable of mea-
suring the frequency of either a sinusoidal AC
input voltage or a propagating electromagnetic
wave. Depending on the magnitude of the fre-
quency involved, the device may either count
the number of waves in a predetermined dwell-
time, or determine the frequency by means of a
calibrated resonant cavity or circuit.
frequency multiplier A unit or device that
provides an output frequency at some preset
multiple of the input frequency. See frequency
synthesizer.
frequency, resonant A frequency at which
some measure of a physical system subjected to
periodic forcing develops a maximum. Three
types are dened: phase, amplitude and natural
resonance. They are nearly equal when dissipa-
tive effects are small. Also known as resonance
or natural frequency.
frequency response Frequency response ex-
presses the relative gain of, for example, an am-
plier as a function of frequency for a pure sinu-
soidal input signal. This information is usually
presented in a graphical format. See also half-
power bandwidth.
frequency selective amplier A frequency
selective amplier combines a frequency- or
phase-dependent network with a broadband am-
plifying device to produce a narrow band-pass
or band-stop lter. Depending on the network
used and how it is connected, the frequency se-
lective amplier can be designed to either accept
a very narrow range of frequencies (an accep-
tor) or reject a narrow range of frequencies (a
rejecter).
Rejecter and acceptor transfer functions of a frequency
selective amplier.
frequency swing The total carrier frequency
shift between the lower frequency extreme and
the upper frequency extreme in telecommunica-
tion transmission.
frequency synthesizer A frequency source
whose output is a programmable integer multi-
ple of an input reference source. A block dia-
gramof a simple frequency synthesizer is shown
below. Afrequency reference, f
ref
, is sent to one
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input of a phase difference detector whose out-
put voltage controls a voltage control oscillator
(VCO). The output of the VCOis feedbacktothe
other input of the phase difference detector via
a dividebyN counter. This counter generates
a pulse for every N pulse of the VCO; hence the
output frequency of the VCO is f
out
= N f
ref
.
The counters N value can be digitally con-
trolled from, for example, a microprocessor or
a simple thumb wheel switch array and the ref-
erence frequency is usually derived from an ac-
curate crystal controlled oscillator.
Operational block diagram of a basic frequency syn-
thesizer.
Frequency synthesizers are commonly used
in present day communications and radio sys-
tems. However, the output frequencies in these
systems are too high for common TTLor CMOS
dividedbyN counters. A technique called
heterodynedown conversion is used to han-
dle, i.e., systhesize, higher frequencies. In this
technique, a second, offset or local oscillator
(f
offset
) is mixed with the output frequency ob-
taining the frequency difference f
out
f
offset
.
This frequency is then processed by the divide
byN counter as before. This additional step
is shown in block form in the second illustra-
tion. The output frequency is thus determined
by f
out
= N f
ref
+ f
offset
.
frequency time sharing Feature of time di-
vision multiplexing in which some of the time
interval between adjacent pulses is used by other
independent message signals. It allows for the
joint utilization of a common channel since sev-
eral independent message signals can be sent
without mutual interference. See multiplexing,
time division.
Block diagram showing the heterodynedown conver-
sion technique in a frequency synthesizer.
Fresnel approximation An approximation
used in the theory of diffraction. Suppose that a
point source is located at the center of the Carte-
sian coordinate system, and a receiver is located
at the point (x, y, z). Then, the phase increment
of a wave propagating from the source to the
receiver is given by exp
_
ik
_
x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
_
,
where k is a wave number. Fresnel approxima-
tion is a replacement of this phase increment by
its approximate value exp
_
ik
_
x +
y
2
+z
2
2x
__
.
This approximation is valid if x
_
y
2
+ z
2
.
Fresnel approximation for other problems (e.g.,
wave radiation by an aperture) employs an anal-
ogous replacement.
Fresnel integrals These are the integrals that
come fromseparating the error function into real
and imaginary parts for a real variable x
1
(1 + i)
erf(x) = C(x) iS(x) ,
where the resulting real functions are the Fresnel
integrals given by
C(x) =
x
_
0
cos
_
t
2
/2
_
dt
S(x) =
x
_
0
cos
_
t
2
/2
_
dt .
Fresnel integrals may be evaluated numerically
or found graphically by use of the ingenious
Cornu spiral, which is a double spiral curve
formed by plotting C against S. As with any
vibration curve, the amplitude of the diffrac-
tionpatternfromFresnel diffractionis computed
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from distances on this curve, and the square of
this length then gives the intensity.
Fresnel lines Fringed shadows that appear at
the edges of the geometrical apertures in Fresnel
diffraction. A Fresnel fringe is a single band in
a group of these light and dark bands that can be
viewed in the periphery of the Fresnel diffrac-
tion shadow. Unlike the Fraunhofer pattern, the
minima in Fresnel diffraction do not go to zero.
Fresnel zones An explanation of Fres-
nel diffraction effects obtained by dividing the
wavefront falling on the obstacle into a num-
ber of concentric annular zones, such that the
distances of the boundaries of the zones from
the observation point increase by one half wave-
length from zone to zone. By Huygens princi-
ple, each point on the wave front can be con-
sidered the source of a secondary wave, each of
which makes its own contribution to the light
reaching the observation point. Each Fresnel
zone contains approximately the same area so
that each zone may be viewed as having the
same number of secondary sources, and thus
contribute the same amount of light at the ob-
servation point. However, the contributions at
the observation are out of phase since each zone
is a half wavelength farther than the next. The
total contribution is the sum of a series of terms,
one for each zone, which are alternately positive
and negative. While all the zones have about
the same area, the central zones point directly
at the observation point, while the outer zones
point more obliquely. This causes the magni-
tude of each termto decrease steadily fromterm
to term. Then the sum of the series can be
demonstrated to be half the rst term, and the
amplitude reaching the observation point from
the entire unrestricted wavefront is half the am-
plitude that would result if all zones but the
rst were blocked off. The intensity (ampli-
tude squared) is one fourth that due to the rst
zone alone. For the case of a circular aperture in
which the wave is now blocked off by a screen
that has a small circular aperture, the amount of
light that reaches the central point of the diffrac-
tion pattern depends on the number of Fresnel
zones that t intothe aperture. If the radius of the
aperture is such that only the rst Fresnel zone
lls it, then the amplitude is twice and the inten-
sity is four times that of the unscreened wave.
Increasing the radius of the aperture so that two
zones can t, the amplitude is just the difference
of the amplitude fromthese two zones, or practi-
cally zero (the contributions are equal but out of
phase), and the intensity decreases even though
the aperture has been made larger. Further in-
creases of aperture radius cause the intensity to
pass through maxima and minima each time the
number of zones included becomes odd or even.
If an odd number of zones ts the aperture, then
the diffraction pattern has a central bright point;
if an even number of zones ts the aperture, the
pattern has a central dark point. The same ef-
fect occurs by moving the point of observation
continuously to or away fromthe aperture along
the perpendicular, thereby varying the size of
the zones, and producing minima or maximum
along the axis of the aperture. If the circular
aperture problem is replaced by a circular ob-
stacle problem, these methods lead to the sur-
prising conclusion that there should be a bright
spot in the center of the shadow. If the obsta-
cle is made to consist of alternately opaque and
transparent optical zones, it is possible to ar-
range for alternate Fresnel zones to be effective
for a particular observation point. Then the re-
sult is high intensity at that observation point,
since arrivals from alternate zones are in phase.
This type of obstacle is the Fresnel zone plate,
which produces a bright image of the source at
the observation point, and thus acts as a lens. By
this arrangement, Fresnel lenses produce images
of any small bright source by diffraction.
friction When the surface of one body slides
over the surface of another, each body exerts a
frictional force on the other. Frictional forces
are oriented parallel to the surface in the di-
rection opposite to the motion relative to the
other body. Thus frictional forces always op-
pose the motion. They can exist when no motion
is present. Static friction describes frictional
forces acting between surfaces at rest with re-
spect to each other. Its magnitude F
s
is propor-
tional to the normal force on the surface N, re-
lated through the coefcient of static friction
s
,
as F
s

s
N. Forces of kinetic friction develop
between surfaces in relative motion. The magni-
tude of the force of kinetic friction F
k
is related
to the normal force N through the coefcient of
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kinetic friction
k
, F
k
=
k
N. Friction in u-
ids that deform under the action of shear stress
is described by viscous forces. A uid element
when subjected to a shear stress
yx
experiences
a rate of deformation (shear rate) described by
du/dy, for Newtonian uids
yx
=
du
dy
. The
coefcient of proportionality is the absolute (dy-
namic) viscosity .
Friction.
frictional coefcient (electrophoresis) The
frictional coefcient ff
1
o
relates the Stokes ra-
dius R
s
of a macromolecule to its molecular
mass M:
R
s
= ff
1
o
(3vM)
1/3
(4N
A
)
1/3
where v is partial specic volume and N
A
is
Avogrados number.
frictional electrication An electric charge
generated by rubbing a material against a dis-
similar material. For example, anelectric charge
is generated on a glass rod rubbed against a silk
cloth.
fringes Interference and diffraction phenom-
ena are characterized by patterns of maximum
and minimum intensity called fringe systems.
One of these alternate light and dark or color
bands, in a circular or rectilinear pattern, is a
bright or dark or color fringe. Depending on the
means of separation of the original beam into
interfering beams, interference fringes may be
classied as fringes from division of wavefront,
as from a diffraction grating, or fringes from di-
vision of amplitude, as in a semireecting mir-
ror. Fringes from plane-parallel plates as in the
Fabry-Perot interferometer are fringes of equal
inclination or Haidinger fringes. Fringes from
other geometrical situations are fringes of equal
thickness or Fizeau fringes. Since the visible
spectrumoccupies only one octave, fringes from
path differences of one wavelength are possible
in white light, and are called white light fringes.
With longer path differences, fringes are seen
only for nearly monochromatic light, and are
called monochromatic light fringes.
fuel cell Atype of electrochemical cell where
the reactants are not permanently contained in
the cell but are fed into the cell when power is
desired. The operation of a fuel cell is similar
to a battery but no consummable electrodes are
used.
full-duplex Refers to a communications sys-
temor equipment capable of transmission in two
directions, that is, transmitting and receiving si-
multaneously. In pure digital networks, this is
achieved with two pairs of wires. In analog net-
works or in digital networks using carriers, it is
achieved by dividing the bandwidth of the line
into two frequencies, one for sending, and the
other for receiving.
fullerphone System of telegraphy that uses
direct currents for actual transmission. Buzzer
signals for keying and listening are also used,
thus making the system more difcult to tap.
function generator (1) A device capable
of producing a desired time varying waveform
(e.g., sine, square, or triangle) with adjustable
frequency and amplitude.
(2) A circuit that accepts an input voltage as
an independent variable, x, and generates a de-
2001 CRC Press LLC
A block diagram of a function generator accepting an
input voltage xand producing an output voltage f(x).
Also shown is an arbitrary function with an example of
a piecewise linear approximation.
pendent output voltage based on a prescribed
function, f(x). Example functions include
f(x) = log(x), f(x) = x
2
, or f(x) = sin(x).
Depending on the quality of the circuit in use,
the output may be a piecewise linear approxi-
mation to the desired function.
fuse A device that is used to protect an elec-
trical device or circuit from overloading. When
a loaded current exceeds a specied safe level,
a fuse heats itself and melts to open the circuit.
Some fuses consist of a wire enclosed in a small
glass or ceramic cartridge with metal terminals.
2001 CRC Press LLC
G
gain The ratio of the output variable of a
device to the input variable. For an electronic
amplier, it is the ratio of output voltage to the
input voltage. The gainis equivalent tothe trans-
fer function for passive circuits.
gainbandwidth product A gure of merit
that determines the useful frequency range of a
transistor or amplier in general. It is the mid-
band gain times the bandwidth. For transistors,
it is sometimes expressed as

available power gain (bandwidth) .

So, a highgain, lowbandwidth amplier is
equivalent to a lowgain, wideband amplier
by this algorithm.
gain, inverse In most feedback systems, the
inverse of the total gain is approximately equal
to the transfer function of the feedback network.
See also feedback.
Galvanic cell It is believed that Luigi Galvani
discovered that when two dissimilar metals are
contacted by a moist substance, a direct current
will ow through the metals. The early elec-
trochemical cell designed using this principle is
called a Galvanic cell.
galvanometer An instrument used to deter-
mine the strength and direction of an electric
current. It operates based on the fact that a mag-
netic eld is created by the current in accordance
with Amperes circuit law. This eld interacts
with the eld of a permanent magnet, causing
the coil of the permanent magnet to deect. The
magnitude and direction of the deection is then
related to the magnitude and direction of the cur-
rent in the coil.
galvanometer, ballistic A moving coil gal-
vanometer used to measure charge by detecting
a burst of current passing through the moving
coil. When an electric burst of current passes
through the coil, the initial maximum deection
of the moving coil of the galvanometer is pro-
portional to the total charge passed. The period
of the movement of the coil should be longer
than the duration of the transient current to be
measured. See also galvanometer, moving coil.
galvanometer constant A factor by which
a galvanometer reading must be multiplied to
obtain the current in a standard unit.
galvanometer, dArsonval Instrument
where the current carrying the coil is free to ro-
tate in the magnetic eld of a large permanent
magnet. The deection of the coil is related to
the current it carries.
galvanometer, Einthoven Also known as
string galvanometer. A galvanometer that con-
sists of a single conductive lament stretched
tightly between the poles of a powerful magnet.
The current causes deection of the lament.
The deection, which is observed through a mi-
croscope, is proportional to the current strength.
galvanometer, Helmholtz A galvanome-
ter that uses a magnetic eld generated by a
Helmholtz coil. The generated magnetic eld
is relatively uniform. A Helmholtz coil consists
of two coils. The two coils are identical and the
distance between the coils is as long as the radius
of the coil. The overlappedelds of the twocoils
cause a uniform magnetic eld. The magnetic
density ux B near the center of a Helmholtz
Helmholtz coil.
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coil of radius r is
B =
25
0
I
8

5r

1 + O

x
4

,
where
0
is the permeability and I is the induced
current and x is the distance from the center
around the axes of a Helmholtz coil.
galvanometer, integrating A galvanometer
designed to measure very slow changes of the
electric ux generated in a coil in an electric
eld.
galvanometer, moving coil A galvanometer
that measures a current passing through a light
coil of many turns suspended or pivoted with a
spiral spring in a xed magnetic eld produced
by a magnet.
Moving coil galvanometer.
galvanometer, sine A galvanometer that has
a short magnetic needle suspended between two
Helmholtz coils. The current in the coil deects
both the coil and the scale. As a result the needle
keeps pointing zero scale when the current is
loaded. The sine of the angle of deectionof coil
(scale) is proportional to the current strength.
galvanometer, tangent A galvanometer that
has a short magnetic needle horizontally sus-
pended at the center of a vertical coil. The cur-
rent in the coil deects the needle. The tangent
of the angle of deection is proportional to the
strength of the current.
galvanometer, vibrational A galvanometer
that measures analternatingcurrent. The natural
oscillation frequency of the movable element of
the galvanometer is made equal to the frequency
of the current.
Galvinis experiment The demonstration
that electrical charge causes a muscle to con-
tract.
gamma cameras A device for producing
an image using gamma radiation, usually used
to locate radioactive substances within a living
body.
gamma ray detector A device for detecting
the presence of a photon of gamma radiation.
Such devices are used in nuclear medicine, radi-
ation therapy, high-energy physics, and astron-
omy.
gamma-ray spectrometry The measure-
ment of the energy of specic photons of gamma
radiation. Such experiments can yield valuable
information about the source of the gamma ra-
diation.
gate In digital electronics, a gate is an
electronic circuit that performs an elementary
Boolean function. The device is constructed
such that it accepts one or more input voltages
which are assumed to represent Boolean vari-
ables given a predened logic convention. The
gate then provides an output voltage (typically
just one) which represents the result of the oper-
ation it was designed to implement. Examples
include the AND, OR, and EOR gates.
A gate is a combinational circuit, meaning
that the output state is the functional result of
the present state of the input variables. Compare
with ip-op, whose output depends on the his-
tory of the input variables (see sequential logic).
The internal electronics of the device can be
based on one of many different schemes: TTL
(transistor transistor logic), RTL (resistor
transistor logic), ECL (emitter coupled logic),
CMOS (complementary metal oxide semicon-
ductor), and so on.
Gauss This is the unit of magnetic ux den-
sity and is equal to 10
4
webers per square meter.
Gaussian channel A Gaussian channel
represents a communication channel model
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wherein the transmitted signal is corrupted and
distorted only by additive Gaussian noise, a
time-invariant amplitude attenuation and a time-
invariant phase offset. As such, a Gaussian
channel possesses innite bandwidth. The
Gaussian channel often represents an adequate
channel model of a bandlimited channel for a
limited time duration within the nite band-
width over which the information-bearing signal
is transmitted.
Gausss law(electric) Relationship between
the total electric ux through a closed surface
and the charge within that surface. In integral
form, it is

s
E.da = Q/
0
, where Qis the total
charge enclosed by the surface s. If the charge
is distributed over a volume, being the charge
density, then by application of the divergence.
generator, current A device for generating
constant currents. It is designed to make the
output current independent of the impedance be-
tween the output terminals.
generator, electrostatic A device for gen-
erating high-voltage electrical charges. A van
der Graaff generator is a kind of electrostatic
generator.
generator, Hartman A device used to pro-
duce powerful ultrasonic sound waves. Shock
waves induced by a supersonic gas jet at the
edges of a nozzle resonate with the opening of a
small cylindrical pipe placed opposite the noz-
zle.
generator, heteropolar An electric gener-
ator whose conductors move through magnetic
elds of opposite direction successively. Usu-
ally, a heteropolar generator has a conductor ro-
tating in a non-uniform magnetic eld. Most
generators used are heteropolar generators.
generator, impulsive Generator used to pro-
duce pulses of high voltage and short duration.
Usually achieved via parallel charging and se-
ries discharging of capacitors.
generator, induction An AC generator that
consists of an induction motor connected to an
AC source. Most induction generators in com-
mon use are three-phase ACgenerators. The ro-
tor of an induction generator is driven mechani-
cally above the synchronous speed correspond-
ing to the frequency of ACfromthe source. The
motor generates ACenergy and sends the energy
back to the source at the frequency of the source.
generator, reaction, AC A kind of AC gen-
erator. Its rotor does not have any coils but has
a salient rotor. It is used for low speed rota-
tion usage, e.g., hydroelectric power generation.
The salient pole is designed to make a sinusoidal
change of the magnetic ux density. It requires
an AC current supply from another AC genera-
tor. Therefore, it is connected in parallel with
one or more synchronous generators. It is also
called a salient-pole synchronous generator.
A salient-pole synchronous generator.
generators, acoustic Transducers that con-
vert electrical, mechanical or other forms of en-
ergy into sound; they can be either constant vol-
ume velocity or constant pressure. Both ver-
sions can be impedance-type or mobility-type.
The concept of acoustical generators is of im-
portance in acoustical circuits.
generators, electrical A device for generat-
ing voltages and currents. It usually converts a
particular mechanical power to electrical power
to generate voltages and currents.
generators, tandem A modied van der
Graaff generator that is used as an elementary
particle generator. It connects two generators in
a series and a high voltage (positively charged)
electrode between the pair of generators. Neg-
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ative ions are accelerated from ground potential
toward the electrode. The negative ions pass by
the electrode and then pass through lowpressure
gas to remove their surplus electrons from the
ions. The ions become positive and accelerated
again to ground potential by the electrode in the
same direction. The ions are twice accelerated
in a tandem generator.
generator, van de Graaff Machine for gen-
erating high voltages at lowcurrents via electro-
static charge separation. It consists of an insu-
lating belt that is revolved at a high speed over
separated rollers, one of which is usually insu-
lating while the other is neutral metal. Adjacent
to the rollers are metal combs, one of which
is connected to the ground, while the other is
connected to the inside of the generator elec-
trical conducting dome. As the belt rotates,
charge separation occurs between the insulating
roller and the belt. The roller attracts oppositely
charged ions from the comb via the plasma cre-
ated in the air due to the high voltage between
the comb and the roller. These are intercepted
by the belt and carried away to the other roller,
the charges being picked up by the other comb
and distributed over the generator dome. In this
way large potential differences can be achieved
between the dome and the earth.
generic pump Adevice using various physi-
cal principles to convert mechanical energy into
uid energy, usually energy of motion of the
uid. These devices typically work either by
compression or suction.
geophones A transducer used in seismic
work that responds to motion of the ground at
a location on or below the surface of the earth.
It is used in exploration seismology to analyze
acoustic waves reected fromdifferent rock lay-
ers in the earths subsurface.
germanium A group IV semiconducting el-
ement. In its natural crystalline form, it has a
diamond-like tetrahedral structure with covalent
bonds between neighbors. It is an excellent can-
didate for doping, thus it is technologically im-
portant in the construction of semiconducting
electronic devices. See also doping; diode junc-
tion.
glow discharge A device used for the pro-
duction of charge particles or monochromatic
light. In electronic circuits, it can be used as a
voltage reference.
The glow discharge consists of a discharge
tube, two exposed conductors in the tube, and a
means of supplying a moderately high voltage to
the conductors. The discharge tube is an evac-
uated vessel that is partially lled with the in-
tended gas. Operating pressures are of the order
100 microns. The conductors can be arranged
in many different arrangements. The simplest
is the parallel plate geometry, as shown in the
following gure.
A basic arrangement for a glow discharge.
Considering only a DC voltage source, the
conductor that is biased positively is called the
anode. The negatively biased electrode is the
cathode. The operation of the discharge pro-
duces many separated electrons and ions: a
plasma. The electrons and negative ions are at-
tracted toward the anode, while the positive ions
are accelerated toward the cathode.
A typical IV characteristic curve for the
glow discharge is shown below. Normal operat-
ing conditions are 10s to 100s of milliamperes of
current and 10s to 100s of volts. The actual val-
ues involved depend on many parameters, such
as the type of gas and electrode material as well
as gas pressure. Note that there is a region for
which the voltage is constant for many different
currents. This behavior can be exploited in the
construction of a voltage regulator. Aballast re-
sistor is shown in the gure below to limit the
current drawn by the glow discharge.
The discharge is maintained from two main
processes:
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A typical IV curve for a glow discharge in arbitrary
units.
1. Positively charged ions colliding with the
cathode will eject secondary electrons from the
surface. The yield of electrons depends on the
accelerating potential and the type of cathode
material. These secondary electrons are accel-
erated toward the anode.
The collisional production of secondary electrons at
the cathode surface.
2. As electrons are accelerated toward the an-
ode they, with some degree of probability, will
collide with the neutral background gas atoms.
If the electrons energy is sufcient, then the
atom can be ionized. This produces a positively
charged ion that is accelerated toward the cath-
ode. It also produces another free electron that,
in turn, can ionize more atoms. If the electron
collisional energy is insufcient, the atom will
only become excited, which in turn emits pho-
tons. This gives the discharge its characteristic
glow.
Ionization of the background atom by electron impact.
If the secondary electron yield at the cathode
surface and the collisional probability of pro-
ducing positive ions are sufcient, then the dis-
charge will continue to run and current will
ow. Otherwise, the discharge will go out
and will not draw any current. Normally, the
discharge will not start by itself. A means of
producing a few separated charge particles is
required. Commonly, the discharge process is
started simply from background radiation, e.g.,
cosmic rays, ionizing a few of the atoms.
Goldmanmodel This model relates potential
differences across a membrane in the presence
of more than one ion. The ions are assumed to
move independently of one another. The elec-
tric eld within the membrane is assumed to be
constant.
Gouy method A technique for determin-
ing magnetic susceptibility that is based on the
measurement of the force exerted on a sample
by an inhomogeneous magnetic eld. When
any substance is placed in a magnetic eld, the
eld produced within the sample either is greater
than or less than the applied eld, depending on
whether the material is paramagnetic or diamag-
netic. The method usually involves measuring
the weight of a substance in the presence and
absence of the magnetic eld, making it one of
the least expensive techniques for determining
magnetic susceptibility.
gramophone An instrument for reproduc-
ing acoustic signals, such as voice or music, by
transmission of vibrations froma stylus that is in
contact with a groove on a at disk. Also known
as a phonograph.
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grating Any arrangement of diffracting bod-
ies that imposes on an incident wave a periodic
variation of amplitude or phase or both. It is a
device for producing spectra by diffraction and
measuring the wavelengths of incident waves.
One of the simplest kinds of grating consists
of a number of identical equidistant slit aper-
tures in an opaque screen, an idealization use-
ful for mathematical analysis. Practical grat-
ings may consist of equidistant diamond rulings
on a plate or mirror or a replica made of these
rulings. Making narrow slits the elements of a
grating allows them to act as sources that ra-
diate uniformly. Most of the important optical
characteristics of diffraction gratings, such as
resolving power and dispersion, are concerned
with the interference effects from sources aris-
ing from each of the corresponding elements of
the grating, and are associated with the period-
icity of the diffracting elements rather than with
their individual shape. Diffracted light from a
grating may be either reected or transmitted,
and produces maxima of illumination or spec-
tral lines according to the equation
d (sin + sin ) = m ,
where d is the distance between correspond-
ing elements = 1/N, where N is the number
of grating lines per unit length of grating, is
the angle of incidence, is the direction of the
diffracted maximum with respect to the normal
corresponding to order m(m = 0 for central im-
age), and is the wavelength. The concave or
Rowlandgratingremoves the necessityof achro-
matic collimation and telescopic objectives. See
also blazing of grating, echelette, echelon, grat-
ing, Rowland.
grating, holographic The generation of a
grating on a blank using the holographic pro-
cess, in which a series of interference fringes
are formed from the intersection of two coher-
ent beams of light, corresponding to the grooves
of the grating, are recorded in a photosensi-
tive material. The spacing of these fringes is
determined by the angle of intersection of the
beams and by the wavelength of light. Subse-
quent chemical treatment, using the solubility
dependence of the photoresist that in a suitable
developer changes with exposure to light, forms
a modulated prole on the surface of the blank
by selective dissolution. Since the grooves are
determined by the interference of light, a grating
made this way is free from the random and peri-
odic errors present in gratings made with ruling
engines. The idea of making gratings this way
was considered by Michelson as early as 1915,
but it was not until 1960 that Burch made grat-
ings this way. Gratings suitable for general spec-
troscopic use did not appear until 1967, with the
advent of high power lasers, coinciding with the
practical realization of holography that was also
made possible withthe laser, andwhichwas very
much in vogue at that time, so the technique ac-
quired the name holographic grating, although
it is more correct tospeakof themas interference
gratings. The most serious shortcoming of this
technique is that there is little control over the
groove prole, usually producing gratings with
a sinusoidal or a quasi-sinusoidal groove pro-
le. It is also very difcult to control the blaze
angle using this process. An advantage of holo-
graphic gratings is that they can be made with
a periodicity smaller than with a ruling engine.
The periodicity in a holographic grating is lim-
ited to 1/2 the exposing wavelength; e.g., using
a He-Cd laser at 442 nm, this limit is .221 mi-
crons. Selecting holographic or ruled gratings
depends on the requirements for grating period,
blaze angle, and grating depth.
grating, radial A nonspectroscopic grating
used to measure angular displacement in which
the wires or rods are set radially within a circu-
lar structure, like the spokes of a wheel. Usu-
ally radial gratings take the form of annulus be-
tween 10 and 20 mm wide on a wider annular
blank. Conventional circular dividing engines
can make such gratings with an accuracy of 1
seconds of arc. Further reductions of resid-
ual error are possible with multiple printing of
the whole grating at all orientations. These are
available with up to 43,200 lines or one line per
0.5 min of arc.
grating, Rowland Aconcave grating. These
ratings are ruled on concave spherical mirrors of
metal instead of plane surfaces. It diffracts and
focuses the light at the same time and eliminates
the necessity of using lenses, thereby eliminat-
ing chromatic aberration. It also has the ad-
vantage of being used for regions of the spec-
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trum that are not transmitted by glass lenses,
e.g., the ultraviolet. A mathematical treatment
of the concave grating shows that if R is the ra-
dius of curvature of the spherical surface, then a
circle of diameter R can be drawn tangent to the
grating at its mid-point which gives the locus
of points where the spectrum is in focus, pro-
vided the source slit is also on this circle. Most
mountings for concave gratings are based on this
Rowland circle condition for focus.
gratings, crossed One of the techniques used
for projecting a 1-D or 2-D grid of dots or lines.
A series of dots is produced when the output of
a collimated laser is passed through a diffraction
grating. Using crossed diffraction gratings, the
result will be a 2-D grid of dots. If a laser line
generator is used, the result onpassingthe output
through a single grating is a series of lines. Two
such arrangements at right angles or a laser cross
generator and crossed diffraction gratings will
result in a 2-Dgrid of lines. The spread of the in-
dividual spots or lines is inversely related to the
diffraction grating pitch. However, the bright-
ness of the dots or lines may not be even close
to uniformsince the intensity decreases with the
order of the diffracted beam. Lower density
gratings (fewer lines/mm) will result in a larger
number of more uniformly spaced higher order
spots or lines of more nearly equal brightness,
but they will be dimmer and more closely spaced
(not deected as much). Crossed gratings can
be used to produce Moir fringes. If the two
gratings are identical transmission gratings that
consist of alternating opaque and transparent el-
ements, then when these gratings are placed face
to face with a small inclination angle, no light
will be transmitted where the opaque parts of
one grating fall on top of the transparent parts
of the other. This has the appearance of a set of
dark fringes called Moir fringes. If one grating
is stationary, and the other moved perpendicu-
lar to its rulings, the Moir fringes will cross
a point each time the gratings advance by the
grating interval. This allows measurement of
the movement of the grating, by measuring the
Moir fringes, which magnify the movement of
the gratings inversely as the angle between the
rulings. This has useful applications in automa-
tion, where one grating may be attached to an
object being processed and is moved across a
stationary grating for controlled displacement
of the object.
gratings, in series Gratings may be placed
consecutively one after the other in series. One
advantage of this set-up is the easy adjustment
even in the IR region. The law of diffraction
suggests that by combining two grating orders,
the beams with appropriate order numbers have
the same entrance and exit angles. Thus the se-
ries set-up is invariant against tilt of the incident
beams as long as both gratings are parallel.
grating spectrograph An optical instrument
that uses a grating to diffract light into specic
wavelengths so as to form the spectrum of a
light source and record it on lm or with pho-
todetectors situated in the spectrum at positions
possibly corresponding to the lines of elements
or compounds whose presence is of interest.
Early spectrometers, such as those developed
by Fraunhofer and others, used Newtons dis-
covery of the dispersion of light by a prism in-
stead of a diffraction grating. Aconcave grating
requires no other means to form a sharp image
of the slit on the lm, but a plane grating or a
prism requires additional achromatic lenses or
concave mirrors for image-forming in addition
to the diffracting element.
gravitational waves A propagating gravita-
tional eld, a distortion of spacetime predicted
by general relativity, that is produced by some
change in the distribution of matter. It travels at
the speed of light and alternately produces out-
of-phase contractions and elongations of space
along two axes perpendicular to the propagation
direction. The strength of the eld is character-
ized by its strain, the fractional changes in the
lengths along the two axes. Also know as grav-
itational radiation.
grazing incidence Light that strikes a surface
at an angle nearly perpendicular to the normal.
Similarly, grazing emergence occurs when an
emergent ray is at an angle nearly perpendicu-
lar to the normal of the emergent surface of a
medium.
ground The point in a circuit that by def-
inition has zero potential. In practice this is
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achieved by connecting the circuit directly to
the earth via a conductor. This serves to cre-
ate a xed baseline potential from which other
potentials can be measured.
ground glass Glass that has been frosted by
grinding or etching. It diffuses light by scatter-
ing in directions close to the incoming beam; at
larger angles out from this direction, light falls
off rapidly.
ground wave In transmission of radio waves,
the path traveled by wave along the earths sur-
face. It can interfere with sky waves to produce
selective fading of radio signals.
group velocity The concept of group veloc-
ity is used to describe the movement of acoustic
waves in a moving uid. Acoustic waves can,
in their simplest form, be represented by plane
waves, the direction of propagationnperpendic-
ular to the wavefronts, that move with the speed
of sound c. The velocity of the disturbance in a
stagnant uid is cn. If the speed of the ambient
uid is v
0
, the velocity of the wave disturbance
registered by an observer at rest, called the group
velocity v
gr
, is the vector sum v
gr
= cn + v
0
.
Also describes the velocity of the envelope of
a group of waves having slightly different fre-
quencies and phase velocities. Also known as
(acoustic) modulation.
Grove cell A primary cell with a platinum
electrode in a nitric (or sulfuric) acid electrolyte
inside a porous cup. Outside this cup is a zinc
electrode in a sulfuric acid electrolyte. It was
invented by William Grove.
guard wires A high-conductive connection
to a large conducting body. It is usually con-
nected to electrical equipment for safety and cir-
cuit completion.
Gunn effect See diode, Gunn.
gun, sound from The sound wave generated
from the discharge of a gun, consisting of three
separate signals. The rst signal forms the en-
velope of the waves emitted by a projectile that
moves at a speed higher than the speed of sound,
and it is called the head or bow wave. This wave
reaches the observer rst, and is perceived as
a sharp crack. The second wave is caused by
the explosion of the shell, and the third one by
the expanding gunpowder gases traveling at the
speed of sound.
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H
halfadder Forms the basis of multidigit
addition or subtraction of base2 numbers. It
is the smallest operational block that performs
elementary binary addition or subtraction on a
single digit. The halfadder has two inputs X
and Y for the addend and augend. Normally a
combinational circuit, it provides sum, S, and
carry, C, outputs based on the immediate input
conditions. The operation of the halfadder is
dened by
S = (X Y ) (X Y )
(X Y ) (X Y )
C = X Y ,
and is illustrated in the accompanying truth ta-
ble.
Truth table of the
halfadder
X Y S C
0 0 0 0
0 1 1 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
To perform basic addition of the ith digit
of two binary numbers (see digital arithmetic),
consideration must be given to the carry (or bor-
row) of the next lower signicant digit. The
fulladder has an extra input, C
i1
in addition
to the addend and augend, X
i
and Y
i
respec-
tively. The fulladder is constructed from two
halfadders; the rst adds X
i
and Y
i
and the
second adds this subtotal with C
i1
. A truth ta-
ble illustrating the operation of the fulladder is
also presented.
half-duplexing Alsoknownas twoway alter-
nate. Data can be transmitted in network com-
munication in either direction but only in one
Truth table of the fulladder
C
i1
X
i
Y
i
S
i
C
i
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 1 0
0 1 1 0 1
1 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1
direction at any given time. This is done by use
of a circuit to provide transmission alternately
in either direction.
halfpower bandwidth The frequency dif-
ference between the two points in an ampliers
frequency response for which the power gain
has nally dropped to one half the center fre-
quency f
0
power gain. This is equivalent to the
points where the relative gain has dropped by
3 dB. These two points f
a
, f
b
dene the 3 dB
bandwidth or pass-band (f
a
f
b
).
halfpower frequency The frequency at
which an ampliers power gain has dropped by
one half the center frequency power gain (i.e.,
by 3 dB). See also halfpower bandwidth.
half tone Amusical interval with a frequency
ratio of 2
1/12
= 1.0595. In the theory of equal
temperament, any two half tones approximate a
major interval, any four a major third, any ve a
fourth, any seven a fth, any nine a sixth and any
eleven a seventh. Any twelve half tones form
an octave. In just intonation (characterized by
mathematically exact intervals) with reference
to the major key of C, the frequencies for the
keys D, E, F, G, A, B and C are tuned to 9/8
(major interval), 5/4 (major third), 4/3 (fourth),
3/2 (fth), 5/3 (sixth), 15/8 (seventh) and 2 (oc-
tave) times the frequency of the rst C. Also
called half step or semitone. See also frequency
band and octave.
half-wave plate One of the simplest devices
for production and detection of circularly polar-
ized light is the quarter-wave plate, which in-
troduces a 90

phase shift between the ordinary

and extraordinary vibrations. With the quarter
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wave plate oriented at 45

with the plane of po-

larization of the incident light, circularly polar-
ized light is produced. A half-wave plate re-
ects the E-vector about its axis. Light passing
through a quarter-wave plate twice is equivalent
to passing once through a half-wave plate. Like
the quarter-wave plate, these plates are usually
made of thin sheets of mica or quartz cut parallel
to the optic axis. The thickness is adjusted, de-
pending on the wavelength (usually sodiumDis
selected) to introduce a phase difference of 180

between the ordinary and extraordinary vibra-

tions. Plane polarized light passing through the
plate has its plane of polarizationrotatedthrough
2 where is the angle between the axis and the
incident vibrations. In certain instruments, such
as the Laurent Saccharimeter, it is desirable to
compare two adjacent elds of light polarized at
a certain angle with respect to each other; then
half the eld is covered with a half-wave plate,
and the analyzer is rotated until two half elds
are equally bright or dark.
half-width The full width at half maximum
(FWHM) or half-width expresses the extent of
a function, y = f(x), given by the difference
between the two extreme values, x2x1, of the
independent variable x at which the dependent
variable y is equal to half of its maximumvalue,
ym/2. For example, the half-width of the error
function integrand e y2 is 1.67. FWHM is
frequently applied to spectral width of sources
used for optical communications. When applied
to pulse width where the independent variable
is time, full duration at half maximum (FDHM)
may be used.
haloes (1) In meteorology, the short lived and
sometimes faintly hued circles or arcs that are
seen to surround a light source viewed through
fog or light clouds. The theory attributing
their formation to ice crystals was suggested by
the 17th century philosopher Descartes. White
haloes are formed by reection from ice crys-
tals, colored haloes from refraction. The size of
scattering ice determines the size of the ring.
(2) The ring surrounding a photographic im-
age of a bright source and resulting from the
scattering of light in random directions.
(3) The broad rings that appear as a result of
the diffraction of monoenergetic beams of elec-
trons or X-rays from crystalline powder.
hamming distance The number of bit posi-
tions bywhichtwobinarycodewords differ. The
error detecting and error correcting properties of
a code depend on this distance.
hardware Physical devices, generally for
the interfacing of central processing units to the
physical world. Each piece of hardware will
perform some specic and unique task. The
computers hardware will handle chores such as
inputing and encoding data, by way of a key-
board or scanner, for example. Output hardware
include printers, display devices, and robotic
equipment.
harmonic analyzer Electronic device that
measures the frequencies and relative ampli-
tudes of harmonic components in a complex
wave. Also known as harmonic wave analyzer.
harmonic motion Motion in that the dis-
placement of particles repeats itself in equal in-
tervals of time, also called periodic motion. Pe-
riodic motion can be described in terms of sines
and cosines. Since the term harmonic is used
for expressions containing these functions, pe-
riodic motion is also called harmonic motion.
Thus, harmonic motion along a line is given by
the function x = a cos(kt + ), where t is the
time parameter, and a, k and are constants.
Also known as harmonic vibration or simple
harmonic motion. When frictional forces that
dissipate energy are present, the system will ex-
ecute damped harmonic motion.
harmonics A series of sounds which have
frequencies that are integral multiples of some
fundamental frequency. See alsofrequency, fun-
damental.
harp, soundfrom Sound produced by pluck-
ing strings spanned on a triangular frame. The
resulting vibration is a combination of several
modes of vibration. When the string is plucked
at the center, the resulting vibration will consist
of fundamental and odd harmonics. When the
string is plucked at a point other than its center,
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the spectrum of the constituent modes changes.
For example, plucking the string at 1/4 of the
distance from the end suppresses the 4
th
har-
monic, etc. The string length determines the
wavelength of the fundamental harmonic of the
sound wave. The modern harp is equipped with
a pedal mechanism that increases the span of
tones that can be produced by the harp so that it
can exceed the power of keyboard instruments.
hearing The general perception and the spe-
cic response to acoustic stimuli. Two ap-
proaches are used to study and describe hearing.
1. The goal of auditory physiology is to un-
derstand the structure, organization, and func-
tioning of various components of the auditory
system at different stages of processing of audi-
tory signals.
2. Auditory psychophysics and psychoacous-
tics deal withthe wayhumans sense andperceive
sound. Hearing involves the elements of inten-
sity, frequency, pitch (sound rich in harmonics is
perceived as having the pitch of the fundamen-
tal frequency independent of the ratio of energy
carried by the fundamental frequency and the
harmonics), localization of sound, and the per-
ception of complex spectra.
hearing, abnormal Impaired hearing is most
commonly identied in pure tone audiometry by
evaluating the auditory response of the individ-
ual to sinusoidal signals at octave intervals from
250 to 8,000 Hz sounded in a quiet room, using
the audiogram. The impedance, or its inverse
the admittance, of the middle ear is determined
through immittance measurements that are use-
ful in establishing the site of the lesion within
the auditory system. An important aspect of
hearing impairment is degradation in speech in-
telligibility, evaluated by speech audiometry, to
determine the speech recognition threshold and
word recognition score. The objectives of the
tests are to establish the extent of hearing im-
pairment and its cause (the site of the lesion).
hearing aids Miniature, portable prosthetic
devices for individuals with impaired hearing.
Conventional electroacoustic hearing aids are
head-worn sound ampliers that consist of a mi-
crophone, audio amplier, earphone, and bat-
tery. Assistive listening devices improve the
speech-to-noise ratio of conventional hearing
aids, responsible for poor speech recognition,
by moving the detached microphone closer to
the sound source. The microphone output signal
can be delivered to the amplier either by wire or
by means of radio frequency or infrared signals.
Vibrotactile devices convert sound into an elec-
trical signal to deliver it to the skin of the individ-
ual as a pattern of mechanical vibrations through
vibrating mechanical contacts. Cochlear im-
plants convert acoustical signals into electrical
signals, process these, and deliver them to the
nerve bers in the inner ear by electrodes in-
serted surgically into the inner ear.
hearing loss Impaired general perception or
specic response to acoustic stimuli. Hearing
loss can be congenital or caused by external fac-
tors or illness. Approximately 9% of the pop-
ulation in the United States is affected by hear-
ing impairment of different levels of severity.
Among the population above the age of 65, this
percentage is between 30 and 40%. The focus of
the discipline of audiology is the diagnosis and
rehabilitation of individuals affected by hearing
loss. The aim of the diagnosis is to establish
the extent of hearing loss and its etiology using
a battery of tests. Depending on the site of the
lesion, hearing impairment can be classied as
conductive hearing loss, retrocochlear (involv-
ing the lesion of the auditory nerve or neural
pathways in the brain), or middle ear pathology,
as well as sensorineural hearing loss (cochlear
site lesion). See also hearing, abnormal; hearing
aids.
heart-lung machine, articial A device
consisting of a pump and an oxygenator used
to oxygenate the blood and to pump it through
the body. Usually used in heart or lung surgery.
heat exchangers There are several types of
heat exchangers used at low temperatures. In
general, heat exchangers consist of a uid at
one temperature, T
1
, and another uid or body
at a different temperature, T
2
. In most situa-
tions, heat removal is the primary concern, so
T
1
> T
2
. A counterow heat exchanger con-
sists of two tubes with uid owing in opposite
directions. Usually made of concentric tubes
of stainless steel, brass or a copper-nickel alloy,
2001 CRC Press LLC
this design allows heat ow across the wall of
the inner tube. The temperature varies contin-
uously along the length of the tube; therefore,
this design is often called a continuous counter-
ow heat exchanger. At low temperatures, the
Kapitza boundary resistance increases, making
the use of simple concentric capillary tubes in-
effective. A second type of heat exchanger, a
step heat exchanger, is used to increase the sur-
face area at low temperatures. This exchanger
has a metal sinter to provide the necessary sur-
face area. Often made of silver or copper pow-
der, the sintered heat exchangers can provide
many 10s of square meters of surface area. If
the heat needs to be exchanged between a liquid
(e.g., helium-3) and a solid, then sintered metals
provide the best exchangers available. See also
Kapitza boundary resistance.
heating effect of current This is also called
Joule heating. When a current I is owing
through a resistor with resistance R, the amount
of energy loss per unit time (power loss) is I
2
R.
heat switches Aheat switch allows a thermal
connection between two regions to be opened
and closed upon demand by one of several tech-
niques. Gas heat switches use the thermal con-
ductivity of a gas, often helium or hydrogen, as
the mechanism to open and close the switch. A
closed volume is connected to the two regions
of interest, and gas is introduced to close the
switch, then removed to open it again. Helium-
4 can be used, but at temperatures below2.17 K,
the helium-4 lm on the inner surface of the
closed volume becomes superuid. The super-
uid lm will continue to conduct heat after the
gas is removed, so care to remove all of the he-
lium must be taken. This problem is not present
if hydrogen is used, but hydrogens amma-
bility is a concern. In very low temperature
cryostats, the remaining hydrogen can undergo
ortho-para conversion causing substantial heat
release. (Ortho-hydrogenis a spinI=1molecule
that converts into para-hydrogen, a spin 0 state,
at low temperatures.) Helium-3, a rare isotope
of helium, is an ideal choice, as it does not be-
come superuid until reaching temperatures be-
low 2.5 mK, and does not have the problems
hydrogen does. At temperatures above approx-
imately 1 K, physical contact can be used. In
this technique, a spring, screw, or motor forces
a piston, attached to the rst region, into contact
with the second region. A common technique
for temperatures below 1 K is to use a super-
conducting heat switch to provide the thermal
contact. In the normal state, a superconducting
metal carries heat through its conduction elec-
trons. In the superconducting state, the elec-
trons form Cooper pairs and cease to carry heat
effectively. As a result, the thermal conductiv-
ity in the normal state is 1000 times (or more)
that in the superconducting state. In practice,
the switch is closed by producing a magnetic
eld which drives the heat switch into the nor-
mal phase, closing the switch. Foils of Al, Sn,
Nb, and Ta are the most common metals used
for superconducting heat switches due to their
superconducting transition temperatures, criti-
cal magnetic elds, and ease of fabrication.
HeI A term synonymous with normal liq-
uid
4
He (in contrast to HeII). See also helium-4,
normal; helium-4, superuid.
HeII Atermsynonymous with the superuid
phase of liquid
4
He. See also helium-4, super-
uid.
helimagnetism A property possessed by
some metals, alloys, and salts of transition el-
ements or rare earths in which the atomic mag-
netic moments, at sufciently lowtemperatures,
are arranged in ferromagnetic planes, the direc-
tion of the magnetism varying in a uniform way
from plane to plane.
helium-3/helium-4 mixtures Helium-3 and
helium-4 are miscible in all proportions at high
temperatures, but phase-separate at tempera-
tures below 0.87 K. A schematic phase diagram
is seen below.
Phase diagram for
3
He/
4
He mixtures.
2001 CRC Press LLC
The superuid transition temperature can be
seen to decrease with increasing
3
He concentra-
tion. Note that the
3
He dissolved in
4
He does
not partake in the superuidity of the surround-
ing
4
He. The
3
He-rich phase, located on the
lower right of the gure is nearly pure, while the
4
He-rich phase contains some
3
He all the way to
absolute zero, seen in the gure by the non-zero
x-intercept. Near 0 K, the dilute phase (
4
He-
rich) has roughly 6.6%
3
He dissolved in it. This
nite solubility is due to the large binding energy
of
3
He atoms in
4
He, 2.8 K/atom (24 J/mol).
The behavior of dilute solutions of
3
He in
4
He
at low temperatures allows a cooling technique
used in dilution refrigerators that can produce
steady-state temperatures of 35 mK.
At temperatures below approximately 0.5 K,
the liquid
4
He is deep in the superuid phase and
therefore acts only as a dense vacuum. The
4
He is, under most circumstances, at thermal
equilibriumdue to its very high thermal conduc-
tivity. The entropy and specic heat of the
4
He
is vastly smaller than that for the
3
He as well,
so the
3
He atoms can ignore the
4
He atoms for
thermal properties. The
3
He atoms do have to
move the
4
He atoms around in order to ow, so
the superuid is said to increase the effective
mass of the
3
He atoms. The effective mass, m

3
,
is about 2.4 times larger than the bare mass, m
3
.
With this change to the
3
He atoms, the theory for
interactions between
3
He atoms and their col-
lective behavior, Fermi liquid theory, provides
an accurate description of the dilute gas of
3
He
atoms.
As mentioned above, the specic heat of
the
4
He is negligible compared to the
3
He, so
the specic heat of the dilute phase is constant
(roughly 3/2 k
B
per atom as for an ideal gas)
at moderate temperatures (0.25 K < T < 0.5 K)
and varies linearly with temperature (as a Fermi
liquid) at lower temperatures. At higher tem-
peratures, the specic heat of the
4
He must be
included for an accurate description.
The addition of
3
He atoms to a bath of super-
uid
4
He changes the thermal ow properties
by providing another path for heat conduction.
At high temperatures, heat is carried by exci-
tations of the superuid, namely phonons and
rotons, and the
3
He atoms are carried along for
the ride. In addition, the thermal diffusion of the
3
He atoms and the heat ow through the normal
uid contribute, particularly at lower tempera-
tures. The viscosity is altered in a similar man-
ner. The presence of
3
He decreases the mean
free path in the superuid, thereby decreasing
the viscosity.
The enthalpy of the dilute phase (low
3
He
concentration) is higher than that in the concen-
trated (nearly pure
3
He) phase. In fact, for a
6.6% solution, the enthalpy of the dilute solu-
tion is roughly 8 times that in the concentrated
solution. Thus, if
3
He atoms diffuse into the di-
lute phase fromthe concentrated phase, the con-
centrated phase will cool by the enthalpy differ-
ence per atom. This evaporation of the liquid
3
He in the concentrated phase to the dense vac-
uum of the dilute phase is the mechanism used
in dilution refrigerators to cool down to several
millikelvin. See also refrigerator, dilution.
helium-3, liquid Helium-3, the lighter stable
isotope of helium, liquees at 3.2 Katmospheric
pressure. Between liquefaction and approxi-
mately 0.1 K, liquid helium-3 behaves much
like a dense classical gas. Thus, at tempera-
tures above 1 K, the specic heat is constant, its
viscosity is also constant (roughly 25 Poise),
and the speed of sound varies from 183 m/s at
saturated vapor pressure to 422 m/s at melting
pressure (34.4 bar).
At temperatures below 0.1 K, liquid helium-
3 is well described by the Fermi liquid theory.
This theory, described by Landau, replaces the
bare
3
He atoms with quasiparticles that include
the effects of interactions and the quantum na-
ture of
3
He. The specic heat is roughly linear,
with the actual dependence found to be
C
V
/R = T + T
3
ln(T/
c
) ,
where R is the gas constant, and , , and
c
are temperature-independent constants. Liquid
3
He has a specic heat much larger than typical
metals in this temperature range. The viscosity
for
3
He varies roughly as T
2
in this regime,
reachingnearly1Poise, the viscosityof machine
oil.
At verylowtemperatures, below0.003K, liq-
uid helium-3 goes through a second order phase
transition into one of several superuid phases.
Due to the nuclear magnetic moment of
3
He
(and hence its fermionic nature), superuidity
2001 CRC Press LLC
in helium-3 can be described by a somewhat
altered version of BCS theory, originally de-
veloped to describe low temperature supercon-
ductors. (See helium-3, superuid.) See also
helium-4, liquid; helium-4, superuid; helium-
3, superuid.
helium-3, melting curve Solid
3
He melts at
pressures of 29.3 bars (at 0.315 K) to 34.4 bars
(below 0.001 K). The coexistence curve for liq-
uid and solid
3
He, the melting curve, is known
accurately below the minimum at 0.315 K and
can, by measuring the melting pressure accu-
rately, be used as a thermometer. The melting
curve is shown in the gure below.
Heat Capacity of liquid
4
He. The Lambda phe-
nomenon.
There are two major features of the melt-
ing curve worth noting: rst, the melting curve
never reaches atmospheric pressure
3
He is
one of two substances that do not solidify upon
cooling at atmospheric pressure (the other be-
ing
4
He). The second feature is the pronounced
minimuminthe meltingcurve visible at 0.315K.
The Clausius-Clapeyron equation:
dp
melt
dT
=
S
V
where S is the entropy difference between
the solid and liquid and V is the difference
in molar volumes. At the temperatures of in-
terest, the molar volumes are roughly constant
and V is positive. The entropy of solid
3
He
is S
s
= Rln(2) to within 1% at temperatures
above 10 mK while the entropy of the liquid
is S

= 4.56RT where R is the gas constant.

Thus, at temperatures below 0.315 K, the en-
tropy of the solid is larger than that of the liquid,
and the slope of the melting curve is negative.
This remarkable fact means a compression of a
solid-liquid mixture of
3
He below 0.315 K will
produce cooling. This is in marked contrast to,
for example, the response of a gas to being com-
pressed. See also refrigerator Pomeranchuk.
helium-3, solid Liquid helium-3 becomes
a solid only at elevated pressures. The min-
imum pressure for solidication is 2.93 MPa
(29.3 bars) at a temperature of 0.316 K. The
solid at pressures below roughly 10 MPa is a
body-centered-cubic structure, while at higher
pressures the hexagonal-close-packed phase is
stable. At very high pressures and tempera-
tures (above roughly a kbar and 20 K), a face-
centered-cubic structure is observed.
At temperatures above approximately 1 mK,
solid helium-3 is a nuclear paramagnet with an
entropy of roughly Nk
B
ln(2) due to the Ndisor-
dered spins. This entropy is actually larger than
that in liquid helium-3 at temperatures below0.3
K. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation therefore
indicates that the slope of the melting (liquid-
solid coexistence) curve is negative at low tem-
peratures; a mixture of liquid and solid helium-3
will actually cool as the pressure increases. At
a temperature of 0.93 mK, the nuclear spins go
through a strongly rst-order phase transition
into an antiferromagnetic phase. This phase,
known as the U2D2 phase, does not consist of
alternating spins as in a simple antiferromag-
net. Instead, the system forms planes of spins
which are ferromagnetic the structure con-
sisting of two such planes with the spins up,
then two planes with spins down, etc.: hence
U2D2 represents up-two, down-two. The en-
tropy of the U2D2 phase varies as T
3
, analo-
gous to phonons. (In any system that has ele-
mentary excitations with a linear dispersion re-
lation, the entropy is expected to depend cubi-
cally on temperature.) The U2D2 phase is sta-
ble at lowmagnetic elds, belowapproximately
0.45 Tesla. Above this eld, the system goes
through another rst-order phase transition into
2001 CRC Press LLC
a different antiferromagnet, the canted-normal
antiferromagnet (CNAF). This is a phase with
an antiferromagnetic signature and a ferromag-
netic signature at right angles to one another.
A one-dimensional representation of the U2D2
and the CNAF phases is shown below, respec-
tively:


The primary interactions between
3
He atoms
in the low temperature solid is due to atomic
exchange processes. There are many possible
exchange congurations, several of which con-
tribute to the properties of solid
3
He. The sim-
plest exchange is simply nearest-neighbor ex-
change, but this is suppressed by the steric hin-
drance of nearby atoms. (Steric hindrance de-
scribes the fact that the atoms are not point par-
ticles and must move past one another.) Multi-
ple spin exchange in rings is therefore favored
over two particle exchange. Three, four, and
six particle exchange are all relevant for solid
3
He. This exchange produces an effective spin
interaction through the Pauli exclusion principle
requiring the total wavefunction to be antisym-
metric.
Above the transition temperature, the mag-
netic susceptibility per unit volume behaves ac-
cording to a Curie-Weiss law,
= /(T )
where is the Curie constant per unit volume
and is the Weiss temperature. The susceptibil-
ity changes discontinously at the (eld driven)
transition between U2D2 and CNAF, increasing
by roughly a factor of six. See also helium-3,
melting curve.
helium-3, superuid Liquid helium-3 be-
comes a superuid at 2.5 mK(at 34.4 bar). Since
3
He has one unpaired neutron in the nucleus,
it has a net spin angular momentum of 1/2 (in
units of ) and is therefore a fermion. As such,
it cannot have more than one atom in a given
quantum state. This is in marked contrast to
the case for liquid
4
He which forms a superuid
when a large number of atoms form a interact-
ing Bose condensate in the ground state. Su-
peruidity in liquid
3
He can be described by
the formation of Cooper pairs, similar to the
process in superconductors. Liquid
3
He can
be described as a nearly ferromagnetic liq-
uid. One
3
He atom will tend to polarize nearby
atoms through the nuclear dipolar interactions.
This cloud of polarized atoms will then prefer
another atom of the same spin as the rst one
(e.g., spin up) over a spin of the opposite state
(spin down). This produces a net interaction be-
tween these two like spins that is attractive. At
sufciently low temperatures, these atoms form
Cooper pairs of spin 1. Since the wavefunc-
tion for fermions must be antisymmetric, the
orbital wave function must therefore be in an
odd angular momentum state and is found to be
in an = 1 state. (In contrast, electrons in low
temperature superconductors formCooper pairs
of total spin 0 and angular momentum = 0.)
Thus the spin state of the wavefunction can be
| >, | >, or| > +| >. This internal
structure of the Cooper pair leads to complex
behavior. At high pressures and relatively high
temperatures, superuid
3
He-A is stable. The
A-phase consists of equal spin pairs (those pairs
with S
z
= 1). This pairing leads to
3
He-A be-
ing very anisotropic, having preferred orienta-
tions in both spin-space and real-space. This
anisotropy produces complex magnetic behav-
ior and liquid-crystal-like behavior. At lower
temperatures and pressures, there is a rst order
phase transition to the B-phase. The B-phase
consists of all three possible spin states avail-
able for the Cooper pairs. The B-phase also has
complex magnetic and orbital behavior. As the
magnetic eld increases, the volume of phase
space in which the B phase is stable decreases
until, at approximately 0.6 T, the A phase be-
comes the stable phase. A third phase, the A
1
phase, exists in magnetic elds between the A
phase and normal
3
He. The A
1
phase consists of
Cooper pairs of only one spin orientation (e.g.,
| >). This phase occupies a very small re-
gion of phase space which is not visible on the
scale of the gure, but which grows linearly with
magnetic eld to be roughly 0.5 mK in a 10 T
eld. The specic heat of superuid helium-
3 shows a nite discontinuity at the transition
temperature, indicative of a second order phase
transition. There is a slight kink at the transition
between A and B phases.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Phase diagram for superuid
3
He.
The specic heat varies roughly as T
3
with
deviations due to strong-coupling effects. The
viscosity falls rapidly below T
c
, with the limit-
ing value being difcult to determine due to the
anisotropic nature of the superuid phases. Un-
like
4
He, liquid
3
He has a nuclear magnetic mo-
ment and a corresponding response to magnetic
probes. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
measurements rst indicated the complex or-
der present in superuid helium-3. In typical
NMR experiments, the net spin, S, is tipped
away from its equilibrium direction along an
external eld, B
0
. The precession of S is sub-
sequently measured. The frequency for super-
uid
3
He-A differs from that for normal
3
He,

0
, by a temperature dependent term
A
. If,
instead of tipping the spin away from the mag-
netic eld, the magnitude of the magnetic eld
is changed suddenly, the spin parallel to B
0
os-
cillates at a frequency equal to
A
. This parallel
resonance does not occur for normal NMR sys-
tems. Similar frequency shifts are seen in the B-
phase under certain circumstances. In addition,
superuid helium-3 also exhibits sound modes
(rst sound, second sound, etc.) similar to those
found in superuid
4
He. There are also textures
in superuid
3
He similar to those found in (room
temperature) liquid crystals. See also helium-4,
superuid; helium-3, liquid; helium-3, melting
curve; superconductivity, BCS theory; Cooper
pair; liquid crystal.
helium-4, liquid Helium-4 has a critical tem-
perature of 5.2 K and a normal boiling point of
4.21 K. Due to its large zero-point motion,
4
He
remains a liquid under its own vapor pressure all
the way to absolute zero (0 K). In fact, it does
not solidify until the pressure exceeds 25.4 bar.
At temperatures well above 2.17 K, liquid
4
He
behaves much like a dense, classical gas. The
specic heat is therefore roughly 3/2R where
R is the ideal gas constant. (Of course, liquid
helium-4 is not exactly a non-interacting gas,
so the comparison is only approximately true.)
The velocity of sound is low in liquid
4
He, ap-
proximately 230 m/s. The thermal conductiv-
ity near its boiling point is quite poor (roughly
10,000 times worse than copper at similar tem-
peratures). Upon approaching 2.17 K, how-
ever, liquid helium-4 goes through a dramatic
change of character. The specic heat diverges
logarithmically as a critical temperature, T
c

2.1768 K, is approached. This divergence is
a manifestation of a phase transition to an ex-
otic phase, the superuid phase. The shape of
the specic heat, shown below, gives the transi-
tion temperature its common name, the lambda
point. The properties of the superuid phase are
discussed in detail in a separate entry. See also
helium-4, superuid; helium-4, solid; bubbles,
suppression of; lambda point.
Helium-3 melting curve. The minimum is located at
0.316 K and 29.32 bars, and the zero temperature
pressure is 34.39 bars.
2001 CRC Press LLC
helium-4, solid Unlike all other substances,
liquid helium does not solidify at atmospheric
pressure at any temperature. Liquid helium-4
does not solidify at absolute zero until the pres-
sure approaches 2.5 MPa (25 bars) and solidies
at its normal boiling point, 4.2 K, when the pres-
sure is 14 MPa (140 bars). Under most tempera-
tures and pressures for which the solid is stable,
helium forms a hexagonal-close-packed (hcp)
structure with an in-plane lattice constant of ap-
proximately 3.5

. At very high temperatures,

the stable phase is face-centered cubic, while a
body-centered cubic structure is stable over a
limited range of temperatures and pressures.
helium-4, superuid Liquid
4
He goes
through a second order phase transition at a tem-
perature of 2.1768 K into a superuid state. Be-
low this temperature, the viscosity is vanish-
ingly small, the thermal conductivity is quite
large, and the helium will support several new
sound-like phenomena. Since the
4
He atoms
are bosons, it is tempting to claim the superu-
idity is due to Bose-Einstein condensation, but
the truth is somewhat more subtle than that. It is
true that the general concepts of Bose-Einstein
condensation can be used in discussing superu-
idity in
4
He, but the interactions in liquid
4
He
are much too strong to claimthe bosons are non-
interacting. Thus, the term Bose-condensed
helium is not, precisely speaking, an accurate
description of superuid helium-4.
Superuid helium is often discussed in terms
of the two-uid model which assumes the he-
lium is composed of two interpenetrating, non-
interacting uids the normal component and
the superuid component. The superuid com-
ponent consists of the atoms that occupy the
ground state and therefore have zero viscosity
and carry no entropy. The normal uid consists
of anyexcitedatoms, andthese atoms carryall of
the entropy and have nite, non-zero viscosity.
Note that this model is a description of super-
uid heliumand should not be taken too literally.
The thermodynamic and transport properties
of superuid
4
He differ drastically from those
of the normal uid. The specic heat diverges
logarithmically (see the gure in the entry for
liquid helium-4) as it approaches the phase tran-
sition. Superuid helium-4 supports several
wave phenomena not found in other states of
matter. Ordinary acoustic waves are known as
rst sound in superuid helium. The veloc-
ity of rst sound at low temperatures is roughly
240 m/s and shows a cusp at the lambda point.
First sound is attenuated at temperatures above
the lambda transition by the same processes as
occur in normal uids, viscosity and thermal
conductivity. At the lambda temperature, there
is a discontinuity in the attenuation due to the
phase transition. At approximately 1 K, there
is a large peak due to a process specic to su-
peruids, second viscosity. Second viscosity is
caused by irreversible processes in superuid
4
He involving multi-phonon and phonon-roton
scattering. (Rotons are excitations of the super-
uid not present in normal uids.)
In addition to rst sound, superuid
4
He also
supports temperatures waves, second sound. If a
sinusoidallyvaryingamount of heat is dissipated
at one end of a container of superuid helium, it
will propagate nearly unchanged to the other end
as measured with a thermometer. Unlike rst
sound, which consists of variations of pressure
with density, second sound is due to the varia-
tion of the temperature with entropy while the
density remains constant. In conned geome-
tries, superuid
4
He can also support third and
fourth sound. Third sound occurs in lms of su-
peruid and is effectively a second sound wave
which propagates on the surface of superuid
helium. If superuid heliumis conned to small
tubes or tubes packed with powder, the normal
uid is held in place by viscous forces while the
superuid component is free to move. Thermal
waves in such a geometry, fourth sound, propa-
gate at a speed between that for rst and second
sound.
The viscosity of liquid helium below the
lambda point is the physical property most com-
monly associated with the super in superu-
idity. If a torus of liquid helium above T

is
rotated slowly, then cooled below the transition,
the uid will continue to rotate even if the con-
tainer is slowed to a stop. In fact, the superuid
heliumwill owceaselessly as long as a limiting
velocity, the critical velocity, is not surpassed. If
superuid helium is set into motion with speeds
greater than this velocity, the system becomes
dissipative. In practice, there are several crit-
ical velocities, each one signaling the onset of
different physical phenomena. The values of
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these critical velocities depend on the type of
experiment performed and the geometry of the
experimental cell. Numerically, these velocities
can vary between a few millimeters per second
and several tens of meters per second. In most
cases, the critical ow velocity is the speed at
which the ow becomes turbulent and dissipa-
tion begins. This turbulence is caused by some
form of vortex creation in the superuid.
The thermal conductivity of superuid he-
lium is also quite spectacular in its deviation
from that of normal uids. In normal helium-
4, the thermal conductivity is roughly that of
a high-density, ideal gas. Upon cooling below
T

, the thermal conductivity increases by six or-

ders of magnitude or more. This incredibly high
thermal conduction results in a lack of bubbles
in superuid helium. Another aspect of super-
uidity which affects heat ow is the fountain
effect the superuid component will ow to-
wards a heat source and, in a suitable appara-
tus, will produce a pressure gradient that can be
quite large. See also helium-4, liquid; helium-
4, solid; bubbles, suppression of; lambda point;
fountain effect.
helium, liquid See helium-4, liquid; helium-
3, liquid.
helium, liquid, cooling power of Liquid he-
lium has a latent heat of vaporization of 20.90
kJ/kg (2.6kJ/). This translates into the ability to
cool 1 kg of copper from 300 K to 4 K using 31
liquid helium in the process. If the enthalpy of
the cold heliumgas (roughly 200 kJ/) is used to
precool the copper, the amount of heliumneces-
sary drops to 0.8 per kilogram of copper. The
latent heat of liquid helium is nearly an order of
magnitude lower than that of liquid nitrogen, so
it is commonplace to cool most cryostats to 77 K
to decrease the volume of liquid helium needed.
helium, liquid, transfer tube Atransfer tube
for liquid helium must be a more complicated
device than a liquid nitrogen transfer tube due
to the small latent heat of vaporization of liquid
helium (23.9 kJ/kg compared to 199 kJ/kg for
liquid nitrogen). Such a transfer tube consists of
an inner tube made of a lowthermal conductivity
metal (often steel) surrounded by another metal
tube with a vacuum space in between. The liq-
uid helium ows inside the inner tube while the
vacuum space thermally isolates the inner tube
and the liquid helium from the room tempera-
ture environment a few centimeters away. This
vacuum-jacketed transfer tube allows the trans-
fer of liquid helium into a cryostat with only
small losses.
helium, superuid See helium-4, superuid;
helium-3, superuid.
helmholtz coil (1) An apparatus for pro-
viding a nearly constant magnetic eld in a
small region for experimentation or measure-
ment. Unlike a solenoid, the helmholtz coils are
two many-turn loops, coaxial, and separated by
a distance the same order of magnitude as the
coil diameters. The magnetic eld generated
when current ows in the loops has low rst
and second derivatives in the center of the coils,
and thus is well behaved for many experimental
uses. The geometry allows insertion of non-
magnetic equipment (such as evacuated tubes
and phosphor-impregnated glass) in the central
region of nearly constant magnetic eld strength
that would be impossible in a solenoid.
(2) These comprise two parallel coils carry-
ing equal currents separated by a distance equal
to their radius. The magnetic eld in the center
of the coils is uniform to within few percent.
hemodynamics The study of blood circula-
tion and the forces involved.
henry An SI unit of inductance or mutual in-
ductance, normally denoted by a symbol H. One
henry is the inductance of a circuit in which a
current changes at a rate of one ampere per sec-
ond, inducing an electromotive force of one volt.
Permeability is measured in henry per meter.
Henrys function The mathematical formula
used in electrophoresis to account for the retard-
ing force on the macromolecular ion of interest
due to counterions. Being of opposite charge,
the counterions move in the opposite direction
of the macromolecular ion. The interactions
between the macromolecular ion and the coun-
terions with their associated solvent impedes the
movement of the macromolecular ion.
2001 CRC Press LLC
high speed switching See circuit, switching.
hightension (1) Highvoltages, typically, 100
kilo-volts (100 kV) or more.
(2) Anode voltages, typically in the range of
60 to 250 volts.
Hodgkin-Huxley model Amodel describing
the electrochemical processes associated with
nerve-cell discharges. The three basic steps of
the model are:
1. activation of sodium ion conductance,
2. subsequent inactivation of sodiumion con-
ductance, and
3. activation of potassium ion conductance.
hole Avacant electron state that behaves like
an electron with positive charge.
Electrons insemiconductors are onlyallowed
to have certain specic energies. The allowed
energies are grouped into bands. The lowest
band is the valence band and in semiconductors
the available electron energy states are mostly
lled. The next highest band is the conduction
band and it is mostly empty. It is the electrons at
the top of the valence band and the bottomof the
conduction band that are the most interesting as
these electrons are sufciently close to vacant
levels and can readily change states.
The quintessential dispersion relationship
(energy E vs. momentum k) for electrons in a
bulk semiconductor is shown below. The group
velocity of an electron is given by
v =
dE
dk
1

.
If one considers an electron in the semicon-
ductor under the inuence of an applied electric
eld cE, then it is possible to show that
ecE =

2
d
2
E/dk
2
dv
dt
.
Comparing this with Newtons equation F =
ma, then

2
d
2
E/dk
2
= m
is the effective mass. Note, it is at the top of the
valence band, d
2
E/dk
2
, and hence the mass of
the electron in this state, is negative.
Typical dispersion relationship for an electron in a bulk
semiconductor.
The concept of an electron with negative
mass can be simplied if one considers the small
number of vacant states in the valence band.
First consider a completely lled band with n
electrons with velocities v
1
, v
2
, . . . , v
n
. Since
the band is full and there is a net zero current
ow, there are as many electrons with velocity
v as there are with velocity +v. Hence,
|e|

n
v
n
0 .
If the ith electron is missing, there will be a net
current ow
|e|

n=i
v
n
.
But since
|e|

n=i
v
n
+|e|v
i
0 ,
the net current ow is equal to +|e|v
i
and is
considered to be due to a positive charge. It is
possible to show that the effective mass of this
missing electron, or hole, is positive at the top
of the valence band. This idea of hole current is
illustrated belowas if there is an applied electric
eld moving the electrons, successively lling
the vacancy.
Therefore, holes can be considered as posi-
tive charges with positive masses and hole con-
duction can be thought of similarly as for elec-
tron conduction. When an electric potential is
applied across a semiconductor, there are two
contributions to the conduction current:
1. electrons in the conduction band, and
2. holes in the valence band.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Energy level diagrams are usually dened for
electrons. However, if desired, they could be
dened for holes as well provided the energy is
measured downward fromthe top of the valence
band.
hole current See hole.
hologram Image formation by the method of
wave-front reconstruction, as proposed by Ga-
bor in 1947. A hologram is a special diffrac-
tion screen that reconstructs in detail the wave
eld emitted by the subject. Output from a
laser is split into two beams one of which il-
luminates the subject, the other is a reference
beam. The two beams form an interference pat-
tern that is recorded on a high-resolution pho-
tographic plate. The plate contains all the in-
formation needed to reconstruct the wave eld
of the subject. After development, the plate is
viewed with a single beamfroma laser, and part
of the diffracted wave eld is a precise, three-
dimensional copy of the original wave reected
from the subject. The imagine is seen in depth,
and moving the point of view changes the per-
spective of the view.
homeostasis The ability of an organism to
maintain a stable internal condition (such as
body temperature) by regulating its physiology
in response to external environmental condi-
tions.
homing adapter In automatic switching, this
device enables the automatic return of a sequen-
tial selector to a predetermined unoperated po-
sition upon its release.
homochronous Term applied to digital sig-
nals whose corresponding signicant instants
have a constant, but uncontrolled, phase rela-
tionship.
Hookes law Used, together with Newtons
law, to describe vibrations in linear systems.
The elastic force F acting on a spring is pro-
portional to the length change of the spring x
due to the force F, F = kx, where k is the
force constant of the spring. This relation is
known as Hookes law and holds for moderate
displacement amplitudes. The direction of the
force is opposite to the displacement of the end-
point from the origin and it is a restoring force
that points toward the origin. For a stretched
spring x > 0 and the force F is negative, for
a compressed spring x < 0 and the force F is
positive.
hopping (1) Method employed to force a
jammer to cover a wider spectrum by randomly
hopping the data-modulated carrier from one
frequency to a next. Examples are slow fre-
quency and fast frequency hopping.
(2) It also refers to a small jump and, with
reference to the internet, indicates the route that
a computer takes in order to relay its information
from one point to the next.
horizontal scanning The scanning of an
electron beam over a phosphor surface to pro-
duce a television image. The image is formed by
many horizontal scan lines. The number of lines
per image depends on the signal encoding (525
lines in American broadcast, 625 for European).
The electron beam, therefore, must sequentially
scan each line to form the image.
horns, sound from Sound radiated by acous-
tic transducers consisting of a tube of vary-
ing cross-sectional areas employed to match the
impedance of a relatively heavy vibrating di-
aphragm to the light medium used to propa-
gate the sound. Horns have different shapes
(parabolic, conical, exponential, etc.) and their
diameter is smaller than the wavelength of sound
passing through them. Horns are characterized
by their acoustic impedance as a function of
frequency, cut-off frequency, resistance to re-
actance ratio, and directional characteristics.
hot-wire ammeter An instrument that uses
the thermal expansion of a wire or bi-strip to
measure the current passing through it. Certain
mechanical devices are used to magnify the ac-
tual increase in the length of the wire.
hparameters Usedin the circuit description
of a transistor and the inter-relationship between
the various currents and voltages in a transistor.
The transistor can be considered as a two-port,
four-terminal network circuit. Since the transis-
tor has only three connections, there will be one
2001 CRC Press LLC
common to the two ports appearing in the g-
ure. Hence, depending on the model circuit, we
can have a common base, common emitter, or
common collector and the scheme is designated
as CB, CE, or CC, respectively; an example is
given later.
A two-port, four-terminal network representation of a
transistor.
There are four different variables I
1
, I
2
,V
1
,
and V
2
external to the network as shown in the
gure. Any two of these can be chosen as inde-
pendent variables and the other two expressed in
terms of them. For example, the currents I
1
and
I
2
can be chosen as the independent variables.
Then, the voltages V
1
and V
2
can be solved in
terms of the currents
V
1
= f (I
1
, I
2
) ,
and
V
2
= g (I
1
, I
2
) .
If these expressions are expanded in a Taylor
series, ignoring higher order terms;
V
1
=
f
I
1
I
1
+
f
I
2
I
2
,
and
V
2
=
g
I
1
I
1
+
g
I
2
I
2
.
The quantities V
1
, V
2
, I
1
, and I
2
are the
small signal or incremental voltages and cur-
rents. These are usually written in the lower
case v
1
,v
2
,i
1
, and i
2
. The AC component is as-
sumed to be small compared with the DCvalues.
Also, f and g are assumed to be linear functions
over the small range of the AC signals. Then,
the above becomes
v
1
=
f
I
1
i
1
+
f
I
2
i
2
= z
11
i
1
+ z
12
i
2
,
and
v
2
=
g
I
1
i
1
+
g
I
2
i
2
= z
21
i
1
+ z
22
i
2
.
Since z
ij
have units of impedance, it is said that
these relations are in the impedance representa-
tion.
If we had instead assumed that V
1
and V
2
were the independent variables, then we would
have arrived at the admittance representation,
i
1
= y
11
v
1
+ y
12
v
2
,
and
i
2
= y
21
v
1
+ y
22
v
2
.
There are a total of six different representa-
tions corresponding to different choices of two
independent variables from the set i
1
, i
2
, v
1
,
and v
2
. A very useful representation is the hy-
brid representation based on i
1
and v
2
as the
independent variables.
v
1
= h
11
i
1
+ h
12
v
2
= h
i
i
1
+ h
r
v
2
,
and
i
2
= h
21
i
1
+ h
22
v
2
= h
f
i
1
+ h
o
v
2
.
Hybrid circuit representation of a transistor illustrating
the meaning of the hparameters.
These hparameters have especially useful
meanings:
h
i
= h
11
is the input impedance with the
output shortcircuited,
h
r
= h
12
is the reverse voltage ratio with
input opencircuited,
h
f
= h
21
is the forward current ratio with
output shortcircuited,
2001 CRC Press LLC
h
o
= h
22
is the output admittance with input
opencircuited.
A circuit model of a transistor based on the
hybrid scheme is shown in the second gure.
This parameter formalism and circuit model is
generally applicable to all schemes of modeling
the transistor (i.e., CE, CB, or CC); however, the
hparameters will be different for each case. A
second subscript is used to indicate the scheme
used.
For example, using the above model of a tran-
sistor and assuming a common emitter scheme,
h
fe
= I
C
/I
E
refers to the forward current gain
and h
ie
is the input impedance at the base of
the transistor. The numbered parameters or la-
bels in the circuit model can be replaced with
the appropriate lettered labels once the scheme
is determined; e.g., h
r
v
2
becomes h
rb
v
c
in the
CB scheme.
Huffman code The Huffman code repre-
sents a very common variable-length memory-
less code that attempts to match the average code
word length to the source entropy. Suppose the
Huffmanencoder is toencode a ve streamof in-
formation data symbols drawn from the symbol
set {a, b, c, d, e} appearing with the respective
probabilities of 0.51, 0.06, 0.26, 0.11 and 0.06.
This sources entropy equals: -0.51 log(0.51) -
0.06 log(0.06) - 0.26 log(0.26) - 0.11 log(0.11)
- 0.06 log(0.06) = 1.838. The Huffman encoder
would proceed as follows:
Step 1: Arrange the information symbols in
descending order of probability. If two or more
symbols occur with equal probability, the order
among them is immaterial.
Symbol Probability
a 0.51
c 0.26
d 0.11
b 0.06
e 0.06
Step 2: Combine the bottom two entries into
a new entry, with a new probability equal to the
sum of the two entries combined. Re-order the
new list in descending order of probability.
Symbol Prob. Symb. Prob.
a 0.51 a 0.51
c 0.26 c 0.26
d 0.11 {b,e} 0.12
b 0.06 > { b,e } 0.12 d 0.11
e 0.06 >
Step 3: Repeat Step 2 until only two entries
are left.
Symb. Prob. Symb. Prob.
a 0.51 a 0.51
c 0.26 c 0.26
d 0.11 d 0.11
b 0.06 > {b,e} 0.12
c 0.06 >
Symb. Prob. Symb. Prob.
a 0.51 a 0.51
c 0.26 c 0.26
{b,e} 0.12 > {b,d,e} 0.23
d 0.11 >
Symb. Prob.
a 0.51
{b,c,d,e} 0.49
Step 4: Starting with the right of the table,
assign the most signicant bit of the code word.
Then move left in the table and assign another
bit if a split occurs. The assigned codewords are
written in parenthesis below:
2001 CRC Press LLC
Symb. Prob. Symb. Prob.
a 0.51 a 0.51
c 0.26 c 0.26
d 0.11 d 0.11
b 0.06 (1110) > {b,e} 0.12
e 0.06 (1111) >
Symb. Prob. Symb. Prob.
a 0.51 a 0.51 (0)
c 0.26 c 0.26 > (10)
{b,e} 0.12 > {b,d,e} 0.23
d 0.11 (110) >
Symb. Prob.
a 0.51
{b,c,d,e} 0.49
Thus, a 0, b 1110, c 10, d 110, e
1111. The average length equals: 10.51+
4x0.06+20.26+30.11+40.06 = 1.940,
only 5.5% above the theoretical minimum spec-
ied by the source entropy of 1.838. If block
coding is used, the average length would have
equaled 3.
The Huffman code self-punctuates it
needs no explicit punctuating symbols as does
the Morse Code. Successive blocks of the Huff-
man encoder output may be directly concate-
nated and uniquely recoverable by a Huffman
decoder.
human voice Sound generated by the human
vocal system, including the organs for human
speech. Vocal sound is produced by forcing air
from the lungs (by contracting the chest mus-
cles) through the larynx and the vocal chords.
The vocal chord is a muscular organ shaped like
a diaphragm with a slit-like opening that allows
modulating the air stream and controlling the
fundamental frequency of sound by changing
the tension of the lips of the slit. The cavities and
orices of the throat, mouth and nose together
with the tongue form an acoustic network and
contribute to the formation of different sounds
by varying the shape of the oral cavity. In this
way some of the harmonics formed by the vocal
chords are emphasized while others suppressed.
The sound intensity at a distance of two meters
away from the speaker in a normal conversation
is 2.10
8
W/m
2
and the frequency range of the
human voice is 40 to 12,000 Hz.
Huygens principle A method of analy-
sis used for problems of wave propagation that
avoids the difculties of a rigorous mathemat-
ical computation of waves in inhomogeneous
media or near obstacles. The principle makes
only general assumptions about wave propaga-
tion and states that each point of an advancing
wavefront is itself the center of a new distur-
bance, the source of a new train of waves. It
also notes that the entire advancing wave as a
whole can be considered to be the result of the
secondary waves that arise from points in the
medium already traversed. This view of wave
propagation facilitates the study of various phe-
nomena such as diffraction, where the light on
reaching a slit or edge of an obstacle is regarded
as being the source of wave fronts that proceed
fromthere so as to interfere and give the maxima
and minima observable as diffraction fringes.
hybrid coil Used in telephony to interface a
2wire communication system with combined
receive-and-transmit signals to a 4wire system
with independent receive-and-transmit circuits.
Most local telephone exchanges use a 2wire
communication system to service the common
telephone. However, physical separation of the
transmit and receive signals are required in the
switching networks. Separation of the two sig-
nals is also desirable since it is easier to transmit
various types of data (e.g., digital or voice) and
it is possible to insert ampliers in the transmis-
sion circuit for enhanced performance. There-
fore, a circuit that interfaces the 2wire and 4
wire systems is needed; referred to generally as
a hybrid circuit. The hybrid coil is a simple and
conventional way to accomplish this task.
hybrid communication network A hybrid
communication network represents a commu-
nication system capable of transmitting and re-
ceiving both analog and digital signals.
hydrogen, liquid Hydrogen molecules, H
2
,
liquefy at 20.3 K at 1 bar. Hydrogen remains
a liquid down to 14.0 K, at which point it so-
lidies. In the past, liquid hydrogen was used
as a refrigerant. Since hydrogen combines with
oxygen explosively if present in sufcient con-
centrations, most laboratories use liquid helium
and or cryocoolers instead of liquid hydrogen.
2001 CRC Press LLC
hydrophones Devices that receive underwa-
ter sound waves (underwater microphones) and
convert theminto electric signals. Hydrophones
take advantage of the piezoelectric properties of
crystals such as quartz or the magnetostrictive
properties of materials such as nickel. They can
detect sound emitted by a sound source and the
direction of the sound source (for example, an
underwater vehicle) by passive listening. Hy-
drophones are also used to measure the distance
of underwater objects by measuring the time
needed for the emitted sound beam, reected
by the object, to return in the form of an echo.
They can operate in the sonic or ultrasonic fre-
quency range. Hydrophones are characterized
by their directivity and the frequency range.
hyperchromism An increased absorption of
electromagnetic radiation (usually in the ultra-
violet region) caused by geometry-dependent
interaction between two or more parts of a
molecule.
hyperne structure A set of very closely
spaced lines making up a spectral line or para-
magnetic resonance line. There are at least two
types of hyperne structure:
1. The splitting of an elements spectral line
into doublets, triplets, etc., can be the result of
the interactions between the electron spin and
the spins of adjacent magnetic nuclei via the
coupling of the total angular momentum of the
orbital electron with the nuclear spin.
2. The presence of several isotopes in the
sample being tested, in which each isotope con-
tributes one or more components of the spectral
line (this type of hyperne structure is termed
isotope structure).
hyperopia See eye, far-sighted.
hypersonic waves Sound waves of frequen-
cies above 500 megahertz.
hypochromism A decreased absorption of
electromagnetic radiation (usually in the ultra-
violet region) caused by geometry-dependent
interaction between two or more parts of a
molecule.
hysteresis Occurs in ferromagnetic materi-
als. When a changing magnetic eld H pro-
duced by a changing electric current I is applied
to ferromagnetic material it exhibits a magneti-
zation B that is not a simple linear function of
the applied eld. B will eventually show satu-
ration for high values of H. When H is reduced
the magnetization is less than what occurred as
H was increased, i.e., the magnetization lags
behind the magnetizing eld. On reducing, re-
versing and then increasing H, the B eld goes
through a complete loop. The phenomenon is
known as hysteresis.
hysteresis loop The hysteresis loop is the
complete functional relationship between H and
B which forms a closed loop. See hysteresis.
hysteresis loss The area inside the hysteresis
loop representing the loss of energy occurring
in each cycle of the changing current I is known
as the hysteresis loss.
hysteresis tester An instrument for the rapid
determination of the hysteresis loss of a given
specimen of magnetic material. The version at-
tributed to Ewing comprises a specimen built
up out of strips of a prescribed shape and size
and is rotated by hand between the poles of a
horseshoe magnet which is suspended and bal-
anced so as to be free to turn on an axis in the
same straight line as the axis of rotation of the
specimen. The latter is rotated sufciently fast
to produce a steady deection of the horseshoe
magnet, which is read off. The hysteresis loss
in the specimen is proportional to the sine of the
angle of deection.
2001 CRC Press LLC
I
ignitron A three terminal device capable of
switching extremely large currents (hundreds of
amperes) at high voltages. It has electrical char-
acteristics similar to an SCR. It works by con-
trolling a gas discharge between an anode and
cathode. The anode and cathode are well insu-
lated, so when the device is off, it can separate
several thousand volts. The device is turned on
by initiating a gas discharge. This is accom-
plished with a minute arc to the cathode with
the ignitor terminal. Once the discharge is initi-
ated, the current ow between cathode and an-
ode maintains the discharge. Ignitrons are used
in high current regulated voltage supplies or for
controlling automated spot welding equipment.
illuminance Luminous ux density on a sur-
face, i.e., luminous ux incident per unit area of
a surface, when the latter is uniformly illumi-
nated. Synonymous with illumination, a more
general term. Also synonymous with the inten-
sity of illumination. Practical units of measure-
ment are lumenper square meter or meter-candle
or lux, lumens per square foot or foot-candle, lu-
mens per square centimeter or phot. 1 phot =
10,000 lux = 929.03 foot-candles. Note that
luminance of a source is the number of lumens
emitted per solid angle (steradian) by a unit
source area. Visual acuity and other properties
of vision depend on the illumination, and min-
imum values are tabulated for various occupa-
tions in lighting codes. The eye has maximum
efciency between 10 and 100 foot-candles.
illumination Synonymous with illuminance
(illuminance is the preferred usage, since illumi-
nation has more a general meaning). A surface
is illuminated when a luminous ux is incident
on it. The ux per unit area at any point on
the surface is the illumination (or illuminance
or intensity of illumination) at that point.
image analysis The extraction of scienti-
cally useful information from an image.
image converter Adevice that converts tele-
vision video information between different en-
coding formats. This device is sometimes re-
ferred to as an image buffer.
There are many different video encoding for-
mats for the transmission and display of images,
e.g., scanning frequency and number of scan
lines constituting the image. This is because
development of television occurred simultane-
ously in different countries and horizontal scan-
ning in the display of the television image is
syncronized with the local power frequency. So,
an image converter would be used to convert a
625line, 50 Hz signal (European) to a 525line,
60 Hz signal (American).
image dissector An early video tube for the
encoding of light images to electrical signals
that formed the basis of early television cam-
eras. The device is obsolete and no longer used
in modern cameras.
image distance The distance fromthe vertex
to the image. The vertex is the point on the
surface of the lens where the optical axis crosses.
From the thin-lens equation, the image distance
s for a thin-lens, whose focal length is f, can be
calculated from the object distance s

as
1
s
=
1
f
+
1
s

,
1
f
=
(n

n)
n

1
R
+
1
R

,
where the radius surface of the lens is R and R

.
Image distance.
Focal length, image distance, and object dis-
tance of a thick lens should be measured from
the principal planes of the lens.
2001 CRC Press LLC
image duplication A 1:1 reproduction of an
object by light rays. An image forming optical
duplication gathers light from an object point
and transforms it into a beam that converges to-
ward another point (real image) or diverges from
another point (virtual image).
image enhancement electron micrograph
A signal-processing operation performed to in-
crease the quality of an image.
image, primary A real image formed by the
objective of optical instruments such as a micro-
scope or telescope. The primary image is also
known as the rst real image. (See image, real).
The eyepiece (ocular) magnies the primary im-
age. It can be dened as an image that includes
the point where each ray of light from the ob-
jective passes through. If astigmatism exists,
the primary image of the point source can not
be a perfect point. In a compound microscope,
the objective lens forms a real, inverted image of
the object. The image is formed in space on the
plane of the eld stop of the eyepiece within the
microscope tube. The eyepiece observes this
real image. In telescopes, the primary image
is formed by the objective lens or the objective
mirror. For projection with a microscope, the
primary image is formed ahead of the rst focal
length of the ocular, which forms a real image
again. The magnication of the eyepiece should
be treated as a lateral magnication. For visual
observation, the primary image is generated in-
side the focal length of the ocular as a magni-
er. The magnication of the eyepiece should
be treated as an angular magnication.
Primary image.
image, real An optical image such as that
formed by the light from an object that actu-
ally passes through the image. The real image
is luminous and is generally visible. It can be
projected on a screen and the projected image is
sharp.
images, acoustic Geometric gures formed
in space by acoustic mirrors, lenses or other
acoustic equivalents of optical system compo-
nents. Also know as imaging. Acoustic imag-
ing deals with the generation of real-time images
of the internal structure of metallic or biologi-
cal objects that are opaque to light by irradiating
themwith sound. Also known as sonography or
ultrasonic imaging.
image, ultrasonic The use of ultrasound to
produce an image of the internal structures of
the body.
image, virtual An optical image where rays
of light only appear to diverge. A virtual image
cannot be projected on a screen. The image of an
object in a plane mirror is a virtual image. The
virtual image is not luminous actually. The rays
of light do not actually focus on a virtual image.
With a converging lens, the object closer to the
lens than the rst focal point will form a virtual
image, not a real image. The image formed by a
concave lens is also a virtual image. The image
formed by (viewed in) a plane mirror is a virtual
image. A stereoscopic image generated by a
hologram is a virtual image.
imaging, dark-eld An imaging technique
in which illumination conditions are regulated
by apertures and stops to permit only certain
electrons or light photons to reach the lens. This
allows for the illumination of certain parts of the
sample while the remaining parts of the sample
remain dark.
imaging, medical The use of X-rays, ultra-
sound, and other techniques to make images of
internal structures of the body.
imaging, NMR The use of nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) to produce images of internal
structures of the body.
2001 CRC Press LLC
imaging, radionucleotide The use of ra-
dioactive decay to visualize internal structures
of the body.
immunouorescence A process in which
uorescently labeled antibodies are attached to
cells. These cells are then examined and sep-
arated by an optical microscope while shining
ultraviolet radiation on the sample.
impedance The relationship between a si-
nusoidally varying quantity, e.g., force, voltage,
electric eld strength, to a second quantity that
measures the response of the system to the si-
nusoidal quantity, e.g., velocity, current, mag-
netic eld strength. The response of the system
will often depend on the frequency of the ap-
plied disturbance. The most common usage of
the term is in alternating current circuits where
the impedance Z relates the voltage mV (ex-
pressed as a complex number) to the current
mI Z = V/I = V
0
/I
0
e
i
, where V
0
and I
0
are the voltage and current amplitudes, and
is the phase difference between them. Similar
relationships are found in other systems, e.g.,
mechanical systems, where Z relates an applied
sinusoidal force to the resultant velocity of a
body.
impedance, acoustic The complex ratio of
the sound pressure p on a given surface to the
sound ux through that surface, the volume ve-
locity of the uid

U,

Z
A
() = p/

U, expressed
in units kg/(m
4
s). It was introduced as the anal-
ogy to mechanics where the impedance is the
ratio of the force amplitude to the velocity am-
plitude. The real and imaginary parts of Z, R
and X, respectively, are acoustic resistance (as-
sociated with the dissipation of acoustic energy)
and reactance (resulting fromthe effective mass
and stiffness of the medium).
impedance, characteristic The impedance
of a waveguide/line to a transmitted wave of a
specic frequency assuming the guide is of in-
nite length. For a lossless line, it is equal to

CL, where C and L are the capacitance and

inductance per unit length. If a guide is termi-
nated with an impedance equal to the character-
istic impedance, there will be no reection from
its far end, thus simulating a guide of innite
length.
impedance diagram A diagram used to an-
alyze the steady-state behavior of a circuit or to
analyze the response of a circuit to a particular
input. It shows the relationship between resis-
tance, reactance and impedance in a circuit or
a portion of a circuit. The real axis indicates
resistance R and the imaginary axis indicates
reactance X of a circuit.
Z
2
= R
2
+ X
2
,
Z = R + iX ,
X = X
L
X
C
,
where X
L
and X
C
are reactance caused by in-
ductance and capacitance, respectively.
The impedance diagram of a circuit can be
obtained by dividing each of the voltage phasor
diagrams by the magnitude of the current. The
impedance diagram applies linear circuit theo-
rems to the AC circuits. It means the ratio of
complex voltage to complex current for each re-
sistive, inductive, and capacitive element of the
circuit is constant. It comes from Ohms law.
The phasor diagram is also used for similar pur-
poses. The phasor diagramof each branch of the
circuit is used to create the impedance diagram
of the circuit. The phasor diagram is based on
the equation of complex voltage V and complex
current I:
V = RI + jLI j
1
C
I ,
where omega, R, L, and C are the frequency
of the input sinusoidal signal, resistance, induc-
tance, and capacitance, respectively. When the
phase angle of the current of a branch is to the
current of another place of the circuit, it can be
described as
V =

RI + jLI j
1
C
I

e
j
.
In such case, the phasor diagram is used as ro-
tated by phase angle .
impedance, driving point The ratio of the
complex component V
i
of the applied alternat-
ing voltage to the complex component I
i
of the
alternating current.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Phasor diagram.
Impedance diagram.
impedance, dynamic The impedance of an
electric component or an electric device with an
AC signal input.
The dynamic impedance Z includes not only
resistance R but also reactance X:
Z
2
= R
2
+ X
2
,
Z = R + iX .
The resistance (the real part of the impedance)
indicates the loss of power, The reactance (the
imaginary part of the impedance), which is
caused by capacitance and/or inductance, indi-
cates the phase difference between the voltage
and the current. Dynamic impedance caused
by capacitance and/or inductance indicates fre-
quency dependency. See impedance diagram.
impedance image A pair of impedances of
a quadripole that satises two conditions:
1. when the rst pair of terminals of the
quadripole is terminated with an impedance Z
1
,
the impedance of the second pair of terminals is
Z
2
, and
2. when the second pair of terminals of the
quadripole is terminated with an impedance Z
2
,
the impedance of the rst pair of terminals is Z
1
.
impedance, input The impedance presented
to an input source of a device by the device.
Impedance image.
impedance, iterative The impedance which,
when connected to two terminals of a four-
terminal network, produces the equivalent im-
pedance across the other two terminals.
impedance matching The method of maxi-
mizing the power transmitted from a source to
a sink. Maximum power transmission occurs
when the resistances of the source R
o
and sink
R
i
are equal R
o
= R
i
, and the reactances, X
o
and X
i
, are equal but opposite: X
o
= X
i
.
The standing wave ratio is a minimum when the
impedances are matched in this way.
impedance, membrane The degree of dif-
culty of the ow of current (usually in the form
of ions) through a membrane.
impedance, membrane, measurements
Techniques used to determine quantitatively the
difcultywithwhichcurrent ows througha cel-
lular membrane.
impedance, output The impedance pre-
sented to the load of a device by the device.
impedance, reected The input impedance
of a transformer is given by the sumof two terms
The impedance of the primary winding and the
reected impedance due to the secondary wind-
ing. The reected impedance is equal to
2

M
2
/Z, where is the angular frequency of the
applied voltage, M is the mutual inductance be-
tween the windings, and Z is the impedance of
the secondary winding.
impedance, source The impedance of the
source (be it a supplier of charge, heat, light,
etc.) as seen by the rest of the device.
impedance, synchronous The impedance of
an alternator while it is operating at a xed fre-
quency. It depends on the stationary impedance
of the alternator and its armature reactance.
2001 CRC Press LLC
impedance, transfer The complex ratio of
the applied sinusoidal quantity, such as voltage,
force, etc., to the corresponding response (cur-
rent, velocity etc.) between any two points of
the device.
impulse function The electrical potential
along an axon during the generation of a nerve
signal.
impulsive sound Sound caused by a short du-
rationdisturbance. Animpulse excitationcanbe
caused by a force that is applied for a very short
or innitesimal length of time and is nonperi-
odic. Impulsive sound is of importance in archi-
tectural acoustics, for example, in determining
the reverberation time of a room. The reverber-
ation time of a room for impulsive sound (such
as a hand-clap) can be considerably greater than
that computed using methods for sustained
sound.
impulsive voltage/current A waveform that
rises rapidly and reaches a short duration of volt-
age/current plateau and then falls rapidly tozero.
In practical usage, the ringing of the impulse
should be considered.
Impulsive signal.
impurity A substance intentionally added to
a semiconductor to change the available number
of charge carriers in the crystalline lattice. See
doping.
inactivation The decline or stoppage in cur-
rent of a particular ion through the cellular wall.
inactivation, kinetic interpretation The
conductance of ions through the cellular mem-
brane is dependent on the potential difference
across the membrane. In the case of sodium
ions involved in nerve pulses, the movement of
sufcient numbers of ions causes the potential
difference to change to the state of inactivation.
inactivation, voltage dependence The pro-
cess of stopping the ow of ions through the
cellular membrane because of the potential dif-
ference across the membrane.
incandescence The emission of visible light
radiated by a substance with a high temperature
(> 3000 K). The radiation itself is sometimes
called incandescence. Electric lights are incan-
descent.
inclination, magnetic The angle between
the magnetic eld vector of the earths magnetic
eld and the horizontal plane. Same as magnetic
dip.
incoherence Absence of a xed phase differ-
ence between two sinusoidal waves. The phase
difference from two incoherent sources may
vary rapidly and irregularly with time. For opti-
cal sources, the interference fringes of the resul-
tant disturbance changes as the phase difference
changes, and at any given instant the maxima
and minima change positions faster than can be
resolved and the result appears to be a uniform
illumination i.e., superposition of incoherent
light waves gives an intensity equal to the sum
of the intensities of the individual waves. When
uctuations in phase of beams from different
sources are completely uncorrelated, the beams
are incoherent. When the beams are from the
same source, the uctuations are correlated and
the beams are completely coherent or partially
coherent depending on how complete the corre-
lation is. The degree of correlation is measured
by the degree of distinctness of the interference
fringes when the beams are superimposed.
incubator A device in which the environ-
mental conditions can be carefully controlled
for the purpose of sustaining living organisms,
such as premature babies, developing eggs, and
cultured microorganisms.
index of refraction (refractive index, refrac-
tive constant) A dimensionless quantity with
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the symbol n. The refractive index of media
is equal to the ratio of the speed of an electro-
magnetic wave in two mediums. The absolute
refractive index of a mediumn is the ratio of the
wave speed in free space to c wave speed in the
medium v:
n =
c
v
.
The index of refraction depends on the wave-
length. Usually, the index of refraction for yel-
lowlight (sodiumD-lines, wavelength589.3nm)
is used. Optical length s is a product of the in-
dex of refraction and the length l of the path in
the free space: s = nl. The reduced distance
l

is equal to the optical path length in the air l

divided by n.
induced charge When a charge is brought
near an uncharged conductor, charges of the op-
posite sign in the conductor will move to the
parts nearer the charge and those of the same
sign will move away from it. These charges on
the conductor are known as induced charges.
induced magnetic elds Magnetic elds ac-
quired by some magnetic materials when placed
in an external magnetic eld.
inductance General term given to the cre-
ation of an inducted potential difference in a
circuit due to a changing magnetic eld which
threads the circuit. It is a result of Faradays
induction law.
inductance, leakage The inductance in a
transformer that results in leakage reactance,
and is a result of ux linking only one coil of
the transformer.
inductance, mutual The mutual inductance
M between two circuits is dened as M = /I,
where is the ux linking one circuit as a re-
sult of the current I owing in the other. From
Faradays induction law, one determines that the
voltage V induced in the rst circuit is given by
V = MdI/dt.
inductance, self The self inductance L of a
circuit is dened as L = /I, where is the
ux linking the circuit as a result of the current
I owing in it. From Faradays induction law,
one determines that the voltage V induced in the
circuit is given by V = LdI/dt.
induction balance Invented by A.G. Bell.
Two coils (a transmit coil and a receive coil)
work on the principle of eddy current genera-
tion and the inductive imbalance between the
two coils. A very low frequency current causes
the transmittingcoil tocreate anelectromagnetic
eld where polarity is pointed to an object. If
the object is metallic or ferromagnetic, an eddy
current induced inside of it creates its own mag-
netic eld. This eld is then detected by the
receive coil. Some metal detectors use an in-
duction balance.
induction coil A coil used to produce an in-
termittent high voltage from a source of low,
constant voltage. The lowvoltage source is con-
nected to a primary coil of few turns that sur-
rounds an iron core via a switch which interrupts
the current. Around this coil is a secondary coil
of many turns. The rapid variations of the ux
linking the primary coil cause a correspondingly
large voltage to be induced in the secondary coil.
induction, electromagnetic The setting up
of an electric eld by reason of the variation in
magnetic ux density with time. Any current so
induced is in such a direction as to oppose the
change in magnetic ux.
induction heating Method of heating a con-
ductor via the application of an alternating mag-
netic eld. This creates circulating eddy cur-
rents in the conductor, as a result of Faradays
induction law, which heat the conducting ma-
terial via the Joule effect. With this method of
heating, the material is not contaminated with
combustion gases. It also allows one to primar-
ily heat only the surface by the use of a high fre-
quency eld which, due to the skin effect, will
produce heating currents only in the surface.
induction machine A device that produces
high-voltage electrical charges by electrostatic
induction. It is also known as an electrostatic
generator. The van der Graaf generator and
Wimshurst machines are well-known examples.
2001 CRC Press LLC
induction meter A motor meter that uses a
kind of induction motor. It is also used as a watt-
hour meter for AC current because the loss of
power is during measurement and it is reliable.
inductive reactance A part of the reactance
X normally denoted by symbol X
L
, measured
S (Siemens) or Ohm. It is caused by the exis-
tence of inductance. It is consideredas a positive
imaginary number X
L
= j2fL, where f is the
frequency of input signal, L is the inductance of
the component, and j is the unit imaginary num-
ber. In a purely inductive reactance circuit, the
current lags the applied voltage in its phase by
/2.
inductor A coil (turns of wire) introduces
electromagnetic inductance. It is measured in
henry. Usually the symbol L is used to indi-
cate an inductor. The eddy current induced in
an inductor causes the power loss of the induc-
tor to increase with frequency. The effective
inductance is affected by the stray capacitances
between the turns of the existing coil. The in-
ductance of inductors in a series is an algebraic
sum of each inductance of the inductor. The in-
verse of the inductance of the inductors in par-
allel is the algebraic sum of the inverse of the
inductance of each inductor.
inductor, stored energy in With a varying
current I passing in an inductor of inductance
L, it is necessary to provide energy to drive the
current against the induced electromotive force.
The electromotive force V
emf
is equal to LdI/dt.
Therefore, the electromagnetic energy stored in
the inductor U is:
dU
dt
= V
emf
I ,
= LI
dI
dt
,
dU = LdI/dtdt
U =
1
2
LI
2
.
U is stored in the magnetic eld of the inductor.
information Evaluated facts and judgments
with application; the summarization of data.
Technically, data are raw facts and gures that
are processed into information. Data and infor-
mation are terms often used synonymously and
interchangeably. Information can be said to be
structured in the following manner: data, text,
spreadsheets, pictures, voice and video. Data
are discretely dened elds. Text is a collection
of words. Spreadsheets are data in matrix (row
and column) form. Pictures are lists of vectors
or frames of bits. Voice is a continuous stream
of sound waves. Video is a sequence of frames.
Databases can store all kinds of information.
information channel That by which data is
transmitted from input point to output point. It
alsorefers tothe communicationlinkconnecting
a PC or server to a hub in the wiring closet.
information entropy This provides a quanti-
tative measure of the degree of randomness of a
system and is a measure of the average informa-
tion content per source symbol; it can be quan-
tied by the probabilities of the source symbols.
information, mutual When noise is intro-
duced into the channel, the symbol at the chan-
nel output will not always be identical with the
state at the channel input. A measure of the
average information rate at the receiver output,
and thus the average information rate through
the channel, is given by the log of the ratio of
the nal and initial uncertainties regarding the
source. If there is no noise in the channel, the
mutual information is 1 and if the noise is so
great that the output states are independent of
the input states, then the mutual information is
zero.
information transmission, substrate for
The mediumthroughwhichinformationis trans-
mitted, such as electromagnetic waves for radio.
infrasonic waves Sound waves below the
frequency range of human hearing, covering the
part of the acoustic spectrum below 20 Hz. The
compressibility of air is responsible for acoustic
oscillations above the frequency of about
0.003 Hz. Below this frequency, transverse os-
cillation can develop, and buoyancy acts as a
restoring force in a stratied medium. At very
low frequencies (characteristic periods of the
order of hours) the transverse oscillation com-
ponent is dominant, and such waves are called
2001 CRC Press LLC
gravity waves. Infrasound accompanies natural
phenomena (avalanches, powerful storms, erup-
tions of volcanoes, earthquakes, wind, ocean
waves) and can also be generated articially (ex-
plosions, rocket launches). Infrasoundcanprop-
agate to very large distances due to refraction in
the atmosphere and low absorption.
injection loss The loss of light that results
when two bers are joined at a connection point.
input The signal, current or voltage applied
to a circuit or device or the terminal at which
they are applied.
input characteristics The electrical proper-
ties (impedance, capacitance, etc.) associated
with the input channel of a device; in a FET
(eld effect transistor), the dependence of the
input current on the voltages between the source
and gate and between the drain and gate.
insects, sound from Sound produced for
communicative purposes by many insect species
using a wide variety of mechanisms. Frictional
methods are predominant, and sound production
can occur during locomotory, cleaning or feed-
ing movements. Stridulation, the rubbing of one
body part against another (a le with a series of
pegs or teeth can be rubbed against the scraper
formed by a single edge or ridge), is the most
common. Another common method of sound
generation is by a vibrating membrane driven by
muscles. Sound frequency and patterns vary and
their true nature cannot be appreciated by hu-
mans because of the narrow frequency response
and the long time-constant of the human audi-
tory system.
insert (in antenna) Also known as aerial
insert. In a buried cable run, it refers to the rais-
ing of the cable followed by an overhead run
usually on poles. The cable is subsequently re-
turned to the ground. This procedure becomes
necessary where it is not practical to run cables
underground such as in areas with rivers.
insertion gain In transmission line theory,
this refers to a negative insertion loss where the
insertion of a line or network between a gener-
ator and a load introduces dissipative elements.
If the impedance matching is reduced, the power
delivered to the load is reduced. The insertion of
a line or network in this case causes an increase
in load current representing a negative loss. See
insertion loss.
insertion loss The insertion of a line or net-
work between a generator and a load may im-
prove or diminish the impedance match between
the source and load and introduce dissipative el-
ements. Increased power delivered to the load
at the receiver leads to this type of loss. It can be
quantied by the number of decibels by which
the current in the load causes a change, by the
insertion. See insertion gain.
insulated conductor A conductor that sur-
rounds a non-conducting material itself and is
separated from other conductors.
insulation, acoustic Materials used to di-
minish the energy of sound that passes through
them or strikes a surface, which is of con-
siderable importance, for example, in archi-
tectural acoustics. It is customary to differ-
entiate between airborne (human speech, mu-
sic) and structure-borne (mechanical excitations
of structures by machines or people walking)
sound excitation. The sound transmission coef-
cient , dened as the ratio of the transmitted
and incident sound, and the sound reduction in-
dex, R = 10 log(1/), expressed in decibels,
provide a measure of sound insulation.
insulator Asubstance that is electricallynon-
conductive. One or more energy bands of an in-
sulator are full and other bands are empty. Only
an electron having an energy of enough electron
volts can jump to a conduction band. The energy
is higher than roomtemperature (2.610
2
eV)
and sufcient to disrupt. See semiconductors.
integrated communication system (ICS)
An integrated communication system (ICS)
represents a communication system that joins
and interoperates two or more originally au-
tonomous communication systems, which have
consequently lost their initial independence but
have become one single interdependent system.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Insulator.
integrator A circuit that takes a single input
and gives the integral of the input signal as the
output signal.
intensity The radiant energy per unit time
(ux) or the number of photons per unit time,
owing through a unit area, through a surface
normal to the direction of propagation. For me-
chanical waves, the intensity is proportional to
the square of the amplitude of the wave. For
a traveling light wave, the intensity is propor-
tional to the average energy ux per unit time,
or the mean square value of the optical distur-
bance. The optical disturbance varies with time
too rapidly to be observed directly, so it is the
light intensity that measures the observable ef-
fects of light.
intensitymodulation Image reproductionby
varying the intensity of an electron beam and
thus the light output of a cathode-ray tube in
accordance with the magnitude of the signals it
receives.
intensity of sound Average rate at which
acoustic energy is transmitted in a specied di-
rection through a unit area of a surface perpen-
dicular to the direction of propagation n,

I =
np
2
c
. The unit of I is watt per square meter
(W/m
2
). Acoustic energy travels with the speed
c in the direction n; p is the pressure and the
density. Also called acoustic energy ux or
acoustic intensity.
interaction, exchange Since electrons are
fermions, they obey the Pauli exclusion princi-
ple which disallows more than one fermion in a
given state. Examining a two electron system,
we nd the singlet state, an anti-symmetric spin
state with S = 0, has a lower energy than any
of the triplet states, those states with symmetric
spins and S = 1. This difference leads to an ef-
fective spin interaction, the so-called exchange
interaction. It is possible to recast the exchange
interaction into a spin Hamiltonian. For the two
electron case, the spin Hamiltonian has the form
H
spin
= JS
1

S
2
where J is the exchange coupling constant (the
energy difference between spin states) and the
S
i
, the spin of the i-th electron. In an N-electron
(or N-spin) system, the spin Hamiltonian gen-
eralizes to include all pair interactions (repre-
sented above) plus higher order interactions. In
many systems, only the two-particle interactions
are relevant, and the spin Hamiltonian is the
Heisenberg Hamiltonian,
H
Heisenberg
= J
ij
S
i

S
j
wherethesumisoverallpairsofspins.
interfacial tension The force exerted on
molecules at the interface between two bound-
aries, such as surface tension.
interference (light) The systematic attenu-
ation and reinforcement of the amplitudes over
distance and time of two or more overlapping
light waves that have the same or nearly the
same frequency. The maxima and minima of
light wave interference cannot be described by
the ray approximation of the wave equation.
From Huygens principle, interference occurs
when there are two or more paths of different
lengths from a source to the observation point.
The interference is constructive (destructive) if
the phases and amplitudes increase (decrease)
the resultant amplitude squared relative to the
sum of the squares of the amplitudes. Since
energy is conserved, the energy that is missing
from the destructive interference zones or dark
spots in the interference pattern is found at the
constructive zones or bright spots. Interference
can also occur when there is more than a single
source, provided there is a xed phase relation-
ship between the sources, i.e., the sources are
coherent. The interference of light was rst dis-
coveredbyThomas Youngin1801usinga single
2001 CRC Press LLC
light source and twin pinholes or slits. Fresnel
and Young explained the resulting fringes using
the wave theory of light.
interference, acoustic The variation over
distance or time of the amplitude of a wave that
results from a superposition (algebraic or vector
addition) of two or more waves. A medium can
simultaneously transmit any number of waves,
whichpropagate independentlyof the other. The
displacement of the medium at any point and
any instant of time is the algebraic sum of the
displacements caused by the individual waves
at that instant of time. The term interference is
commonly used to describe this effect, although
the term superposition would be more accurate.
Unlike light that requires coherent light for in-
terference, in acoustics, separate sources will be
coherent and can give rise to interference effects.
See also modulation, acoustic.
interference, constructive The case of su-
perposition of waves arriving simultaneously at
a point so as to give a resultant intensity that is
greater than the sum of the squares of the am-
plitudes of individual disturbances. Since the
equations of the amplitude wave motion is a lin-
ear equation, the sum of any number of solu-
tions is also a solution. The intensity, which is
the observable quantity for light phenomena, is
the square of the amplitude. Thus the resultant
intensity is not merely the sum of the intensities
of the individual waves, but can be greater or
less than the sum of individual intensities. See
interference.
interference, destructive The case of su-
perposition of waves arriving simultaneously at
a point so as to give a resultant intensity that is
less thanthe sumof the squares of the amplitudes
of the individual disturbances. See interference,
constructive.
interference fringes The maxima and min-
ima of intensities seen during the optical inter-
ference of light waves. The maxima occur as a
result of constructive interference of light waves,
which arrive in phase, to give a bright spot, while
the minima occur as a result of the destructive
interference of light waves, which arrive out of
phase, to give a dark spot. See interference.
interference, heterodyne The mixing of two
signals of different frequencies ina nonlinear de-
vice resulting in the generation of two new fre-
quencies that are the sum of and the difference
between the two original frequencies. The ef-
fect is used in the heterodyne receiver where two
signals having slightly different frequencies are
combined to form an audio-frequency beat sig-
nal that can be heard with a loudspeaker. Under
certain conditions, a steady, high-pitched audio
tone, known as heterodyne interference or het-
erodyne whistle, can be heard in the amplitude-
modulation radio receiver as a result of the het-
erodyne action.
interference, radio frequency An unwanted
signal that enters the transmission line from ra-
dio and television transmitters at a level suf-
cient to degrade the performance of the channel
by a signicant amount. With this type of inter-
ference, the cable acts as an antenna.
interference, thinlm Interference phenom-
ena that occur from the reection of light from
the two surfaces of a thin transparent lm. The
maxima in the easily observed interference oc-
cur when the thickness of the lm is an odd
multiple of a quarter of the wavelength of the
incident light, and the minima occur when the
thickness is an even multiple. If the thickness
varies across the lm, then an image of the lm
using a lens will show a different brightness in
different places. Using the eye to forman image
of the thin lm directly on the retina, instead of
a lens and screen, shows a system of interfer-
ence fringes, with brightness varying according
to whether the quarter wavelength is an even or
odd multiple of the thickness. Lines of equal
thickness appear as lines of equal brightness.
These results apply equally well to lms with
an index of refraction greater than the surround-
ing medium (e.g., a thin plate of glass) or with
an index of refraction less than the surround-
ing medium (e.g., an air gap between two thick
plates of glass).
interference withdiffraction Interference is
the modulation of wave amplitude into reinforc-
ing maxima and canceling minima produced by
the superposition of a nite and usually small
number of beams. Diffraction is the modica-
2001 CRC Press LLC
tion of amplitude determined by a superposi-
tion via integration of innitesimal elements of
a wave front. The double slit pattern is thus
a combination of interference (superposition of
beams from each of the two slits, yielding nar-
row maxima and minima) and diffraction (inte-
gration over the wave front from each slit yield-
ing a modulation of the interference maxima and
minima).
interferogram The pattern of interference
that results when two waves of the same wave-
length are brought together. Extremely accurate
measurements of distance can be made using
this technique.
interferometer, acoustic A device for mea-
suring the velocity and attenuation (absorption
coefcient) of soundwaves ina uidbythe inter-
ference method. In the acoustic interferometer
an electrically driven crystal oscillator is used
to induce longitudinal vibrations in a column of
uid. A movable reector plate is placed par-
allel to the radiating surface, to allow standing
waves to form in the uid column. Varying the
spacing l between the reector and the source
causes various modes of resonance of the uid
column, leading to changes of the driving cur-
rent of the crystal oscillator circuit. The periodic
maxima of the driving current (that resemble
patterns registered by optical interferometers)
correspond to the resonance patterns in the uid
that are one half acoustic wavelength /2 apart.
Plotting the crystal driving current vs. the re-
ector position yields information regarding the
acoustic wavelength . If the frequency of the
sound waves f is known, the velocity of sound
can be determined as c = f. In an absorb-
ing uid the relative amplitude of the reected
wave decreases as the spacing between the os-
cillator and the reector increases, and this is
manifested as the decrease of amplitude of the
current peaks of the interferometer pattern. The
absorption coefcient is measured by measuring
the shape of the current peaks as a function of
spacing l.
interferometer, Fabry-Perot Optical instru-
ment that utilizes the interference fringes pro-
duced by multiple reections of light from a
broad source in the air gap between two plane
parallel plates that are thinly silvered. A lens,
which may be the lens of the eye, is used to bring
together for interference the parallel transmitted
rays from break-up by reection of the incident
ray on the rst silvered surface. The condition
for reinforcement of the transmitted rays is the
same as that for the Michelson interferometer,
2d cos = m, which is satised by the points
on a circle with the center given by the intersec-
tion of the axis of the lens with the screen, so
maxima are a series of concentric rings, which
are not images of the source, with spacing that
changes with the air gap distance, d. To vary d,
one plate is xed, and the other can be moved via
a slow-motion screw attached to an accurately
machined carriage arrangement. The rings are
very narrow, so light from a source that consists
of two closely spaced wavelengths produces two
clearly separated sets of rings. Fabry-Perot in-
terferometers are thus useful as spectrometers
with high resolution for nearly monochromatic
light. If the light is not nearly monochromatic,
the interference pattern becomes too difcult to
interpret, unless another instrument is used to
do a preliminary wavelength separation.
interferometer, Michelson-Morely An op-
tical interference apparatus based on amplitude
division of a wave front into two beams that are
sent in different directions against plane mirrors.
When the beams are recombined, interference
fringes are formed. The main optical parts con-
sist of two plane mirrors and two plane plates
of glass, one of which is sometimes slightly
silvered. Light from an extended (not a point
or slit) source encounters this slightly silvered
glass and is divided into a reected and transmit-
ted beam of equal intensity. A mirror is used to
reect this beam back to the glass plate, while a
second mirror reects the transmitted beamback
to the glass plate where they are recombined.
The secondary glass plate is inserted along the
transmittedbeamin the compensatingplate used
to give equal pathlengths in glass to the reected
and transmitted beams. The compensating plate
is not necessary for fringes frommonochromatic
beams, but it is required for fringes in white
light. The mirror reecting back the reected
beam from the rst glass plate is mounted on a
moving carriage that rides on an accurately ma-
chined track and is attached to a slowly turning
2001 CRC Press LLC
screw that is calibrated for distance measure-
ments of the mirrors motion. Adjustments on
the two mirrors allow them to be made accu-
rately perpendicular to each other. When the
pathlengths are the same for each beam and the
images coincide, interference fringes will be
seen. The fringes will be circular if the mirrors
are exactly in adjustment, with maxima given by
angles relative to the axis given by 2d cos =
m, where d is the separation of the virtual im-
age of the xed mirror from the moving mirror.
Since the fringes are determined by a phase dif-
ference determined by an angle of incidence,
these are fringes of equal inclination. Unlike
other types of fringes, these fringes may retain
their visibility over very large path differences.
Also, unlike many other types of interferome-
ters, the two beams traverse widely separated
path lenses, which make possible many applica-
tions where a beam is required to traverse a sub-
stance to be compared with the reference beam.
Small differences in the index of refraction of
two substances can be accurately measured this
way. The Michelson interferometer is also used
to set the standard length of one meter in terms
of the wavelength of the red line of cadmium.
The Michelson interferometer was used in the
Michelson-Morely experiment to establish the
absence of an ether drift, where the distance d
was made as large as 11 mby reecting the light
back and forth between 16 pairs of mirrors. See
Michelson-Morley experiment.
interferometers An optical instrument that
uses the interference of light waves originat-
ing from a common source, with various practi-
cal applications depending on its design. The
prevalent interferometer designs are Michel-
son, Twyman-Green, Fabry-Perot, Lummer-
Gehreke, Jamin, Mach-Zehnder, and Fizeau.
The Michelson interferometer has widely sepa-
rated beams and a path difference that is readily
varied, with refracting material commonly in-
serted into the path of one of the beams, so as to
measure distances in wavelengths, and refrac-
tive indices of the inserted material. Twyman-
Green is used to test the accuracy of optical sur-
faces. Fabry-Perot is usedtoaccuratelymeasure
wavelengths and hyperne structures. Lummer-
Gehreke is used in the UV . Jamin is used to
measure the refraction of gases. Mach-Zehnder
is used to study slight changes of refractive in-
dex over a considerable area, as in the ow pat-
tern in wind tunnels. Fizeau is used to test the
uniformity of optical thickness of plane-parallel
transparent plates.
intermediate state The intermediate state of
a superconductor occurs whenthe magnetic eld
nears the critical eld. At elds H < H
c
, the
magnetic ux is expelled fromthe superconduc-
tor via the Meissner effect. This exclusion of
the ux enhances the magnetic eld near the
surfaces of the superconductor, however, and
near H
c
, this is sufcient to drive a portion of
the superconductor normal. The stable form for
this state is a state in which there are alternat-
ing strips of superconducting and normal metal
aligned parallel to the magnetic eld.
intermodulation Process in nonlinear device
or systemwhereby the components of a complex
wave modulate each other to produce newwaves
having frequencies equal to the sum and differ-
ences of the frequencies of the various compo-
nents of the harmonics of the input wave. This
causes distortion in nonlinear devices.
intermodulation, acoustic Modulation of
the components of a complex wave by each
other, generating new waves whose frequencies
are equal to the sums and differences of inte-
gral multiples of the frequencies of the original
waves. See also modulation, acoustic; interfer-
ence, acoustic; interference, heterodyne.
International Commission on Radiation Pro-
tection The international body that provides
guidance about all issues related to safety of
ionizing radiation. First organized in 1928 as
the International X-ray and Radium Protection
Committee, its name was changed to the Inter-
national CommissiononRadiationProtectionin
1950. This body makes recommendations about
the basic principles of radiationsafetyandleaves
the detailed recommendations to the various na-
tional regulatory bodies.
International Telecommunication Union
(ITU) An agency of United Nations that
is responsible for standardizing international
telecommunications. Its sectors are concerned
2001 CRC Press LLC
with allocating radio frequencies worldwide to
competing interest groups and with telephone
and data communication systems.
internodal segment, electrical characteristics
Large nerve cells in vertebrates are covered with
a membrane wrapped around the axon (myelin).
Gaps between the myelin are called nodes and
the myelin-wrapped regions are internodal seg-
ments. The myelin greatly impedes the ow of
ions in this region of the axon, resulting in little
current ow.
internodal segment, equivalent electrical net-
work The presence of the myelinmodies the
electrical properties of the internodal segments.
In an electrical analysis of the nervous system,
the internodal segments have both resistive and
capacitive aspects of their electrical properties.
interocular distance The separation of the
two eye pupils when the observer is viewing dis-
tant objects, approximately 65 mm. For the case
of two photographs taken by identical cameras
from positions representing an observers eyes,
a stereoscopic effect is seen if the camera lenses
are separated by the correct interocular distance,
and correct viewing distance.
intervals, musical The spacing in pitch or
frequency between two sounds. Two notes
forming the musical interval of one octave have
their frequencies as the ratio 2:1. The frequency
interval is expressed as the ratio of the frequen-
cies or the logarithm of this ratio. See also oc-
tave; frequency band; pitch, acoustic.
intrinsic conductivity The conductivity of a
pure semiconductor material as opposed to the
extrinsic conductivity due to the presence of im-
purities in the semiconductor material.
invariance of charge The charge of an elec-
tron or proton that appeared in the equations
governing electrostatics and electrodynamics is
invariant under Lorentz transformation. In other
words, the charge of a particle is independent of
its speed.
inverse square law The law stating that for
any propagating wave, the rate of owof energy
across a unit area perpendicular to the direction
of propagation (intensity) from a point source
varies as the inverse square of the distance be-
tween the source and the receiver. The inverse
square law is also one of the two fundamental
laws of photometry, and states that illuminance
or irradiance falls off at the inverse square of
distance from the source.
inverter An electronic device that inverts the
input, i.e., produces a high output for a lowinput
and vice versa.
ion channels (cell) Molecular structures on
the surface of cells that regulate the ow of par-
ticular ions through the cell membrane.
ionic current (cell) The movement of
charged species both inside and outside of living
cells.
ionic current (cell), measurements The de-
termination of the movement of charged species
inside and outside a living cell.
ionization chamber An instrument used to
detect the presence of ionizing radiation by mea-
suring the current due to the ionization of the
medium inside the chamber (usually a gas) by
the ionizing radiation.
ionography The study of the ions that move
across cellular membranes.
ionophore Any molecule that transports a
specic ion across a cellular membrane.
ion pump A vacuum pump in which the re-
maining gas molecules are ionized and drawn
out by electric elds (it is usually used after a
roughing pump).
ion transport (cell membrane) The move-
ment of charged species through the membrane
of cells.
irradiance A measure of the time rate of
transfer of radiant energy (radiant power) per
unit area that ows onto or across a surface. Ra-
diant energyis anyenergytransferredbyelectro-
2001 CRC Press LLC
magnetic waves without a corresponding trans-
fer of mass. Also called radiant ux density.
irradiation Application of radiation (any-
thing that propagates as a ray, such as electro-
magnetic waves, and the emission of radioactive
substances) to a material body.
isochromatic line Lines that are of the same
color, as in the interference fringes produced
in birefringent materials. For a pencil beam of
plane-polarized rays incident obliquely on a uni-
axial crystal cut perpendicular to the axis, there
will be two emergent pencils, plane-polarized at
right angles. For a thin crystal, the two beams
are not separated on emergence and will inter-
fere, giving a series of concentric light and dark
rings. If white light is used, the rings will be
colored, and due to symmetry about the axis,
the color is constant around any circle centered
on the axis; such lines are termed isochromatic
lines.
isochromatic surface Surfaces that give the
locus of points of constant phase difference
between the ordinary and extraordinary rays in
uniaxial and biaxial media, which depend on
the direction of the light. Sometimes referred
to as Bertins surfaces. Observed isochromatic
lines supercially resemble the intersections of
isochromatic surfaces with the crystal face, and
these intersections can provide qualitative ex-
planation of the isochromatic line forms.
isoelectric point The pHvalue (hydrogen ion
concentration) of a solution at which the colloid
particles in the solution have zero net charge.
The solution has minimum viscosity, conduc-
tivity and osmotic pressure at this pH value.
isomagnetic lines Lines connecting points of
equality in magnetic properties within magnetic
materials.
isoplanatism In the diffraction theory of
aberrations, this refers to regions that are free
of coma, which is one of the ve aberrations of
a lens with spherical surfaces. Skewrays froma
point object meet at the same point on the image
plane, instead of a pear shaped spot (coma).
2001 CRC Press LLC
J
jammers Units producing specic types of
jamming waveforms, e.g., a single-tone or
pulsed noise jammer. See jamming.
jamming Waveforms that are used on some
fraction of transmitted symbols creating bursts
of errors at the receiver output. A spread spec-
trum system is particularly susceptible to it, and
relies on error-correcting codes combined with
interleaving to combat it.
jitter Type of analog communication line
distortion caused by the variation of a signal
from its reference timing positions. This can
cause data transmission errors, particularly at
high speeds. It also can create a short time line
or circuit instability.
Josephson junction A thin insulator sepa-
rating two superconducting materials through
which electron hole pairs tunnel.
junction The interface where two types of
materials meet. Two different bandgap materi-
als give a heterojunction (e.g., GaAs/AlGaAs),
and different dopings in the same material com-
ing in contact give a homojunction. See also p-n
junction.
2001 CRC Press LLC
J
jammers Units producing specic types of
jamming waveforms, e.g., a single-tone or
pulsed noise jammer. See jamming.
jamming Waveforms that are used on some
fraction of transmitted symbols creating bursts
of errors at the receiver output. A spread spec-
trum system is particularly susceptible to it, and
relies on error-correcting codes combined with
interleaving to combat it.
jitter Type of analog communication line
distortion caused by the variation of a signal
from its reference timing positions. This can
cause data transmission errors, particularly at
high speeds. It also can create a short time line
or circuit instability.
Josephson junction A thin insulator sepa-
rating two superconducting materials through
which electron hole pairs tunnel.
junction The interface where two types of
materials meet. Two different bandgap materi-
als give a heterojunction (e.g., GaAs/AlGaAs),
and different dopings in the same material com-
ing in contact give a homojunction. See also p-n
junction.
2001 CRC Press LLC
K
kaleidophone A thin metal bar of rectangu-
lar cross section carrying a bead at the upper end
and clamped in a vice used to generate vibra-
tions of prescribed frequencies in the different
planes of vibration, thus forming characteristic
patterns. The frequencyof vibrations is the same
for the two planes when the cross section of the
bar is square or circular. The stiffness of the
bar is greater in the plane of greater thickness
in case of a rectangular cross section, leading
to higher vibration frequency in this plane when
compared to the side of smaller thickness. The
ratio of vibration frequencies in the two planes
can be adjusted to the desired value by appropri-
ate selection of the dimensions of the cross sec-
tion. The kaleidophone was invented by Wheat-
stone. A modication of the original design,
with the bar divided into two parts, allows the
continuous variation of the frequency ratio by
changing the location where the bar is clamped.
Kaleidoscope An optical toy consisting of
a tube and between two to four plane mirrors.
Most kaleidoscopes consist of two or three mir-
rors, and the mirrors are placed at an angle of
45

or 60

. It produces symmetrical patterns

by multiple reection by the mirrors. Front-
surface-mirrors are used to generate a clear im-
age. Objects are illuminated at one end of the
tube and the image is observed through a small
hole at the other end.
Kalman lter A method of recursively es-
timating a state from a series of measurements.
The Kalman lter is not a lter in the sense of a
circuit, but rather an estimator algorithm based
upon linear relationships of measurements to the
state being estimated, as linear transitions in the
state from measurement to measurement. The
power of the kalman approach is seen when an
individual measurement does not allow full ob-
servability of the state, but when all measure-
ments are sufcient to observe the state being
estimated.
Kapitza boundary resistance The Kapitza
boundary resistance is the resistance that occurs
between liquid helium (either
3
He or
4
He) and
solids. Acoustic mismatch theory, taking into
account the different velocities of sound, pre-
dicts the thermal resistance should be R
K

(AT
3
)
1
where A is the area of the interface.
This result is in reasonable agreement over a
limited temperature range, but in marked con-
trast to the boundary resistance between two di-
electric solids; acoustic mismatch theory does
not work very well for solid-helium interfaces
above roughly 1 K and below roughly 10 mK.
In fact, depending on surface treatment, the ther-
mal resistance can be several orders of magni-
tude smaller than the theory predicts. It is also
found that the resistances for liquid
4
He, liquid
3
He, and solid
3
He are all roughly the same at
T = 1 K. The Kapitza resistance between
3
He
and metals with magnetic moments (even as im-
purities) is even smaller than that of ultra-pure
metals and R
K
T
1
orT
2
. There is evi-
dence that this is due to dipole-dipole coupling
between the
3
He nuclei and the magnetic mo-
ments in the metal, but the question is still not
completely resolved.
Kerr effect A nonlinear electro-optic effect
that makes certain substances behave like a uni-
axial crystal (doubly refracting with a single op-
tic axis) when placed in an electric eld. The
optic axis is parallel to the lines of force, and
the magnitude of the effect is proportional to
the electric eld squared. The effect was rst
observed by Kerr in 1895 for glass, and is also
seen for gases and liquids (nitrobenzene). The
Kerr cell consists of a glass cell containing a
liquid for which the effect is strong, located be-
tween the plates of a capacitor. Polarized light
passing through the medium across the eld can
be interrupted at high frequency, and is useful
as an electro-optic shutter.
keying (1) Entering data by typing on a key-
board.
(2) The process of changing some character-
istic of a direct current or other carrier between
a set of discrete values in order to carry infor-
mation.
(3) The process that causes modulation at a
telegraph or radiotelegraph transmitter.
2001 CRC Press LLC
keying frequency, maximum The highest
rate at which it is possible to key, and can be
dependent on the response time of the system.
keying, frequency shift (FSK) Acommonly
used method of frequency modulation in which
a one anda zero(the twopossible states) are each
transmittedonseparate frequencies for the trans-
mission of binary messages. The amplitude and
phase are held constant in this technique.
keying, multiple frequency shift (MFSK)
The same process as for frequency shift keying
(FSK) but applied to the scenario where a mod-
ulator in a coded digital communication system
provides a one-to-one mapping of the channel
symbols into a set of signals.
keying, multiple phase shift (MPSK) A
modulation technique to convert binary data into
an analog form comprising a single sinusoidal
wave. The phase of a carrier changes by ra-
dians or 180

. In this modulation technique,

frequency and amplitude are held constant. The
modulator in a coded digital communication
system provides a one-to-one mapping of the
channel symbols into a set of signals.
keying, phase shift (PSK) See keying, mul-
tiple phase shift.
kidneys, articial A device for ltering wa-
ter and wastes from the blood and producing
urine.
Kirchhoffs rules The rules found by G.R.
Kirchhoff (182487). The rst law (the current
law) states that the algebraic sumof the currents
that meet at a point is zero. It is useful in parallel
circuits.
The second law (the voltage law) states that
the algebraic sum of the electromotive force in
any closed path is equal to the sum of the prod-
ucts of current and resistance in the path. The
sum of the voltage drop is equal to the sum of
the voltage sources, which is called the effective
voltage. It is useful in series circuits.
Kirchoffs law (emission and absorption)
The Kirchoff radiation law, as derived fromther-
modynamics, states that the ratio between ab-
sorbtivity (absorption) and emissive power is
the same for each kind of ray for all thermal ra-
diators in thermal equilibrium, and is equal to
the emissive power of a perfectly black body at
the same temperature. The ratio depends only
on the wavelength and the temperature. The
absorption determines the loss of light on trans-
mission through the material and there is not a
simple relation with the absorptance that mea-
sures the loss of light on a single reection. Kir-
choffs lawis a very general relation between the
absorption and emission of radiation by surfaces
of different bodies. If the absorption is large, the
emission must also be large. Black bodies ab-
sorb all wavelengths completely, and also give
the largest amount of radiation at a given tem-
perature.
klystron An electron tube in which the veloc-
ity of the electrons is regulated/modulated. Dis-
covered by Russel and Sigurd Varian in 1937,
it is composed of an electron gun, a modulat-
ing cavity (buncher), and a collecting cavity
(catcher).
Block diagram of a klystron. The electrons are emitted
at the electron gun. Their velocity is modied by the
eld generated by V
b
in the buncher to collect theminto
bunches and they are then collected in the catcher.
Knight shift When measuring the nuclear
magnetic resonance frequency of a metal, the
frequency is found to differ from that of a free
atom of the same metal or that of a salt of the
same metal. This frequency shift, the Knight
shift, is due to a change in the local magnetic
eld at the nucleus. The conduction electrons
in the metal are polarized by the external mag-
netic eld, B
0
. These polarized electronic spins
interact with the nucleus (the hyperne interac-
2001 CRC Press LLC
tion), producing a magnetic eld at the nucleus,
thereby changing the resonance frequency. The
magnitude of the Knight shift is generally a few
percent or less of the unshifted frequency.
Kondo effect The presence of magnetic im-
purities can have drastic effects on the resistance
of metals at low temperatures. Near such an
impurity, the spin of conduction electrons be-
comes polarized by the impurity magnetic mo-
ment, and other conduction electrons inelasti-
cally scatter off the cloud of electrons surround-
ing the impurity. This scattering ips the spin of
the electrons involved. This increased scatter-
ing rate produces an increase in the resistivity
of the metal at low temperatures. The Kondo
effect resistivity,
K
ln(T), dominates at low
temperatures and produces a minimumin the to-
tal resistivity at the temperature when the effect
becomes important.
Korringa relation The spin-lattice relax-
ation time,
1
, is related to the temperature of
the lattice and electrons in a nuclear paramag-
net according to the Korringa relation:

1
T ,
where is the Korringa constant. This rela-
tionship is only approximate, as the Korringa
constant actually varies slowly with the mag-
netic eld and with temperature at extremely
low temperatures. See also Blochs equations;
nuclear magnetic resonance.
Kundts tube A tube used to measure the
speed of sound. It is a wide tube closed at one
end by a piston and at the opposite end by a di-
aphragm attached to a rod clamped at its center.
The tube is lled with air or other gas and con-
tains a light powder. When longitudinal vibra-
tions are excited in the rod, they are transferred
to the gas in the tube through the diaphragm.
The position of the piston is adjusted so that a
certain number of standing waves forms in the
tube. These waves are visualized by the pow-
der in the tube that becomes lumped at nodes,
giving the length of standing waves generated
in the tube. By knowing the frequency of the
sound generated in the rod and the wavelength,
the speed of sound can be determined.
Kundts tube.
2001 CRC Press LLC
L
lagging current In a series RLC circuit,
if the capacitive reactance X
C
is less than
the inductive reactance X
L
, the current is lag-
ging behind the voltage by a phase angle =
tan
1
[(X
L
X
C
)/Z].
Lalande cell The zinc-copper oxide cell in-
vented by F. de Lalande and G. Chaperson in
1881 is known as the Lalande cell. It consists
of a zinc anode and copper oxide cathode in a
KOH electrolyte. It is a primary cell employing
the following chemical reaction:
Zn + CuO Cu + ZnO .
lambda leaks The bane of scientists work-
ing at low temperatures, lambda leaks are leaks
that only appear when the apparatus is immersed
in liquid helium below the lambda temperature,
2.17 K. Such a leak occurs when the source of
the leak (a crack, hole, etc.) is small enough to
prevent gases and normal liquids from entering
due to viscous drag on the gas or liquid. The
viscosity falls to zero below the lambda temper-
ature, allowing lambda leaks to occur.
lambda phenomenon See helium-4, super-
uid; lambda point.
lambda point The lambda point is the tem-
perature at which pure
4
He becomes a super-
uid, 2.1768 K. The name is due to the partic-
ular shape of the specic heat vs. temperature
curve at the phase transition. See also helium-4,
liquid; helium-4, superuid.
lambert A unit of luminance, equal to 1/
candle/cm
2
.
laminated core An iron core made up by the
lamination of sheet iron or steel generally used
in transformers.
A laminated core used in a transformer.
lamp, arc An electric lamp in which light is
generated by an arc. The arc is a spark produced
when current ows through ionized gas between
the two electrodes. Carbon electrodes are often
used. The electrodes are vaporized by the heat
of the arc.
lamp, uorescent A lamp emits light by
uorescence (luminescence). It contains gas
(sodium vapor, mercury vapor, and so on) at a
low pressure. The gas is excited by collisions
with electrons emitted by a cathode. When gas
that is raised to an excited state returns to a
ground state, ultraviolet light is emitted. Flu-
orescent substances are coated on the inner sur-
face of a uorescent lamp and emit visible light
when they absorb the ultraviolet light emitted by
the gas in the lamp.
lamp, incandescent A lamp uses incandes-
cence raised by an electrically heated lament.
Incandescence is an emission of the light by sub-
stances heated to a high temperature (> 3000K).
lamp, tungsten An incandescent lamp uses
tungsten as its lament. It is used as a standard
lighting.
LAN Acronym for local area network.
A communications network that serves users
within a conned geographical area in the same
building or group of adjacent buildings. It is
made up of an interconnection of servers, work-
stations, and a network operating system using
a communications link. Servers are high-speed
machines that hold programs and data shared by
network users. The workstations or clients are
the users personal computers, which can access
the network servers. They can retrieve all soft-
ware and data from the server. In small LANs,
2001 CRC Press LLC
which are easier to install and manage, the work-
stations can be used as servers, and users can
therefore access data on another computer. A
printer can be attached to a workstation or to
a server and be shared by network users. For
large networks, dedicated servers are required.
LANs runona networkoperatingsystemsuchas
NetWare, UNIX, or Windows NT. The message
transfer is managed by a transport protocol such
as TCP/IP or IPX. The physical transmission of
data is performed by an access method such as
Ethernet or Token Ring, which is implemented
in network adapters that are plugged into the ma-
chines. Network adapters are interconnected by
twisted pair or optical ber cable.
Langevin function This is a mathematical
function that is important in the theory of para-
magnetism. Analytically it is given by:
L(x) = coth x 1/x ,
x !, L(x)

= x/3, the polarizability of
molecules having a permanent electric dipole
moment and the paramagnetic susceptibility of
a classical collection of magnetic dipoles given
by a function of this type.
language, programming/machine These
describe a problem solution as a source pro-
gram. Each language has a translator or com-
piler to convert the source program to an ob-
ject program. Machine language programming
involves writing instructions directly in object
code with only binary symbols 0 and 1.
laser An acronym that denotes the process
of light amplication by stimulated emission of
radiation. In this process, stimulated emission
from an atom or molecule is used to amplify an
electromagnetic eld, and this amplier may be
combined with a resonator to make an oscillator.
The two-mirrors of the Fabry-Perot interferom-
eter provide the optical resonator and atoms or
molecules in a metastable excited state, form-
ing an inverted population of energy levels, and
provide the gain medium. The excited state is
attained with an optical pump, or an electrical
discharge may provide the energy source. The
resonator mirrors feed photons belonging to the
laser modes back into the resonance cavity so
that their number can grow through repeated
interaction with the gain medium and provide
stimulated emission. One of the cavity mirrors
is the output mirror and is allowed to transmit 1
to 2%of the light produced. This is a loss mech-
anismthat must be overcome if the gain medium
is to lase. The amplitude of the laser eld will
then grow until a steady state is reached where
the laser radiation rate is the same as the net
rate at which energy is supplied. Many differ-
ent kinds of lasers have been developed covering
the spectrumfromIRto UV , some of which are
tunable with a selectable wavelength, and some
of which operate at more than one wavelength.
Unlike ordinary light sources, such as glowing
wires, the radiation from lasers is highly co-
herent, highly collimated, extremely monochro-
matic, and intense. The degree of control of vis-
ible light with lasers approaches that of radio
frequency oscillators and microwave sources.
Since the light from lasers is concentrated in
one or a small number of modes, the photon
occupation number in each mode is very large,
making the radiation eld more classical than
conventional light sources.
laser beam, directionality of Laser beams
are exceptionally narrow. The width of a laser
beam is determined by the size of the open-
ing provided by the partially silvered mirror
through which the beam exits. The main source
of spreading out of the beam as it exits is from
diffraction around the edges of the opening, so
very little spreading-out occurs. Photons emit-
ted at an angle relative to the laser tube axis are
quickly reected out the sides of the tube via the
silvered ends, which are carefully arranged to be
perpendicular to the tube axis. Since the emit-
ted photon in the stimulated emission process
travels in the same direction as the stimulating
incoming photon, the net effect of arranging the
cavity mirrors this way is to make the beamfrom
the laser highly directional.
laser beam, monochromaticity of In stimu-
lated emission, an incoming photon induces an
electron in an excited state to change energy lev-
els, but only if the incoming photon has an en-
ergy that exactly matches the difference of en-
ergy between the two states. This makes stimu-
lated emission similar to a resonance process, in
which the incoming photon triggers an electron
2001 CRC Press LLC
to change energy states only if energies, and thus
photon wavelengths, exactly match. When the
stimulated emission only involves a single pair
of energy levels, the output beam has a single
wavelength and the radiation in the laser beam
is monochromatic. The early lasers each had
their own characteristic wavelength, depending
on the material used, and could not be tuned
very far, just the width of the laser line. The
output wavelength is determined only roughly
by the amplifying medium. It is more precisely
determined by the tuning of the laser resonator.
By applying a magnetic eld or changing the
temperature of a solid laser material, more tun-
ing could be obtained. With the development of
dye lasers, it is possible to cover the range of
wavelengths from 350 to 950 nm continuously,
throughout the entire visible spectrum.
laser, cavity of In a laser, the two-mirror
Fabry-Perot interferometer serves as the optical
resonator or cavity. Laser processes begin when
an atom or molecule in the metastable excited
state spontaneously emits a photon parallel to
the axis of the laser cavity. This photon causes
other excited atoms or molecules to emit a pho-
ton via the stimulated emission process such that
the emitted photon travels in the same direc-
tion as the original one and exactly in phase.
To ensure that more photons are created in an
avalanche of stimulated emission from a multi-
ple reection process, both ends of the tube are
silvered to form mirrors that reect the photons
back and forth. So that some of the photons may
escape the tube and form the laser beam, one of
the mirrors is only partially silvered and serves
as the output window for the laser beam.
laser communications Laser communica-
tions represent a formof optical communication
with a laser as the light source. A laser rep-
resents a single-frequency phase-coherent light
beam. Telecommunications using laser beams
is distinguished by lasers very wide frequency
spectrum, lasers efcient use of transmission
power, and the laser beams precise spatial di-
rectivity. The visible spectral band over which
lasers operate spans over half a trillion mega-
hertz; thus, one laser beam may theoretically
offer a transmission rate surpassing that of the
entire radio-frequency spectrum. Because of the
precise spatial directivityandspectral coherency
of laser beams, they are highly power-efcient
and useful for long distance communications
such as satellite or spacecraft telecommunica-
tions, where the satellites or spacecrafts typi-
cally have very limited power resources. How-
ever, laser beams are highly vulnerable to ob-
struction by fog, rain or snow in outdoor atmo-
spheric channels. Laser beams are often trans-
mitted within protective pipes for earth-bound
telecommunications. Laser ber optics trans-
mission is typically in baseband, with the in-
formation signal represented as a sequence of
on-and-off light pulses. Semiconductor photo-
diodes represent the most common optical com-
munication receivers.
laser, effect on biological tissues The ab-
sorption of electromagnetic energy by biologi-
cal tissues means that energy is deposited in tis-
sues when irradiated. For the specic example
of lasers, the physiological response depends on
the wavelength and intensity of the laser light as
well as the degree of focusing of the light.
laser, efciency of Ratio of the output power
to the input power. The overall efciency is a
product of efciency factors, which are individ-
ually dened, depending on the mechanisms of
energy transfer in the laser. The pumping ef-
ciency is the ratio of the total pump power ab-
sorbed by the gain mediumto the electrical input
power into the pump source, and this efciency
is composed of efciency factors, such as the
ratio of lamp radiation within absorption bands
of the gain medium to electrical input power.
Another factor is the fraction of the electrical
input power that results in potentially useful ra-
diation. Still another is the efciency of transfer
of the useful radiation from the pump source to
the gain medium, and so on. The energy extrac-
tion efciency is the ratio of actually extracted
power to available power.
laser, gain in Increase in signal power in
transmission from one point to another. Units
for power gain in common engineering usage
are decibels or db. An active medium ex-
hibits gain rather than absorption at a certain
frequency. The bandwidth of an active medium
is the full distance between frequencies at which
2001 CRC Press LLC
the power gain has fallen to 1/2 its peak value,
corresponding to 3 dB down from peak gain.
This amplication bandwidth is considerably
smaller than the atomic linewidth, especially at
higher gains an effect called gain narrowing,
which reduces useful bandwidth of high gain
ampliers. Gain is synonymous with amplica-
tion.
laser induceduorescence The spontaneous
re-emission of radiation that occurs after a gas
is put into an excited state by illumination with
a high-power laser. The amount of spontaneous
emission or uorescence from an atomic tran-
sition is proportional to the upper-level popula-
tion of the transition. Since the upper levels
are initially sparsely populated, the observed
laser induced uorescence is a measure of the
lower level number density. This provides a use-
ful technique for measuring the population of
metastable levels, which cannot decay by giv-
ing off a photon. Laser induced uorescence
(LIF) diagnostics operate by pumping electrons
out of the metastable state to a higher excited
state which can decay radioactively; measure-
ment of the LIF can be used to determine the
cross-section for excitation into the metastable
state.
laser materials, in general The active laser
medium that emits radiation from stimulated
electronic transitions to lower energy states.
Laser operation has been demonstrated in a wide
variety of media, but only a few types of mate-
rials have been developed for commercial use.
For a material to be useful as a laser there are
certain optical, chemical, thermal, and mechan-
ical properties it must have. The ions providing
the optical emission must be able to efciently
absorb pump energy, and emit efciently at the
desired frequency. Often, there is not a single
ion species that can do both efciently, and com-
binations of ions are used in the same host mate-
rial: one to absorb pump energy (sensitizer ion)
and one to provide the lasing (activator ions),
with a strong overlap in spectra of both types of
ion. For a laser material to be useful commer-
cially it must also be economically produced in
sufcient quantity at high quality. To be useful
outside the laboratory, the material must be sta-
ble and robust in its environment. It should be
chemically stable and preserve the ion valence
state and resist ion diffusion out of the optical
path, while resisting internal stresses that may
be either thermally or optically generated. The
requirements for lasing materials are often mu-
tually contradictory and no single material can
meet all of these criteria simultaneously. Thus
for successful design of a laser system, a wide
variety of materials must be considered and se-
lection made based on a thorough understanding
of their optical and other physical properties.
laser, medical application The use of laser
radiation for a therapeutic purpose, such as
surgery on the retina.
laser mode The eld pattern of light in
an optical resonator. The optical resonator of
most lasers consists of two reectors facing each
other, aligned so that multiple reections take
place. An analysis of interference by multiple
reections of light in this resonator reveals the
nature of the axial and transverse modes. As
in the Fabry-Perot interferometer, there is full
transmittance at a series of discrete wavelengths
separated by a free spectral range determined by
the wavelength and the separation of the mir-
rors. Each of these frequencies is a spectral
mode or axial mode. These modes represent
resonant frequencies that are exactly an integral
number of half-wavelengths along the resonator
axis between the mirrors. In a real cavity, any
wave as it bounces between mirrors will also
spread transversely due to diffraction, and will
also distort in transverse amplitude and acquire
diffraction ripples in even a single pass through
the laser cavity. Analytical or computer calcu-
lations may be carried out to nd the change of
the transverse eld pattern, with repeated passes
through the laser cavity, as pioneered by Fox and
Li. Usually these are carried out with the laser
gain omitted for simplicity; for any given cavity
with nite diameter and mirrors, there will be
a distinct set of transverse amplitude and phase
patterns, which self-replicate in form, though
are reduced in amplitude after each round trip
through the cavity. These are termed transverse
eigenmodes or transverse cavity modes and de-
pend on the detailed shape and curvature of the
end mirrors. They are analogous to the trans-
2001 CRC Press LLC
verse modes of electromagnetic waves in closed
waveguides.
laser, pulsed A laser with an emission wave-
form that consists of short duration bursts, each
characterized by a rise and decay time. Between
pulses, the laser is inactive, in contrast with the
continuous wave or CW laser, which has a con-
stant output. Awidely used technique to shorten
the pulse duration and allow the laser pumping
process to build up a larger than usual popula-
tion inversion is Q-switching, in which one of
the end mirrors is effectively blocked to remove
feedback, which is subsequently restored to its
usual large value, dumping the entire population
inversion in a single short laser pulse.
laser, safety The knowledge of operating a
laser in a manner that results in no injury to the
user or any bystanders.
laser surgery The use of laser light to ac-
complish a surgical procedure, such as remov-
ing growths on the skin.
laser therapy The use of laser light for a
healing purpose.
lattice vibration Periodic oscillation of the
atoms in a crystal lattice about their equilibrium
positions.
law of mass action The law of mass action
describes the equilibrium behavior of a variety
of chemical systems in solution and gas phases
by stating that for a reaction of the type,
aA+bB cC +dD ,
the thermodynamic equilibrium constant is
given by
K
eq
=
[C]
c
[D]
d
[A]
a
[B]
b
.
The coefcients a, b, c, d are stoichiometric co-
efcients and A, B, C, D represent chemical
species. The square brackets indicate that the
concentration of the chemical inside is at equi-
librium. Therefore, the value of the equilibrium
constant at a given temperature can be calcu-
lated only when the equilibrium concentrations
of the reaction components are known. Notice
that the unit for K
eq
depends on the reaction be-
ing considered because it is determined by the
powers of the various concentration terms.
Knowledge of the equilibrium constant for
a reaction allows for the prediction of several
important features of the reaction. Namely, the
tendency of the reaction to occur (but not the
speed of the reaction), whether or not a given
set of concentrations represents an equilibrium
condition, and the equilibrium position that will
be achieved from a given set of initial concen-
trations.
The tendency of a reaction to occur is indi-
cated by the magnitude of the equilibrium con-
stant. If K
eq
is much larger that 1, the equi-
librium lies to the right and the reaction system
would mostly consist of products. If K
eq
is less
than 1, the equilibrium lies to the left and the
reaction system would consist of mostly reac-
tants. This would mean that the given reaction
does not occur to a very signicant extent.
See vant Hoffs law.
leader stroke A thin, highly ionized, and
highly conducting channel that grows from one
electrode toward another of opposite polarity in
a gas (usually air) during the initial stage of a
spark discharge. It is neutralized when the tip
of the leader reaches the second electrode, trig-
gering the next phase of the discharge known as
the return stroke. The leader stroke is clearly de-
tectable in spark discharges through large gaps
such as lightning ashes which begin with the
growth of a leader fromcloud to earth or earth to
cloud. See also lightning ash; lightning stroke.
leading current In an RLC circuit, if the ca-
pacitive reactance X
C
is more than the inductive
reactance X
L
, the phase angle = tan
1
[(X
L

X
C
)/Z] is a negative quantity. In this case, the
current reaches its maximum before the voltage
does and the current is called the leading current.
leakage current The undesirable current that
leaks through an insulator.
leakage elds Fields that extend beyond the
region over which they were designed to exist.
least distance of distinct vision Conven-
tionally, the near point of a normal eye is a
2001 CRC Press LLC
distance (nearest distance of distinct vision) of
about 25 cm (10 in). This is called the least dis-
tance of distinct vision. It is the average of the
least distance between the eye and an object such
that the object can be seen in focus by an unaided
eye. It is used to compare the magnifying pow-
ers of microscopes. For a simple microscope
(magnier), the angular magnication M is de-
scribed by the least distance of distinct vision L
and the object distance s:
M =
L
l
_
=
25
l
_
,
where distances are measured in cm. Conse-
quently, if the image is viewed at innity,
M =
L
f
,
where f is the focus length. If the image is
viewed at the near point of the eye (image dis-
tance s

= L),
s =
Lf
L +f
,
M =
L
f
+ 1 .
These angular magnications are estimated by
the least distance of distinct vision. However,
actual magnications depend on the particular
observer. It is also known as the distance of
most distinct vision.
lecher wires (1) Two parallel wires used
to measure high radio frequencies. The two
wires, which are a few wavelengths long for the
frequency to be measured, are either adjusted
by sliding a shortening bar along them, or ter-
minated at their far end and varied electrically
by tuning a capacitor that is in series with the
wires. When connected to the high frequency
source, standing waves will be generated in the
wires when their lengths are multiples of half-
wavelengths. Measurement of the correspond-
ing node or anti-node positions allows the fre-
quency to be calculated.
(2) Two parallel straight wires, as in a two-
wire transmission line, with a sliding short cir-
cuit copper strip between them. The wires can
be tuned to a specic frequency of an oscilla-
tory electrical wave by moving the strip along
the wires. Generally, lecher wires are used in the
microwave frequencyrange as part of a waveme-
ter for determining wavelength. They can also
be used as a tuned circuit or an impedance
matching device.
Leclanche cell The zinc-carbon cell origi-
nally invented by Georges Leclanche is known
as a Leclanche cell. It consists of a zinc an-
ode and a manganese dioxide cathode. The
Leclanche cells are noted for their low cost and
good shelf life. It is a primary cell employing
the following chemical reaction:
Zn + 2MnO
2
ZnO Mn
2
O
3
.
Lenard spiral A spiral of bismuth wire,
mounted between mica plates, that is used to
measure magnetic eld strength. It has small
or negligible inductance while its resistance is
strongly dependent on the strength of the mag-
netic eld directed orthogonally to the axis of
the spiral. An increase in the magnetic eld re-
sults in an increase in the resistance and vice
versa. Thus a measurement of resistance can be
related to a magnetic eld strength.
lens A piece of isotropic, transparent mate-
rial that has two surfaces with a common axis.
The common axis is called the optical axis. The
point on the surface of the lens where the opti-
cal axis crosses is called the vertex of the lens.
The geometrical center of the lens is called the
optical center. A light ray that passes through
the optical center will not be deviated. A lens
is used for refraction of light. Usually, polished
glass or molded polymer is used as the material.
There are various kinds of lenses and their sur-
faces are usually spherical (see lens, spherical).
The surface of others are aspherical, cylindrical,
parabolic, toroidal and so on. The curvature of
the surfaces affect the functions of the lens: fo-
cus length, aberration, astigmatism, and so on.
The surface of a lens, called concave or convex,
curves inward or outward, respectively. Lenses
are divided into positive or negative (converg-
ing or diverging). A positive lens causes paral-
lel rays of light to converge and a negative lens
causes them to diverge. The shape of the lens
refers to the shape of the periphery of the lens.
2001 CRC Press LLC
The formof the lens indicates the relative alloca-
tion of the curvatures. Lenses are classed as thin
or thick. A thin lens is a lens whose thickness is
small enough to be neglected in the calculation
of optical quantities of the lens. A lens should
be treated as a thick lens when a precise solution
of a lens problemis required. Atypical problem
is the design of a camera lens. The focal length
of a thin lens is the distance between the optical
center and the focal point of the lens. The im-
age distance and the object distance of a thin lens
are measured from the vertices. Solving a lens
problem, the thin-lens focal length, the image
distance, and the object distance of a thick lens
should be measured fromthe principal planes of
the lens.
Lens.
lens, achromatic An optical system that is
corrected for chromatic aberration. Usually,
a combination of positive lenses and negative
lenses of different refractive indices is used. An
achromatic lens is designed so that the disper-
sions of the two lenses neutralize each other,
andtheir refractions donot neutralize eachother.
The simplest achromatic lens consists of a pos-
itive lens and a negative lens, and is called an
achromatic doublet. It is used as an objective of
a telescope and is also known as an achromat.
An achromatic lens (achromatic doublet).
lens, antiex An antiex objective is used
to visualize structures that would be invisible in
normal brighteld microscopy. An example is
the observation of cells grown on the bottomof a
Petri dish visualized by incident-light-reection
contrast techniques.
lens, apochromatic An optical system that
is highly corrected for both spherical and chro-
matic aberration for two or more colors and is
used as a microscope objective.
lens, astigmatic A toroidal (toric) lens that
is used in eyeglasses to correct astigmatism. It
is also known as an astigmat.
lens, Barlow A lens system of one or more
negative lenses that are placed just ahead of the
focal plane of the objective, between the objec-
tive and eyepiece, in a telescope. It is used to
increase the effective focal length and thereby
increase magnication. Plano-concave lenses
are usually used.
lens, blooming of The process of coating a
transparent, thin lm on a lens to reduce the re-
ection of light at the surface of the lens. A
substance, such as a magnesium uoride, is de-
posited on the lens to form a thin lm with a
thickness t of one quarter wave length
c
=
/n
c
. The thickness of the coating t is
t =

c
4
,
=

4n
c
,
where the refractive index of the substance is n
c
.
Usually evaporation is used for the deposit. The
substance should have a lower refractive index
than the lens to be bloomed. The reectivity
R of the interface of the different media with
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indices n
1
and n
2
is
R =
_
n
2
n
1
n
2
+n
1
_
2
.
The desirable refractive index of the coating
material is dependent on this relationship and
the number of layers to be deposited on the lens.
For example, with one layer coating, the desir-
able refractive index of the coating n
c
is
n
c
=

n
2
n
1
,
where n
2
and n
1
are the refractive index of free
space and one of the lens, respectively.
Lens blooming.
lens, concentric A lens with two spherical
surfaces. The spherical surfaces have the same
center.
lens, condenser A lens system that is used
to concentrate as much light from a source as
possible. Also known as a condensing lens,
it is used in an instrument of illumination for
various kinds of optical systems. A condenser
lens should be free from aberration. Usually a
double plano-convex condenser lens is used. It
is also used in an projection system. An Abbe
condenser is well known. It consists of a pair
of lenses and has a variable large-aperture. An
Abbe condenser is used as a microscope objec-
tive.
lens, converging (lens, positive) A lens that
causes parallel rays of light to converge on a
principal focus on the axis of the lens. The cen-
ter of a converging lens is thicker than the edge
of the lens. A converging lens has a positive
focal length. In a converging lens, the second
focal point lies on the opposite side of the light
A condenser lens.
source. (See also lens.) With a converging lens,
the object closer to the lens than the rst focal
point will forma virtual image, not a real image.
Abiconvex lens, a plano-convex lens, and a con-
verging meniscus are well known as converging
lenses.
lens, crossed A kind of spherical lens de-
signed with particular radii of the curvature of
the two surfaces in order to realize a minimum
spherical aberration for parallel incident rays.
The radii are dependent on the refractive index
of the lens.
lens, crystalline An elastic, jelly-like lens
of the eye that is elastic biconvex. The refrac-
tive index of the crystalline lens is high (about
1.4), and it is highest in the center and lowest at
the equator. It lies between the anterior cham-
ber, which is lled with aqueous humor, and the
vitreous, lled with vitreous humor. Its high
refractive power can be altered by varying its
thickness which is altered by the ciliary muscle.
lens, cylindrical A lens in which one or both
of its curved surfaces are a portion of a cylin-
der. It has axial astigmatism and is used in the
correction of visual deciencies. Aplanar cylin-
drical lens is used for correcting astigmatism of
the eye.
lens, decentered Alens whose optical center
is different from the geometrical center of the
rim of the lens. A decentered lens works as a
lens combined with a weak prism.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Crystalline lens.
Cylindrical lens.
lens, diverging (lens, negative) Alens whose
focal length is negative. Adiverging lens causes
rays of parallel light to diverge. Biconcave,
plano-concave, and diverging meniscus are
known as a diverging lens. See also lens.
lens, equation, Newtonian form One of the
lens-users equations, this form uses image dis-
tance andobject distance measurednot fromver-
tices but fromthe focal points of a lens. Anequa-
tion that treats the relationship between the dis-
tances between two conjugate points and their
respective foci. The product of the distances is
equal to the square of the focal length of the
lens. The distance between an object and a fo-
cal point x
o
, the distance between an image and
another focal point x
i
, object size y
o
, and image
size y
i
, and lateral magnication m, satisfy the
equation;
m =
y
i
y
o
=
f
x
o
=
x
i
f
,
where the focal length is f. These relations de-
rive from the Newtonian form lens equation as
x
o
x
i
= f
2
.
It can be used with both thin and thick lenses.
Newtonian form lens equation.
lens, equivalent A lens or a system of lenses
that forms almost the same image as a given lens
or a given system of lenses.
lens, landscape A simple meniscus lens or
an achromatic doublet (see lens, achromatic)
with its stop rate greater than f/11. The angle
of the eld is limited to about 40

because of
the oblique astigmatism of a landscape. It is
also called an achromatic meniscus. A menis-
cus of which the concave side facing the object
is corrected for both astigmatism and coma still
has spherical and chromatic aberration and dis-
tortion. A combination of two landscape lenses
will improve its aberration.
Landscape lens.
lens makers equation Also called the lens
equation or lens makers formula, this equation
is used with thin lenses. The focal power P and
the focus length f of a thin lens can be calcu-
lated by the equation. It uses the fact that the
refractive power P of a thin lens is the algebraic
sum of the pair of surfaces of the lens P
1
, P
2
;
P = P
1
+ P
2
. When a thin lens of index n
l
is
surrounded by a medium of index n
m
, the pow-
ers of the surfaces, whose radii are R
1
and R
2
,
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are calculated by the surface power equation
P
1
=
n
l
n
m
R
1
.
Therefore, the power of the lens P is obtained
as
P =
1
f
= (n
l
n
m
)
_
1
R
1

1
R
2
_
.
It is used to decide the two radii of the surfaces
of the lens. It is important for lens makers to
decide how to grind the lens.
lens, negative See lens, diverging.
lens, objective The lens of an optical sys-
tem that is nearest to the object to be observed,
it usually has a short focal length. The objec-
tive lens of a microscope forms a real air image
(see image, primary). For projection with a mi-
croscope, the primary image is formed ahead of
the rst focal length of the ocular which forms a
real image again. For visual observation, the pri-
mary image is generated inside the focal length
of the ocular as a magnier.
Image formation in a telescope.
lens, positive See lens, converging.
lens, power of (focal power) The power of a
lens shows the ability of a lens to converge the
parallel rays of light. It is equal to the recip-
rocal of the focal length, the distance between
the optical center of a lens and its principal fo-
cus. The power P of a thin lens is the algebraic
sum of the pair of surfaces of the lens P
1
, P
2
;
P = P
1
+ P
2
. The angular magnication of a
lens M

and power of the lens P have a relation-

ship M

=
1
4
P. This equation is known as the
quarter-power equation and it applies to the lens
that is used without accommodation; an image
is seen at innity and the lens is set close to the
eye. With accommodation, M

=
1
4
P + 1.
lens, speed of The speed of a lens indicates
howmuch light the lens can gather and transmit.
The extent of the energy of light gathered by the
lens from a light source is proportional to the
area of the lens. The gatheredenergyis inversely
proportional to the area of corresponding image
through which the gathered light passes. The
energy ux density passing through the image
is proportional to the (D/f)
2
, for a lens of focal
length f and diameter D. The f-stop (f-number)
is described as f/#(= f/D). D/f is called
the relative aperture of the lens. The speed of
a lens is measured by the f-number of the lens.
The f-number of a lens is equal to the ratio of
the focal length to the diameter of aperture of
the lens. A lens with a lower f-number (more
rapid lens) can gather and transmit more rays of
light. The depth of eld of a lens is equal to the
ratio of the focal length to the speed of the lens.
lens, spherical A lens whose surfaces form
portions of spheres. It is easier to make spherical
lenses than other kinds of lenses. Therefore,
this kind of lens is widely used. Aspherical or
deformed spherical lenses are used, because a
spherical lens has aberrations. A spherical lens
sometimes refers to a lens of complete sphere
form.
lens, split (a billet split lens) A lens that is
cut into two parts along the optical axis of the
lens. It is used in an interferometer.
lens, Stokes A variable-power compound
lens made upof cylindrical lenses of equal power
mounted so that the angle between their axes can
be varied.
lens, telephoto The telephoto lens is a kind
of camera lens, especially for a single-lens reex
(SLR) camera. It has a long focal length, usu-
ally longer than 80 mm and is used for taking a
photograph of an object far away from the cam-
era. Its eld of view is very narrow. To avoid
making a telephoto lens too long, a negative lens
of which the focal length is shorter than the
other positive lens is used as the second lens.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Telephoto lens.
lens, thick A lens whose thickness is such
that the effect of the thickness cannot be ne-
glected to consider the optics of the lens or the
lens system. Whether a lens is regarded as thin
or thick also depends on the precision required.
The principal planes of a lens are a pair of planes
that are perpendicular to the optical axis of the
lens. The image of any object on another plane
is formed on the other plane with unity lateral
magnication.
Principal planes of thick lenses.
With a thick lens, the focal length, image dis-
tance, and object distance of the lens should be
measured from the principal planes of the lens.
lens, thin Alens whose thickness is insignif-
icant enough to be neglected in the calculation
of the optical quantities of the lens. The thick-
ness of a thin lens is sufciently smaller than
the focal length of the lens, radii of the pair of
the curvatures, the image distance, and the ob-
ject distance. Whether a lens is regarded as thin
or thick also depends on the precision required.
The focal length of a thin lens is the distance
between the optical center and the focal point
of the lens. The image distance and the object
distance of a thin lens are measured from the
vertices. The rays of light, which pass through
the rst focal point of a lens, will form paral-
lel rays just after the rays pass through the lens.
The second focal point is formed by a set of par-
allel rays of light which pass through a thin lens.
With a positive lens, the second focal point lies
on the opposite side of the light source. Usually,
the focal length of a lens means the second fo-
cal length of the lens. With a converging lens
(positive lens), the object closer to the lens than
the rst focal point will form a virtual image,
not a real image.
lens, thin, combination of The focal length
and power of the combination of thin lenses f,
P can be calculated from the focal length of the
lenses f
i
, P
i
, i = 1, . . . , n as:
1
f
=
n

1
1
f
i
,
P =
n

1
P
i
.
The combination of thin lenses can be described
as a product of the optical matrix of each thin
lenses.
lens, toroidal Also known as a toric lens,
this is a lens whose surface forms parts of toric
surfaces. A toroidal lens is used for the correc-
tion of astigmatismon both of the perpendicular
meridianplanes. The plano-cylindrical, sphero-
cylindrical, and spherotonic are troidal lens.
Lenzs law of induction This law states that
when a conductor moves with respect to a mag-
netic eld, the currents induced in the conductor
are in such a direction that the reaction between
themand the magnetic eld opposes the motion.
Leyden jar An early form of capacitor that
was rst thoroughly investigated by Pieter van
Musschenbroek of the University of Leyden in
1746. It consisted of a stoppered glass jar lled
with water and a nail piercing the stopper and
dipping into the water. Holding the jar in one
hand then touching the nail to an electrode of an
electrostatic machine and nally disconnecting
it caused the jar to acquire and store charge. An
electric shock was experienced when the free
hand touched the nail. John Bevis modied the
Leyden jar so that inner and outer surfaces were
covered with metal foil. This was a closer ar-
rangement to modern capacitors.
2001 CRC Press LLC
lidar Acronym for light detection and rang-
ing. Method for determining positions of distant
objects by use of a laser beam. The process in-
volves reection of laser light froman object and
the determination of time required for a beam to
reach the object and return to the emitter. Dis-
tance is then computed fromthe product of light
speed and time. Similar to radar, but based on
electromagnetic waves in the visible part of the
spectrum.
light, absorption of The process whereby
light is absorbed by the atoms or molecules of a
material. The energy of absorbed light in gen-
eral serves to excite electrons into higher energy
states in the material, from which they can sub-
sequently decay by emission of electromagnetic
radiation with less energy (frequency) than that
of the absorbed radiation. Energy retained in the
material appears as thermal energy in the atoms
and molecules of the matter.
light, corpuscular theory Early theory of
light which asserted that light consisted of a
stream of particles referred to as corpuscles.
The theory (alternatively known as emission
theory of light) was most successfully ex-
pounded by Issac Newton (16421727), who
postulated the existence of different kinds of
light-particles that could excite a material
ether lling all of space into different types of
vibrations so as to produce the sensation of dis-
tinct colors. The notion of light as a stream
of localized entities, inherent in the corpus-
cular theory, was revived in the quantum the-
ory of light, which interprets light on a sub-
microscopic scale in terms of particles of en-
ergy called photons.
light, emission of Process whereby light is
emitted by the atoms or molecules of a material.
Sources of light emission are
1. accelerated charges (electrons or ions), and
2. excited atoms and molecules. Light emit-
ted by accelerated charges results from the con-
version of kinetic energy of charges into radia-
tion energy. Light emitted by excited atoms and
molecules is produced (primarily) by the con-
version of potential energy (in excited states)
into radiation energy.
light emittingdiode Asemiconductor device
converting electrical energy into light, which
is heavily used as a light emitter in displays,
etc. Commonly, an LEDis a forward biased p-n
junction diode in which the light is emitted when
a hole and electron recombine. The most recent
LEDs in use are GaN, giving blue/green light,
and SiC LEDs.
light, energy of Energy associated with light
on the basis of its capacity to exert forces (which
can do work) on electric charges. In the electro-
magnetic wave theory of light, the energy trans-
ported across a unit area per second by a light
wave is represented by the magnitude of a vec-
tor quantity, S, referred to as the Poynting vector,
and dened in terms of the electric and magnetic
elds of the wave, E and B, via the relation
S =
1

(EB) ,
where is the permeability constant of the
medium. Alternatively, inthe quantumtheoryof
radiation, the energy of light is said to reside in
discrete entities termed photons, each of which
is associated with a quantized amount of energy
hf, where f is identied with the frequency of
the radiation and h is a fundamental constant
of nature known as Plancks constant, with the
(approximate) value h = 6.626075 10
34
J.s.
light, momentum of Linear momentum as-
sociated with light on the basis of its capacity
to exert forces that transfer momentum to (the
electrons, atoms and molecules of) material me-
dia. In the electromagnetic wave theory of light,
the momentumtransported across a unit area per
second by a light wave is represented by the ratio
of the Poynting vector, S, divided by the speed
of light, c. Alternatively, in the quantum the-
ory of radiation, the momentum of light is as-
sociated with discrete entities termed photons,
each of which is characterized by a quantized
momentum equal to hf/c, where f is the fre-
quency of the light and h is Plancks constant,
(approximately) equal to 6.626075 10
34
J.s.
See light, energy of.
light, monochromatic Light consisting of
electromagnetic waves (or photons) character-
ized by a single frequency f. The term, sig-
2001 CRC Press LLC
nifying single color, derives from connection
between different frequencies of light and dis-
tinct colors in the visible spectrum. It con-
trasts with non-monochromatic light consist-
ing of a combination of electromagnetic waves
of different frequencies. Since in practice,
all physical light beams (of non-innite ex-
tent) must consist of mixtures of electromag-
netic waves with frequencies within some non-
zero range, monochromatic light is in prac-
tice quasi-monochromatic meaning that it
consists of electromagnetic waves having only
a small spread of frequencies about a central
(dominant) frequency.
light, monochromatic, biological action
Certain monochromatic singlewavelength light
seems to have a biostimulation and sometimes
therapeutic effect when applied to cells in tis-
sue. Accelerated tissue repair, stimulated by
the monochromatic light, is useful in elds of
dentistry, dermatology, and neurology. These
effects are sometimes called photostimulation.
Wavelengths used are usually in the 630 to
950 nmrange. The character of the light source,
continuous or pulsating, seems to have an effect
on cell functioning. For example, with contin-
uous light, relief of pain, relaxation of muscle
bers, and reduced swelling may be observed.
This may be due to an increase in cellular blood
ow. On the other hand, a pulsating light source
may stimulate protein production and calcium
accumulation, which might result in accelerated
healing of damaged tissue. See red light, healing
effect.
lightning arrester (surge protector) A de-
vice used to protect electronic and electrical
equipment from damage due to voltage spikes
in power lines, communication lines, as well as
other long wires during lightning surges. The
arrester is a shunt device with an impedance
that changes from high to low during the spike
and thus provides a bypass circuit preventing
damage to the attached apparatus. Examples of
lightning arresters are short air gaps with a spe-
cic breakdown voltage, or semiconducting el-
ements with a resistance that becomes very low
above a predetermined voltage.
lightning conductor (lightning rod) A rod,
usually made from copper, mounted as high as
possible above buildings, trees, power lines and
other structures to be protected against lightning
strokes. The upper end of the rod consists of
one or more sharp points while the lower end
is rmly connected to conductors embedded in
the ground. Lightning rods primarily serve to
neutralize the charge on a nearby cloud by con-
ducting negative charge to or from the ground
and through the atmosphere at a relatively slow
rate. As a result, the probability of a direct light-
ning stroke is reduced. As an approximate rule,
the rod acts as a shield over a cone with a radius
at ground level equal to the height of the rod.
lightning ash (or discharge) Refers to all
the phenomena associated with electrical dis-
charges between clouds, and between clouds
andthe earth. Its mainconstituents are the leader
stroke and the return stroke. The latter produces
the highly luminous part of the discharge. On
average, a lightning ash lasts for 200 millisec-
onds and consists of several pulses each of some
10 milliseconds separated by 40 milliseconds.
See also lightning stroke.
lightning stroke (return stroke) A highly
luminous channel triggered by the leader stroke
of a lightning ash. The luminosity travels from
ground to cloud as a large current travels from
grounduptoneutralize the highlychargedleader
channel at a velocity of 0.1 to 0.3 of the speed of
light. The most dangerous effects of the light-
ning stroke are connected with the current peak
which can reach values of 100 kA.
lightning surge Large voltage transient in
transmission lines, communication lines, and
other long wires induced by lightning strokes.
The damage from a lightning surge to any ap-
paratus is minimized by an installed lightning
arrester. See also lightning stroke; lightning ar-
rester.
light pipe Aexible transparent polymer rod
that transmits light from one end to the other
even when it is bent. It is used to guide a light
beam. The principle of total internal reection is
appliedtolight pipes. The angle of the incidence
of the rays of light is larger than a specic critical
2001 CRC Press LLC
angle, and the interface between two different
media acts a mirror. The refractive index of the
light pipe n should be higher than the refractive
index of the surrounding media n
m
. The critical
angle
c
is

c
= arcsin
_
n
m
n
_
,
where n
m
and n is the refractive indices of the
surrounding media and one of the light pipe, re-
spectively. Usually,
c
= arcsin
_
1
n
_
. It is used
in various elds, as an instrument for internal
human organs, communications system, and so
on.
Optical ber.
light, pressure of Pressure associated with
light on the basis of its capacity to exert forces
on electric charges that produce pressure (de-
ned as force per unit area) on a material ob-
ject. In the electromagnetic wave theoryof light,
pressure exerted by light on an object is directly
proportional to the magnitude of the Poynting
vector of the light wave, S, divided by the speed
of light c. The relationship between pressure
and the Poynting vector follows from equiva-
lence between rate of transfer of linear momen-
tum across the unit area of a surface and the
force per unit area on surface. See light, energy
of; light, momentum of.
light pulse Propagating an electromagnetic
wave (with a frequency in the visible part of
spectrum) that has a nite (usually short) limit in
time, t, and a corresponding nite limit along
the direction of propagation. A light pulse cor-
responding to a length in time t must consist
of a combination of wavelets with a range of
frequencies, f, approximately equal to 1/t
.
light, speed of The rate of propagation of
light (and other electromagnetic radiation). The
speed of light in a vacuumis a fundamental con-
stant of nature (denoted c) with a value (approxi-
mately) equal to 2.99792510
8
m/s. The speed
of light in a macroscopic medium, v, can never
exceed c, and is expressed in terms of c and the
index of refraction of the medium, n, via the
relation
v =
c
n
,
where the value of n in general depends on both
the properties of the medium and the frequency
of the light.
light, unpolarized Light consisting of an (ef-
fectively) uniformmixture of light waves having
all possible polarizations. Corresponds in prac-
tice to light in which the state of polarization
varies randomly within a time interval less than
the minimum time required for a measurement,
such that no (resultant) state of polarization can
be detected. See polarization of light.
light, wave theory of Theory in which light
(and other electromagnetic radiation) is inter-
preted to be a type of wave. Current theory of
electromagnetism interprets light to consist of
oscillating (time varying) electric and magnetic
elds that propagate through space as waves
with a speed dependent on the properties of the
material medium that occupies the space.
light-year Length (abbreviated ly) equal to
the distance that light travels through a vacuum
in one year. It represents a convenient unit of
length for the specication of astronomical dis-
tances, and has a value given by the product of
the speed of light in vacuumc times the number
of seconds in a year, (approximately) equal to
9.461 10
15
m (= 1 ly).
2001 CRC Press LLC
limbs, articial Articial body parts that
function like their natural counterparts. Used
in the substitution of limbs for people who have
suffered accidents leading to the loss of such
extremities.
The articial limbs form a subset of the gen-
eral term prothesis.
limiter A circuit or component used to limit
the amplitude of a signal to a predetermined
level. For example, a resistor R is used as a
current limiter in a circuit. The current limit for
a bias voltage V is V/R.
limit of resolution The smallest angular sep-
aration between two point sources of light (sub-
tended at the position of the detector) for which
the images of the two sources are seen to be sep-
arated. The limit of resolution of light sources
is most commonly determined by the so-called
Rayleigh criterion, which states that the light
fromseparate sources S
1
and S
2
will be resolved
as distinct images only if the peak of the diffrac-
tion pattern produced by one source (at the ob-
serving screen or retina) is displaced from the
peak of the diffraction pattern produced by the
second source by a distance equal to or greater
than the half-width of the diffraction patterns.
Limit of resolution.
It follows from this criterion that the limit
of resolution of light from two sources can be
shown to be approximately equal to the ratio of
the wavelength of the light divided by the di-
mension of the aperture through which the light
passes en route to the surface on which the light
is detected.
linear circuit A linear circuit is a circuit to
which the superposition theoremcan be applied.
Namely, if there are N independent sources pre-
sented in the circuit, any branch voltage or cur-
rent is composed of the sum of N contributions
each of which is due to each of the independent
sources acting individually when all others are
set equal to zero.
linear code A code is a linear code only if
for any two elements a
1
and a
2
chosen from
the alphabet and any two valid codewords C
1
and C
2
, a
1
C
1
+ a
2
C
2
also represents a valid
codeword. A linear code must thus contain an
all-zero codeword.
line, articial A network that simulates the
electrical characteristics of a line over a given
frequency range. For example, a transmission
line can be simulated with a network of induc-
tors, capacitors, and resistors.
line broadening An increase in the natural
range of frequencies of the radiation emitted or
absorbed by a source or absorber of radiation.
Corresponds to a broadening of the graph of
the intensity of the emitted or absorbed radiation
plotted versus the frequency of the radiation.
Primary mechanisms resulting in line broaden-
ing are:
1. Doppler-broadening, produced by the
spread in the velocities of the emitting or ab-
sorbing atoms or molecules, and
2. collisional broadening, resulting fromcol-
lisions between the emitting or absorbing atoms
or molecules that produce a change in the al-
lowed energy states of the atoms or molecules,
giving rise to an increase in the possible frequen-
cies of the emitted or absorbed radiation.
line prole Plot of the intensity of emit-
ted or absorbed radiation as a function of the
frequency (or wavelength) of the radiation.
The natural line proles associated with non-
interacting atoms or molecules are well repre-
sented by Lorentzian functions of the frequency
of the forms shown in the gures below, where
2001 CRC Press LLC
Figs. (a) and (b) correspond to emission and ab-
sorption line proles, respectively.
lines of force (electric) Continuous lines
drawn to represent the direction of an electric
eld. The number of lines passing through a
small area of xed size, oriented at right angles
to the lines, gives the magnitude of the electric
eld.
line width Width, at half maximumintensity,
of the peak in a graph of intensity of emitted
or absorbed radiation vs. frequency (or wave-
length) of radiation. (See line prole and ac-
companying gures, in which the line width is
denoted f.)
Line prole.
linkage magnetic The product of the number
of turns in a coil and the magnetic ux passing
through the coil.
liquefaction coefcient The liquefaction co-
efcient is a measure of the efciency of the liq-
uefaction of a (usually) cryogenic liquid. For
isenthalpic processes (in Joule-Thompson liq-
ueers, for example), the efciency is
E =
H
f
H
i
H
f
H

,
where H
i
, H
f
are the enthalpy at the beginning
and end of the process and H

is the enthalpy of
the liquid state.
liqueer, Claude This is associated with ex-
pansion engine liqueers. Claudes rst ma-
chines used isentropic expansion with liquid air
being produced in the engine. Joule-Thompson
expansion for the nal liquefaction stage was
later used. The operating efciency is similar to
the Linde system. This liqueer is often used
in conjunction with Philips-Stirling and turbine
expanders.
liqueer, Collins This is a Joule-Kelvin
combination liqueer that does external work.
There are two pistons in cylinder expansion en-
gines whose respective working temperatures
are about 60 K/30 K and 15 K/9 K. The in-
coming helium gas enters via a series of heat
exchangers and is distributed in the following
manner: hotter engine, 30%; colder engine,
55%; Joule-Kelvin stage, 15%. The mechan-
ical components have to be carefully designed
so as to enable them to operate at temperatures
where conventional lubrication methods are im-
possible. Gas purication is essential since even
small traces of air can solidify and cause seizure
of the piston.
liqueer, Hampson, air This is a single
stage air liquefaction process utilizing a heat
exchanger that makes it possible to liquefy air
by Joule-Kelvin expansion alone starting from
room temperature. At rst some cooling occurs
but no liquid is produced as the high pressure
incoming air expands at the Joule-Kelvin ex-
pansion valve. The resultant colder, low pres-
sure air ows back through the heat exchanger
2001 CRC Press LLC
and cools the incoming air stream. As a result
the whole system gradually cools. Eventually
steady operating conditions are reached and a
certain fraction of the incoming air then lique-
es as it expands. This liqueer is also popularly
known as a Linde-Hampson system.
liqueer, Kapitza, helium This system em-
ploys the Heylandt principle. Helium at a pres-
sure of 30 atmis cooled to 65 to 70 Kwith liquid
nitrogen. This then passes through the heat in-
terchangers, expands to 2.2 atm in an expansion
engine, and leaves the liqueer via the heat in-
terchangers. Afurther amount of heliumat 15 to
18 atm is cooled by the gas from the expansion
engine and then expands at a valve where part
of it liquees. The nal temperature drop to 4.2
K is obtained by the Joule-Thompson effect.
liqueer, Kapitza, hydrogen Hydrogen is
liqueed in a similar manner as for heliumin the
Kapitza liqueer. See liqueer, Kapitza, helium.
liqueer, Linde The main components of
this liqueer are a compressor, heat exchanger,
and expansion throttle used for liquefying air. It
is similar to the Hampson which only employs
a different design of a heat exchanger. The ef-
ciency is improved by letting the gas expand in
two stages; further improvement occurred when
Linde introduced a liquid ammonia pre-cooling
stage so that the compressed gas entered the
exchanger at about 48

C. See also liqueer,

Hampson air.
liqueer, Philips, air This is a single stage air
liquefaction process that uses the Stirling cycle.
The working uid is operated on a closed cycle
with the regenerator performing the functions
of a heat exchanger by separating the colder and
hotter ends of the system. Air condensation sur-
faces are attached to the outside of what corre-
sponds to the colder cylinder.
liqueer, Simon (expansion) This is a single
expansion helium liqueer. Helium gas is com-
pressed isothermally into a chamber to a pres-
sure of 100 atm. Atemperature of 15 Kis main-
tained. This temperature can be reduced to 10 K
by reducing the pressure above the evaporating
hydrogen to well below its triple point pressure.
The gas is eventually adiabatically cooled to the
nal temperature.
liquidcrystal States of organization of atoms
or molecules showingless symmetrythana crys-
tal, but not as disordered as a liquid. The scien-
tic term for this is mesomorphic phase. There
are at least 9000 known molecules giving rise
to mesomorphic phases. They are used in some
types of displays (e.g., 7-segment display). Ap-
plication of an electric eld causes a large in-
crease in light scattering creating a bright region.
liquid refrigerant level, surface detection
There are several techniques for detecting the
level of a liquid cryogen. One common solution
is to immerse a superconducting wire in the liq-
uid and to drive current through the wire. If the
current and wire are chosen carefully, the cur-
rent will drive any of the superconductor above
the liquid normal while leaving the portion of
the wire immersed in the liquid superconduct-
ing. The resistance of the wire is therefore a
measure of the distance to the surface of the
liquid. A technique that does not dissipate so
much heat in the refrigerant is to use a capacitor
to measure the liquid level. Often, a capaci-
tor made of two long concentric cylinders will
be partially immersed in the liquid and attached
to an AC bridge. As the liquid level rises and
falls, the amount of dielectric (i.e., refrigerant)
in between the plates of the capacitor changes,
and the bridge measures the concomitant capac-
itance changes. In another technique, a thin tube
with a rubber diaphragm on one end is inserted,
open end rst, into a storage dewar of liquid he-
lium. As the tube is cooled, oscillations will be-
gin in the diaphragm. These oscillations, called
Taconis oscillations, are described by a com-
plicated, non-linear set of hydrodynamic equa-
tions which must include the heat deposited into
the helium gas and liquid by the tube, the heat
conducted along the tube, along the gas, and
other effects. If these equations are solved nu-
merically or approximately, the frequency of
these oscillations depends on whether the bot-
tomof the tube is in contact with liquid heliumor
gaseous helium. Experimentally, the surface of
the liquid is found by nding the point at which
the frequency of oscillations changes discontin-
uously. Of course, visual location of the uid
2001 CRC Press LLC
and or a oat can also be used if the apparatus
allows direct viewing of the uid.
Lissajous gures Stable patterns showing
the path of a particle moving in a plane forced by
two harmonic oscillations whose frequencies
1
and
2
are related as m
1
= n
2
, where mand
n are integers. Lissajous gures are obtained
when cos
2
t is displayed against cos
1
t for
different values of the integers m and n. They
are called Lissajous gures in honor of Jules
Antoine Lissajous.
Lloyds mirror Amirror arranged relative to
a (point) source of light and a viewing screen so
as to produce an interference pattern on screen
resulting from the superposition on the view-
ing screen of part of the wavefront of an inci-
dent light beam which reaches the screen di-
rectly from the source and part of the wavefront
that arrives at the screen after reection fromthe
mirror surface.
load, electric The electrical impedance con-
nected to the output of an electrical energy
source such as an active electrical circuit, elec-
trical generator, battery or amplier. It is also
used in reference to the electrical power con-
sumption of a device such as the power used by
an electric motor, heater, etc.
load, lagging A load in which the voltage
reaches its maximum value before the current.
Aload that has a higher inductive than capacitive
value.
load, leading A load in which the current
reaches its maximum value before the voltage.
A load that has a higher capacitive value than
inductive value.
load-line A line representing the current in
the load vs. voltage drop across a device in se-
ries with the load for a given input voltage. Its
intersection with the device current vs. voltage
curve is the operating current and voltage for
the given device-load combination at the given
input voltage.
loadstone Also known as magnetite, it was
discovered to be a natural magnet several cen-
Load, lagging.
Load, leading.
The operating point determined from the load line and
the device I-V.
turies BC. It is basically Fe
3
O
4
and was found
originally in Magnesia of Asia Minor.
lobe In the directivity pattern of an antenna
or array, an area of the pattern bounded by di-
rections of minimum radiation.
2001 CRC Press LLC
lobe length In a Token Ring network, the
length of cable between the multi-station access
unit, i.e., the central hub and the workstation.
lobe switching A method used for obtaining
optimum signal from downcoming waves. This
is done by switching into circuit networks that
accept a chosen direction for optimum signal.
logic gates Electronic devices in which the
low or high voltage states of inputs and outputs
determine a binary value of 0 or 1. They are
used for logic operations, mathematical compu-
tations, storage, etc. (e.g., AND, OR, NAND
gates).
logic operations The operations NOT, AND,
OR, NAND, NOR, XOR that act on Boolean
arguments to produce a Boolean result.
longitudinal waves A wave in which the di-
rection of some vector characteristic of the wave
for example, the displacement of the particles
is along the direction of propagation. Also
called compressional or dilatational waves.
Longitudinal waves always have the highest
propagation speed, c
1
=
_
E(1)
(1+)(12)
_1
2
, with
as the density, the Poissons ratio, and E as
the elastic modulus of the medium.
long sight (hypermetropia, hyperopia) A vi-
sion defect of the eye. The shortness of the eye-
ball makes it difcult for the lens of the eye to
accommodate to project the image of near ob-
jects onto the retina. The correction for long
sight is a converging lens that focuses parallel
rays to the far point. This correction is treated
by using a combination of thin lenses.
Correction for long sight.
loop gain The product of the amplier gain
and the feedback fraction in a series voltage
feedback loop. The input voltage to the am-
plier will be given by V
i
= V
e
+V
i
where V
e
is the externally supplied input voltage and is
the loop gain.
loss, acoustic energy in liquids and solids
Loss of acoustic energy that occurs during the
propagation of acoustic waves through a liquid
or solid medium. The sources of these losses
are either associated with losses at the boundary
of the medium (viscous shear, heat conduction
between medium and walls) or by those due to
dissipationwithinthe medium(viscous andther-
mal losses, losses due to molecular energy ex-
change conversion of the compressional energy
of the medium into internal energy of molecu-
lar vibration). For small damping, such losses
along the x direction are described by the atten-
uation constant , and the pressure amplitude
p
A
at any point in the medium is p
A
= p
0
e
x
.
loudness The magnitude of the subjective
physiological sensation produced by a sound.
The measurement of loudness involves relat-
ing the loudness of a sequence of sounds to the
sound pressure level, as well as determining its
variation as a function of a single parameter,
such as frequency content or duration (to de-
termine loudness functions and equal loudness
contours), or differentiatingbetweensounds that
vary only in level (loudness discrimination).
Loudness functions are inuenced by both phys-
ical characteristics of the sound (frequency, tem-
poral properties, duration, soundpressure levels,
background noise levels) and the auditory sys-
temof the listener. Loudness functions describe
loudness (expressed in sones) as a function of
the sound pressure level (in decibels) for binau-
ral single frequency tones. Equal loudness con-
tours for a set of loudness levels (expressed in
phons) are plotted in the frequency-sound pres-
sure level diagram.
loudspeakers A system of interdependent
electromechanical components with a trans-
ducer that converts electrical signal energy into
acoustical energy that it radiates into a bounded
space, such as a room, or into open space. Also
known as a speaker. Aloud speaker systemcon-
2001 CRC Press LLC
sists of drive element(s), radiation aid(s) (such
as bafe, enclosure, horn), and crossover. The
drive element or driver is the electro-mechano-
acoustic transducer. Electrodynamic drivers are
the actuator counterpart of electrodynamic mi-
crophones. The enclosure is the cabinet in
which the loud speaker is mounted and the baf-
e is the support structure for the driver. The
electronic dividing network that lters and dis-
tributes the electrical signal to the drive ele-
ments of the loud speaker system is called the
crossover.
love waves Horizontally polarized shear
(transversal) waves in plates. A horizontal dis-
persive surface wave in geophysics, multire-
ected between internal boundaries of an elas-
tic body, applied chiey in the study of seismic
waves in the earths crust.
lumen The SI unit of luminous ux (with
dimensions of energy/time). It is equal to the
amount of light (measured with respect to the
visual response of the eye) emitted per second in
a unit solidangle of one steradianfroma uniform
source of one candela. This is approximately
equivalent to 0.00146 W of light energy at a
wavelength of 555 nm.
luminance A measure of the brightness of
the surface of a light source as measured with
respect to the visual response of the eye. More
precisely, it is the luminous intensity of the sur-
face of a light source divided by the projection
of the area of the surface perpendicular to the
line between the surface and the observer. Lu-
minance is measured in SI units of candela per
meter
2
. See luminous intensity.
luminescence The emission of light by a ma-
terial substance other than as a result of thermal
energy (or incandescence). Luminescent emis-
sion in general follows a process in which a sub-
stance either absorbs radiation or is bombarded
by charged particles, causing excitation of elec-
trons into higher energy states from which they
decay by the emission of radiation in the form
of light.
luminosity The magnitude of the visual sen-
sation produced by a source of light, measured
in terms of luminous ux emitted or reected
from the source. In astronomy, the term refers
to the total output of radiation from a celestial
object. See luminous ux.
luminous efciency A dimensionless ratio
dened by the luminous ux emitted by a source
of light divided by the total rate of electromag-
netic energy emitted by the source; it is mea-
sured in SI units of lumens per watt. Luminous
efciency measures the relative effectiveness of
a source of electromagnetic energy in evoking
the visual sensation of brightness. Quantity is
alternatively dened as the luminous ux emit-
ted by a light source divided by the total power
supplied to the source.
luminous emittance Luminous ux emitted
from a light source per unit area, measured in SI
units of lumens per meter
2
(lm/m
2
). This con-
trasts with radiant emittance, dened to equal
the total radiant energy per second emitted from
a source per unit area. See luminous ux.
luminous exitance Luminous ux emitted
from a light source per unit area per unit wave-
length interval, and measured in SI units of lu-
mens per meter
3
(lm/m
3
). This contrasts with
radiant (or spectral) exitance, dened to equal
the total radiant energy per second emitted from
a source per unit area per unit wavelength inter-
val. See luminous ux.
luminous ux The amount of light passing a
given point per second measured in terms of the
capacity of light to evoke the visual sensation of
brightness. It is measured in SI units of lumen
(lm), equal to 1 candela times 1 steradian. (See
luminous intensity and accompanying denition
of candela.) The capacity of light to evoke the
sensation of brightness in the visual response of
the eye depends on frequency or wavelength of
radiation as determined by the relative luminos-
ity curve shown below.
For a given quantity of radiant energy, the
visual response of the eye is a maximum for
radiation of wavelength 555 nm. The deni-
tion of candela equates 1 watt of light of wave-
length 555 nm to luminous ux of 685 lm; as a
consequence, 1 watt of radiation, with a wave-
2001 CRC Press LLC
Luminous ux.
length corresponding to a relative luminosity
R

, equates to a luminous ux of 685 R

lm.
luminous intensity The rate of light emission
from a (point) source of light per unit solid an-
gle centered on the direction between the source
and the observer, as measured with respect to the
visual response of the eye. It is equivalent to the
luminous ux per steradian, and measured in SI
units of candela (cd), equivalent to 1 lumen per
steradian. The candela (in practice) denes the
SI unit of the lumen, and is approximately equiv-
alent to the luminous intensity of one candle.
More precisely, one candela is dened to equal
1/60-thof the luminous intensityof a square cen-
timeter of the surface of a blackbody at the melt-
ing temperature of platinum, 2042 K, measured
in the direction perpendicular to the surface.
Lummer-Gehrcke plate Instrument used
for the study of spectral lines. It consists
of a few-millimeter thick plate of accurately
plane-parallel glass or quartz with an attached
prism at one end, through which light enters
the plate in a manner such that its angle of
incidence at the inner surfaces of the plate
is slightly less than the critical angle for
total internal reection. Transmitted rays
resulting from internal reections then leave
the surface at nearly grazing angles and
are brought to a focus on a viewing screen
by a lens so as to produce identical sets of fringes
on either side of the plate. See accompanying
diagram.
Multiple reections at the interior surfaces of Lummer-
Gehrcke plate.
This design has the advantage of a high re-
ection coefcient near the critical angle even
for ultraviolet radiation.
lumped parameter In circuit analysis, any
component, such as inductance, capacitance, or
resistance, that can be treated as a single param-
eter concentrated at a point in an electric cir-
cuit. This treatment is only valid for a certain
frequency range where the wavelength of the al-
ternating current in the conductors is larger than
the dimensions of the component.
Lyman series A series of lines in the emis-
sion or absorption spectrum of hydrogen (or hy-
drogenic) atoms corresponding to wavelengths
(= 1/f) in the ultraviolet part of the electro-
magnetic spectrum. Wavelengths of successive
lines in series are given by the formula
1

= R
_
1
1
n
2
_
, n = 2, 3, 4, . . . ,
where R is the Rydberg constant with the value
R = 1.0973732 10
7
m
1
.
Lines in the series correspond to radiation
emitted or absorbed in transitions of single elec-
trons in an atom between the (allowed) outer or-
bits in the atom and the innermost orbit in the
atom.
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M
macromolecules, biological Biological
macromolecules are molecules formed by hun-
dreds and even thousands of individual atoms
that work together and react as a unit. Their
function is prescribed by their particular com-
ponents.
Biomolecules do not behave as static struc-
tures but as dynamic ensembles of charge and
shape. Macromolecular assembly and interac-
tions are dictated largely by the electrostatic po-
tential surfaces around the macromolecules and
by the innate dynamic behavior and exibility
of specic components. Understanding these
features is central to the study of protein and
RNAfolding, in which the pathways and macro-
molecular forces that drive folding are being
studied.
Examples of macromolecules are polymers
built frommonomers by condensation reactions.
The reverse effect, i.e., polymers broken down
into monomers, can be achieved by hydrolysis
reactions. In condensation reactions water is
removed as monomers are joined, while in hy-
drolysis reactions water is added to break poly-
mers down into monomer units. Among the
most important polymers are the carbohydrates
whose monomers are monosaccharides. The
general molecular formula for carbohydrates is
C
n
(H
2
O)
m
. The most common ones have 5 or
6 carbons.
Other examples of macromolecules found in
biology include lipids (such as phospholipids,
fatty acids, and triacylglycerols), proteins, and
amino acids that form DNA and RNA.
macroscopic transport parameters (cell)
Transport through the cell membrane is deter-
mined by the diffusion constant of molecules
and ions that diffuse across the membrane
(passive diffusion), the reaction time between
molecules and transmembrane proteins (facili-
tated diffusion), and the rate of energy conver-
sion (active transport).
In passive diffusion, molecules directly cross
the phospholipid bilayer dissolving in the aque-
ous solution at the other side of the membrane.
The direction of transport is from the high to
the low concentration side of the membrane.
Only small, relatively hydrophobic molecules
are capable of this (e.g., O
2
, CO
2
, benzene,
H
2
O, and ethanol). On the other hand, facil-
itated diffusion is carried out by the assisted
passage of molecules through the membrane by
proteins that enable the crossing without allow-
ing the molecule to interact with the hydropho-
bic interior of the bilayer. Molecules participat-
ing in this diffusion include polar and charged
molecules (e.g., carbohydrates, amino acids, nu-
cleosides, and ions). Because active transport
(ATP) is usually against the concentration gradi-
ent of the molecule, it requires the use of energy
as provided by the hydrolysis of ATP.
magnetic amplier This comprises an iron-
core transformer with an extra winding to which
a control signal can be applied. The amplier
modulates the voltage across the load in an AC
circuit.
magnetic analysis The determination of the
magnetic characteristics, under either direct or
alternating elds, of ferromagnetic alloys can
throw light on their phase-structure. Magnetic
analysis has been used in identifying compo-
nents in alloy systems, and in studying the ef-
fects of heat-treatment and other physical and
mechanical variations.
magnetic axis A line that passes through the
effective poles of a magnet.
magnetic balance A type of uxmeter in
which the force required to prevent the move-
ment of a current-carrying coil in a magnetic
eld is measured.
magnetic blowout A coil used in circuit
breakers to deect any electrical arc formed to
lengthen the arc or apply it to a cool surface and
thus extinguish it.
magnetic bottle Aconguration of magnetic
elds used to conne a plasma for long enough
for the plasma to react.
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magnetic braking A type of brake in which
the brake is activated and deactivated by the ac-
tion of an electromagnet.
magnetic circuits These constitute the com-
plete paths for magnetic ux lines. A magnetic
circuit is analogous to an electric circuit with
magnetomotive forces as the equivalent of volt-
age, ux density as the equivalent of current,
and reluctance as the equivalent of resistance.
magnetic damping The slowing down of the
motion of a conductor when it passes through
a magnetic eld due to the production of eddy
currents.
magnetic disk Information storage device
which encodes information in magnetic bits in
a thin layer of magnetic material on the surface
of the disk. Data can be read from and writ-
ten to this storage device. It has faster access
time than tape storage since the read-write head
can move directly to the position on the disk
where the data is stored. Magnetic disks come in
two categories: oppy disks that can be inserted
into and removed from a disk drive attached to
the computer, and hard disks that are perma-
nently installed in a computer. Floppy disks
are usually 3.5 inches in diameter and can hold
1.44 megabytes of information after formatting.
Hard disks are usually installed in a computer
and have capacities in the gigabyte range. Zip
disks, which are removable and hold approxi-
mately 100 megabytes (or more), of informa-
tion, are also used for information storage.
magnetic drum Information storage device
in the shape of a drum that is coated with a thin
layer of magnetic material and is rapidly rotat-
ing. Information is encoded on the outer surface
of the drum. Fixed read-write heads whichsense
the stray eld of magnetic bits are used to write
and retrieve data. See magnetic recording.
magnetic effect of current Hans C. Oersted
discovered in 1820 that electric currents produce
magnetic elds. The exact mathematical ex-
pression for the magnetic eld produced by a
line element of an arbitrary current distribution
is known as the Bio-Savart law:
dB =

o
4
ids sin
r
2
.
magnetic element (1) Small part of a larger
magnetic circuit or magnetic material.
(2) A small section of a magnetic circuit bro-
ken into elements in a computer model so that
magnetic properties can be modeled.
(3) A part of an instrument that a magnetic
eld acts on.
(4) The three magnetic elements that describe
the earths magnetic eld: the horizontal com-
ponent, the angle of dip (inclination), and the
angle of declination. See inclination, magnetic;
declination, magnetic.
magnetic equator A circle on the earths
surface oriented perpendicular to a line joining
the magnetic north and magnetic south poles;
also referred to as the aclinic line. The mag-
netic equator lies approximately halfway be-
tween these two poles. The magnetic equator
marks the points on the earths surface where
the vertical component of the earths magnetic
eld is zero. The position of this line changes
slightly each year as a result of the slow drift of
the earths north and south magnetic poles.
magnetic eld The eld of a magnet (or cur-
rent carrying wire) is the region surrounding the
magnet (or current carrying wire) where mag-
netic forces occur.
magnetic eld, given by Faradays induction
law
_
E. dl = d/dt, where is the mag-
netic ux linking the closed circuit. Alterna-
tively, E = B/t by Stokes theorem.
This relationship forms the basis of electrical
generators.
magnetic eld lines A set of lines that de-
scribe the strength and direction of a magnetic
eld; also called lines of magnetic force. Arrows
on the lines point in the direction of the magnetic
eld. The spacing of lines is inversely propor-
tional to the magnetic eld strength. Closely
spaced lines indicate a strong magnetic eld.
Lines never cross. For permanent magnets, the
lines of magnetic eld emerge from the north
2001 CRC Press LLC
pole and enter the south pole of the magnet. For
a straight current-carrying wire, the lines form
circles about the wire perpendicular to the length
of the wire. See magnetic eld of long straight
conductor.
magnetic eld of a conductor The magnetic
eld of a conductor is determined by the electric
current owing in it. It can be calculated us-
ing Biot-Savarts law or Amperes law in cases
of high symmetry. See Amperes law; Biot-
Savarts law; magnetic eld of a long straight
conductor.
magnetic eldof circular loop For a circular
loop of wire of radius a, carrying current i, lying
in the x-y plane with its center at the origin, the
magnitude of the magnetic eld along the z-axis
is given by

o
ia
2
/2
_
a
2
+ z
2
_
3/2
.

0
is 4 10
7
T.m/A. If the electric current
circulates anticlockwise as seen fromabove, the
magnetic eld on the z-axis points in the +z
direction. See right-hand screw rule; magnetic
eld of conductor.
magnetic eld of displacement current
Displacement current arises from a changing
electric eld and gives rise to a magnetic eld.
The value of the displacement current through
a certain area is given by
o
d
E
/dt where
0
is
8.85 10
12
farad/meter and the second term
is the rate of change of electric ux through
the area of interest. This magnetic eld may
be calculated using Biot-Savarts law or Am-
peres law (cases of high symmetry) once the
value of the displacement current is known. See
Biot-Savarts law; Amperes law; displacement
current.
magnetic eld of long straight conductor
The magnetic eld strength a distance r from a
long straight wire carrying current i is

o
i/2r .
Its direction is given by the right-hand screw
rule with the magnetic eld lines circulating an-
ticlockwise and forming circles when the wire
is viewed end-on with the current coming out of
the page. See right-hand screw rule; magnetic
eld of conductor.
magnetic eld, vector nature The magnetic
eld is a vector. It has a direction as well as
a magnitude. The magnetic eld vector points
away fromany nearby north magnetic poles and
toward any nearby south magnetic poles. The
vector is also along magnetic eld lines at any
point in space. See magnetic eld lines.
magnetic eld, work done by The work
done by a magnetic eld on a magnetic mate-
rial in a complete cycle is given by the area of
the hysteresis loop. This energy is dissipated in
the magnet and is referred to as hysteresis loss.
Mathematically it is the integral of HdM. This
quantity tends to be small for soft magnets such
as those used in transformers and large for per-
manent magnets such as those used in electric
motors. These losses come about due mostly to
pinning of domain walls which hinder reversal
of the magnetization. See hysteresis loss.
magnetic force between parallel conductors
The magnitude of the magnetic force per unit
length (F/L) between two parallel wires sepa-
rated by a distance d and carrying currents i
1
and i
2
is
0
i
1
i
2
/2d. The force is attractive if
the currents are parallel and repulsive if the cur-
rents are antiparallel. The source of this force
can be thought of in the following way: One of
the currents creates a magnetic eld at the posi-
tion of the second current. This magnetic eld
then exerts a force on the second current with
the result that the rst current exerts a force on
the second current.
magnetic force on a conductor The mag-
netic force on a conductor-carrying current i can
be determined from
dF = idLxB
where dL is a small length of conductor whose
direction is along the current, and B is the ap-
plied magnetic eld. For a long straight wire of
length L in magnetic eld B the force is
iLxB .
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magnetic force on complete circuit A mag-
netic eld exerts a force on parts of a circuit
carrying a current. For a complete circuit in
the presence of a uniform magnetic eld, these
forces add up vectorially to give zero. If a part
of the circuit is movable, the magnetic eld may
cause that part of the circuit to move. See mag-
netic force on a conductor.
magnetic force on moving charge The mag-
netic force on a moving charge q is perpendicu-
lar to both the magnetic eld Band the particle
velocity v and is given by
qvxB .
Thus if the magnetic eld is parallel or antipar-
allel to the velocity no force is exerted. If the
magnetic eld is uniform and perpendicular to
the particle velocity, the particle will execute cir-
cular motion. If the magnetic eld is not perpen-
dicular to the particle velocity, then the particle
will trace out a spiral pattern. Note that the force
will reverse direction if the sign of the charge q
is reversed.
magnetic induction Also called magnetic
ux density. Commonly denoted by B, has
CGS units of Gauss and MKS units Tesla or
Webers/meter
2
, and is a vector quantity. One
Tesla is equal to 10
4
Gauss. It is determined
by the applied magnetic eld (or magnetic in-
tensity) H and the magnetic moment per unit
volume M of the medium. In CGS units
B = H + 4M
and in MKS units
B =
o
(H + M) .
See Tesla.
magnetic intensity Also known as mag-
netic eld strength. Commonly denoted by
H, has CGS units of Oersteds and MKS units
amps/meter and is a vector quantity. It is deter-
mined by source of the magnetic eld only, and
does not depend on the medium. One Oersted
is equal to 1000/4amps/meter. See Oersted.
magnetic leakage Phenomenon by which
magnetic eld lines leak out of a magnetic mate-
rial. Can occur at cracks or imperfections in the
surface of a magnetic material. Also refers to a
magnetic eld in the airgap in a magnet where
magnetic eld lines bowoutward weakening the
magnetic eld in the airgap. Magnetic leakage
generally reduces the efciency of operation of
a device. It also can be used to detect aws
such as cracks in materials that are magnetized,
since imperfection changes the distribution of
magnetic ux. See magnetic eld lines.
magnetic lens Amagnetic eld arrangement
designed to focus or guide moving charged par-
ticles. This magnetic eld arrangement usually
has axial symmetry. The magnetic eld can be
generated by current-carrying coils and perma-
nent magnets. The path followed by the charged
particles depends on their velocity and charge as
well as on the magnetic eld conguration of the
magnetic lens. Thus only charged particles of
a pre-selected charge and energy are guided or
focused by a selected magnetic eld congura-
tion. See magnetic force on moving charge.
magnetic meridian An imaginary line that
passes overhead fromthe magnetic south pole to
the magnetic north pole of the earth. This line
follows the direction of the horizontal compo-
nent of the earths magnetic eld.
magnetic mirror A conguration of mag-
netic elds that reects a moving charged par-
ticle impinging on it. It can be used to conne
a plasma and is used to conne the plasma in
controlled fusion experiments. A simple mir-
ror would consist of a magnetic eld along the
z-axis that got stronger with increasing values
of z. A particle moving with a component of
its velocity along the +z direction, will spiral
along the eld line due to the magnetic force
on it and can be reected. This is less effec-
tive for particles whose direction of travel lies
close to the +z direction and some of these may
not be reected. More complex magnetic eld
congurations are possible and are used to more
efciently reect and conne charged particles.
See magnetic lens. See also magnetic force on
a moving charge.
magnetic moment A property of a perma-
nent magnet, a current-carrying circuit, or ma-
terial that has an induced magnetic moment in
2001 CRC Press LLC
the presence of a magnetic eld (a diamagnetic
or paramagnetic material). Commonly denoted
by m, has CGS unit of EMU and MKS units
of amp.m
2
. One EMU is equal to 10
3
amp.m
2
.
It is the sum of the moments of the atoms or
molecules making up the material in the case
of permanent magnets where all the atomic mo-
ments are aligned. Equal to (current area) for
a current-carrying circular coil.
magnetic monopole Isolated north or south
magnetic pole analogous to isolated positive
and negative electric charge. Predicted to exist
by some symmetry elementary particle theories
but so far have not been found to exist in na-
ture despite a number of experimental searches.
If these particles exist the equations describing
electric phenomena would have the same struc-
ture as those describing magnetic phenomena.
Maxwells equations, which describe electro-
magnetism, would be symmetric with respect
to electric and magnetic elds.
magnetic needle Aneedle made up of a mag-
netic material that can be thought of as a simple
bar magnet. This needle is pivoted at its cen-
ter so that it is free to rotate and line up with a
magnetic eld. Commonly used in a compass
which is used to determine the direction of mag-
netic north on earth.
magnetic poles North and south poles of a
magnet. Always found to exist in pairs. Mag-
netic eld lines emerge from the north pole and
enter the south pole of the magnet. Like poles
are repelledandunlike poles are attractedtoeach
other. If a bar magnet is cut in half, a new north
and south pole appear on either side of the break
with the two newmagnets each having one north
and one south pole. See magnetic eld lines.
magnetic potential A scalar magnetic po-
tential useful in the area of magnetostatics. The
difference in magnetostatic potential between an
initial (i) and nal (f) position for a magnetic
pole is dened as the work done in moving a unit
magnetic pole from i to f. Mathematically, it
is given by the integral of Hdl between these
two points. H is the magnetic eld intensity and
dl is an innitesimal path length.
magnetic quantization In the presence of
a magnetic eld a moving charged particle has
only certain allowable energies, referred to as
Landau levels. Effects of quantization are only
observable at low temperatures. It can lead to
de Haas-van Alphen oscillations of diamagnetic
moment of a material, and Shubnikov-de Haas
oscillations of the electrical resistance of a mate-
rial in the presence of a changing magnetic eld.
These oscillations are related to electronic struc-
ture in particular, the size and shape of the
Fermi surface and are a useful probe of this
structure.
magnetic recording Recording of informa-
tion in the magnetization of a material. The
magnetic material is usually made up of gamma-
Fe
2
O
3
particles in a binder that is coated onto a
support structure such as a exible plastic tape
or a solid plastic disk. The recorded magnetiza-
tion is usually in the plane of the material. This
magnetic information is read using a read head
whose primary component is a small sensing
coil that senses the stray eld from the recorded
magnetization. It can also be read using a laser
beam of polarized light with the polarization of
the reectedlight beingrotateddependingonthe
magnetization of the medium. The magnetic in-
formation can be written using a small applied
eld that can be created by the sensing coil. In-
formation can be in analog form such as is used
in a simple tape recorder where the magnitude
of the recorded magnetization is proportional to
the signal generating it. It can also be digital
such as with computer magnetic disks and com-
puter tapes. In this latter case, the information is
stored as magnetic bits, corresponding to ones
and zeros. See magnetic disk; magnetic tape;
magneto-optic.
magnetic resistance Reluctance of a mag-
netic circuit. See reluctance.
magnetic saturation State of a magnetically
ordered material in which all the atomic mag-
netic moments are aligned. No domain walls
are present and the material can be thought of as
one large domain. An external magnetic eld is
often applied to get complete alignment. Appli-
cation of a larger magnetic eld than is required
for saturation may only increase the magnetic
2001 CRC Press LLC
moment by a small amount due to induced mag-
netic contributions.
magnetic screening The screening of a re-
gion of space so that no magnetic eld enters this
region fromoutside. Materials with a high mag-
netic permeability are used to screen the region.
The most widely used is mumetal, an alloy con-
sisting mostly of Ni and Fe. See permeability,
magnetic.
magnetic shell A thin sheet of magnetic ma-
terial in the shape of a sphere whose inner and
outer surfaces have equal pole densities of op-
posite sign. It can also refer to the partially lled
electron shell of an atom or ion where the spin
and/or orbital angular momenta of electrons may
not be zero so that a net atomic magnetic mo-
ment exists. In the rare-earths, the 4f sub-shell
is the magnetic shell. It is partially lled and the
electrons of this shell have a net spin and orbital
magnetic moment that add to give the total mo-
ment of the rare-earth atom. In the special case
of Gd there is only a spin magnetic moment.
This idea does not apply to transition metal el-
ements since the 3d electrons giving rise to the
magnetism are not localized in an atomic shell
but rather are distributed in the conduction band.
magnetic susceptibility, measurement below
m1

For paramagnetic salts, the magnetic

susceptibility is temperature sensitive and pro-
vides a thermometric parameter. However, dis-
crepancies between the thermodynamic temper-
ature and the magnetic temperature occur at
temperatures below1 K. For a widely used ther-
mometer salt such as CMN, the thermodynamic
and magnetic temperature differ by less than 1%
down to 6 mK for single crystals and powder
specimen. For salts such as CPA, CMA, and
FAAthe differences in the two temperatures be-
come signicant at temperatures of 0.4 to 1 K.
Magnetic susceptibility is the ratio of the
intensity of magnetization produced in a ma-
terial to the intensity of the magnetic eld to
which the material is subjected; it measures the
amount of magnetization of a substance by an
applied magnetic eld. Diamagnetic materials
have small negative susceptibilities while para-
magnetic materials have small positive suscepti-
bilities, and ferromagnetic materials have large
positive susceptibilities. The magnetic suscep-
tibility varies linearly with 1/T in accordance
with Curies law above 1 K; however, it be-
comes almost temperature independent at very
low temperatures since it behaves like a Fermi
gas.
magnetic tape A exible plastic tape (often
mylar) coated with a magnetic material, usu-
ally particles of Fe
2
O
3
, on which informa-
tion may be stored in the form of magnetic bits.
Each magnetic bit contains many Fe
2
O
3
par-
ticles and the magnetization of the magnetic bit
lies along the length of the tape. See magnetic
recording.
magnetic torque Torque exerted by a mag-
netic eld B on a magnetic moment . Given
by
= xB .
Tends to align magnetic moments along an ap-
plied magnetic eld. The earths magnetic eld
exerts a torque on a compass needle since the
compass needle is magnetized. This aligns the
compass needle along a magnetic north-south
direction.
magnetic viscosity Phenomenon by which
magnetization of a material changes with time.
This usually occurs when the applied magnetic
eld is changed to a new value and held at that
value. In some materials for example, Tb-Co
amorphous alloys energy barriers are hinder-
ing magnetic reversal and a magnetic viscos-
ity results when the magnetic systemovercomes
these barriers by thermal activation. At very low
temperatures (below 10 K), mesoscopic quan-
tum tunneling may also lead to a magnetic vis-
cosity in this and similar systems. This type of
magnetic viscosity is always accompanied by
magnetic hysteresis. Magnetic viscosity may
also be observed in materials where the struc-
ture is changing with time, such as in Fe with a
small amount of carbon.
magnetic well A conguration of magnetic
elds designed to contain a plasma. Two mag-
netic mirrors designed to reect moving charged
particles would serve as a simple magnetic well.
A magnetic well is used in fusion experiments
2001 CRC Press LLC
to contain a plasma that has a very high temper-
ature. See magnetic lens; magnetic mirror.
magnetism, molecular theory of In the
molecular theory of magnetism (also called the
Weiss theory of magnetism or mean eld the-
ory) it is assumed that the exchange interaction
usually described by J
i

j
can be replaced
by its average value. (J is the exchange con-
stant and the s represent neighboring magnetic
moments.) When summed over nearest neigh-
bors (

i
s), this average value is proportional to
the magnetization M of the material, and the
term is written as M
i
. This theory qualita-
tively describes many aspects of magnetism in
three dimensions but ignores the effects of ther-
mal uctuations of magnetic moment below the
magnetic ordering temperature. It leads to in-
correct predictions for details of the magnetic
transition, such as the critical exponents associ-
ated with magnetization as a function of applied
eld and magnetic susceptibility as a function of
temperature. In lower dimensions where ther-
mal effects on magnetization are stronger, the
failures of this theory are more apparent.
magnetization Magnetic moment per unit
volume within a material as a result of the mag-
netic polarization of the material. This results
from the alignment of permanent atomic mag-
netic moments in the case of Fe, Co and Ni.
Contributions from induced magnetization such
as diamagnetismare also present and are usually
much smaller than the atomic moment contribu-
tion. See magnetic moment; diamagnetism.
magnetization curve A plot of magnetiza-
tion (or magnetic induction) as a function of
applied magnetic eld. Used to nd important
magnetic parameters describing a magnetic ma-
terial. These include the saturation magnetiza-
tion and the coercive force. Differences in these
curves when the magnetic eld is increased and
thendecreasedindicate the presence of magnetic
hysteresis. See coercivity; magnetic saturation;
hysteresis.
magnetization, intensity of Given by
o
M
where M is the magnetization per unit volume
and has a unit of Tesla. Only dened for MKS
system of units.
magnetizing current The electric current
that ows through a coil surrounding a core,
usually made of a soft Fe alloy, and which es-
tablishes an applied magnetic eld in the core.
This applied magnetic eld magnetizes the core.
The coil and core make up the main part of an
electromagnet. See electromagnets.
magneto-accoustic emission This involves
the study of the propagation of sound waves
in metals in the presence of a magnetic eld.
At low temperatures, the interaction of sound
waves with electrons is the primary source of
attenuation of the sound wave. This attenuation
is modied by the presence of a magnetic eld
and this effect can be used to probe electronic
structure. It can also refer to accoustic energy
generated by changes in magnetization, and can
be associated with strains and magnetostriction.
See magnetostriction.
magnetohydrodynamic wave Electromag-
netic waves in a plasma coupled to an oscillation
in the plasma density in the presence of a mag-
netic eld. Frequency is usually lowless than
the cyclotron frequency of the charged ions in
the plasma. Important in the earths ionosphere
and in the various layers of the sun.
magnetometer A device used to measure a
magnetic eld such as the earths eld, or the
magnetic eld created by the magnetic moment
of a magnetic material. Various devices exist to
perform this function and operate using a num-
ber of different principles. It can measure the
magnetic moment of a material in a vibrating
sample magnetometer. In this device, a piece of
the material is mechanically vibrated in a coil
and the induced voltage from the stray eld of
the material is measured and is proportional to
the magnetic moment. It must be calibrated us-
ing a known magnetic standard and can sense
magnetic moments as small as 10
5
EMU. It
can also measure a magnetic eld by an induc-
tion method through the movement of a coil, by
rotating it, for example in a magnetic eld. It
canalsomonitor a propertythat changes withthe
magnetic eld such as the Hall voltage across a
material induced by the magnetic eld.
2001 CRC Press LLC
magnetometer, impedance The ratio of in-
duced voltage to current in pick-up coils of a
vibrating sample magnetometer. In general, it
is a complex quantity. If the capacitive and in-
ductive parts of the impedance cancel, then the
total impedance is real and the induced voltage
and current are in phase. It is an important quan-
tity since detection electronics must be matched
in impedance to the pick-up coils in the magne-
tometer. See magnetometer.
magnetometer, Q A measure of losses.
Larger Q corresponds to smaller losses. See
magnetometer.
magnetomotive force The magnetomotive
force around a complete magnetic circuit is de-
ned as the work required to move a magnetic
pole of unit strength once around the magnetic
circuit. See reluctance, magnetic.
magneto-optic Interaction of light with a
magnetic material. In the Faraday effect, the
polarization direction of polarized light is ro-
tated when the light passes through a transpar-
ent material in the presence of a magnetic eld
along the direction of propagation. In the Kerr
effect, polarized light has its direction of polar-
ization rotated on reection from a ferromag-
netic material. This latter effect forms the ba-
sis for magneto-optical recording. A number of
other magneto-optic effects exist including the
Zeeman (normal and anomalous) effect, where
spectral lines are split by a magnetic eld, the
Voight effect, where an anisotropic substance
placed in a magnetic eld becomes birefringent,
and the Cotton-Mouton effect in which double
refraction of light in a liquid in the presence of a
magnetic eld occurs. See Paschen-Back effect;
magnetic recording.
magnetoresistors Material whose resistance
changes when subjected to a magnetic eld. Ob-
served with the magnetic eld parallel or per-
pendicular to the electric current. Observed in
many magnetic materials. The increase in re-
sistance is a few percent or less in most alloys
studied when elds up to 5 Tesla are applied.
It can be large in semiconductors and in metals.
High eld magnetoresistance yields information
on the electronic structure of metals, in partic-
ular the fermi surface shape. At low temper-
atures quantum oscillations of the magnetore-
sistance, called Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations,
are observable in single crystal metals and yield
more detailed information on the fermi surface.
More recently nanostructured magnetic materi-
als (particles or layers with dimensions of tens
of nanometers) have been discovered that show
a giant magnetoresistance the resistance can
change by more than 100% when the material is
magnetized. This forms the physical basis for
a read head based on a magnetoresistance for
magnetic recording.
magnetostatic energy Energy stored in a
magnetic eld or energy required to create a
magnetic eld. Energy density (energy per unit
volume) is
B
2
/2
o
.
Toget the magnetostatic energy, this energyden-
sity must be summed (integrated) over the vol-
ume containing the magnetic eld.
magnetostriction Compressive or extensive
stress in a magnetic material when its magne-
tization is changed by, for example, placing it
in a magnetic eld. This leads to a change in a
dimension of a material when its magnetization
is changed. The strain (the fractional change in
a dimension of a material) is typically small
of the order of 10
5
or less in going from the
unmagnetized state to the saturated state. Mag-
netostriction signicantly inuences the type of
domain pattern in a material. See magnetostric-
tion oscillator.
magnetostriction oscillator A device in
which one or more dimensions of a magne-
tostrictive material oscillate. An oscillating ap-
plied magnetic eld leads to oscillations of the
magnetic moment of the material. One or more
dimensions of the material oscillate in response
to the oscillating magnetic moment of the ma-
terial converting magnetic energy to mechan-
ical energy. This device is easily realized in
principle by placing a coil with an alternating
current around a soft magnetostrictive magnet.
The alternating current provides the oscillat-
ing magnetic eld. It can be used to generate
a sound wave in the audible to ultrasonic fre-
quency range in any medium that is physically
2001 CRC Press LLC
in contact with the magnetic material. See mag-
netostriction.
magnetron A device that converts DC elec-
trical energy to microwave energy with high ef-
ciency. Electrons emitted by a cathode to-
ward an anode interact with crossed electric and
magnetic elds in a cavity to produce these mi-
crowaves. The shape andsize of the cavitydeter-
mines the frequency of operation. It can operate
in a pulsed mode generating microwave power
for radar applications, or continuous mode for
microwave cooking.
magnication The magnication of an op-
tical system indicates the effectiveness of en-
larging or reducing an image. There are several
kinds of magnication: lateral magnication
of an image, axial magnication of an image,
or magnication of the magnifying power of an
optical instrument. It is important which mag-
nication should be considered for use to treat
optical magnication. The term magnication
is sometimes used simply to mean lateral mag-
nication or the power of a lens without quali-
cation.
magnication, angular The symbol used is
M or . Angular magnication of an optical
system is the ratio of the angles subtended at
the eye by the image theta

and object theta.

It can be obtained approximately by the ratio
of the tangent function value of the angles for
smaller angles. The angular magnication of a
lens M

and power of the lens P have a relation-

ship M

=
1
4
P. This equation is known as the
quarter-power equation. It applies to the lens
that is used without accommodation; an image
is seen at innity and the lens is set close to the
eye. With accommodation, M

=
1
4
P +1. It is
also known as the converging ratio.
magnication, axial Also called longi-
tudinal magnication. For an object with
depth (e.g., three-dimensional), the magnica-
tion along the optical axis should be considered.
The axial magnication is the ratio of length
along the optical axis to the conjugate length in
the object. The axial magnication M
x
is de-
ned as the ratio of a short length in the image
measured along the optical axis to the conjugate
Angular magnication.
length in the object:
M
x
=
dx
i
dx
o
,
where x
i
and x
o
are the distance between the im-
age and the focal point and the distance between
the object from the focal point, respectively.
Axial magnication.
The axial magnication M
x
for small dis-
tances fromthe focal plane is equal to the square
of the lateral magnication M
l
: M
x
= M
2
l
.
magnication, lateral The ratio of the size
of an image perpendicular to the optical axis y

to the size of the object perpendicular to the axis

y. It is often simply called magnication.
Lateral magnication.
The lateral magnication can be obtained as
the ratio of object distance s

to the image dis-

tance s.
magnication, longitudinal See magnica-
tion, axial.
2001 CRC Press LLC
magnication, normal The multiplication
of the primary magnication and the magnica-
tion of ocular. The normal magnication multi-
plied by the tube factor is the general magni-
cation of the instrument.
magnication of lens For the refraction of a
thin lens, the relationship of the image distance
s, object distance s

, and the focal length f, can

be written as
1
s
+
1
s

=
1
f
,
1
f
= (n

n)/n
_
1
R
+
1
R

_
,
where Rand R

indicate the radii of the surfaces.

For a concave lens, f is less than zero. The
lateral magnication m can be calculated as
m =
s

s
.
The magnifying power P of a thin lens is the
algebraic sum of the pair of surfaces of the lens
P
1
, P
2
;P = P
1
+P
2
. The angular magnication
of a lens M

and power of the lens P have a

relationship M

=
1
4
P. This equation is known
as the quarter-power equation. It applies to the
lens used without accommodation; the image is
seen at innity and the lens is set close to the
eye. With accommodation, M

=
1
4
P + 1.
magnicationof mirror For the reection of
a mirror, the relationship of the image distance s,
the object distance s

, the radius of the surface of

mirror R, and the focal length f, can be written
as
1
s
+
1
s

=
1
f
,
f =
R
2
.
For a concave mirror, f is greater than zero. The
lateral magnication m can be calculated as
m =
s

s
.
Where the refractive index of a given medium is
n, the refractive power of a mirror P is dened
as
P =
2
R
.
magnication of optical instruments A
measure that indicates how much an optical in-
strument enlarges or reduces the image of an
object. See magnifying power.
magnication, primary The transverse
magnication provided by the objective lens.
The magnied real image formed by the ob-
jective lens is called the primary image. In a
compound microscope, the image formed by the
objective is an inverted image of the object. The
primary magnication m
p
is a lateral magni-
cation:
M
p
=
L
f
,
where the distance of the image and the focal
point of the objective lens is L, and the focal
length of the objective lens is f.
magnications invibrations The magnitude
of the transfer function of a periodically forced
vibrating system. It describes the magnitude of
a measured output signal, such as displacement,
velocity or force, transmitted to the base for the
systemexcited with a sinusoidal direct-force ex-
citation of magnitude M and frequency . For
a damped, second order, one degree of freedom
system, for example, the peak response of the
transfer function is usually at the resonant fre-
quency
r
=
n
_
1 2
2
with
r
as the reso-
nant frequency in rad/sec,
n
as the undamped
natural frequency in rad/sec, and as the non-
dimensional damping ratio.
magnication, transverse See magnica-
tion, lateral.
magnier See microscope, simple.
magnifying power See magnication, angu-
lar. It is also known as instrument magnica-
tion. This is the ratio of the size of the retinal
image of an object formed by an optical sys-
tem to the size of the retinal image of the object
seen with the unaided eye at the least distance of
distinct vision (normal viewing distance). The
size of the retinal image can be measured as the
angle subtended at the eye by the image. The
image of the object seen with the object means
the in situ image for telescopes, and the image
at the conventional distance of distinct vision,
2001 CRC Press LLC
i.e., 25 cm from the eye, for a microscope. In a
compound microscope, the magnicationpower
is the ratio of the angle subtended at the eye to
the real image that is formed in space on the
plane of the eld stop of the eyepiece within the
microscope tube. For projection with a micro-
scope, the magnication by the eyepiece should
be treated as a lateral magnication. For visual
observation, it should be an angular magnica-
tion, in a telescope, the real image formed ahead
of the rst focal length of the eyepiece. See mag-
nication of optical instruments.
Malus law A law (rst published in 1809
by Malus) determining the intensity of radiation
transmitted through a polarizer in terms of the
incident intensity. Malus lawequates the trans-
mitted intensity, I, to the product of the incident
intensity, I
0
, and the square of the cosine of the
angle between the polarization vector of the
incident radiation and the direction of the plane
of transmission of the polarizer, as expressed by
the equation
I = I
0
cos
2
.
mammography A type of X-ray examina-
tion of the breasts specically tailored for the
detection of tumors. A mammogram is an X-
ray image of the breast that comes out of the
exam.
manostats Pressure-control devices used for
controlling the vapor pressure of a boiling liquid
to within certain limits. A stable manostat uses
a capacitance pressure sensor and operational
ampliers that activate solenoid valves to con-
trol the vapor ow. Pressure stability of better
than 0.1% is achieved with
4
HE from 2 to 1000
Torr, corresponding to variations of < 1 mK.
maser Acronym for microwave amplica-
tion by stimulated emission of radiation. More
precisely, a device (invented in 1955) that pro-
duces a narrowly directed beam of coherent
monochromatic radiation with a (central) fre-
quency in the microwave region of the electro-
magnetic spectrum between 10
9
and 10
11
Hz.
Analogous to laser (invented later) but operat-
ing at microwave rather than optical frequen-
cies. The rst maser operated at the inversion
transition frequency of the ammonia molecule,
2.387 10
10
Hz.
maser in communication Amaser designed
to amplify microwave signals (as from articial
satellites) used in communications. It amplies
FM signals from a satellite by the stimulated
emission of tunable Zeeman separated lines in
ions of paramagnetic crystals (such as ruby).
The maser has the advantage of amplication
with extremely low noise.
masking, acoustic A number of decibels by
which the listeners threshold of audibility for a
continuous sound is changed by the presence of
another sound, called the masking sound. When
the threshold of audibility of the original tone
alone is a decibels, and the threshold of the same
tone in the presence of the masking tone is b
decibels, the masking of the original tone by the
second one (characterized through its level in
decibels) is ba. Increasing the intensity of the
masking sound to a level at which the original
sound ceases to be audible results in the masking
by the other sound. The masking effect is more
pronounced above the frequency of the original
tone than below. Noise can also cause masking.
Masking will be perceived as beats when the
frequencies of the two tones are close.
mass attenuation coefcient In general, an
attenuation coefcient is a measure of the rate
of decrease of an average power with respect to
a distance along the transmission path.
Given a material of thickness d, density , a
narrowbeamof monoenergetic photons incident
on one side with intensity I
0
, and emerging on
the other side with intensity I, and dening the
mass thickness l = d, the decay in intensity
is given by the exponential attenuation law
I/I
0
= exp[(/) l] .
Rewriting the expression, we get the attenuation
coefcient
/ = l
1
ln (I
0
/I) .
Then the mass attenuation coefcient can be ob-
tained from experimental measurements of I
0
and I.
Some values of / rely on the theoretical
values for the total cross section per atom,
tot
,
2001 CRC Press LLC
which is related to / by
/ =
tot
/(u A) ,
where u is the atomic mass unit, Ais the relative
atomic mass of the target element, and
tot
is the
total cross section for an interaction by the pho-
ton. In general, the attenuation coefcient, pho-
ton interaction cross sections, and related quan-
tities are functions of the photon energy.
An experiment that relies on the mass attenu-
ation coefcient is Xray computed tomography
(CT), where the reconstructed image represents
the distribution of X-ray photon attenuation co-
efcients from the body under examination. An
interesting problem arises because the Xrays
used are not monochromatic. In this case the
attenuation coefcient distribution has to be re-
constructed at a certain effective energy of the
beam. However, the highly nonlinear depen-
dence of the attenuation coefcient on photon
energy results in systematic inaccuracy in the
reconstructed image, known as the beam hard-
ening artifact.
mass energy absorption coefcient In the
context of the scattering event described in the
mass energy transfer coefcient, the mass en-
ergy absorption coefcient involves the further
emission of radiation produced by the charged
particles in traveling through the medium, and
is dened as

en
/ = (1 g)
tr
/ ,
where
tr
/ is the mass energy transfer coef-
cient. The factor g represents the average frac-
tion of the kinetic energy of secondary charged
particles (produced in all the types of inter-
actions) that is subsequently lost in radiative
energyloss processes as the particles slow to
rest in the medium. See mass energy transfer
coefcient.
mass energy transfer coefcient In the con-
text of the interaction of photons with matter,
the mass energy transfer coefcient
tr
/, when
multiplied by the photon energy, is proportional
to the sum of the kinetic energies of all the pri-
mary charged particles released by uncharged
particles (here photons) per unit mass. In other
words,
tr
/ takes into account the transfer of
radiation coming from secondary photon radia-
tions initially produced at the photonatom in-
teraction site, plus the quanta of radiation from
the annihilation of positrons originating in the
initial pair and tripletproduction interactions.
Hence
tr
/ is dened as the sum of all the
contributions coming from the total cross sec-
tions from photoelectric absorption, incoherent
scattering, pair and triplet production. Then

tr
/ =(f
pe

pe
+ f
incoh

incoh
+ f
pair

pair
+ f
trip

trip
) /(u A) ,
where the factors f refer to the energytransfer
fractions, and to the individual cross sections.
The factors f represent the average fractions of
the photon energy E that is transferred to ki-
netic energy of charged particles in the remain-
ing types of interactions. In particular,
f
pe
= 1 (X/E) ,
where X is the average energy of uorescence
radiation emitted per absorbed photon;
f
incoh
= 1
_
E

+ X
_
/E ,
where E

is the average energy of the

Comptonscattered photon;
f
pair
= 1 2mc
2
/E ,
where mc
2
is the rest energy of the electron; and
f
trip
= 1
_
2mc
2
+ X
_
/E .
The uorescence energy X depends on the
distribution of atomicelectron vacancies pro-
duced in the process under consideration and is
in general evaluated differently for photoelec-
tric absorption, incoherent scattering, and triplet
production. X should include the emission of
cascade uorescence Xrays associated with
the complete atomic relaxation process initiated
by the primary vacancy.
Because in calculating
tr
/, only the char-
acteristics of the target atom are involved, for
homogeneous mixtures and compounds, the to-
tal
tr
/ can be obtained by

tr
/ =

i
w
i
(
tr
/)
i
2001 CRC Press LLC
where w
i
is the fraction by weight of the ith
atomic constituent.
mass fragmentography Analysis and iden-
tication of chemical substances by the study of
parts or fragments of the whole compound. See
mass spectrometry, medical applications.
mass spectrometer A device used to sepa-
rate out particles, usually atoms or molecules,
according to mass. Particles are accelerated
and enter a region where a magnetic eld B
perpendicular to the velocity of the particle is
present. The particles follow a curved path due
to the magnetic force on them. The radius of the
curved path depends on the mass m, charge q,
and velocity v of the particle according to
mv/qB .
Particles with larger mass follow paths with a
larger radius allowing different masses to be se-
lected. See magnetic force on a moving charge.
mass spectrometry, medical applications
By mass spectrometry, chemical substances can
be identied by sorting gaseous ions in electric
and magnetic elds. A mass spectrometer is a
device that performs this type of sorting by us-
ing electrical means to detect the sorted ions.
Devices that use photographic or other nonelec-
trical means are called mass spectrographs.
Mass spectrometry allows precise measure-
ment of the mass of ions, to show the presence
of different isotopes, and to measure the rela-
tive abundance of ions and isotopes in a mixture.
Analysis may reveal that organic chemicals have
produced a spectrum of ions from the fragment-
ing of the parent molecule. Then, by identifying
the fragments according to their masses and rel-
ative abundances, the structure of the original
molecule can be established.
Compounds such as H
2
, C
13
, N
15
, O
17
,
and O
18
have an enhanced proportion of iso-
topes that make them ideal to label substances
involved in biological processes, and thus ap-
propriate for mass spectrometry measurements.
This tagging allows for precise chemical studies
of such complex reactions as metabolism, pho-
tosynthesis, plant respiration, enzymatic reac-
tions, phosphate-transfer reactions, and the di-
rect application of oxygen in physiological ox-
idation. The details of the metabolic pathways
involved in these reactions can be understood by
analyzing the products from such processes by
mass spectrometry.
matter waves Waves associated with a parti-
cle of matter, as described by quantum mechan-
ics. Also known as de Broglies waves. It has
been shown that particles with momentump act
like waves witha de Broglie wavelength, given
by = h/p, where h = 6.626 10
34
J s is
the Planck constant. According to de Broglies
theory, particles of matter have wavelike proper-
ties that can give rise to interference effects, and
electrons in an atomare associated with standing
waves on a Bohr orbit.
maximumratings The maximumvalue of an
input that a device can accept with no damage,
or the maximumvalue of an output that a device
will provide.
Maxwell bridge An electric network de-
signed for accurate inductance measurements.
A schematic diagram is shown. Typically R
2
and C
3
are adjusted to achieve balance. An
equation of balance is given as
L
x
= R
1
R
3
C
3
R
x
= R
1
R
3
/R
2
.
Maxwell bridge.
2001 CRC Press LLC
mean free path of sound The average dis-
tance sound travels between successive reec-
tions in an enclosure. Property that quanties
the propagation of sound in an enclosure.
mechanical properties, bone Bones are a
dynamic system where there is a continuous re-
placing of old cells with new ones. Bones reg-
ulate themselves so as to remove cells that are
no longer functional and at the same time serve
as the regulator of the amount of calcium in the
blood. On the other hand, there are other parts of
the bone that do not get renewed, like the bones
shaft. The cyclic discarding and renewal of cells
is performed by two types of bone cells: the os-
teoblasts, which manufacture new bone tissue,
and the osteoclasts, which dispose of old and
worn cells.
The bones get their full strength and exi-
bility from the connective tissue that surrounds
and intermingles with it, serving also as the con-
nection between different bones. Vitamin D
is known to be essential to the deposition of
minerals in the bone structure. These miner-
als are chiey calcium and phosphorus. Also,
vitamin C, probably most effective as calcium,
magnesium, manganese, and zinc ascorbates, is
absolutely essential to the connective tissues
strength, exibility, and endurance.
On a per weight basis, healthy bones are
as strong as steel. The bones interior is con-
structed somewhat like a bridge. Tiny strands
of connective tissue, each strand capable of sup-
porting a weight of 25 lbs, act like crossed wires
to give great strength and exibility. Thus,
healthy bones will usually bend rather than
break, as they so commonly do.
Of course, the total amount of force that a
bone can sustain is dependent on the geometri-
cal properties of the bone in consideration. For
example, compression force properties of the
femur indicate that human femur subjected to
compression splinters at 1600 pounds/in
2
. This
is about twice the force exerted on the leg bones
of a 160 pound runner and far more than current
weightlifters can heft.
mechanical waves Within the scope of
acoustics, mechanical waves are dened as vi-
brations of rigid or elastic solid bodies, with the
spectrum of vibration frequencies in the acous-
tic range. Typical examples are high-frequency
elastic waves in delay lines or in nondestruc-
tive testing equipment, ground vibrations near
factories, forge hammers, sound transmission
through walls, ceilings, and enclosures, etc.
mechano-caloric effect Refers tothe transfer
of heat andtherebythe presence of a temperature
difference froman imposed pressure difference.
It is the inverse process of the thermomechanical
effect where an imposed temperature difference
causes a pressure difference.
medium, acoustic Acoustic disturbances can
be treated as small amplitude perturbations to
the ambient state. The ambient state for a uid,
characterized by the pressure, density and veloc-
ity of the uid when the perturbation is absent,
denes the medium through which sound prop-
agates. An acoustic medium is homogeneous
when all ambient quantities are independent of
position.
medium, homogeneous A switching net-
work is considered homogeneous if every con-
nection between an inlet and an outlet uses the
same number of crosspoints.
megaphone A rectangular or conical horn
used for amplifying or directing the sound of the
speakers voice. See also horns, sound from.
megger (1) A test for measuring the resis-
tance of the insulation in an electric motor. It is
usually performed by passing a high voltage at
low current through a motors windings.
(2) The type of moving coil galvanometer
used to measure high resistances. Part of the
coil is in series with the unknown resistance,
while the other part, which carries current di-
rectly from the source, is independent of it. The
reading depends on the relative currents of the
two parts of the coil, and is thus independent of
the source voltage.
(3) The trade name of an instrument that is
specically designed to measure high electrical
resistance. For example, it is used in testing
the insulation resistance of power and commu-
nication lines, high tension insulators, wiring in
buildings and moving craft.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Meissner effect (1) Named after German
physicist Walther Meissner (18821974). The
effect by which magnetic ux is excluded froma
superconductor material when the temperature
of the material is reduced below its supercon-
ducting transition temperature. It is often re-
ferred to as perfect diamagnetism since the ap-
plied magnetic eld induces a magnetization in
the superconductor that is opposite the applied
eld direction and exactly cancels the applied
magnetic ux within the superconductor. Al-
lows superconductors to be magnetically levi-
tated. Flux is completely excluded in a type
I superconductor and is partially excluded in a
type II superconductor. See susceptibility, dia-
magnetic.
(2) A superconductor is highly diamagnetic.
It is strongly repelled by and tends to expel a
magnetic eld regardless of whether the eld
was applied above or below the transition tem-
perature. This effect shows that superconduc-
tivity is more complicated than simply being a
state of zero resistance since that by itself would
cause the ux to be trapped in a sample which
was cooled through its transition temperature in
a eld less than its critical value.
membranes, vibration in Many sound gen-
erators in practical use take advantage of vibra-
tions of membranes or diaphragms. Only a few
diaphragms in practical applications are mem-
branes in the strict sense; more often they are
classied as plates. Vibrations in a membrane
are described by the differential equation for the
normal free vibration displacement as
2
=
1
c
2

t
2
, where the velocity c is c =
_
T/ (T is
the tension in the surface of the membrane and
the surface density). The solution of the gov-
erning equation for the motion of the membrane
shows that on the nodal lines of the membrane
no motion takes place. For a circular membrane,
they can take the form of nodal lines and nodal
circles. The number of natural frequencies of a
circular membrane is large in a frequency range
above the fundamental; thus membranes are of-
ten driven below their fundamental.
memory An electronic device or area in
which information can be stored. Common
types are random access memory (RAM), dy-
namic random access memory (DRAM), read
only memory (ROM), and programmable read
only memory (PROM).
meridian plane Also known as meridional
plane, this is a plane that includes or contains the
axis of an optical system and the chief ray. The
sagittal plane is the plane that contains the chief
ray and is perpendicular to the median plane.
The median plane and the sagittal plane are used
to consider the astigmatism of a lens. The rays
of light, which pass in the meridian plane, form
a focal line. The focal line is called the meridian
focal line. It is also known as tangential plane.
Meridian plane.
message Groups of characters or symbols
processed and transmitted from one point to an-
other and relayed over a communication system.
For successful communication, the message at
the destination should be identical to that em-
anated from the source.
metallic glasses Rapidly quenched combina-
tion of metals and semimetals that do not have
long range structural (crystalline) order but do
have some short range structural order. Many
combinations of elements have been prepared as
metallic glasses. Some combinations of Fe, Co
and semimetals have extremely soft magnetic
properties andare useful as cores intransformers
where rapid reversal of the magnetization with
low hysteresis losses is required. Combinations
of rare-earths and transition metals in metallic
glass form such as Tb-Co have extremely large
coercivity. See hysteresis.
meteorological acoustics A branch of at-
mospheric physics or physical meteorology, in
which the physical processes occurring in the at-
mosphere are described, modeledandexplained.
2001 CRC Press LLC
meter, electric Any electrical measuring in-
strument. Chiey, the term refers to an integrat-
ing meter such as the watt-hour meter used to
measure the total energy consumed in an elec-
trical circuit. See also meter, integrating.
meter, integrating Any instrument that mea-
sures the time integral of an electrical quantity.
As an example, the domestic watt-hour meter is
used to measure the total amount of electrical
energy consumed.
Michelson-Morley experiment An experi-
ment, rst performed in the late 1880s by A.A.
Michelson and E.W. Morley, designed to search
for the effect on the speed of light produced by
the motion of the earth through the proposed
ether, conjectured to ll all of space. The ex-
periment divided a light beam from a single
source into two beams, which were directed
along perpendicular paths and subsequently re-
ected back to the division point, as indicated in
the diagram below.
Michelson-Morley experiment.
Assumption that light traveled with a xed
speed in the ether (and adjustment of the lengths
of the perpendicular paths to be equal) led to
the expectation that the earths motion with re-
spect to the ether would cause relative speed of
light and its consequent travel time along the
two paths to differ. It was thought that the re-
combined light from the two paths would pro-
duce an interference pattern that could be altered
by a change in the orientation of the source-
mirror systemrelative tothe earths velocityvec-
tor through the ether. In contrast, the experiment
found the orientation of the source-mirror sys-
tem to have no effect on the interference pat-
tern of the recombined light beams, and led to
the eventual abandonment of the notion of ether.
An explanation for the null result of the exper-
iment was subsequently provided by Einsteins
special theory of relativity in 1905, which rec-
ognized the speed of light in free space to be a
fundamental constant of nature independent of
the state of motion of the observer. See interfer-
ometer, Michelson-Morley.
micro-densitometry In microdensitometry
measurements, the optical density of materials
can be measured at the microscopic level. From
the output of such measurements the concentra-
tion of a substance can be attained.
Inclinical uses, a densitometer measures con-
centrations of substances on surfaces of lm or
other supporting media by either a photocell
measurement of the transmittedlight throughthe
medium, or by measurement of the distribution
of a specic radioactive element on a radiochro-
matogram, as in a radiochromatogram scanner.
micro-dosimetry A microdosimetry appa-
ratus yields accurate measurements of doses,
down to the microscopic level. The technique
acquires importance when microscopic doses of
radiationhave tobe achievedin, for example, the
treatment of cancer.
micro-electrophoresis By microelectro-
phoresis the migration of charged colloidal par-
ticles or molecules through a solution under the
inuence of an applied electric eld is studied.
The applied electric eld is usually provided by
immersed electrodes. By examining the posi-
tions of the particles at different times during
their migration toward one of the electrodes,
their mobilities are calculated. Properties, like
the mass and charge, of the moving particles can
be determined from inputs such as the viscosity
of the suspending media.
Arelated topic is cataphoresis, by which sub-
stances, especially proteins, are separated and
molecular structures analyzed by measuring the
rate of movement of each component in a col-
loidal suspension while under the inuence of
an electric eld.
microuorimetry By microuorimetry, u-
orescence radiation emitted from a sample is
2001 CRC Press LLC
measured. The emitted radiation is in the
ultraviolet-visible range. The apparatus used to
make uorescent measurements, the uorome-
ter, is similar to that used to make measurements
of scattered radiation. The detector is usually
placed perpendicular to the path of the incident
radiation in order to avoid detecting the incident
radiation. Because uorescent intensity is, at
lowconcentrations, linear in concentration, out-
puts from a microuorometer can be callibrated
to directly measure the concentration of the u-
orescent substance under investigation. See mi-
croscopy, uorescence.
microphone, carbon A resistive sensor in
that sound waves incident on a diaphragmapply
a force on carbon particles in a container through
a plunger attached to the diaphragm. The resis-
tance of the carbon granules is proportional to
the force applied to the diaphragm. Carbon mi-
crophones are characterized by high sensitivity,
poor linearity and dynamic range, and are quite
rugged. They are used in speech communica-
tions when high delity is not a requirement. In
the past they were commonly used as telephone
microphones.
microphone, hot wire Consists of a ne plat-
inum resistance wire grid mounted on a glass
rod and attached to a container (that acts as a
Helmholtz resonator) by means of a holder on
the neck of the resonator. Electric current is
passed through the grid causing resistive heat-
ing, so that the grid behaves as a hot wire. The
sound wave passing across the opening of the
container leads to an air surge, thus cooling the
wire and causing its resistance to change. The
resistance of the hot wire is sensed in a Wheat-
stone bridge arrangement. The grid is calibrated
by varying the velocity of the air stream it is
exposed to. High sensitivity and small inertia
characterize hot wire microphones, so that their
response is practically instantaneous.
microphone, moving coil A sensor in that
the pressure of sound waves incident on a di-
aphragm is converted into electrical signals
through the motion of the coil attached rigidly
to the diaphragm. Also referred to as an elec-
trodynamic microphone. Under the inuence of
pressure oscillations the diaphragm is exposed
to, the coil moves in the magnetic eld gener-
ated by a permanent magnet. In this way electric
current is induced in the coil by means of elec-
tromagnetic induction. The sensitivity of the
microphone scales directly with the intensity of
the magnetic eld and the length of the magnetic
path and inversely with the specic acoustic im-
pedance. Moving coil microphones are char-
acterized by low self-noise, relatively low im-
pedance (suitable in applications requiring long
cables); they are omnidirectional, insensitive to
variations of ambient temperature and humidity,
and are also quite rugged.
microphone, ribbon An electrodynamic mi-
crophone, similar in operation to a moving
coil microphone, with a corrugated ribbon sus-
pended in the magnetic eld replacing the coil
and the diaphragm. Both sides of the ribbon
are exposed to the sound eld, and the ribbon
deforms under the inuence of the pressure dif-
ference. The motion of the ribbon in the mag-
netic eld induces electric potential in the rib-
bon. Since it is a pressure-gradient sensor, its
response is bidirectional, described by the di-
rectivity factor. The sensitivity of the ribbon
microphone is similar to moving coil devices, it
is less rugged, and the lower moving mass re-
sults in better frequency response.
microphones Acoustic transducers that gen-
erate electrical signals proportional to the acous-
tic pressure or pressure gradient in the ambi-
ent in the vicinity of the transducer face. The
properties of microphones that determine their
feasibility in a specic application are the elec-
troacoustic performance (sensitivity, directiv-
ity, frequency response, linearity . . .), electrical
characteristics (output impedance), sensitivity
to external inuences, and cost. Microphones
are used as communication devices (telephones,
hearing aids), sound recording and broadcasting
devices, and general-purpose and measurement
devices. Microphones can be classied accord-
ing to the mechanism that is employed to con-
vert acoustic into electric energy: moving coil
and ribbon (electrodynamic) microphones, con-
denser, piezoelectric and electric microphones,
as well as hot wire and carbon microphones.
2001 CRC Press LLC
microscope, compound A microscope that
utilizes two lenses or lens systems. One lens
forms an enlarged, real, inverted image of the
object and is called an objective lens. The other
lens magnies the image formed by the objec-
tive and is called an ocular or eyepiece. The
magnication of the objective lens is the trans-
verse magnication. For visual observation, the
magnication by the ocular is angular magni-
cation. For projection with a microscope, the
magnication by the ocular should be treated as
a lateral magnication.
Compound microscope.
microscope, electron An instrument that
magnies objects, it uses beams of electrons
instead of rays of light. In an electron micro-
scope, electrons that are emitted from a heated
lament source are accelerated by electrostatic
lens and have a very high energy. The electrons
are focused to a very small point on the surface
of a specimen by an electromagnetic lens. The
image is projected onto a uorescent screen or
X-ray CCD plane. The non-destructive analy-
sis of a sample can be made by measuring the
back-scattered electrons and so on.
The resolution of an electron microscope de-
pends on the wavelength of the electron which
is related to the energy of the electron by de
Broglies equation.
Transmission electron microscope.
microscope, eld emission A type of elec-
tron microscope. High positive voltage is ap-
pliedtothe metal tipsurroundedbylow-pressure
gas (usually helium). The image is formed by
eld ionization at the surface of the specimen
mounted at a very sharp and cooled (20 to 100 K)
tip in an ultra-high vacuum micro chamber. A
strong electric eld creates positive ions by elec-
trontransfer fromsurroundingatoms or molecules.
To produce a eld ion image, carefully con-
trolled amounts of image gas are introduced into
the vacuum system. The type of image gas de-
pends on the material to be investigated. Usu-
ally, neon, helium, hydrogen and argon are used
as an image gas. The images are caused by im-
age gas ions striking the uorescent screen. In-
dividual atoms on the surface of the tip can be
resolved. The rst observation of the atoms is
realized by using FEM.
microscope, ying spot A microscope in
which a spot of light, produced in the lens sys-
tem is scanned through an object. The spot of
light passing through the object is detected by a
photo cell. Use of a photo cell makes the quan-
tum efciency higher than a usual photograph.
The image is produced on a cathode-ray tube.
microscope, simple A diverting lens system
that forms the enlarged image of a small object.
The lens of a simple microscope is corrected for
spherical and chromatic aberrations. Usually
it is used to magnify the object at its focus to
2001 CRC Press LLC
form an enlarged image at innity. For a simple
microscope, the angular magnication M is de-
scribed by the least distance of distinct vision L
and the object distance s
M =
L
l
_
=
25
l
_
,
where the distances are measured in cm. Usu-
ally the image is viewed at innity, therefore,
M =
L
f
,
where f is the focus length. It is also known as a
magnier, or magnifying glass. See magnifying
power; least distance of distinct vision.
microscope, stereoscopic A microscope
contains a pair of microscope systems. The two
magnied images of the same eld at differ-
ent angles (a stereo pair) are observed simul-
taneously with a stereo viewer. Some kind of
electron microscopes use the same technique to
obtain the stereoscopic magnied image of the
specimen.
microscope, traveling A low magnifying-
power (about 10 ) microscope equipped with a
graticule in a plane of the ocular, it also has a rail.
Therefore, it is possible to travel horizontally or
vertically in order to make very accurate length
determinations.
microscopy, uorescence Fluorescence mi-
croscopy detects and analyzes light emitted af-
ter a previously induced absorption event hap-
pened. At the moment of absorption of electro-
magnetic radiation (ultraviolet to visible range),
excitation of the atoms being irradiated occurs.
This results in one or more vacant orbitals nearer
to the nucleus. Emission of radiation occurs
when the excited electron returns to a lower en-
ergy electron orbital.
Ingeneral, after a photonis absorbedtoanex-
cited state, the decay of the electron can result
in a release of heat, excitation of neighboring
molecules, driving of a chemical reaction, or the
emission of photons of lower energy. If the last
case happens the emitted radiation is also termed
luminescence. Luminescence is observed at en-
ergies that are equal to or less than the energy
corresponding to the absorbed radiation.
Emission can occur by either of two mech-
anisms: uorescence or phosphorescence. In
uorescence, the excited electron returns to the
lower electron orbital immediately after absorp-
tion. When absorption ceases, uorescence also
immediately ceases. In phosphorescence, the
excited electron decays to an intermediate or-
bital with an intermediate spinip, and then re-
turns to the original orbital with a spinip that
returns the electron to the original spin state.
Phosphorescence occurs with low probability.
Because inversion of the spinning electron dur-
ing the last transition can require a relatively
long time, the emission does not immediately
cease when the absorption ceases. Therefore,
uorescence can be distinguished from phos-
phorescence by the time delay in the emission.
A standard method in the study of morphol-
ogy is the use of uorescence microscopy. Be-
cause the excitation and emission of light in the
uorescence process is typically done with spe-
cic radiation of determined wavelengths, very
special uorescent molecules are used to tag
the tissue under consideration. In essence, the
images obtained from uorescence microscopy
are produced by the emission frommolecules of
uorescent dyes added to cells that attach to spe-
cic cellular components. Fluorescent antibod-
ies are used to locate specic kinds of proteins
and other materials in certain cells of a tissue
or in certain regions of a cell. The antibod-
ies can be prepared by, for example, injecting
into a rabbit an antigen (myosin), which stimu-
lates white blood cells to synthesize antibodies
that react specically with the antigen. After
the antibodies are isolated and puried, the u-
orescent dye, uorescein, becomes attached to
them by a chemical reaction. Once the uo-
rescent antibodies are spread over a tissue, they
attach to the molecules that stimulated their for-
mation (myosin). In this way, the image coming
from the uorescence microscope reveals the
sites containing the antigen-antibody complex
as bright areas in a dark background.
microscopy, ion The eld ion microscope is
a development of the eld emission microscope.
A distinction between the eld emission mi-
croscope and other electron microscopes is that
the eld emission microscope has a wire with a
sharpened tip that is mounted in a cathode-ray
2001 CRC Press LLC
tube. Electrons are then drawn from the tip to-
ward a screen showing the image by the use of a
high intensity electrical eld. Because the high
eld at the tip exerts a large mechanical stress,
only strong metals, such as tungsten, platinum,
and molybdenum, can be examined in this way.
The magnication of the eld emission micro-
scope is proportional to the ratio of the radius of
curvature of the screen to the radius of the metal
tip. A typical implementation may reach up to
one million magnitudes in magnication.
In the eld ion microscope, the tip is sur-
rounded by helium gas at low pressure. The
gas close to the atom planes on the tip is ionized
and produces an image that can have a magni-
cation of up to 10 million magnitudes. The
eld ion microscope has examined metals and
semiconductors, as well as biological systems.
Afurther development of the eld ion micro-
scope is the atom probe. In this instrument, in-
dividual atoms can be removed from the tip and
then passed through a timeofight spectrom-
eter, which measures their energy and charge
tomass ratio. In this way, the chemical nature
of each atom in the eld ion image may be de-
termined.
microwave generator A device that pro-
duces waveforms with a high frequency (usu-
ally from 1 GHz to 1 THz). Microwave ovens
use these waves to heat the water molecules in
different substances.
midband frequency The central frequency
of an ampliers operating range. It is in the
frequency region where the amplier response
is nearly independent of frequency. It is com-
monly taken as
0
=

2
where
1
and
2
are the low and high frequency 3 dB points.
A plot of amplier gain vs frequency showing the low
and high frequency 3 dB points
1
and
2
and the
midband frequency
0
.
midband gain The gain of an amplier at
the midband frequency. The gain is equal to the
output signal divided by the input signal. See
also loop gain.
midband loop gain The loop gain of a se-
ries voltage feedback loop circuit at the midband
frequency of the amplier. See also loop gain.
miller coding See modulation, delay.
Miller effect The increase in the effective
value of the base-collector capacitance in tran-
sistors due to the gain in a bipolar transistor. It is
important for purposes such as rolloff frequency
calculations.
mirage An optical phenomenon caused by a
bending of light rays in the atmosphere during
abnormal vertical air density distribution.
mirror An optical device for producing re-
ection, generally studied under plane, spher-
ical, and various surfaces of revolution (e.g.,
paraboloid, ellipsoid, aspheric). A plane mir-
ror reects the light without either converging
it or diverging it. The virtual image of the ob-
ject is formed and the image is located behind
the mirror at the same distance as the object is
located in front of the mirror.
Virtual image formed by a plane mirror.
2001 CRC Press LLC
A triple mirror, which consists of three plane
mirrors mounted at right angles to each other,
is a kind of multiple plane mirror (see mirror,
triple). Fresnels mirror and Lloyds mirror are
also multiple plane mirrors. A concave mirror
is a curved mirror. The curvature of this kind
of mirror is concave to the direction of the ob-
ject or light source. It forms a real image of the
object and acts as a converging lens. The spher-
ical mirror equation describes the relationship
between the focal length f and the radius of the
curvature of a spherical mirror R:
f =
R
2
.
For a concave mirror, R < 0, f > 0. The lateral
magnication m can be calculated as
m =
s

s
,
where the image distance is s and the object dis-
tance is s

. The radius of its curvature is convex

to the direction of the object and acts like a di-
verging lens.
Real image formed by a concave mirror.
One of the applications of a convex mirror
is the keratometer. The keratometer is a clinical
device used for the measurement of the astigma-
tism. A spherical mirror can form a point image
of a point object onlywhenthe object is put inthe
center of the curvature of the surface of the mir-
ror. A mirror is free from chromatic aberration.
However, a usual mirror has a spherical aber-
ration. An aspherical mirror is used to reduce
the spherical aberration. A paraboloidal mirror
and an ellipsoidal mirror are well known as as-
pherical mirrors. A paraboloidal mirror is used
for applications in which an image or an object
is at innity. A paraboloidal radio antenna is a
kind of parabolical mirror. Mirrors are used not
only with visible light but with various kind of
electromagnetic waves (e.g., microwave, X-ray,
infrared, and ultraviolet).
mirror, aspherical A mirror of which the
surfaces differ from a spherical surface. It
is used to reduce spherical aberrations. A
paraboloidal mirror and an ellipsoidal mirror are
well known as aspherical mirrors. See also mir-
ror.
Aspherical mirrors.
mirror, concave Acurved surface mirror that
has a concavely curved surface in the form of a
part of a sphere. It can form either inverted real
images or erect virtual images. For a spherical
concave mirror, from the spherical mirror equa-
tion, focal length f is calculated from the radius
of the curvature of a spherical mirror R(< 0):
f =
R
2
> 0 .
mirror, convex Amirror of which the surface
is formed from the exterior surface of a sphere
or paraboloid. It forms erect virtual images and
gives a diminished wide image. For a spherical
concave mirror, from the spherical mirror equa-
tion, focal length f is calculated from the radius
of the curvature of a spherical mirror R(> 0):
f =
R
2
< 0 .
mirrors, acoustic A surface with a dif-
ferent specic acoustic impedance Z
S
from
the medium; acoustic waves propagating in a
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medium are reected from this surface. The re-
ected plane wave is formed according to the
law of mirrors, such that the angle of incidence

1
equals the angle of reection (measured from
the normal to the surface). The reection coef-
cient is determined as R(
1
, ) =
() cos
1
1
() cos
1
+1
,
where the ratio of the specic acoustic imped-
ance of the surface to the medium is () =
Z
S
/c. See also impedance, acoustic.
mirror, spherical A spherical mirror of
which the surface forms a portion of a sphere;
it forms the images of real objects. The spher-
ical mirror equation describes the relationship
between the focal length f and the radius of the
curvature of a spherical mirror R
f =
R
2
.
The lateral magnication m can be calculated
as:
m =
s

s
,
where the image distance is s and the object dis-
tance is s

. A spherical mirror can form a point

image of a point object only when the object is
put in the center of the curvature of the surface
of the mirror.
mirror, triple Three plane mirrors are
mounted at right angles to each other. A to-
tal reecting prism cube, of which the corner is
cut off by a plane crossing each cube face with
equal angles. Any ray entering into a triple mir-
ror will be returned parallel to the direction the
light comes from. It is also known as a cube-
corner retro-reector or a three plane mirror. It
is also used in some types of interferometers.
mixer A device in a receiver system that car-
ries out frequency conversion. See frequency
conversion.
mobility Mobility is the carrier drift velocity
per unit electric eld. It is related to the conduc-
tivity by = ne where is the conductivity,
n is the carrier concentration, e is the electron
charge, and is the mobility.
mobility coefcient (biophysical) Consider
a system of charged particles immersed in a liq-
Triple mirror.
uid, subject to an external eld E. The mobility
is given by
= D(e/k
B
T) ,
where D is the diffusion constant, e the elec-
tronic charge, k
B
the Boltzmann constant, and
T the temperature. This relation is known as the
Einstein relation.
The mobility of molecules under the inu-
ence of an external electric eld forms the basis
of the electrophoresis technique. In this tech-
nique the mobility of particles suspended in an
electrolytic solution is determined for differ-
ent particle types, because the mobility de-
pends on the diffusion constant of each con-
stituent. In essence, particle-type separation
can be achieved from the dissimilar resulting
speeds. See micro-electrophoresis; Raman scat-
tering; electrophoretic.
modem A single unit consisting of the two
devices modulator and demodulator used for
transmission of digital data that is converted to
an analog signal for transmission over a net-
work, such as between terminals and a central
computer over telephone lines. That is, it is a
device used to convert one form of signal to an-
other form for facility compatibility.
modes of vibration Possible patterns of vi-
bration of a system. For standing waves, in a vi-
brating string, for example, the lowest frequency
f
1
is known as the fundamental frequency, and

1
(= 2L) is the fundamental wavelength. The
possible vibration patterns are characterized by
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the frequencies f
n
=
n
2L
_
T

and wavelengths

n
= (2/n)L, where L is the length of the
string, T, the tension and , the mass density
of the string. The value labels modes or possi-
ble vibration patterns. The frequency f
n
= nf
1
is the nth harmonic of the string. See also har-
monics; frequency, fundamental.
modulation The variation in a reference sig-
nals amplitude, frequency or phase used to en-
code a second signal.
modulation, acoustic Superposition of two
traveling waves of equal amplitude and differ-
ent frequencies
1
and
2
. The resulting wave is
p = cos(
1
t
1
x)+cos(
2
t
2
x), which can
be rewritten as p = 2 cos
_

1
+
2
2
t

1
+
2
2
x

cos
_

2
2
t

1

2
2
x

. The second equation

describes the modulatedwave, withthe rst term
representingthe highfrequencycarrier wave and
the second one, the low frequency envelope.
The velocity of the rst termc = (
1
+
2
)/(
1
+
2
) is called the phase velocity, and the veloc-
ity of the second termv
g
= (
1

2
)/(
1

2
),
the group velocity. See also interference, acous-
tic.
modulation, amplitude Amethod of encod-
ing a signal by changing a reference signals am-
plitude. (Used to transmit certain radio signals:
AM.)
modulation, delay Also known as miller
coding. Signaling scheme used for magnetic
tape recording and phase shift keyed signaling,
since it utilizes a relativelynarrowspectral band-
width. The majority of the signaling energy lies
in frequencies less than one half the symbol rate.
modulation, digital Modulation blends a
data signal into a carrier for transmission over
a network. Amplitude, duration, and position
can be modulated. Carrier signals can be var-
ied in the following manner. The most common
methods are: (1) amplitude modulation (AM),
which modulates the height of the carrier wave,
(2) frequency modulation (FM), which modu-
lates the frequency of the wave, and (3) phase
modulation (PM), which modulates the polarity
of the wave. The signals are produced by modu-
lating a baseband digital carrier or a pulse train.
Such communication methods have been used
for speech transmission, sampled data systems,
and telemetry.
modulation, frequency A method of encod-
ing a signal by changing a reference signals fre-
quency. (Used to transmit certain radio signals:
FM.)
modulation index It is common in FM anal-
ysis to denote the transmission bandwidth on
the relative magnitudes of the frequency devia-
tion by this parameter, which is the ratio of the
maximum allowable frequency deviation to the
baseband bandwidth or actual modulation fre-
quency.
modulation, phase A method of encoding
a signal by changing the phase of a reference
signal.
modulation, pulse A method of transmit-
ting an analog signal using pulses. The ana-
log signal may be represented by the ampli-
tude (pulse-amplitude modulation, PAM), width
(pulse-width modulation, PWM), or position
(pulse-position modulation, PPM) of the pulses.
Alternatively, the signal may be encoded in a se-
quence of binary numbers by pulse-code modu-
lation, PCM.
modulation, pulse code (PCM) Modulation
of a pulse train by coded representation of sig-
nal samples. It provides digital transmission
systems that offer improved solutions to noise
immunity and noise accumulation problems as-
sociated with analog transmission.
modulation, pulse frequency (PFM) In this
type of modulation, the parameter varied is the
frequency of the pulses with time.
modulation, pulse height Also known as
pulse amplitude modulation (PAM). The blend-
ing of a signal into a carrier wave by varying the
amplitude of the carrier. In this type of modu-
lation, the parameter varied is the amplitude of
the pulses with time. Broadcasting systems use
this kind of modulation.
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Modulation, pulse position (PPM).
PAM.
modulation, pulse position (PPM) In this
type of modulation, the parameter varied is the
position of the pulses with time. It is delayed by
an amount depending on the amplitude of the
modulating signal.
modulation, pulse rate (PRM) In this type
of modulation, the parameter varied is the rate
at which the pulses are generated with time.
modulation, start-stop This refers to a tele-
graph modulation technique that is isochronous
for each character or block. However, it pos-
sesses an undened interval between consecu-
tive blocks or characters.
modulation, suppressed carrier In the re-
ception of an amplitude-modulated signal, an
apparent reduction in the depth of modulation
of a wanted signal caused by the presence at the
detector of a stronger unwanted signal.
modulator Adevice or circuit used to change
a reference signal in order to encode an input
signal.
Moir fringes Set of dark fringes created
when two ruled gratings or periodic patterns are
superimposed on one another with the angle of
intersection between the patterns, , less than
45

. Fringes represent the loci of points of inter-

section between the superimposed patterns, and
have in general a spatial separation, D, which in-
creases as the angle decreases in accord with
the equation D = d/, where d represents the
spatial period of the two patterns. Example of
Moir fringes produced by superposition of two
gratings is shown in gure below. In general,
the orientation of the fringes with respect to the
lines of the original patterns approaches 90

as
the angle goes to 0.
Moir fringes allow the delity of the repli-
cation of a diffraction grating or ruled pattern
to be checked to a high degree of precision, and
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combine with measurements of Dand d to make
possible a determination of extremely small an-
gles of intersection, , on the order of 1 second
of arc.
molar conductivity The conductivity of an
electrolyte solution divided by the concentration
of the electrolyte present.
molecular weight The sum of the atomic
weights of all the constituent atoms present in
one molecule.
Mollier diagram This is a plot of enthalpy
(kJ/kg)versus entropy (kJ/(kg K)). In this dia-
gram, constant-pressure, constant-volume, and
constant-temperature lines are indicated.
monochord An instrument that uses the
transverse vibrations of a string; an ancient
method to generate musical sound. The mono-
chord used by Pythagoras consisted of a sound-
ing board and a box with a scale that allowed
stretching one or more strings. Nowadays the
monochord is used to compare the pitch of tones.
The modern monochord consists of a thin metal-
lic wire spanning two bridges. The wire is
stretched by a weight hanging over a pulley or by
a spring tensioning device, and a movable bridge
allows changing the vibrating length of the wire.
Also called sonometer. Sonometers are usually
equipped with a second wire of xed length and
tension that generates a reference frequency as
comparison.
monochromatic wave Wave witha harmonic
variation in time (and/or space) characterized by
a single frequency. See light, monochromatic.
monochromator An instrument that is used
to isolate a narrow band of wavelengths radi-
ation (monochromatic radiation) from a wide
band spectral source.
monopole, electric A single point charge
having either positive or negative polarity.
morphometrics By morphometry, the mea-
surement of the external form or shape (topol-
ogy) of an object is understood.
Modern microscopy, e.g., confocal mi-
croscopy, allows for the study of the mor-
phometry of objects. In some cases, a three
dimensional surface or tissue reconstruction can
be achieved from twodimensional cross sec-
tional data.
Morse code The Morse code, named after
Samuel Finley Breese Morse, represents a bi-
nary valued variable-length memoryless code
wherein each character is signied by a distinct
group of dots and dashes. Each character group
of dots and dashes are separated fromeach other
by a space.
The Morse code may also be signaled by ag-
ging raising both arms vertically above the
head signies a dot; outstretchingboth arms hor-
izontally to the two sides refers to a dash; low-
ering both arms to 45

vertical angles means

space; circular arm motion overhead signies
erase or repeat; rapid vertical arm motion in
front of the torso symbolizes end of message.
The Morse code combines source encoding with
channel coding. The Morse code needs 9.296
signaling time units to represent the average
given information symbol, 24% over the opti-
mum minimum. While a more efcient alter-
nate but more complex coding scheme may be
derived, the Morse code represents a sensible
compromise between coding efciency and ease
for manual use.
MOS integrated circuit See MOS logic cir-
cuit.
MOS logic circuit (metal oxide semicon-
ductor) One of two major categories of chip de-
sign, the other being known as bipolar. It uses
metal, oxide and semiconductor layers. There
are several varieties of MOS technologies, in-
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Morse Code
Morse Occurr. Signal.
Character Code Prob. Time Units
Space 0.1859 6
A .- 0.0642 9
B -... 0.0127 13
C -.-. 0.0218 15
D -.. 0.0317 11
E . 0.1031 5
F ..-. 0.0208 13
G . 0.0152 13
H .... 0.0467 11
I .. 0.0575 7
J . 0.0008 17
K -.- 0.0049 13
L .-.. 0.0321 13
M 0.0198 11
N -. 0.0574 9
O 0.0632 15
P .. 0.0152 15
Q .- 0.0008 17
R .-. 0.0484 11
S ... 0.0514 9
T - 0.0796 7
U ..- 0.0228 11
V ...- 0.0083 13
W . 0.0175 13
X -..- 0.0013 15
Y -. 0.0164 17
Z .. 0.0005 15
cluding PMOS, NMOS and CMOS. Metal ox-
ide semiconductor is a dominant main storage
technology.
motor, asynchronous Analternating-current
motor in which the rotating magnetic eld pro-
duced by the stator causes or aids the rotor
in reaching and maintaining the operating ro-
tational frequency, e.g., induction motors, AC
commutator motors. See also motor, induction.
motor, electric General term used for a wide
variety of machines that convert electrical en-
ergy into mechanical energy.
motor, induction An alternating-current mo-
tor in which the current in the rotor windings is
induced by the alternating magnetic elds set
up by currents in the stator windings. The in-
teraction of the stator magnetic elds and those
induced in the rotor sets the rotation frequency.
Induction motors are classed as asynchronous
motors. See also motor, asynchronous.
motor, repulsion An alternating-current
commutator motor in which the rotor is placed
in an alternating magnetic eld produced by a
single phase stator winding, and in which the ar-
mature remains short-circuited in a line at a pre-
determined angle with respect to the stator eld
ux. The short-circuit is accomplished through
brushes which rest on the commutator and are
joined by a low resistance connector. It belongs
to the class of asynchronous motors. See also
motor, asynchronous.
Repulsion motor.
motor, synchronous An alternating-current
motor, like induction motors, that operates on
the principle of the revolving magnetic eld,
usually produced by the stator. However, the ro-
tor of the synchronous motor is designed to pro-
duce a constant magnetic eld. Consequently,
it requires some means to spin the rotor at a rate
that is in step with the revolving stator eld so
that the two elds will lock together and the rotor
will be pulled around by the revolving eld.
multi-channel analyzer multiplexing (MUX)
In such systems, many signals with overlap-
ping frequency spectra are multiplexed, with the
combined signal being used to phase-modulate
the radio frequency (RF) carrier.
multiple access, code division See multi-
plex.
multiplex Combining two or more signals
into a single bit stream that can be individu-
ally recovered. It is a way of combining two
or more signals into a single signal for trans-
mission via a telephone wire, television broad-
cast, microwave, or another medium. At the
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receiving end, the signals are separated again
by a demultiplexer. Some examples of differ-
ent multiplexing technologies are time division
multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multi-
plexing (FDM), and code division multiple ac-
cess (CDMA). CDMAmultiplexing refers to the
process that occurs in wireless communication
with satellites in contrast to multiplexing utiliz-
ing cables.
multiplexing, code division (CDM) Differ-
ent users employ signals that have very small
cross correlation. Correlators can be used to ex-
tract individual signals froma mixture of signals
even though they are transmitted simultaneously
and in the same frequency band. Two ways of
doing this are frequency hopping and direct se-
quence.
multiplexing, color division In optical com-
munication systems, multiplexing of channels
on a single transmission medium, since each
color corresponds to a different frequency and
a different wavelength. Each color in a trans-
mitted polychromatic light beam on a channel
is transmitted in one optical ber or bundle of
bers. This occurs in the visible region of the
electromagnetic radiation frequency spectrum
and is the same process as frequency division
multiplexing in the non-visible region of spec-
trum.
multiplexing, frequency division (FDM) A
multiplex in which the multiplexed signals, for
simultaneous transmission, occupy separate fre-
quency ranges. It refers to the process of using
several frequencies on the same channel to trans-
mit several different streams of data simultane-
ously. This method is used for cable TV trans-
mission. Filtering is the key operation used in
the insertion or dropping of a signal or groups
of signals that are multiplexed.
multiplexing, pulse mode Switching, for si-
multaneous transmission of signals over a sin-
gle channel, in which connections between in-
lets and outlets of one or more switching stages
are provided by a plurality of separate metallic
paths.
multiplexing, space division (SDM) The
combining of several independent and isolated
bers or wires in a single bundle or cable in or-
der to be able to use each ber, or bundle, as
a separate communication channel over which
several signals can be transmitted. Each spaced
division multiplexed channel may be time divi-
sion or frequency division multiplexed.
SDM.
multiplexing, time division(TDM) Amulti-
plexing technique, in which two or more signals
are transmitted at the same time over the same
communications channel. The individual sig-
nals are combined by interleaving bits. In this
method of multiplexing, a channel is shared on
a time basis rather than frequency. This form of
multiplexing is a cheaper and simpler form than
frequency division multiplexing.
multiplexing, trunk group A set of trunks
treated as a unit from trafc point of view in
which telephone companies multiplex many
conversations over a single physical trunk. Eco-
nomically, it costs about the same to install and
maintain high and low bandwidth trunks, com-
pared to permanent connection between any two
switching stages in an exchange.
multiplier A resistor used with a voltmeter
to allowthe measurements of voltages not in the
range of the voltmeter. An operational amplier
circuit whose output is the product of the two
inputs.
multivibrator, astable A multivibrator with
two quasi-stable states. It oscillates between the
states spontaneously without reaching a steady
state. Often used as a square wave or clocking
waveform generator.
multivibrator, bistable A multivibrator that
has two stable states that it switches between
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when triggered. It is very often used as a mem-
ory device in digital ip-ops.
multivibrator, monostable A multivibrator
that has one stable and one quasi-stable state. It
changes to the quasi-stable state on being trig-
gered and then returns spontaneously to the sta-
ble state. It can be used to gate other circuits.
multivibrators Oscillatingcircuits, typically
based on the saturation of transistors, which
have two possible states used in applications
such as timers and logic circuits.
multivibrator, stable states Voltage levels
in a multivibrator that will remain unchanged in
the absence of a triggering signal.
muscle contraction, force-velocity relation
The forcevelocity relationship during muscle
contraction is experimentally determined by al-
lowing a muscle to contract while doing force on
a constant load. The resistive force of the mus-
cle while shortening is then plotted as a function
of its velocity (see gure below). The horizon-
tal axis is plotted relative to a maximumvelocity
V
max
, while the vertical axis is plotted relative
to a maximum isometric force P
0
. Point (A) in
the gure illustrates where the sarcomeres are
getting longer; negative relative velocity means
that the actin and myosin are moving in opposite
directions. Point (B) illustrates the shortening of
the sarcomeres.
Muscle contraction.
muscle contraction, length-tension relation
The lengthtension relationship of the muscle
is determined experimentally by measuring the
force a muscle can generate while being ex-
tended to a certain length (isometric conditions).
Fromthese studies it was determined that the
force generated by a muscle at a given length
is a function of the magnitude of the overlap
between the actin and myosin laments (see
muscle, mechanics). By the simple argument
that the force performed by the muscle has to
be linearly proportional to the number of cross
bridges, then the lengthtension curve has a
peaked shape. The argument is the following:
at short muscle lengths the thin and thick la-
ments in the sarcomeres overlap so much that
the number of cross bridges is very small, thus
a small force. As the muscle extends, there is a
peak in the force right at the point that the thick
and thin laments do not overlap anymore (max-
imum number of cross bridges). With longer
lengths, the number of cross bridges goes to zero
as the overlap diminishes.
Muscle contraction.
In the gure above, the initial rise of the curve
(A) indicates the overlap between the actin and
myosin reaching a plateau (B) where the overlap
is minimum. The curve then decreases (C) due
toloss of cross bridges andwouldcontinue down
to zero if it were not for the passive stiffness
contribution of the muscle that then makes the
curve increase rapidly (D).
There are additional contributions to the
lengthtension curve due to the springlike re-
sponse of the muscle that is linear in the dis-
placement (see muscle, mechanics).
muscle, mechanics Muscle bers in skele-
tal muscles consist of bundles of myobrils that
2001 CRC Press LLC
contract in response to neural or electrical stim-
uli. The myobrils, in turn, consist of repeated
cylindrical units calledsarcomeres whichare the
smallest contractile unit in the muscle. The my-
obrils are surrounded by a baglike structure
called the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
The sarcomeres are composed of thin and
thick protein laments that, upon movement of
one relative to the other, achieve the contrac-
tion. The thin lament is composed of pairs of
polymerized actin monomers arranged in a he-
lix. The thick laments are formed by myosin
molecules, each one having two entwined tails
( 150 nm long) and a double globular head.
Contraction of the muscle is basically a result
of the cyclical interactions between the thin and
thick laments. During contraction the glob-
ular heads of the myosin molecules attach to
receptor sites on the actin molecules. These at-
tachments form what are called cross bridges.
Shortly after, the myosin undergoes a confor-
mational change that exerts a pulling force on
the actin laments after which they detach from
one another and the cycle starts again.
The whole process is triggered by a signal
from a motor neuron that depolarizes the sar-
coplasmic reticulum making it release Ca
2+
into the sarcomeres. This constitutes the rst
part of the cycle where the Ca
2+
then binds
to the actin monomers producing a conforma-
tional change that exposes a receptor site for
the myosin head to attach. After attachment of
the myosin and actin, the actin molecule rotates,
provoking the pulling that contracts the space in
the sarcomeres and later detachment of the two
laments, at which point everything relaxes to
its original position. The cycle continues as long
as Ca
2+
and ATP are present. When the depo-
larizing signal stops, Ca
2+
is pumped back into
the sarcoplasmic reticulum causing relaxation.
With respect to the mechanical response of
muscles, muscles are like a spring. Muscles gen-
erate a restoring force when they are stretched
beyond their resting length L
0
with a force of
the form
F = k (L L
0
) ,
where k is the spring constant. When the muscle
is stimulated, the contractile elements shorten
and the muscle starts to develop tension that can
be understood as if L
0
got shorter, i.e., L
0
gets
smaller as contraction occurs.
If a weight were attached directly to the mus-
cle, the weight would be pulled up progressively
as the rate of stimulation increased until the
muscles restoring force precisely matched the
weight.
musical instruments Instruments that pro-
duce musical sound. They are classied accord-
ing to the nature of the primary vibrator generat-
ing the sound as string instruments, wind instru-
ments and percussion instruments. Acoustics
studies the laws governing the action, design,
and construction of musical instruments.
musical sound A combination of sounds
in rhythm, harmony and counterpoint, gener-
ated by musical instruments or human voice,
as a medium of artistic expression. Musical
acoustics considers the physical characteristics
of sounds that might be perceived as music, the
production of musical sound, and its transmis-
sion to the listener. The perceived qualities
of musical sound, such as loudness, pitch and
timbre, depend on physical parameters, such as
sound pressure, frequency and spectrum.
mutual capacitance Mutual capacitance,
also known as the coefcient of induction, is de-
ned as the ratio of the induced charge on the
other conductor to the potential of a giving con-
ductor when no other conductors are nearby.
mutual conductance The derivative of the
drain current with respect to the gate-source
voltage in a common source FET circuit.
mutual intensity Quantity dened to mea-
sure the coherence between elds at two sepa-
rated space points. Equal to the average over the
time t of a product of the normalized elds
at the two separated space points evaluated at
a common time t. The quantitative denition
of mutual intensity requires introduction of a
(scalar) eld function of position and time,
V (r, t), dened to determine the time averaged
intensity, I, of the eld at a space point r via the
equation
I(r) = V

(r, t)V (r, t) ,
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where the angular brackets denote an average
over t in a time interval large compared to one
period of oscillation of the eld. Latter def-
inition allows mutual intensity of the elds at
positions r
1
and r
2
to be dened by the quantity
(r
1
, r
2
) V

(r
1
, t) V (r
2
, t) .
Quantity has the signicance of determining the
interference term in an expression for the eld
intensity resulting fromthe superposition of two
elds derived from spatially separated point
sources.
myoelectric activity Myoelectric activity
refers to the electrical properties and response
of muscle tissue. Electrical impulses result-
ing from these myoelectric properties may be
amplied and used in diverse applications such
as the monitoring of the response of specic
muscles to stimuli as well as the control or op-
eration of prosthetic devices.
myopia (short-sightedness) This results from
the lenses of the eye refracting the parallel rays
of light focused not on a retina. It is usually
caused by an abnormally long eyeball. For cor-
rection, diverting spectacle lenses are used to
move the image back to the retina. See eye,
near-sighted.
Myopia.
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N
NAND A Boolean operation in which the
output is 0 if both inputs are 1 and the output is
1 if either of the two inputs is 0.
near point The nearest point at which a hu-
man can focus on an object with accommoda-
tion. It is different from the least distance of
distinct vision. The lenses of the human eye be-
come harder with age which causes the nearest
point to recede with age. See also least distance
of distinct vision.
negative logic Logic devices in which a high
voltage determines a binary level 0 and a low
voltage a binary level 1.
negative resistance A resistance with a neg-
ative value. This occurs when the current in an
electronic device decreases as the voltage across
it increases, e.g., Esaki (tunnel) diodes, resonant
tunneling diodes.
negentropy In information theory, negen-
tropy is related to the amount of information
contained in a given system. It is the analog in
information to what entropy is in thermodynam-
ics. The analogy stems from the formal equiva-
lence between the mathematical expression for
entropy (S = k log W) and ShannonWieners
information (H = log
2
p
a
). The motivation
for the negative sign in front is to yield the pos-
itive quantity H since probabilities p
a
are less
than 1.
neon liqueer Any one of several machines
that liquefy neon by causing it to undergo adia-
batic expansion and to do external work.
neon tube A tube in which neon gas at low
pressure is ionized and heated to produce light.
nephelometer An instrument that measures
the size andconcentrationof particles suspended
in liquids by analyzing the scattered light from
the liquid. The nephelometer nds applications
in the quantication of the turbidity in water
caused by colloidally dispersed particles.
Nernst equilibrium potential The Nernst
potential denes the potential of the cell mem-
brane due to a particular ion that is distributed
both outside and inside the cell. The Nernst
equilibrium potential for an ion is given by
V =
RT
zF
ln
Co
Ci
,
where Ris the gas constant, T the absolute tem-
perature, z the charge of the ion in considera-
tion, F Faradays constant, and C
o
and C
i
are
the concentrations of the ion outside and inside
the cell, respectively.
Nernst potentials exist separately for each
ion. The total membrane potential is determined
by the ow of all the ions that cross the plasma
membrane.
nerve conduction velocity Nerve conduc-
tion velocity refers to the velocity of propaga-
tion of an electrical impulse (action potential)
through nerve bers. The velocity of conduc-
tion along the nerve ber is dependent upon
several factors. The rst factor is the outside
diameter of the nerve ber. The fastest conduc-
tion velocity occurs in the largest diameter nerve
bers. Another factor is the temperature of the
nerve ber. Conduction velocity increases at
high temperature and decreases at low. Con-
duction velocity is also affected by myelination
of the nerve ber. Since ions cannot cross the
lipid content of the myelin sheath, they spread
passively down the nerve ber until reaching the
unmyelinated nodes of Ranvier. The nodes of
Ranvier are packed with a high concentration
of ion channels, which upon stimulation, prop-
agate the nerve impulse to the next node. In this
manner the action potential jumps quickly from
node to node along the ber in a process called
saltatory conduction (fromthe Latin saltare, to
jump).
Because there is a denite relationship be-
tween the diameter of the nerve and the conduc-
tion velocity, the diameters of the nerves form
a basis for classifying mammalian nerve bers
into groups in order of decreasing diameter and
decreasing conduction velocity.
2001 CRC Press LLC
See node of Ranvier, electrical characteris-
tics.
nerve impulses, propagation of Anerve im-
pulse has its origins when an external stimulus
is applied to a neuron. The stimulus induces a
change in the membrane potential of the neuron
at the point of stimulation. In order for this nerve
impulse, called action potential, to travel along
axons or dendrites, the membrane needs to be
sequentially depolarized all along the length of
the path that the signal will follow. These mem-
brane depolarizations are very localized in space
and time and typically consist of a change in the
membrane potential from 60 mV to approxi-
mately +30 mV, as measured in squid axons, in
less than a millisecond. The depolarization is a
result of a series of rapid and sequential opening
and closing of voltage-gated Na
+
and K
+
chan-
nels. After the signal traverses a particular point
in the membrane, the depolarization ceases soon
after and returns to its resting value.
There are several steps in the depolarization
process. This process starts with a relatively
small initial change in the membrane potential
(60 to 40 mV) that leads to the rapid opening
of Na
+
channels. The Na
+
then ows into the
cell by diffusion due to the concentration gradi-
ent and also driven by the membrane potential.
The large inux of Na
+
subsequently changes
the membrane potential to +30 mV, approach-
ing the Na
+
equilibrium potential of approxi-
mately +50 mV. At this time the Na
+
channels
are inactivated and voltagegated K
+
channels
are opened, substantially increasing the perme-
ability of the membrane to K+. Similarly to the
Na
+
, the K
+
ows rapidly out of the cell lead-
ing to a 75 mV in the membrane potential. At
this membrane potential, approximately equal
to the K
+
equilibrium potential, the K
+
chan-
nels are inactivated and the membrane returns
to its resting level of 60 mV.
This process is repeated for every element
of length that is adjacent to the initial stimulus
thereby allowing the action potentials to travel
down the length of nerve cell axons as electric
signals.
network An interconnection of basic com-
ponents such as resistors, capacitors, and induc-
tors in series, parallel, delta, , etc, groupings to
form a system that performs a specic function.
The response of this systemto an electrical input
is dependent on the component type, value, and
the manner of connection. The name given to a
network may be described by:
the types of components, such as re-
sistive, resistance-capacitance (R-C),
inductance-capacitance (L-C), induc-
tance (L) networks, etc.
the method of interconnection, such as se-
ries and parallel networks,
the response, such as linear networks that
have linear relationships betweenthe volt-
ages and the currents.
Networks are termed as active if they have an
energy source or sink other than normal ohmic
losses. Passive networks, however, do not have
an energy source.
The term network may alternately be used to
refer to the interconnection of communication
facilities, e.g., computer terminals, telephones,
etc.
network, distributed parameter A circuit
that behaves as if parameters such as resis-
tances, capacitances, and inductances exist con-
tinuously over a physical length. For example,
in a two wire transmission line, the distributed
parameters are series resistance, series induc-
tance, shunt conductance, and shunt capacitance
per unit length of line.
network, ladder A network that consists
of H, L, T, or networks connected in tan-
dem. Ladder networks have been used as nar-
row bandpass lters and digital-to-analog con-
verters.
Ladder network.
2001 CRC Press LLC
network, linear Anetwork in which the cur-
rents and voltages of the circuit elements have
a linear relationship. This usually implies that
the elements, such as capacitances, inductances
or resistances, are constant in magnitude with
varying currents.
network, lumpedparameter In circuit anal-
ysis, any network in which distributed parame-
ters such as inductances, capacitances, or resis-
tances can be treated as single parameters con-
centrated at a point. This approach is usually
valid for a specic frequency range.
network, nonlinear A network in which the
currents and voltages of the circuit elements do
not all have a linear relationship. For exam-
ple, the voltage across a semiconductor diode is
not directly proportional to the current through
it. In signal transmission systems, a nonlinear
network is one in which the signal transmission
characteristics depend on the magnitude of the
input signal.
neuron The neuron (nerve cells) forms the
building block of the nervous systeminthe body.
Neurons are highly specialized cells that trans-
mit electrochemical signals throughout the body
in response to internal and external stimulus. In
humans, neurons may extend to more than a me-
ter long, while in some invertebrates (e.g., the
squid) the neuronal projections (axons) diame-
ters can be as large as 1mm.
The neurons are composed of a cell body
with nucleus, an axon (main signaling projec-
tion) and one or more smaller projections called
dendrites. The axons carry signals over long
distances and the dendrites, having a branch
like structure, serve to receive incoming signals
from other neurons. The basic mechanism of
the neuron is to respond (or not) by an action
potential (see nerve impulses, propagation of)
to several electrical inputs from the dendrites.
If the neuron res an action potential, then it
propagates the signal to other neurons by releas-
ing neurotransmitters across the synapse with
other neurons (see neurotransmitters).
Major types of neurons include the associa-
tive neurons, found within the central nervous
system (CNS), which link sensory and motor
neurons, and motor neurons, which take im-
pulses fromthe CNSto muscles, glands, or other
effector tissues.
neuro-transmitters Neurotransmitters are
small hydrophilic molecules stored in the axons
bulbous end. There are more than 300 known
neurotransmitters of which the endorphins and
acetylcholine are the most common examples.
The function of neurotransmitters is to al-
low different neurons to communicate by elec-
trical signals even when their membranes are
not in direct contact. The way they work is
the following: If an electrical signal is traveling
through the membrane of a neuron, upon reach-
ing the end of the axon the signal is carried from
one neuron to the other via neurotransmitters
that are released in the space (synapse) in be-
tween the two neurons. The neurotransmitters
then travel from one (presynaptic) membrane to
the other (postsynaptic) membrane, ultimately
binding to the postsynapse neuron receptors in
quantity that is in proportion to the strength
of the electrical signal. The receptors, usu-
ally ligandgated ion channels, then are opened
(e.g., acetylcholine receptors of muscle cells).
Inmuscles, acetylcholine opens channels that
are permeable to both Na
+
and K
+
. The en-
trance of Na
+
to the muscle cell depolarizes the
cell membrane and triggers an action potential.
The action potential in turn opens the voltage
gated Ca
2+
channels, leading to the increase in
intracellular Ca
2+
that results incontraction(see
muscle, mechanics).
neutral point The common point of a Y-
connection in polyphase circuits. Also refers to
the point at zero voltage in a system consisting
of a number of identical parts. Although both
of these denitions generally refer to power and
distribution transformers, they can also be used
for systems where the circuit elements are non-
reactive resistances. In this case, the number of
resistances is two for direct-current or single-
phase alternating-current, four for two-phase,
and three for three-, six- or twelve-phase sys-
tems.
neutron therapy Neutron therapy falls into
the larger category of radiation therapies by
which energy is transported from a source to
a target. The source can be ionizing radiation
2001 CRC Press LLC
Neutral point for a Y-connection 3-phase circuit.
(e.g., Xrays, gamma rays) or particles (e.g.,
electrons, protons, neutrons). When the source,
electromagnetic or particle, interacts with tis-
sue, a production of free radicals and oxidants
occur that subsequently damage or break cellu-
lar DNA, impairing cells from the capacity to
divide and may even lead to cell death.
The therapy is widely used in cancer treat-
ment. Damage to normal cells is diminished
by the careful shielding of adjacent areas to the
treated ones. When used properly, radiation
may cause less damage than surgery and can
often preserve organ structure and function.
Atomic elements used to some extent in can-
cer therapy as a source for neutrons in neutron
therapy are the heavier actinides those be-
yond plutonium in the periodic table.
Newtons rings Interference pattern pro-
duced when light is reected fromthe upper and
lower surfaces of an air lm of variable thick-
ness formed in the space between a convex sur-
face and a at surface in which it is in contact.
Typical geometry used to show Newtons rings
interference pattern involves light incident on
air gap between glass surfaces of different cur-
vature. Diagram below shows example of inter-
fering light rays in this geometry.
Newtons rings.
The maximum in the interference pattern for
light of a particular wavelength occurs at posi-
tions where the lm thickness matches an in-
teger multiple of that wavelength. Resulting
fringes follow lines of equal thickness corre-
sponding to concentric rings centered at the con-
tact point between the curved and at surfaces.
A dark spot occurs in the center of the fringe
pattern as a consequence of a phase change of
between rays reected from glass to air and air
to glass surfaces, respectively. Where incident
radiation corresponds to white light, the inter-
ference pattern consists of colored rings with
a central dark spot. The rst observation of
rings, credited to Isaac Newton (16421727),
may have been made by Robert Hooke in the
same era.
nitrogen, liquid A single stage air liquefac-
tion process using the Stirling cycle is usually
the basis for Philips nitrogen liqueers. Liquid
nitrogen is usually preferred over liquid air on
grounds of safety and constant temperature. It
is obtained at a temperature of 77 K liquid, and
nitrogen is usually used in the precooling stage
when cooling with
4
He. The quality of vacua in
the laboratory is improved by using liquid nitro-
gen cold traps. Liquid nitrogen is relatively in-
expensive compared to liquid heliumfor cooling
and is therefore preferred for cooling equipment
using high temperature superconductors.
NMR nuclei in biological materials A non-
invasive diagnostic technique drawn froman ap-
plication of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) where ra-
dio waves are beamed into a person who is under
the inuence of an external powerful magnetic
eld. Because different atoms in the body ab-
sorb radio waves at different frequencies of the
radio waves, the absorption can be measured
and specic data from specic atomic species
can be reconstructed by a computer to render
threedimensional images of internal structures
in the body. Molecules containing hydrogen
(e.g., water molecules in body tissue) are espe-
cially suited to align magnetically and resonate,
giving out enhanced absorbance.
Unhampered by bone and capable of produc-
ing images in a variety of planes, MRI is used
in the diagnosis of brain tumors and disorders,
2001 CRC Press LLC
spinal disorders, multiple sclerosis, and cardio-
vascular disease. The procedure is considered
to be without risk to the patient.
NMR probes Probes that can be imaged
by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) include
atoms of uorine-19 and phosphorus-31, among
others (not including hydrogen). These atoms
can serve as probes for various tracer studies.
NMR zeugmatography In typical magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) studies, the nuclear
signal, coming from the coupling of the exter-
nal magnetic eld and radio waves to the atomic
nuclear spin, has a large wavelength (tens of me-
ters). This means that any directional informa-
tion is lost or very hard to determine.
One way to get spatial information fromMRI
studies is by using the dependence of the reso-
nance of the nucleus to the external driving fre-
quency of the radio waves. In this way spatial
information is coded in the frequency part of the
signal. This is accomplished by using a mag-
netic gradient instead of a constant eld. Then,
by changing the magnetic gradient spatial infor-
mation is put into the frequency domain. By
Fourier transformations the signal can be con-
verted fromkspace to real space. This gradient
eld method is called zeugmatography.
nodal planes/points A pair of conjugate
points or planes on an axis of an optical sys-
tem. An incident ray passing through one of
them causes an emergent ray to pass through
the other.
nodal slides The nodal slides are used for
determination of nodal points or the nodal plane
location for a lens system. The nodal slides
are equipped with one collimating telescope that
contains a distance marker. The collimator num-
ber coincides with the focal lengths of the lens
combination.
node Locations in a standing wave at which
the displacement is zero at all times. The
displacement y
n
for a vibration correspond-
ing to the nth harmonic frequency
n
in a
standing wave, as a function of the longitu-
dinal coordinate x and time t, is represented
by y
n
(A
n
cos
n
t+B
n
sin
n
t) sin

n
x
c
, where
A
n
and B
n
are constants and c the speed of
sound. The frequency f
n
= nc/2 is n times
the fundamental frequency, and is the wave-
length. By considering the term sin(
n
x/c) =
(nx/), it becomes obvious that the displace-
ment y
n
is zero at all times for x such that
(nx)/ = m, with m = 0, 1, 2, 3, . . . , n.
These positions are called the nodal points or
nodes of the standing wave pattern.
node of Ranvier, electrical characteristics
The nodes of Ranvier are regularly spaced gaps
in the myelin sheath along the length of a nerve
ber. Because these gaps are the only places
where the membrane of the neuron is in contact
with the extracellular plasma, this region has a
high concentration of ion channels that permit
the ow of ions in and out of the membrane.
The myelinated spacing is one of the key
components so that the action potential does not
decay rapidly with distance (high capacitance),
and the high concentration of ion channels per-
mit the repeat of the signal from node to node
(rapid depolarization), thus giving rise to the
saltatory transport of the action potential.
node of Ranvier, equivalent electrical
network Under the assumptions of the Ca-
ble model, the circuit fragment models an axon,
where the vertical RCcomponents represent the
axon membranes at the nodes of Ranvier, the top
row of resistors corresponds to the resistance of
the intracellular uid, and the bottom row resis-
tors correspond to the intracellular domain. The
vertical resistors in the RC components repre-
sent the fact that the nodes of Ranvier act as
leaky capacitors.
Because of the resting potential of the mem-
brane, all the capacitors are charged. The action
potential then corresponds to a discharge of a
capacitor at a particular node.
Following further the assumptions of the Ca-
ble model, all of the horizontal resistances are
the same. Using the innite axon approxima-
tion, where both ends of the circuit are assumed
the same, and the minimal current is owing ex-
cept in the node where the action potential is
occurring, we can simplify the above circuit.
Typically R, the resistance of the uid (
12k), is an order of magnitude smaller than
2001 CRC Press LLC
the membrane resistance R
m
( 200k). R
t
is
the equivalent resistance of the rest of the axon.
Ranvier.
noise Sound in the acoustic spectrum that
is unwanted, either because of its effect on hu-
mans, interference with the perception or de-
tection of other sounds, its effect on fatigue,
or malfunction of physical equipment. Sources
of noise include industrial sources (machinery),
transportation (moving sources, such as aircraft
and road vehicles as well as airport or road
noise), community noise, or noise generated by
air conditioning systems.
noise, ambient, level The surrounding back-
ground noise level caused by natural and man-
made sources. The noise at radio frequencies
that is generated by natural causes is referred to
as static noise. Static noise normally originates
from the atmospheric conditions caused by the
presence of static electricity in the air through
which radio waves are propagated. Manmade
noise arises from human sources, usually elec-
trical devices. At radio frequencies, ambient
noise is usually heard as an unpleasant crackling
sound at the output loudspeaker. Ambient noise
should not be confused with noise generated by
electrical circuits in receivers and transmitters.
noise, biological effects of The effect of
noise on humans depends on the intensity of
noise and its duration, and ranges from annoy-
ance, interference with speech, communications
and sleep, to hearing damage (for example by
rupturing the eardrum), and hearing loss in more
severe cases. In addition to the acoustical fac-
tors nonacoustical factors such as attitude and
environmental factors, inuence the level of an-
noyance noise poses. Descriptors and measures,
involving factors such as loudness and loudness
level, noisiness and perceived noise level, sound
levels, articulation index, speech interference
level, indoor noise criteria, equivalent and per-
centile sound levels, day-night sound levels, etc.
are available to nd criteria regarding accept-
able noise levels. Means to combat noise and
its negative effects on humans include hearing
protection devices (earplugs, earmuffs or hel-
mets), passive measures of noise control (sound
absorbing or damping materials, vibration iso-
lation, sound barriers, enclosures), as well as
active noise control (sound sensed by a micro-
phone is processed and fed back through a loud-
speaker to destructively interfere with the sound
emitted by the primary source).
noise, density in space The RMS noise-
voltage density, v
N
, is given by
V
N
(rms) = v
N
B
1
2
,
where V
N
is the RMS noise voltage measure in
a bandwidth B. In general, detected noise de-
pends on the measurement bandwidth. Awhite-
noise source has a v
N
that does not depend on
frequency. The squared noise density v
2
N
is also
commonly encountered.
noise factor The ratio of the product of the
signal output S
o
and input noise power N
i
to the
product of the input signal S
i
and output noise
power N
o
, = S
o
N
i
/S
i
N
o
.
noise, Johnson Noise arising from uctu-
ations of carrier velocities in a resistor at a -
nite temperature. This is also called thermal or
Nyquist noise. These uctuations give rise to
a mean square noise voltage V
2
noise
= 4kTRB
where k is Boltzmanns constant, T is the tem-
perature, R is the value of the resistance where
the noise is generated, and B is the bandwidth.
2001 CRC Press LLC
noiseless coding A source coding scheme is
noiseless if all the encoders input symbol val-
ues are uniquely related to the encoders output
symbol values. That is, no distortion or noise
has been introduced in the coding process. Oth-
erwise, the source code embodies a corrupted
representation of the original data. The aver-
age number of bits necessary to encode a dis-
crete memoryless source must equal or exceed
the sources entropy.
noise level The value, usually given in deci-
bels, of a noise signal measured at a particular
connection.
noise meter The process of quantitatively
determining one or more acoustical properties
(such as duration, sound pressure level, varia-
tion as function of time, frequency content, pres-
ence of pure tones or background noise level,
impulsive character) of acoustic noise. No sin-
gle descriptor is available to uniquely character-
ize noise. Noise generated by moving sources is
commonly characterized in terms of sound pres-
sure levels at a certain dened location. Station-
ary sources are usually described by their sound
power output that is measured either by mov-
ing a small source into a reverberation room or
by measuring it on a hemispherical or rectangu-
lar measurement surface and applying a correc-
tion to these data. Data are also obtained in the
normal environment in case of larger sources
of noise and corrected appropriately. The re-
sponse of the equipment used to measure noise
is often weighted to match the way the human
auditory system would respond to it. The sound
level of noise is dened through the sound-level
meter built and operated according to American
Standard requirements. See also noise; noise,
biological effects of.
noise, pseudo-noise (1) Random noise is
noise that arises from any randomly occurring
transient disturbance. If the rate of occurrence
of the disturbance is sufciently high, it results
in white noise, similar to thermal noise. If the
rate of occurrence is low, random noise con-
tributes to impulse noise. All electronic cir-
cuits and devices suffer from thermal and ran-
dom noise.
(2) Avery accessible and attractive technique
for generating a source of digital noise is to gen-
erate a pseudo-random sequence. A pseudo-
random sequence of binary digits has similar
probability and correlation properties to an ideal
string of random digits. The pseudo-random
sequence is, however, totally predictable and
repeatable although any portion of such a se-
quence looks for all intents and purposes just
like a truly randomsequence. It is easy to gener-
ate sequences of bits that have good randomness
properties using standard deterministic logic el-
ements such as shift registers.
noise, random Random noise describes an
acoustical quantity, such as acoustic pressure,
whose variation as a function of time is de-
scribed through the Gaussian (normal) distri-
bution. Examples of such noise are the ran-
dom noise caused by the random motion of
air molecules. Electrical quantities can also be
characterized by random noise (motion of elec-
trons).
noise, shot (Also known as Schottky noise,
icker noise.) Shot noise results from the sta-
tistical uctuations of charge carriers across a
junction and is given by
i
2
N
= 2eIB ,
where i
N
is the RMS noise current, e is the
charge of an electron, I is the DC current, and
Bis the bandwidth of the measuring instrument.
Shot noise is independent of frequency. The dif-
ference between thermal noise and shot noise is
that the latter is related to the DCcurrent through
the junction.
no-load (electric circuit) Operation of any
electric circuit under rated operating conditions
but in the absence of an impedance at the output.
non-inverter A logic device that does not
change the state of the input voltage.
nonlinear circuit A nonlinear circuit is a
circuit in which the amplitude of the current is
no longer proportional to the amplitude of the
voltage. A circuit containing a nonlinear device
such as a diode is an example of nonlinear cir-
cuit.
2001 CRC Press LLC
non-linearity The type of relationship of two
quantities xand y that cannot be expressed in the
formy = ax+b with a and b constants. A con-
dition in an amplier circuit in which the output
is not proportional to the input. A property of
circuits that cannot be analyzed with just series
and parallel branches of linear elements.
nonlinear susceptibilities Tensor quanti-
ties that relate the electric polarization vec-
tor in a material medium, P(r, t), to products
of the components of the electric eld vector
E(r, t), which induce the polarization. More
precisely, functions
(N)
jkl...
(r, tt
1
, tt
2
, . . . t
t
N
), termed electric susceptibilities, are dened
through an expansion of the j-th component of
the electric polarization vector in products of the
electric eld components in a given medium in
the form:
P
j
(r, t) =

dt
1

(1)
jk
(r, t t
1
)E
k
(r, t
1
)
+

dt
1

dt
2

(2)
jkl
(r, t t
1
, t t
2
)
E
k
(r, t
1
)E
l
(r, t
2
)
+

dt
1

dt
2

dt
3

(3)
jklm
(r, t t
1
, t t
2
, t t
3
)
E
k
(r, t
1
)E
l
(r, t
2
)E
m
(r, t
3
) + ,
where use is made of the summation convention
(implying a sum over repeated indices from 1 to
3).
The quantities
(N)
jkl...
(r, t t
1
, t t
2
,
. . . tt
N
), for N > 1, are then dened to be the
nonlinear susceptibilities, and
(1)
jk
(r, t t
1
) is
dened to be the linear susceptibility. As de-
ned, the magnitudes of the susceptibility func-
tions are determined strictly by the properties
of the material medium, while the time depen-
dence of the functions is restricted by causality
through the equation

(N)
jkl...
(r, t t
1
, t t
2
, . . . t t
N
) = 0 ,
t
s
> t (s = 1, 2, 3, . . . ) .
Fourier transformation of the functions
P
j
(r, t) and E
j
(r, t), and replacement of the
integration over the transform variable by a
summation over discrete values of , make pos-
sible a denition of Fourier-transformed suscep-
tibility functions via an equation of the form:
P
j
(r, t) =

N=1

n
e
i
n
t

1
,...
N

N
s

s
=
n

(N)
jkl...
(
n
;
1
,
2
, . . .
N
)
E
k
(
1
) E
l
(
2
) . . . E
m
(
N
) ,
where the dependencies on the space coordinate
r are suppressed on the right of the equality sign.
In general, the magnitudes of the nonlinear sus-
ceptibilities are small compared to the magni-
tude of the linear susceptibility, and the terms in
the expansion for P
j
(r, t) beyond the rst term
are therefore small compared to the rst term,
except where the magnitude of the electric eld
E is large.
non-reciprocal device A device for which
the reciprocity theorem does not apply. In these
devices, I
o
/V
i
measured with the output termi-
nals shorted is not equal to I
i
/V
o
with the in-
put terminals shorted. Most such devices are
active devices, although some passive devices
involving gyromagnetic material may be non-
reciprocal.
non-saturating circuit Acircuit in which the
output does not asymptotically approach a limit-
ing value as the input is increased or decreased.
Transistor-based switching circuits that do not
operate in the saturation region of the transistor.
NOR A logic operation that gives 0 if either
of the two inputs is 1 and gives 1 if both inputs
are 0.
Norton equivalent A current source in par-
allel with a resistor that is equivalent to a circuit
containing voltage sources and resistors. It is
2001 CRC Press LLC
often used to simplify the analysis of complex
circuits.
note Asign, dened by convention, that indi-
cates the pitch of a musical sound by its position
on the staff, and its duration by the shape of the
sign.
n-type silicon Silicon (Si) that is doped with
a donor impurity (pentavalent atoms such as ar-
senic (As), phosphorus (P), etc.) and in which
electrons, which are negatively charged, are the
majority carriers (electron concentration is
much higher than hole concentration).
nuclear angiography Magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI), of the same nature as nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomena, can be
tailored to visualize owing blood using mag-
netic resonance angiography, or nuclear angiog-
raphy.
Because MRI uses the same principles as
NMR, using radio waves coupled with high
magnetic elds to detect structural andbiochem-
ical information about tissue in the body, it is a
noninvasive procedure that is safer than imaging
with Xrays or gamma rays.
Nuclear angiography takes advantage of the
fact that MRI needs a longer scanning time than,
for example, CT, which makes MRI more sensi-
tive to motion studies. Adirect application is the
imaging of owing blood by visualizing arter-
ies and veins. Other areas that make use of this
technique are in the examination of the bladder
and a blood ow to the brain. Abnormal ow
may indicate obstructions or other pathological
conditions.
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) Res-
onant absorption of radio frequency radiation
by the nucleus. A nucleus has discrete closely
spaced energy levels corresponding to the orien-
tation of the nuclear magnetic moment in an ap-
plied eld. The nucleus is able to resonantly ab-
sorb radiation composed of photons whose en-
ergycorresponds tothe difference betweenthese
energy levels. Can be useful in chemical iden-
tication since small changes in local magnetic
eld at the nucleus due to chemical bonding can
be accurately measured in this technique. Forms
the physical basis for magnetic resonance imag-
ing (MRI) in medicine. See photon.
Nusselt equation Gives the relationship be-
tween the heat transfer coefcient to the thermal
conductivity of the gas, the effective diameter of
the tube, its dimensions, and the viscosity and
heat capacity for the gas. Nusselts equation for
heat transfer by convective ow is given by
Nu = const(Re)
x
(Pr)
y
(D
e
/L)
z
,
where Nu represents the Nusselt number, Re,
Reynolds number and Pr, Prandtls number.
Values for the indices and the constant are found
experimentally. The Nusselt number is obtained
by the ratio of the density of the heat ux in the
presence of natural convection to the density of
the heat ux with non-moving interstitial uid.
Nyquist criterion A condition for an ampli-
er to be stable, it states that if a polar plot of
the loop gain as a function of the complex fre-
quency encloses the point (1,0), the amplier is
unstable.
2001 CRC Press LLC
O
object distance The distance from the ver-
tex to the object. From the thin-lens equation,
the image distance s for a thin-lens, whose fo-
cal length is f, can be calculated from object
distance s

as
1
s
=
1
f
+
1
s

,
1
f
=
(n

n)
n

1
R
+
1
R

where the radius surface of the lens is Rand R

.
The object distance of a thick lens should be
measured from the principal planes of the lens.
See image distance.
objective, immersion A high-power micro-
scope objective in which the space between the
lens and the cover glass is lled with an oil. The
refractive index of the oil should be the same as
the objective and the cover glass in order to re-
duce reection losses and spherical aberration.
The numerical aperture of a microscope objec-
tive indicates the brightness of the image (sim-
ilar to the f-number), and it is proportional to
the refractive index of the immersing medium.
Because the refractive index of the immersing
medium is higher than that of the air, the nu-
merical aperture becomes higher. This causes
an increase in the resolving power of the micro-
scope.
Immersion objective.
object, real An object that actually emits rays
of light in an optical system. Sometimes used
synonymously with real image.
object, virtual Sometimes used synony-
mously with virtual image. An object that ap-
pears to emit rays of light, but actually does not.
octave A band in the frequency scale for
which the higher frequency f
max
is twice the
lower frequency f
min
, f
max
= 2f
min
. The in-
terval between any two frequencies having a ra-
tio of 2 to 1. The concept of xed frequency ra-
tios, which dene proportional frequency bands,
is used in the theory of musical temperament.
In the equal temperament with the 12 note per
octave scale, the successive notes are 1/12 oc-
tave apart. An interval with the frequency ratio
2
1/12
= 1.0595 is called a half step.
ocular An ocular is a kind of magnier. It
enlarges the intermediate image of the object as
formed by preceding lenses in the optical system
and is not used to view an actual object. An
ocular forms a virtual image. It is also known
as an eyepiece.
Ocular: Huygens, Ramsden, and Kellner.
There are several kinds of oculars. A Huy-
gens ocular consists of a pair of plano-convex
lenses of which the convex sides of both lenses
are facing the object. A Ramsden ocular con-
sists of two plano-convex lenses. The two lenses
are almost the same as their convex sides are
facing each other. A Keller ocular has a plano-
convex lens and an achromatic doublet as a
plano-convex lens for the eye-lens. It is an
achromatic Ramsden ocular. The usage of an
achromatic lens causes an increase in image
quality, and is used for wide eld telescopes.
An orthotropic ocular and a symmetrical ocu-
lar have long eye relief with wide-eld and high
magnication. A Ere ocular consists of three
achromatic doublets. It has well-corrected aber-
rations and is used for wide-eld application.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Ocular: orthotropic, symmetrical, Ere.
Oersted The CGS unit of magnetic eld
intensity abbreviated Oe. Named in honor of
Danish physicist and chemist Hans C. Oersted
(17771851) who is famous for pioneering work
in electricity and magnetism. See magnetic in-
tensity.
OFF The state in which no power or input
is given to a circuit or in which the circuit is
producing no output signal. The condition in
which the output of a digital ip-op is low.
Offset The deviation of a signal from zero.
Often used for the DC portion of a combined
AC/DC signal (a zero signal offset).
ohmic loss The power dissipated by the re-
sistance of an electrical circuit as a result of cur-
rent owing through it. The power dissipated,
P, current, I, and resistance R are related by
P = I
2
R .
The total ohmic loss for a circuit in which
there is a distribution of resistances with differ-
ent currents owing through each is obtained by
summing the ohmic loss in each resistance.
Ohmic loss can occur when a current ows
through an ionized gas as electrons dissipate
their energy by collisions with ions, atoms, and
molecules.
ohm, international Symbol: . The SI unit
of electrical resistance. A current of 1 ampere
througha resistance of 1ohmrequires a potential
difference of 1 volt across it. Its denition is
the resistance offered to a steady current by a
column of mercury, 14.4521 gms in mass and
106.300 cm long, at 0

C.
ohmmeter An instrument used for the di-
rect measurement of electrical resistance. The
component with an unknown resistance is usu-
ally connected across two terminals that have a
potential difference between them. The magni-
tude of the current that ows is proportional to
the resistance. A part of this current also passes
through a galvanometer, and the value of the re-
sistance is indicated by the deection of the gal-
vanometer, measured against a calibrated scale.
However, the galvanometer, in many ohmme-
ters of this type have been replaced with a dig-
ital display. These use a variety of analog to
digital conversion circuitry before the value of
the resistance is displayed. Ohmmeters that rely
on this type of two-terminal conguration have
limited accuracy. Four-terminal or bridge type
arrangements (e.g., Wheatstone bridge) must be
used for greater accuracy.
Ohms law States that the electrical cur-
rent, I, owing through a metal conductor is
directly proportional to the potential difference,
V , across it. This relationship is expressed as
V = IR ,
where the constant of proportionality R is the
resistance of the conductor. Ohms law is only
applicable to circuits carrying direct current
through conductors with a constant resistance.
Consequently, the temperature of the conductor
must be held constant since resistance is usually
temperature dependent.
Ohms law cannot be applied to alternating-
current circuits, since the current no longer sim-
ply depends on the resistance and potential dif-
ference, but also on the frequency of the source
and the inductance and capacitance that may be
contained in the circuit. However, the law has
been modied to include the effects of these fac-
tors by substituting the impedance, Z, in place
of the resistance, R, such that
V = IZ .
It is sometimes convenient to rewrite Ohms law
in terms of the current density J and the electric
2001 CRC Press LLC
eld strength E across the conductor as
J = E ,
where the constant of proportionality is the
conductivity.
Ohms law in acoustics Describes the way
individual partials of a musical sound are per-
ceived by the human ear. The ear can separate a
complex tone into its spectral components and
perform a kind of Fourier spectral analysis.
ON The state in which a circuit is receiving
power and input and is producing an output. The
state in which a digital ip-op output is high.
online An electrical device, such as a pe-
ripheral device of a computer, is online if it is
directly connected to the computer and is ready
to perform its function. On the other hand, off-
line denotes a peripheral device, possibly an on-
line device, which is switched off, broken, or
disconnected from a computer.
Onsager theory Deals with the ow of both
a heat current and an electric current in a wire si-
multaneously. Entropy is generated in the wire
due to both processes. In the absence of a po-
tential difference, a heat current depends only
on the temperature difference but when there is
a potential difference as well, the heat current
depends on both the temperature difference and
the potential difference. When both temperature
and potential differences exist across a wire, the
electric current depends on both of these differ-
ences. The heat ow, the entropy ow, and the
electricity ow are irreversible, coupled ows
that exist in a wire as a result of a departure
from equilibrium conditions. If the departure
from equilibrium is not too great, the heat and
electric current I
s
and I, respectively are lin-
ear functions of the temperature difference, T,
and potential differences, E, and are given by
the following Onsager equations:
I
s
= L
11
T/T +L
12
E/T
I = L
21
T/T +L
22
E/T .
This expresses the linearity between the ows
(or currents) and the generalized forces T/T
and E/T. They can also be represented by
Onsagers reciprocal relation L
12
= L
21
where
Ls are coefcients connected with electric resis-
tance, thermal conductivity and the thermoelec-
tric properties of the wire.
opacity This measure indicates how a
medium is opaque to electromagnetic radiation
and is reciprocal to the transmittance.
opaque object This is an object that does not
transmit electromagnetic radiation, especially
light.
open circuit Term applied to part or all of
an electrical circuit in which the impedance is
innite. In practice, this may be done by phys-
ically disconnecting a conductor or component
necessary to complete that part of the circuit.
open circuit voltage The voltage measured
at a terminal when there is no load connected to
the terminal (i.e., no current).
open-loop An amplier circuit in which there
is no feedback connection.
opera glass Avery simple compact binocular
Galilean telescope. Its magnication is low and
its eld of view not very wide.
operating point The point that corresponds
to the current and voltage values of a device un-
der load. It is the intersection of the load-line
and the device I-V curve. See also load-line.
operational amplier A very high gain DC
differential amplier with two inputs and a sin-
gle output. It produces positive output when
the noninverting input is higher than the invert-
ing input and negative output when the inverting
input is higher. It was originally used for math-
ematical purposes.
ophthalmometer An instrument to measure
curvature of the anterior corneal surface and
astigmatism of the eye. It is also known as a
Keratometer.
ophthalmoscope An optical device to ob-
serve the inside of the eye (the retina, the fun-
2001 CRC Press LLC
dus, and so on) through the pupil. It illuminates
the eyeground through the pupil.
optical activity Phenomenon in which the
plane of polarization of a linearly polarized light
wave is rotated in passage through a material
medium. The effect occurs in materials in which
the crystalline layers of the material or its con-
stituent molecules exhibit a systematic twist,
causing right- and left-handed circularly polar-
ized light to propagate in the material with dif-
ferent speeds. The phenomenonoccurs inquartz
crystals and in certain sugar crystals as well as in
sugar solutions. Rotation of the plane of linear
polarization is explained by the fact that a lin-
early polarized light wave can be decomposed
into two circularly polarized light waves, with
oppositely directed polarizations, that propagate
at (slightly) different speeds through optically
active material, so as to produce a rotation of
the plane of linear polarization at the exit sur-
face of the material. The amount and direction
of rotation of the polarization vector is in gen-
eral dependent on both the wavelength of the
light and the properties of the given material.
optical axial angle The size of the angle be-
tween the two optic axes of a biaxial crystal.
The angle can be calculated from the refrac-
tive indices , , and . , , and are the
index of the fastest light, intermediate light, and
the slowest light:
tan
2

=
1

2

1

2
1

2

1

2
.
When > /2, the crystal is obtuse bisectrix
and negative. When < /2, the crystal is
acute bisectrix and positive. The optical axial
angle is constant for each particular substance at
a given temperature and pressure. The optical
axes of the wave normals is obtained from the
points of the two wave normal surfaces. See
optical axial plane.
optical axial plane Also called the optical
plane. The plane that is dened by two optical
axes of a biaxial crystal. The normal of the op-
tical axial plane is called the optic normal. The
optical axial angle is constant for each particular
substance at a given temperature and pressure.
Optical axial angle.
The axis that bisects the angle between the op-
tic axes is called the bisectrix. See also optical
axis; optical axial angle.
Optical plane.
optical axis A straight line passing through
the optical center, it is also known as the princi-
pal axis. See also meridian plane.
optical bench A rigid but movable rod or
track equipped with mountings for optical ex-
periments. When an optical bench is used, it is
possible to slide optical components along the
bench and to determine the position precisely
withattachedscales. Some optical benches have
internally damped honeycomb structures.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Optical axis and optical center of a lens.
optical bistability Phenomenon in which
the intensity of the light output from a material
mediumswitches discontinuously between high
and low values as the intensity of the input light
is continuously varied. Effect in general occurs
only where the interaction between the light and
the material medium exhibits a nonlinear de-
pendence on the electric eld of the light wave,
which causes the intensity of the light output
from the medium, I
out
, to be a multiple-valued
function of the input intensity, I
in
, correspond-
ing to a graph of I
out
vs. I
in
of the form shown
in the diagram.
Optical bistability.
optical center A point on the axis of optical
components, in which each ray passing through
the optical center does not deviate. It is also
known as the pole.
optical channel An optical channel may be
free space, the atmosphere, or silica glass ber
optics, depending on the material mediumof the
optical communication system. The free space
optical channel embodies an ideal communica-
tions channel because free space neither distorts
nor attenuates the transmitted signal. An atmo-
spheric optical channel, with even minute tem-
perature variations, may signicantly broaden
the spatial directivity or bend the path of op-
tical signals. Fog or snow would sufciently
attenuate the optical signals to render outdoor
atmospheric optical communication unfeasible
for distances much farther than that between
adjacent buildings. Indoor optical communica-
tion channels would not suffer from this fog and
snow problem, but temperature variation would
still affect the channel. Silica glass rods pro-
vide unparalleled transparency to optical sig-
nals. Signal distortion, however, occurs in long-
distance transmission as the light wave reects
off the boundary between the two glass layers
in the coaxial cylindrical step-index ber opti-
cal ber, wherein the core layer is made of glass
with a slightly higher refraction index than the
coaxial outer layer.
optical communication Optical communi-
cation refers to the transmission and reception
of information using electromagnetic waves in
the visible and infrared parts of the electromag-
netic frequency spectrum. Optical communica-
tion may also be through free space (in inter-
satellite communications), through the earths
atmosphere, or through silica glass optic bers.
Free space or atmospheric optical communi-
cations differ from the more traditional radio
communications primarily in the use of elec-
tromagnetic waves at much higher frequencies
(on the order of 300,000 GHz), such that the
signal wavelengths are much shorter than the
dimension of the hardware devices themselves.
This exceedingly high frequency provides very
wide bandwidths for individual channels, facil-
itates the miniaturization of hardware compo-
nents, exploits the unparalleled transparency of
silica glass as a transmission wave guide via
ber optic communications. Lasers, with their
superior spatial directivity relative to incoher-
ent radiation, are often desirable optical light
sources in free space, through the atmosphere,
or in optical bers. However, fog or snowwould
sufciently attenuate the optical signals to ren-
der outdoor atmospheric optical communica-
tion unfeasible for distances much farther than
that between adjacent buildings. Optical signals
may be modulated using the conventional am-
2001 CRC Press LLC
plitude, frequency or phase techniques, but in-
tensity modulation and polarization modulation
are most common.
optical density A measure of the light-
stopping power of a transparent material, de-
ned to equal the logarithm of the ratio of the
intensity of the eld in the incident light, I
0
, to
the intensity of the eld in the transmitted light,
I.
optical glass Glass used in the manufac-
ture of optical parts, lenses, prisms, and so on.
It should be free from defects such as bubbles
and strain. In choosing a proper glass, refrac-
tion and dispersion of the glass are important.
Practically, more than three refractive indices
are used to characterize a glass. Usually, three
Fraunhofer lines are used to specify the refrac-
tive index of the glass: the Hydrogen C-line
( = 656.2816 nm, red), the Helium D-line
( = 587.5618 nm, yellow), the Hydrogen F-
line ( = 486.1327 nm, blue). Usually, the
index of refraction for yellowlight (SodiumD-
lines; wavelength 589.3 nm) is used as the main
refractive index. There are more than 200 kinds
of optical glass, which is divided into seven cate-
gories: crown, borosilicate crown, dense crown,
light int, int, dense int, and others.
Typical Value of
Refractive Index of
Optical Glass
Name n
d
Borosilicate crown 1.51
Crown 1.52
Dense crown 1.6
Light int 1.58
Flint 1.62
Dense int 1.7
Ordinary crown glass has a refractive index
within the range 1.51 to 1.54. Flint glass con-
tains a refractive index between 1.58 and 1.72.
Lanthanoid oxide is added to optical glass to
make the refractive index higher.
optical path/path length The optical path is
simply the product of length/distance and the re-
fractive index. More precisely, the optical path t
is the integral of the refractive index (n(s)) over
elements of length along the path (P) which rays
pass through:
t =

P
n(s)ds .
It is also known as optical distance or optical
length. Fremats principle says that light tra-
verses the paths of which the optical pass-length
has the smallest value.
optical pumping Process whereby selected
quantum energy levels in atomic or molecular
systems are excited by optical radiation (called
pumping radiation) so as to produce an inver-
sion in the thermal distribution of the selected
level(s) with respect to the lower (or ground)
levels. Process is necessary for production of
laser or maser radiation via enhanced stimulated
emission.
optical switching Process in which a non-
linear interaction between light and a material
medium causes an optical signal to switch be-
tween two or more output modes as a function of
the input intensity. Contrasts with electro-optic
switching in which an optical signal is switched
betweenoutput modes via applicationof anelec-
tric eld to the medium. The phenomenon (in
principle) makes possible signal routing pro-
cesses used in optical communications and logi-
cal operations required in all-optical computing.
High eld intensity for enhancement of nonlin-
ear interaction needed for switching is in general
the result of either partial connement of light
inside a (nonlinear) etalon or concentration of
light in a waveguide or directional coupler. Op-
tical switching devices divide into types based
on a single input beam and on both an input sig-
nal and a control beam.
optics, collecting See optics, detection.
optics, detection That part of a microscope
of any kind, spectrometer, or other instrument
that deals with the analysis of visible light, that
gathers, collects, or detects the relevant light that
is scattered or transmitted in any way from the
2001 CRC Press LLC
body in observation. An example is given in
confocal detection optics.
optometer Any of a large class of optical and
mechanical instruments used to measure refrac-
tive errors of the eye, generally combining both
subjective and objective elements in measure-
ments; predecessors of current refractometers
and automated refractors.
OR A logic operation that gives 1 if either of
the two inputs is 1 and gives 0 if both inputs are
0.
organ pipes, vibration in Aerodynamically
generated vibrations of air columns in pipes are
the source of soundinthe organ(ue pipe). Con-
stant air owenters the pipe through an opening
and a lip strikes a knife edge above the mouth.
The resonator, an open pipe, is connected to
this lower structure. The air stream emerging
through the lip undergoes unstable oscillation,
and it can, at the appropriate streamvelocity, ex-
cite the resonator. The fundamental frequency
of the resonator determines the pitch of the pipe
for self-excitation. The larger the cross section
of the pipe (resonator) the more the fundamental
dominates the tone produced by the pipe. See
also pipes, sound from.
orthogonal code An orthogonal code refers
to a code wherein various message bits are rep-
resented by distinct sequences of digits and any
two such sequences are orthogonal to each other.
That is, if each sequence is considered a vector,
then the inner product of any two sequences in
the code has an inner vector product equal to
zero.
oscillation, parasitic Spontaneous oscil-
lations in a circuit generated by lead induc-
tances and inter-lead capacitances. They can
be sources of noise in oscillator circuits.
oscillations, energy of Energy (E) associ-
ated with wave motion caused by the action of
springlike forces and involving kinetic (K) and
potential (u) energies. Waves can transport en-
ergy without the transport of mass. For exam-
ple, the average energy density of transverse
traveling waves on a stretched string with mass
Organ pipe.
per unit length under tension T is

dE
dx

dK
dx

+ u =
1
2

2
y
2
0
, with as the angular
frequency and y
0
the wave amplitude. The en-
ergy density is itself a traveling wave transport-
ing energy at speed v = /k =

T/ and it
is proportional to the squares of oscillation am-
plitude and frequency. See also power in wave
motion.
oscillations, spontaneous Oscillations oc-
curring naturally in unstable circuits or devices
in the absence of a triggering signal, as opposed
to those that occur only when triggered by an
outside signal.
oscillator A device or circuit used to set up
and maintain oscillations at a desired frequency.
The most common form is an LC circuit giving
an oscillator frequency of =
1

LC
where L is
the inductance and C is the capacitance.
2001 CRC Press LLC
oscillator, beat frequency An oscillator that
produces a reference signal to combine with the
incoming signal to produce an output. It is used
in heterodyne reception.
oscillator, blocking A tube circuit oscillator
in which the tube is highly conducting for a short
period followed by a long period in which it is
non-conducting.
oscillator, Colpitts An oscillator in which
two capacitors are used in series in the tank cir-
cuit with feedback taken from between the ca-
pacitors.
A Colpitts oscillator, L, C
1
and C
2
form the tank cir-
cuit, while the remainder of the components provide
the feedback to sustain the oscillations.
oscillator, crystal An oscillator in which the
piezoelectric properties of a quartz crystal are
used to produce the oscillations. The high Q
value of the quartz leads to a very stable oscil-
lator.
oscillator, Hartley An oscillator in which the
feedback connection to the tank circuit is made
to the inductor.
oscillator, Hertzian An oscillator consisting
of two capacitors connected to a conducting rod
with a spark gap. It produces highly damped os-
cillations at the frequency =
1

LC
where L is
the mutual inductance and C is the capacitance.
oscillator, local An oscillator used in a su-
perheterodyne receiver to give the reference fre-
A Hartley oscillator, L and C are the tank circuit while
the rest of the circuit provides the feedback to sustain
the oscillations.
quency to the mixer used to convert the input fre-
quency to the output frequency. Changing the
local oscillator frequency changes the input fre-
quency that will be converted to output, tuning
the receiver.
oscillator, master An oscillator used in am-
pliers to establish the carrier frequency of the
output.
oscillator, relaxation An oscillator based on
the charging and discharging of a capacitor. A
relaxation oscillator can be quite stable, and nor-
mally produces a triangular or sawtooth output.
oscillator, squegging A tube-based oscilla-
tor that reaches a high amplitude, and then is
brought to zero by the blocking effects of leak-
age current on the grid.
oscillator, Wien bridge A low distortion os-
cillator based on a feedback amplier with a
180

phase shift at the desired frequency. A

Wien bridge oscillator can operate at frequen-
cies ranging from 20 Hz to 200 kHz with a very
small distortion as long as the amplier is kept
in the linear regime.
osmocomformer Refers to the waythat some
marine invertebrates adjust to changes to the
salt concentration of their surroundings. At any
given instant, these animals have the same os-
motic pressure as the sea water that surrounds
them in order to diminish osmotic ow from
their bodies. When there occurs a change in
the concentration of the surroundings, osmo-
2001 CRC Press LLC
comformers change their osmotic concentration
to match that of the external environment and
thus keep the osmotic balance. This behavior
is in contrast to osmoregulators, animals that
keep constant their own osmotic concentration
in spite of external changes in salinity.
osmometer An osmometer is a device
for measuring osmotic pressure. The general
scheme is given by the accompanying gure,
where M is a membrane, I is the solvent with
chemical potential
1
, and II is the solvent
and dissolved polymer with chemical potential

2
. Both chemical potentials are at atmospheric
pressure P
o
. The difference inpressures, PPo
gives the osmotic pressure .
In this example, the membrane is permeable
to molecules of the solvent but not to molecules
of the solute (polymer in this case). The equi-
librium condition requires the equality of the
chemical potentials,
1
=
3
, where

3
=
2
+

P
o
+
P
o

2
P

T
dP .
Because (
2
/P)
T
= V
2
, V
2
is the partial
molar volume of the solvent which in practice is
not pressure dependent. Hence
3
=
2
+V
2
.
In the limit when the concentration of the so-
lute c
2
in II tends to zero, the osmotic pressure
is given by /c
2
= RT/M
2
, which expresses
vant Hoffs law. M
2
is the molecular weight
of a polydisperse polymer that in principle is
the mean molecular weight from a mixture with
M
i
,
M
2
=

i
n
i
M
i

i
n
i
.
osmoreceptors Ingeneral, osmoreceptors re-
act to minute changes in the osmolarity (concen-
tration of particles) of some uid in their vicinity
by releasing some substance to counteract the
change.
As an example, in the hypothalamus there
are osmoreceptors (central receptors) that sense
the osmolarity of extracellular uid. When the
osmolarity is high, they send a signal to the pitu-
itary gland to release the hormone ADH (vaso-
pressin, primary regulator of body water). ADH
then acts on the distal tubules of the kidneys to
Osmometer.
increase reabsorption of water. This has the ef-
fect of increasing blood volume and blood pres-
sure. Inhibition of production of ADH is con-
versely signaled when the osmolarity is low.
Another example of osmoreceptors are pe-
ripheral receptors. Peripheral receptors are os-
moreceptors in the mouth and throat that signal
the brain stem in the case of thirst.
osmoregulators Osmoregulators and os-
moregulatory mechanisms formone of the most
important evolutionary innovations that enabled
multicellular animals to carry around their own
internal sea and stable internal uid environ-
ment out of primordial waters. Osmoregulators
maintainaninternal environment that is constant
in osmotic pressure and salt balance. Differ-
ent species require specialized osmoregulatory
mechanisms, which vary widely according to
the nature of an organisms habitat.
In amphibians, the majority of the input of
water occurs throughthe skinandacross the wall
of the bladder. This is realized by the produc-
tion of a hormone that causes water to enter the
body through the skin triggered from the brain
when the animal is on a moist surface or im-
mersed in water. In addition, before dehydra-
tion, hormonal stimulus can cause water to be
reclaimed fromthe bladder and returned to the
extracellular uid. This is in contrast with other
2001 CRC Press LLC
land vertebrates in which the bladder is largely
a receptacle for urine that will be excreted.
In many terrestrial vertebrates, to counteract
the loss of water from the lungs, the nasal cavi-
ties act as a countercurrent exchange system.
During inhalation, air passing through the nasal
cavities is warmed by heat fromadjacent tissues,
but in the process, the temperature of these tis-
sues falls. One result of this is a cold nose a
dogs nose is a good example. The inhaled air
is further warmed and humidied in the lungs.
Then, as it passes back out during the next exha-
lation, the warm, moist air ows over the cooler
nasal surfaces, and the air gives up some of its
heat. As the air cools, much of the water vapor
condenses out on the nasal surfaces and so is not
breathed out of the body. This process can save
up to 20% of an animals total need for water.
Also, in most terrestrial vertebrates, by con-
trolling the amount of water and salt lost in the
urine, the kidneys form the primary regulatory
organs to keep a constant osmotic balance in the
body.
osmosis, negative, anomalous Negative os-
mosis, or reverse osmosis can be achieved by
applying pressure to the side of a solution sep-
arated by a membrane in order to achieve the
reverse ow of particles that would otherwise
happen in normal osmosis.
It can be used as a separation technique in
which a semipermeable membrane is placed be-
tween two solutions containing the same sol-
vent. The membrane allows passage of the
solution while preventing passage of larger
molecules. Reverse osmosis occurs when pres-
sure is applied to the solution on the side of the
membrane that contains the lower solvent con-
centration. The pressure forces the solvent to
ow from a region of low concentration to one
of high concentration.
Negative osmosis is often used for water
purication, concentrating impurities, recover-
ing contaminated solvents, cleaning up polluted
streams, and desalinizing sea water.
osmotic equilibrium (cell) Cellular cyto-
plasm contains a high concentration of organic
molecules including macromolecules, amino
acids, sugars and nucleotides. In the ab-
sence of a counterbalance, this concentration of
molecules woulddrive water inwardbyosmosis,
which if let undisturbed would result in swelling
and eventual bursting of the cell.
Osmotic equilibrium across the cell mem-
brane is then established by the proper diffu-
sion of molecules through the membrane me-
diated by mechanisms such as active, passive,
and facilitated diffusion. In passive diffusion
small uncharged molecules diffuse across the
cell membrane equilibrating the concentrations
between out and in. Active transport requires
ATP hydrolysis and is the main transport car-
ried out by ion pumps. The ion pumps provide
the required counterbalance to the osmotic gra-
dient by providing counter gradients of Na
+
and
K
+
. In particular, the pumps establish a higher
concentration of Na
+
outside the cell. Flow of
K
+
through open channels further establishes an
electric potential across the plasma membrane.
This potential in turn drives Cl

out of the cell.

The differences in ion concentration balance the
high concentration of organic molecules inside
cells, equalizing the osmotic pressure and pre-
venting the net inux of water.
In some simpler organisms (protists),
membranebound contractile vacuoles pump
uid in a cyclical manner from within the cell
to the outside by alternately lling and then
contracting to release its contents at various
points on the surface of the cell. This cyclic
pumping functions in maintaining osmotic
equilibrium.
osmotic pressure, Donnan Such equilib-
rium as that found between a charged, immo-
bile colloid (such as clay, ion exchange resin,
or cytoplasm) and a solution of electrolyte is
called Donnan equilibrium. In this system ions
of like charge to the colloid tend to be expelled,
and ions of opposite charge tend to be attracted
by the colloid. The result is that the colloid
compartment is electrically polarized relative to
the solution in the same direction as the colloid
charges, creating a Donnan potential, and the
osmotic pressure is higher in the colloid com-
partment.
osmotic responses, kinetic theory, (cell) An
osmotic response is the result of the unbalanced
pressures on both sides of a membrane that sep-
arates a solvent with different solute concentra-
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tions on both sides. The number of solvent par-
ticles hitting the side of the membrane with the
most solute per unit time per unit area is less
than the side with less solute. This means that
the ow of particles from each side will be un-
equal, the side withthe more solute gainingmore
solvent per unit time. The unequilibrated rate of
exchange of solvent particles establishes then a
ow from the solventrich to the solutionrich
compartment creating an osmotic pressure that
tends to equalize on both sides of the membrane.
See osmotic transport.
osmotic transport Osmotic transport refers
to the transfer of a liquid solvent through a
semipermeable membrane from a region with a
low concentration of solute (high concentration
of solvent) to one with a higher concentration of
solute (lowconcentration of solvent). The mem-
brane is only permeable to the solvent. Osmo-
sis can be realized in practice by the following
experiment: given a vessel separated into two
compartments by a semipermeable membrane,
if both compartments are lled to the same level
with a solvent, and if a solute is added to one
side, osmosis will occur, increasing the level of
solvent at the side with the solute. The mini-
mum pressure applied to the side with solute to
stop the solvent transfer is called the osmotic
pressure (see osmometer).
Dialysis is called the transfer of solute (rather
than the solvent). The direction of transfer is
from the area of higher to the area of lower con-
centration of the material transferred. In dialy-
sis, dissolved salts are removed from solutions
of proteins or other large molecules.
output A signal (current or voltage) pro-
duced by a circuit and either measured directly
or used as the input to a separate circuit. The
terminal from which the output is taken.
output capacitor A capacitor used to trans-
mit the ACcomponent of an output signal, while
blocking the DC component of the signal.
output characteristics The electrical prop-
erties (impedance, capacitance, etc.) associated
with the output channel of a device. The de-
pendence of the output current on the input and
output voltages for a transistor circuit.
overload A condition in which the desired
input to or output from a circuit is larger than
that which can be accommodated.
overtones Components of the complexsound
whose frequencies are integer multiples, greater
than 1, of the fundamental frequency. Harmon-
ics other than the fundamental component. See
also frequency, fundamental; harmonics.
Owens bridge Owens bridge is an ACvari-
ation of the Wheatstone bridge. Owens bridge
is used to measure inductance of an unknown in-
ductor in terms of other known resistances and
capacitances. A circuit diagram is shown be-
low. Only R
3
and C
3
should be adjustable if
you want the resistance and inductance balances
to be independent of each other. The equations
of balance are shown below:
R
x
= R
1
C
2
C
3
L
x
= R
1
R
3
C
2
.
Owens bridge.
oxygen, liquid Oxygen liquees at 90 K and
can be produced in air liquefaction and oxygen
separation plants. In liquid formit is very useful
as a propellant for guided missiles and rockets.
One of its advantages is that for a given mass,
the volume of liquid is much less than in the
gaseous state and it is therefore preferred for
transportation and storage.
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P
pacemakers, cardiac Cardiac pacemakers
are any of several electronic devices used to
stimulate or regulate contractions of the heart
muscle in people with cardiac problems. The
devices are usually miniaturized and surgically
implanted in the patient.
packet switching A form of switching using
packets to carry information. The packets are a
combination of information (data) and a descrip-
tion of this information (metadata or header).
The packet switch is a switch that examines a
packet header to determine the packets destina-
tion.
paleomagnetism Study of the intensity and
direction of the magnetic eld of the earth in the
present and the geological past, its origin and its
change with time. This involves study of mag-
netized rocks in the earths crust. When these
rocks form from magma, a remanent magnetic
moment is frozen in them along the direction of
the earths eld. These rocks carry information
about the intensity and orientation of the earths
magnetic eld from that time.
panoramic An optical instrument or a lens
that takes a wide eld of view.
pantograph A sliding current collector bar
used on top of electric trains to make contact
with an overhead electric wire. The bar is sup-
ported by a four-bar parallel linkage, with no
links xed. The current collector bar is thrust
upwards by powerful springs with sufcient
pressure to follow variations in the height of
the overhead wire and therefore maintain a low-
resistance contact. The oscillations in the over-
head wire and the pantograph, which may oc-
cur during high speeds, can lead to a break in
the connection between themor cause excessive
arcing.
parallax Apparent change in the direction or
position of an object when viewed froma differ-
ent position or direction, often used to recognize
the relative positions of the objects. In astron-
omy, the angle of parallax is used to determine
distances of nearby stars.
parallel resonance A condition in which the
magnitude of the parallel inductance and capac-
itance in a load are equal.
parallel voltage feedback Afeedbackcondi-
tion in an operational amplier circuit in which
the feedback current is parallel to the input cur-
rent and proportional to the output voltage of the
amplier.
paramagnetic materials Materials whose
atoms carry a permanent magnetic moment but
are not magnetically ordered so that they do not
have a spontaneous magnetic moment. They
have a permeability smaller than a ferromag-
net. Examples include all magnetic materials
that show magnetic order when they are above
their ordering temperature. See paramagnetism;
permeability, magnetic.
paramagnetic probes Probe used in elec-
tron spin resonance (ESR) studies, also called
electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). ESR
is in general used to detect and measure un-
paired electrons in the sample under study that
ultimately leads to structural and dynamic infor-
mation. Because the probe is paramagnetic (no
net magnetic moment) it will not inuence the
sample or the measurements.
Ideally suited to study the effect of exter-
nal magnetic elds within the surface of a sam-
ple, specically over superconductors in the de-
tection of induced electric currents when sub-
jected to changing magnetic elds. The para-
magnetic probes are usually molecules that in
principle could also be attached, for example, in
the myosin head for the study of muscle ber
activity. In addition, they could serve as probes
of molecular motion of biomolecules and during
experiments on phase transitions.
paramagnetic resonance Also called elec-
tron spin resonance or electron paramagnetic
resonance. Refers to resonant absorption of
2001 CRC Press LLC
electromagnetic radiation, usually in the mi-
crowave range, by paramagnetic ions in a mag-
netic eld. A magnetic atom has discrete en-
ergy levels corresponding to the orientation of
the magnetic moment of the atom in an applied
eld. The atom is able to resonantly absorb ra-
diation composed of photons whose energy cor-
responds to the difference between these energy
levels. Gives information on the gyromagnetic
ratio of magnetic atoms and ions.
paramagnetism Describes a system of per-
manent magnetic moments, usually in a solid,
that are not ordered but have a positive mag-
netic susceptibility. This susceptibility is inde-
pendent of the applied eld but is a strong func-
tion of temperature, thus:
= Np
2
/3k (T T
0
)
where N is the number of magnetic atoms per
unit volume, p is the effective magnet moment
per ion, k is Boltzmanns constant, T is tem-
perature, and T
o
is a constant called the Curie-
Weiss temperature. For materials that do not or-
der magnetically at lowtemperatures, T
0
is very
small and may be zero. In the paramagnetic state
the magnetic system is above its magnetic tran-
sition temperature and so magnetic moments
are thermally agitated so that they point in ran-
domdirections that change with time. See Curie
Weiss law; paramagnetic materials; susceptibil-
ity, magnetic.
paraxial approximation Only paraxial rays
are considered in imaging by a lens/optical sys-
tem and the small angle approximation sin
tan is used.
Parseval theorem Theorem relating the in-
tegral of the product of two functions, f
1
(x)
and f
2
(x), to an integral over the product of the
Fourier transforms of the respective functions,
g
1
(k) and g
2
(k), or to a sum over a product
of Fourier coefcients. The statement of the-
orem has distinct forms in the separate cases
where functions f
1
and f
2
are either periodic
functions of x in an interval L, or non-periodic
functions of x in the interval between plus and
minus innity. The respective cases correspond
to representations for f
i
(x)(i = 1, 2) in terms
of Fourier coefcients a
in
or transformfunctions
g
i
(x) in the forms:
f
i
(x) =

n=
a
in
e
inKx
, K = 2/L ,
f
i
(x) =

dk g
i
(k)e
ikx
,
from which the Parseval theorem can be derived
in the respective forms:
L
2
_

L
2
dxf

1
(x)f
2
(x) = L

n=
a

1n
a
2n
,
or

dxf

1
(x)f
2
(x) = 2

dk g

1
(k)g
2
(k) .
partiallypolarizedlight Most simply, a mix-
ture of polarized and unpolarized light. (See
polarization of light.) A more precise denition
derives from a general representation of light as
a superposition of two linearly polarized com-
ponents, characterized by polarization vectors
vibrating in mutually orthogonal directions in
the plane perpendicular to the direction of prop-
agation of the light. Under the condition that
the two components have equal amplitudes, and
differ in phase by an amount that varies rapidly
and irregularly with time, the light is said to
be unpolarized; whereas, under the condition
that the components have unequal amplitudes,
and/or a phase difference that is not completely
random, the light is said to be wholly or par-
tially polarized. The representation of light as a
superposition of linearly polarized components
provides for anoperational denitionof partially
polarized light in terms of measurements of the
intensity of the light transmitted through a lin-
ear polarizer oriented so as to dene a direction
perpendicular to the direction of propagation of
the light. Specically, rotation of the polarizer
through all orientations in the plane perpendic-
ular to the propagation direction, and measure-
ment of the intensities of the transmitted light,
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make possible (in principle) a determination of
a maximum and a minimum in the transmitted
intensity, I
max
and I
min
, in terms of which the
degree of polarization of the light, P, can be
dened by the ratio
P
I
max
I
min
I
max
+I
min
.
The denition assigns P the values 1 and 0 in the
cases of completely polarized light and (com-
pletely) unpolarized light, respectively, and al-
lows partially polarized light to be dened in
terms of values of P unequal to either 1 or 0.
partition, transmission of sound through
Transmission of sound energy (transmission
loss) through single walls that are homogeneous
and damped, dependent on the product of sur-
face density and frequency. The thickness is not
of importance for wall thicknesses below30 cm.
When walls are combined to form an enclosure,
a small opening (thin windows, cracks around
the door) can render noise reduction measures
useless.
Paschen-Back effect Named after German
physicists Louis C.H.F. Paschen (18651947)
and Ernst E.A. Back (18811959). An effect in
which the spectral lines of a light source are split
into multiplets when the light source is placed
in a strong magnetic eld. The strong magnetic
eld modies the atomic structure of the atom
breaking the coupling of the orbital angular mo-
mentum L and spin angular momentum S lead-
ing to the observed multiplets.
passive device Devices such as resistors, in-
ductors, or capacitors without a built-in power
source, as opposed to active devices suchas tran-
sistors.
pattern, acceptance (1) The acceptance pat-
tern of an antenna is the distribution of the off-
axis power relative to the on-axis power as a
function of angle or position. The acceptance
pattern is the equivalent of a horizontal or verti-
cal antenna pattern.
(2) The acceptance pattern of an optical ber
or ber bundle, is the curve of total transmitted
power plotted against the launch angle, where
the launch angle is the angle with respect to the
normal at which a light ray emerges from a ber
surface.
peakvalue (voltage/current) The maximum
positive or negative value of an alternating quan-
tity (voltage or current). For example, a sinu-
soidally varying voltage with time has a peak
value equal to the amplitude. The peak value
of a sinusoidal voltage displayed on an oscil-
loscope is obtained by subtracting the lowest
voltage from the highest voltage and dividing
by two.
Peltier effect (1) The heating or cooling that
occurs at a junction of two dissimilar metals
when an electric current is passed through it.
The direction of the current determines whether
the junction will be heated or cooled. The de-
gree to which the junction is heated or cooled
is determined by the magnitude of the current
and the type of metals used. For a circuit con-
sisting of two junctions of dissimilar metals (A
and B, say) in series, one junction will be heated
while the other cooled when a direct current is
passed through the circuit. This is simply due
to the current passing from metal A to metal B
at one junction, and vice versa. The origin of
the Peltier effect can be understood by thinking
of electrons as being evaporated from metal A
and condensing on metal B or vice versa. Heat-
ing or cooling will result if the energy required
for evaporation is not equal to the energy re-
quired for condensation. Many Peltier devices
are made from two dissimilar semiconductors
and are used to cool miniature electronic com-
ponents or provide temperature control for elec-
tronics for which the performance is critically
dependent on temperature stability.
(2) The production or absorption of heat at
a junction between two dissimilar conductors
when a current is passed across the junction ap-
pears as power generatedor absorbedat the junc-
tion. The latter is directly proportional to the
current. P =
ab
I, where
ab
is the Peltier co-
efcient for current I passing from condutor b
to conductor a.
penetrationdepth(lowtemperature) Deals
with the penetration of magnetic ux into the
surface layer of a superconductor. The penetra-
tion depth is temperature dependent, decreasing
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from a value corresponding to total eld pene-
tration at the critical temperature T
c
to an ap-
proximately constant value at T
c
/2. Typically
the penetration depth is about a few tens of nm
for T << T
c
.
periodic waves A train of waves in which
each particle exhibits periodic motion. The sim-
plest special case of periodic waves is a sim-
ple harmonic wave, in that each particle is sub-
jected to harmonic motion. See also harmonic
motion. More complex waveforms can be de-
scribed in terms of innite sums of simple har-
monic waves, whose frequencies are integral
multiples of the fundamental frequency, using
the Fourier series representation. See also har-
monics.
peripheral vision Act of seeing (or vision of)
images produced by light falling on areas of the
retina outside its central (macula) region. Makes
possible visual awareness of objects located on
either side of the column of space extending for-
ward from the pupil of the eye.
periscope An instrument that allows obser-
vation of objects not in direct line of sight. In
the simplest form, it may consist of an optical L
shaped tube with lenses, and a mirror or prismat
the bend of L, to enable a person in a submerged
submarine etc. to have a view of objects on the
surface of water or over and around an obstacle.
Permalloy An alloy made up of Fe and Ni,
and heat treated in a prescribed way to have a
high permeability and low hysteresis so that it
is a good soft magnet. Useful as a transformer
core material. See permeability, magnetic; hys-
teresis.
permanent magnet Magnetic material with
a permanent magnetic moment; i.e., it has a
magnetic moment in the absence of an applied
eld. Possesses large coercivity and usually has
a large magnetic moment. Useful in electric mo-
tors, generators and many other electrical de-
vices. Best permanent magnet currently known
is based on Nd
2
Fe
14
B. It is prepared in a
nanocrystalline formand contains small crystal-
lites of Fe. Many other alloys are also used
as permanent magnets including Sm-Co and Al-
nico. See coercivity; alnico.
permeability, diffusive During diffusive
permeability, a membrane allows passage of cer-
tain, especially small, molecules or ions whose
primary means of motion is of diffusive nature.
permeability, incremental (magnetic) De-
ned at a particular bias eld H. A small eld
H is applied on top of the bias eld leading
to a small increase in the magnetic ux B.
The incremental permeability is then dened as
B/H.
permeability, magnetic The permeability
is the proportionality constant between mag-
netic induction B and magnetic eld intensity
H and is dened by B = H. If Bis parallel to
Hthen is a scalar quantity. For free space the
permeablitiy is
0
= 4x10
7
H/m. For para-
magnetic materials the permeability can be an
order of magnitude or more larger than
o
. For
ferromagnetic materials the permeability can be
as much as six orders of magnitude larger than

o
. If B is not parallel to H then the perme-
ability is a tensor quantity. See susceptibility,
magnetic.
permeability, osmotic Amembrane with os-
motic permeability allows a rate of ow of a
solvent to pass through during the case of an os-
motic pressure difference between the two sides
of the membrane (see osmotic transport).
permeance The reciprocal of the reluctance
of a magnetic circuit. See reluctance.
permendur A magnetic alloy made of equal
amounts of Fe and Co with a small amount of V
(2%) added and annealed in a prescribed way.
This material has a high permeability and so is a
good soft magnet. See permeability, magnetic.
permittivity Proportionality constant be-
tween electric displacement Dwithin a medium
and applied electric eld thus D = E. If Dand
E are parallel then is a scalar quantity. is re-
lated the relative permittivity by =
r

0
where

0
is 8.85x10
12
farads/meter. Also related to
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the electric susceptibility
e
by
=
o
(1 +
e
) .
persistence of vision Ability of the eye to
retain image on the retina for a brief time after
termination of the optical excitation that creates
the image. This allows the sequence of discrete
images used in cinematography (for example) to
produce an image on the eye that is continuous
in time.
Petzval eld curvature A monochromatic
aberration of an optical system in which the im-
age surface is not planar but curved. This image
surface is called the Petzval surface and the as-
sociated aberration is called curvature of eld.
If there are a number of thin lenses in air, the
Petzval surface curvature R
P
is given by:

1
n
i
f
i
=
1
R
p
,
where n
i
and f
i
are the index and the secondary
focal lengths of the ith lens.
phantomcircuit Telecommunication circuit
obtained by superimposing an additional circuit
on two existing physical circuits by means of
repeating coils. It enables the transmission of
three messages with only two pairs of wiring.
phase (1) The fraction of the period through
which the time variable of a periodic quantity
(such as the sound vibration) has moved, as mea-
sured from a point in time. It is commonly de-
scribed in terms of angular measure, with one
period equal to 360

or radians. See also phase

angle.
(2) The type of state of the system, such
as solid, liquid or gas, identied as having a
distinct molecular arrangement that is homoge-
neous throughout. When more than one phase
is present in a system, the phases are separated
from each other by easily identiable phase
boundaries. See also phase changes.
phase angle The argument
_
t
x
c
_
+
of the sinusoidal wave described by p =
p
A
sin
_

_
t
x
c
_
+

, obtained as a particu-
lar solution of the wave equation. The constant
is called the zero phase angle of the wave,
the factor p
A
is the peak value (amplitude) of
the pressure, the coefcient is the angular fre-
quency, t is time, x, the direction of propagation
of the sound wave and c, the speed of sound in
the medium. See also harmonic motion and pe-
riodic waves.
phase changes Transitions of a substance
from one phase to another, such as gas to liquid
(condensation), solid to gas (sublimation), etc.
Release or absorption of energy accompanies
phase changes. See also phase.
phase conjugation Process in which a
given optical eld is mixed with two counter-
propagating electromagnetic beams in a nonlin-
ear mediumto produce radiation that propagates
in a time-reversed manner with respect to the
signal eld. Process corresponds to degener-
ate four-wave mixing in which three elds of
a single frequency mix in a nonlinear medium,
characterized by a third order nonlinear suscep-
tibility
(3)
, to produce a fourth eld at the same
frequency with an amplitude equal to the com-
plex conjugate of the amplitude of one of the
elds. Termphase conjugation derives fromthe
fact that time-reversed form of signal eld
E(r, t) = E(r, )e
it
+E

(r, )e
it
,
represented by
E(r, t) = E

(r, )e
it
+E(r, )e
it
,
differs from eld E(r, t) only by replacement
of the amplitude E(r, ) by the complex con-
jugate amplitude E

(r, ) (corresponding to a
eld propagating in a direction opposite to the
direction of propagation of the eld with ampli-
tude E(r, )). With phase conjugation, when a
signal eld enters the four-wave mixing region
after passage through an aberrating medium,
the distortion produced in the signal eld is re-
moved fromthe time reversed (phase conjugate)
eld after passing through the same aberrating
medium in the opposite direction.
phase constant (1) A rating of a line or
medium through which a plane wave of given
frequency is being transmitted. It corresponds
to the imaginary part of the propagation con-
stant, and describes the rate of change of phase
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of a eld component in the direction of propa-
gation in radians per unit length.
(2) The constant in the argument of the
sinusoidal wave described by p = p
A
sin [
_
t
x
c
_
+]. See also phase angle.
phase delay Ratio of the total phase shift
measured in radians of a sinusoidal signal prop-
agating in the transmission line to the frequency
measured in radians/second.
phase difference The difference between the
phases of two sinusoidally varying quantities
y
1
(t) = sin(t + ) and y
2
(t) = sin(t) that
have the same frequency . Also called phase
angle.
phase discriminator An electronic device
that generates an output signal that is propor-
tional to the phase difference between an oscil-
lator signal and a reference signal. It is used to
control the oscillator and maintain it in synchro-
nism with the reference signal. Also known as
phase detector.
phase, in AC circuits The displacement of
a periodic waveform (usually sinusoidal) with
respect to a specic reference time or another
periodic waveform with the same angular fre-
quency that does not rise and fall in unison. Usu-
ally expressed as an angle ranging from 0

to
360

. Two waveforms are said to be in phase, in

quadrature, and in opposite phase (or antiphase)
if the phase angle is 0

, 90

, and 180

, respec-
tively. It is commonly used in many circuits
where the current is not in step with the applied
alternating potential difference.
phase lag The negative of phase differ-
ence between a sinusoidally varying quantity
y
1
(t) = sin(t + ) and another quantity,
which varies sinusoidally at the same frequency
y
2
(t) = sin(t), when this phase difference is
negative.
phase sensitive detector (PSD) A detector
that gives DC output proportional to the phase
shift between a reference signal and the input
signal. It is also known as a synchronous rec-
tier, synchronous detector, or synchronous de-
modulator.
phase shifter Adevice used to create a phase
shift between the input and output signals. A
simple type consists of a resistor and capacitor in
series with the output taken across the capacitor.
phase splitter A device used to produce two
outputs, one in phase and one 180

out of phase,
with an input signal.
phase velocity The velocity of a point that
moves with a sound wave at constant phase. If
the acoustic disturbance is represented as a set
of harmonics, a phase angle can be assigned to
any point of a component. The phase veloc-
ity is the distance covered per unit time of this
point along the direction of propagation. In a
nondispersive medium the phase velocity of all
harmonics is the same, which is not the case in a
dispersive medium. The phase velocity appears
in the acoustic wave equation that describes the
propagation of sound in a medium. In an un-
bounded, homogeneous medium the magnitude
of the phase velocity corresponds to the speed
of sound. The speed of sound is a function of
the adiabatic bulk modulus and the density of
the medium; its magnitude depends on temper-
ature, pressure and material composition. See
also modulation, acoustic.
phasor Avector representation of sinusoidal
waveforms. It is often used in the analysis of
AC signals.
phonetics Study of the sounds of human
speech, their generation and the signs used to
represent them. The phonetic transcription pro-
vides symbols for each phoneme of a language
transcribed, as well as additional symbols to
specify differences between variations of the
same phoneme depending on the situation.
phonic chronometer An electric chronome-
ter driven by a phonic motor. Phonic motors
allow the conversion of vibratory motion into
rotary motion of constant speed using an electri-
callymaintainedtuningforkanda phonic wheel.
phonodeik An instrument used to record the
movement of air caused by sound. It consists of
a horn that delivers the sound on a ne glass di-
aphragm. Ane wire attached to the diaphragm
2001 CRC Press LLC
is wound around a vertical steel staff and main-
tained taut by a spring. A small mirror is xed
to the staff. Pressure oscillations caused by
the sound waves set the diaphragm into motion,
and its deections are transferred to the mirror
through the wire and the staff. A beam of light
from a xed source is reected by the mirror
and falls on a vertical lm strip. In this way,
the deection of light caused by the motion of
the mirror can be recorded on the lm. This in-
strument is used to record curves representing
speech and different musical instruments.
phonograph An instrument for recording or
reproducing acoustic signals, such as voice or
music, by transmission of vibrations from or to
a stylus that is in contact with a groove on a ro-
tating cylinder or disk. The early phonograph
formed a groove of varying depth in a cylin-
der made of wax, while the stylus moved in and
out of the wax following the motion of the di-
aphragm exposed to the sound waves. This mo-
tion was then magnied by retracing the groove
on the cylinder or disk with a stylus attached to
one end of the light lever, and allowing the other
end of the lever to trace the curve on a smoked
drum. See also gramophone.
phonometer Instrument that measures sound
intensity. Websters phonometer is based on
the resonance method and consists of a tunable
cylindrical resonator with a diaphragmmounted
onthe cylinder opening. The diaphragmis tuned
to the sound whose intensity is measured by
varying the tension of the wires supporting it.
A small mirror attached to the diaphragm al-
lows the experimenter to observe and measure
its motion. The pressure amplitude of the sound
impinging on the diaphragm is proportional to
the displacement amplitude of the diaphragm.
phonon Quantum of sound representing ex-
citations or energy levels in liquid Helium II in
the form of longitudinal sound waves. The con-
cept was explained by the peculiar behavior of
liquid helium II by Landau in 1941. Thermal
vibrations in a crystal lattice can be calculated
by this quantum of thermal energy.
photodiode A commonly used diode that
converts a photon input into a current output.
photoelasticity The effect in certain mate-
rials (also termed stress birefringence) wherein
application of a mechanical stress causes mate-
rials to exhibit birefringence, made evident by
the appearance of colored fringes when mate-
rials are observed through crossed polarizers.
The phenomenon can be interpreted as the ef-
fect of stress-induced strain in altering density
and polarizability of a material so as to produce
an alteration in its dielectric tensor. Serves as
the basis of technique for detection of internal
stresses in mechanical structures by examina-
tion of structures through crossed polarizers for
evidence of strain related birefringence.
photoelectric effect The effect wherein elec-
trons (termed photoelectrons) are ejected from
a material surface by incident electromagnetic
radiation of sufciently high frequency (usually
in the visual part of the spectrum). The phe-
nomenonis most pronounced where the material
surface is metallic. The fact that maximum ki-
netic energy of photoelectrons is linearly depen-
dent on the frequency of the incident radiation
but independent of its intensity led Einstein to an
explanation of the effect based on the interpre-
tation of radiation in terms of localized packets
of radiation energy called photons. An extended
denition of the photoelectric effect refers to the
broad category of radiation-induced changes in
the electrical properties of a material, including
changes in its conductivity. The effect is made
use of in light beam-activated circuits of the type
commonly used in electric eye devices.
photoemissive cell Device that detects
and/or measures light or other electromagnetic
radiation by the measurement of radiation-
induced emission of electrons from the surface
of a photocathode via the photoelectric effect.
Represents the essential element of a photomul-
tiplier tube.
photogrammetry The process of making
maps or scale drawings from photographs. It
has particular importance inthe drawingof maps
from aerial photographs.
It also relates to the general process of mak-
ing precise measurements by means of photog-
raphy. Typical elds that use this technique in-
2001 CRC Press LLC
clude archeology, architecture, medicine, and
engineering.
photography The process (and art) of pro-
ducing images of objects on a photosensitive
lmby the collection of reected radiation, usu-
ally in the form of light, from the surfaces of the
objects.
photography, clinical Use of photography to
help in the diagnosis or treatment of diseases or
other physiological conditions (see photogram-
metry).
photography, color Type of photography in
which the images of the photographed objects
reproduce the colors of the objects. Requires
the use of color sensitive lm.
photography of sound waves Sound waves
can be visualized by taking advantage of the de-
pendence of the refractive index of light on the
density of the medium. Optical measurement
techniques, such as the shadowgraph, Schlieren
methods, and optical interferometry, have been
used to visualize compressible ow elds, such
as supersonic ows and shock waves around air-
foils, bullets andprojectiles. Because of the high
speedof the process, short exposure times are es-
sential for successful photography. Short expo-
sure times are accomplished using stroboscopic
illumination or high-speed cinematography.
photography, spark Type of photography
in which illumination of objects to be imaged is
provided by a spark to (severely) restrict the ex-
posure time of the lm. Allows for the produc-
tion of sharp images of rapidly moving objects.
photolysis Most generally, a process inwhich
light (or other radiation) produces a chemical
change in a substance. A common use of the
term denes the process as one in which ab-
sorption of light causes decomposition of the
molecules of a substance.
photomagnetism Modication of magnetic
properties, e.g., magnetic susceptibility, of a
magnetic material by application of light (elec-
tromagnetic waves). Light modies the elec-
tronic structure by exciting charge carrier. See
susceptibility, magnetic.
photometer An instrument for measuring
the luminous intensity and/or ux produced by
a source of visible light, usually in comparison
with the luminous intensity of a reference light
source. The original-type photometer compares
luminous intensities, I
1
and I
2
, of a source
and reference source on an observing screen
by varying distance d between reference and
screen until two sources produce equal lumi-
nance on the screens surface. The ratio of in-
tensities of sources follows from the relation
I
1
/d
2
1
= I
2
/d
2
2
. The modern photometer in
general measures the intensity of a light source
via a calibrated photoemissive cell.
photometer, integrating (Commonly in the
form of an integrating-sphere photometer.) An
instrument for measuring the total luminous ux
emitted in all directions by a lamp or other light
source. Allows for the determination of the lu-
minous efciency of a light source, given by the
total luminous ux emitted by the source di-
vided by the total power to the source. This
integrating-sphere device makes use of a hol-
low sphere that can encompass the source to be
measured and has a diffusely reecting interior
surface, the illumination of which from the re-
ected light is proportional to the total ux from
the source.
photometry The process (and/or science) of
measuring the luminous intensity, ux, color,
spectral or angular distribution, reectance or
transmittance of visible radiation (representing
light). Contrasts with radiometry, dened to be
the process of measuring the intensity of non-
visible as well as visible radiation.
photometry, grease spot Measurement of
the intensity of a light source compared to a ref-
erence source by observing the effect produced
when two sources illuminate opposite sides of
an opaque white screen containing a central spot
made translucent by treatment with a lower re-
fractive index substance (such as oil or grease).
The fact that unequal illumination of the screen
results inthe appearance of a darkcentral spot on
bright surroundings, or the reverse, allows rela-
2001 CRC Press LLC
tive intensities of the sources to be determined
from a balance position of the screen between
sources for which the central spot disappears.
See photometer.
photometry, heterochromatic Branch of
photometry concerned with a comparison of the
illuminating effectiveness of light sources of dif-
ferent colors.
photomicrography The process of making
photographs of images of minute objects formed
bya microscope. Ingeneral, this makes use of an
instrument containing a photomultiplier for am-
plication of light fromthe separate segments of
the image to be photographed.
photomultiplier A device in which a
radiation-induced photocurrent is amplied by
focusinginitial photoelectrons ontoa succession
of electrodes (called dynodes) so as to induce
emission of secondary electrons. The acceler-
ation of electrons between successive dynodes
causes each secondary electron to produce ad-
ditional secondaries which multiply the initial
photocurrent. The resultant gain in electron cur-
rent can equal (or exceed) 10
8
. The device al-
lows for detection of low levels of (visible or
near-visible) radiation.
photon The basic unit (or quantum) of light
or other electromagnetic radiation. Plays the
role of carrier of the electromagnetic eld. An
entity characterized by zero rest mass and a ve-
locity of propagation along a particular direction
with magnitude equal to the speed of light. Cor-
responds to a quantity of electromagnetic en-
ergy hf and angular momentum along the di-
rection of propagation h/2, where f is the fre-
quency of the electromagnetic radiation and h is
Plancks constant (6.626075 10
34
Js). The
existence of a photon is manifested by the fact
that excitation and de-excitation of atoms and
molecules takes place only via the absorption or
emission of integer numbers of photons. An-
other (vision related) meaning of photon is the
amount of light received by the retina of the eye
froma surface with a luminance of 1 candela/m
2
when the area of the pupil is 1 mm
2
.
photonics The eld concerned with the gen-
eration, propagation, processing, and detection
of light or other radiant energy, often in connec-
tion with the transmission or detection of sig-
nals. Contrasts with electronics in that, control
of electrons is replaced by control of photons,
which displace electrons as the primary carriers
of signals. The term emphasizes the quantized
nature of a basic unit of radiation. The area de-
ned by the termincludes, for example, the pro-
duction and amplication of radiation via lasers
and other radiation sources, the design and fabri-
cation of optical waveguides and interconnects,
and the use of nonlinear optical effects in ma-
terials relevant to the generation and control of
light and other electromagnetic radiation.
photosensitivity Property of a material or
organism whereby it is sensitive to visible (or
near-visible) radiation. The term in general ap-
plies to materials or organisms readily affected
by light. Photosensitivity in materials is exhib-
itedvia effects suchas photolysis, increasedcon-
ductivity, the emission of photoelectrons, or the
photo-voltaic effect.
photosynthesis In the most general sense,
photosynthesis is the process in which green
plants and certain other organisms use sunlight
energy to manufacture carbohydrates from car-
bon dioxide and water with the help of chloro-
phyll. In most cases of photosynthesis, oxygen
usually results as a by-product. In this sense,
photosynthesis is the reverse of respiration in
which carbohydrates are broken down to release
energy.
Inthe rst stage of photosynthesis, alsocalled
light reaction, direct light is required. Water is
broken down into oxygen (released as gas) and
hydrogen. Also, ATP molecules are produced.
Next is the second stage called dark reaction,
where the hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO
2
)
are converted into intermediary compounds that
ultimately yield the organic compound glucose
(C
6
H
12
O
6
) plus water. The chemical reaction
involved is given by
6CO
2
+ 12H
2
O + energy
C
6
H
12
O
6
+ 6O
2
+ 6H
2
O .
The second stage does not require light to oc-
cur, using instead the energy released from the
2001 CRC Press LLC
hydrolysis of ATP, where ATP reacts with water
to yield ADP, inorganic phosphate, and energy.
Chlorophyll, exhibited mainly by the green
pigment in plants, is contained in the chloro-
plasts (organelles contained in the cytoplasm
of plant cells). Chlorophyll is the only sub-
stance in nature able to trap and store energy
from sunlight. Because the red and blue-violet
parts of the visible spectrum are the ones that
get absorbed by chlorophyll, the rest of the spec-
trum, mainly green, gets reected, thus giving
the green color to plants.
phototherapy Therapy of diseases or types
of disorders, especially of the skin, using light.
Ultraviolet and infrared radiation are of partic-
ular use in this kind of therapy. See red light,
healing effect; light, monochromatic; biologi-
cal action.
photovoltaic efciency Measure of the elec-
tric potential (or voltaic response) produced in a
nonhomogeneous material by exposure to light
or other electromagnetic radiation. Measures
the process in which radiation absorbed by a
material structure in the region of a potential
barrier (such as at a p-n junction or metal-
semiconductor contact) produces electric poten-
tial difference V
p
in the region (e.g., by separa-
tion of electron-hole pairs). Photovoltaic ef-
ciency of a process is dened by the ratio of
power associated with (latent) voltage-induced
current, I
p
, expressedbyV
p
I
p
, dividedbypower
in input radiation, P
in
.
pianoforte The pianoforte action refers to
communicating the entire energy to be radiated
as sound by a vibrating string or wire during
a very short time interval, 1/500 s, while the
hammer is in contact with the string. In the pi-
anoforte action the hammer is projected against
the string, and it is free fromthe systemof levers
that have set it in motion. In addition to the point
of impact and the velocity of the hammer head,
which determine the loudness, the pianoforte
performer can also inuence the quality of the
sound generated by the string. The way in which
the motion has been initiated by the performer
inuences the vibrations of the hammer and the
quality of the sound produced in this way.
piano, sound from The piano is a stringed
keyboard instrument in which a hammer striking
the string is used to excite the sound; the ham-
mer immediately rebounds after the action. The
nonlinear elasticity of the hammer plays a key
role in determining the character of the piano
sound. An iron frame maintains the tension of
the strings. The vibration of the string is trans-
mitted to a soundboard that serves as the main
source of acoustic radiation into the surround-
ing air. The frequencies generated by the piano
span somewhat over seven octaves (from A
0
to
C
8
) with frequencies between 55 and 8360 Hz.
When the piano key is struck and held, the sound
begins to decay at one rate and then breaks to
continue decaying with another, slower rate thus
creating the prompt sound and the aftersound.
This double decay characteristic is an important
feature of the piano tone.
picture tube, color A cathode ray tube used
to display images in color by variation of the
beam intensity. It uses a system of three differ-
ent colored pixels in adjacent locations to pro-
duce the different colors.
piezoelectric effect The piezoelectric effect
takes advantage of the properties of crystalline
quartz in that mechanical deformations can be
generated along the mechanical axis of the crys-
tal to induce longitudinal vibrations along this
axis by applying an alternating electric eld
along the electric axis. As the frequency of the
applied electric eld approaches the natural fre-
quencyof anylongitudinal vibrationmode of the
quartz crystal, the amplitude of the mechanical
vibrations increases. Since the electroacoustic
efciency of these vibrations is high, the piezo-
electric effect is frequently utilized to generate
ultrasound in gases, liquids and solids. Con-
versely, when a stress applied to the quartz crys-
tal results in a strain either along the optic or
the mechanical axis, the crystal becomes elec-
trically polarized and piezoelectric charges of
opposite sign form on the two surfaces perpen-
dicular to the optic axis. This effect is exploited
in the operations of certain types of sensors. The
most commonly applied vibration transducers
take advantage of the piezoelectric effect. X-cut
quartz crystals are typically used for piezoelec-
tric energy conversion.
2001 CRC Press LLC
pigments Finely divided particles of natu-
ral or synthetic substances used in suspension
in materials to contribute to the optical (and/or
physical) properties of the materials. Distin-
guished from dyes, used in solution, by insol-
ubility in the host materials. Pigment particles
are characterized by the ability to re-radiate light
of particular wavelengths on absorption of light
of other wavelengths so as to produce reected
and transmitted light of the same color. Com-
monly used to affect the color and opacity of
paints and coatings.
pinch effect Effect whereby electric charge
carriers moving in the same direction are at-
tracted toward each other by a magnetic force
created by their movement. Results in a radi-
ally compressive force. In liquids and gases the
owing charge may pinch off so that no current
will ow. See magnetic force on moving charge.
pinch-off voltage The gate-source voltage
in a JFET at which the drain current approaches
zero due to a meeting of the depletion regions.
ping-pong mechanism The ping-pong
mechanism is a two-step chemical reaction in
which a reactant reacts with a molecule that
leads to a chemical resultant. Then the same
molecule reacts again with the same kind of re-
sultant to yield the original reactant. The impor-
tance of this mechanism lies in the importance
of its by-products and of the fact that it is cyclic.
Examples of a ping-pong mechanism in-
clude mechanisms where membrane proteins
exchange one charged molecule or atom for
another, such as Cl

for HCO

3
, or Na
+
for
H
+
. These proteins play a role in cellular pro-
cesses that include volume and pH regulation,
and transport of ions across the membrane.
The protein that catalyzes the exchange of
Cl

for HCO

3
functions by a ping-pong mech-
anism, in which the transport protein can exist
either in a conformation with the transport site
facing outward (E
o
) or with the transport site
facing inward (E
i
). Conversion from E
o
to E
i
or vice versa occurs only when a suitable an-
ion, such as Cl

, is bound to the transport site.

Thus, the system is conned to tightly coupled
one-for-one exchange of ions.
Also CO
2
, coming frommetabolic processes
in tissue, is a participant in a ping-pong mecha-
nism when it diffuses into the red cell and intra-
cellular carbonic anhydrase catalyzes its trans-
formation into bicarbonate. After, intracellu-
lar bicarbonate is exchanged for extracellular
chloride as bicarbonate ows passively down its
concentration gradient. Once in the lungs, the
process is reversed, and CO
2
diffuses into the
atmosphere, thus completing the cycle.
pipes, sound from Vibrations of air columns
are the source of sound in the organ as well as
in most wind instruments. In the theoretical
analysis it is assumed that the walls of the pipe
are rigid, the diameter is small compared to the
length of the pipe and large enough to justify
neglecting viscosity effects. The two types of
pipes of practical importance are the open pipe
(open at both ends) and the closed pipe (closed at
one end). The modes of the organ pipe are char-
acterized by displacement antinodes at the open
ends and by an appropriate number of nodes
(separated by antinodes depending on the vi-
bration mode) in the middle region. A displace-
ment node at the closed end and an antinode at
the open end characterize the closed pipe. The
closed pipe thus has a fundamental frequency
that is one octave lower in pitch than the open
pipe. See also organ pipes, vibrations in.
piston source A vibrating piston mounted
in an innitely large rigid wall (bafe) or in the
end of a long tube used to approximate sound
sources.
pitch, acoustic An aspect of the subjective
sensation of sound that allows sounds to be or-
dered on a musical scale from low to high.
The variations in pitch lead to the sensation of
melody. Pitch, measured in mels, corresponds
to the frequency for a pure tone and to the funda-
mental frequency for a periodic complex tone.
Pitch as a subjective attribute cannot be mea-
sured directly; a value is assigned to a sound by
specifying the frequency of a sinusoidal sound
vibration that has the same subjective pitch as
the sound. In the perception of pure tones, two
tones separated by an interval of one octave (the
higher tone has twice the frequency of the lower
tone) sound similar and have the same name on
2001 CRC Press LLC
the musical scale. The concept of pitch is impor-
tant in accounting for the perception of complex
tones.
Pitot tube An instrument that measures the
static and/or stagnation pressure of a owing
uid, consisting of a slender tube equipped with
holes along the perimeter of the tube or one at
the tip, pointing into the uid and connected to
a pressure indicating device. The static pres-
sure probe is equipped with small measuring
holes serving as pressure taps along the perime-
ter. The manometer connected to the tube indi-
cates the static pressure p along the streamline at
the location of the taps. The stagnation pressure
p
0
is obtained when the uid is decelerated to
zero speed V
0
at the tip of the stagnation pressure
probe. The pressure is sensed through the hole
at the tip of the probe. The Bernoulli equation,
p
0

+
V
2
0
2
=
p

+
V
2
2
, relates the changes in speed
to the changes in pressure along the streamline
in incompressible owof density . The combi-
nation of the static and stagnation probes in the
Pitot tube allows determining the ow velocity
V =
_
2(p
0
p)

from the measured difference

between stagnation and static pressures, p
0
p.
Pitot tube.
plane wave Awave in which the wavefront is
a plane surface. The equiphase surfaces of plane
waves form a family of parallel planes. Plane
sound waves have the same acoustic properties
at any position on the plane surface that is per-
pendicular to the direction of propagation of the
sound wave. Plane sound waves can exist in a
straight pipe or duct; they are one-dimensional
and vary with time t and one Cartesian coordi-
nate x. They can be described with the one-
dimensional equation of motion, the acoustic
wave equation, which relates the second deriva-
tive of sound pressure p along the direction of
propagation x to the second derivative of the
sound pressure with respect to time t through the
square of the speedof sound c,

2
p
x
2

1
c
2

2
p
t
2
= 0.
The general solution of the acoustic wave equa-
tion is p(x, t) = f(x ct) + g(x + ct), where
f and g are arbitrary functions.
Most generally, waves characterized by pla-
nar wavefronts having amplitudes and phases
that have the same values for all points within
any plane perpendicular to the direction of prop-
agation. The less general, more usual denition
denes plane wave to correspond to a solution
of the scalar wave equation

1
v
2

t
2
= 0 ,
of the form
(r, t) = Ae
i(krt+)
,
where Aand (k r t +) are referred to, re-
spectively, as the amplitude and phase of the
wavefunction , and |k| k = /v. The har-
monic variation of a wavefunction with distance

k r and time t results in a wavefront that ad-

vances in the direction of vector k at the phase
velocity /k. The planar character of wave-
fronts results from the dependence of function
e
i(krt+)
only on a component of coordinate
vector r along vector k, (

k r), and the absence

of dependence on a component of r perpendic-
ular to k, (

k r). The resulting wave has in-

nite extent in the directions perpendicular to
the propagation direction, innite extension in
time, and corresponding innite length along the
direction of propagation

k.
plastic deformation This is a permanent and
irreversible deformation in crystals due to line
defects.
plates, vibrations in Objects in the class of
plates, which can also include surfaces that are
not at, can emit sounds classied as noises
2001 CRC Press LLC
with metallic character rather than notes.
Vibrations in a thin plate are described by the
fundamental differential equation of motion for
free vibrations (with the assumption that the
middle layer of the plate is physically inexten-
sible) as
4
k
4
= 0, with k
4
=
2
/c
4
.
is the angular frequency and the parameter c is
dened as c
4
=
qh
2
3
0
(1
2
)
(with q as Youngs
modulus, 2hthe thickness of the plate, as Pois-
sons ratio and
0
, the volumetric density of the
plate.
plethysmograph, capacitance The capaci-
tance of a body part can be determined from a
plethysmograph. In a plethysmograph, the ca-
pacitance of a body part can be measured when
the reactance of this body part is determined as
a function of the frequency of the external al-
ternating current (see plethysmograph, imped-
ance).
plethysmograph, impedance An imped-
ance plethysmograph measures and records vol-
umetric variations of an organ or body part on
the basis of variations in the electrical resistance
and reactance of the body or its segment as a
function of the frequency of an input alternating
current. The electrical variations in the output
can be related to the amount of volume pulsing
variations coming from blood and other intra-
and extravascular uids passing through the or-
gan. With this technique, the owof electrolytes
injected in the blood owcan be easily followed
by electrical conductivity measurements.
Considering the case where the input current
is constant, the electrical resistance R of a por-
tion of a conductor of uniform cross section a
and length l is
R =
l
a
=
l
2
l a
=
l
2
V
where is the resistivity of the material and V ,
the volume of the segment.
If the length of the conductor is constant and
the volume is increased by increasing a, then R
is proportional to V as
R = R
1
R
2
= l
2
(
1
V 1

1
V 2
)
=
l
2
V
V 1 V 2
or
R
l
2
V
V
2
for small changes, so that
R
R
=
V
V
.
This resulting equation is the basis for the
volumetric variation measurements from an im-
pedance plethysmograph. The equation results
can be interpreted to mean that a small increase
in volume brings a decrease in the electrical re-
sistance.
p-n junction A junction formed by the con-
tact of p and n doped semiconductors. The
Fermi level difference in the p and n type mate-
rials produces a built-in potential in the device,
which for silicon is 1.1 V. See n-type silicon,
p-type silicon.
P.O. Box (post-ofce box) One of the older
forms of the Wheatstone bridge that consists of
an arrangement of resistance coils, brass blocks,
and tapered plugs that form three arms of the
bridge. The resistance coils are inserted in the
circuit by removing plugs fromtapered holes be-
tween adjacent blocks. Each of the holes has a
resistance associated with it. Each arm of the
bridge contains several such holes; the resis-
tance of an armis read by adding the resistances
of the unplugged holes.
Pockels effect Electro-optic effect in certain
crystalline materials wherein the application of
an electric eld produces a change in the re-
fractive properties of the materials proportional
to the rst power of the applied electric eld
strength. The effect occurs in crystals in which
the applied electric eld produces slight defor-
mation of the ionic lattices (piezoelectric effect)
and/or a redistribution of the bond charges, re-
sulting in a change in the dielectric tensor of the
material. First studied by F. Pockels in 1893.
2001 CRC Press LLC
polarimetry The process (and/or science) of
measuring the rotation of the plane of polariza-
tion of visible or near-visible radiation produced
by passage of the radiation through a material
medium. Serves as a basis for measurement of
optical activity or circular dichroism of materi-
als (such as sugar solutions).
polariscope An instrument, consisting usu-
ally of a plane polarizer through which light
passes and falls on a transparent sample mate-
rial to reach a rotatable analyzer. It is used to
investigate the effect of the sample material on
the state of polarization of the emergent light
and also to study strain in transparent material
samples.
polarization, circular Special type of ellip-
tical polarization of light or other electromag-
netic radiation in which the electric vector of the
radiation rotates in time in the plane perpendic-
ular to the direction of propagation of the radiant
energy such that the tip of the vector describes
a circular helix with its axis along the direction
of propagation and with a period equal to the re-
ciprocal of the frequency of the light. Circular
polarization is referred to as right handed or
left handed depending on whether the sense of
rotation of the electric vector coincides with the
curl of the ngers of the right or the left hand re-
spectively when the thumb of the hand is pointed
in the direction of the Poynting vector.
polarization, degree of Measure of the ex-
tent to which light or other electromagnetic ra-
diation can be said to be polarized. Represen-
tation of light as a superposition of linearly po-
larized components provides for an operational
denition of degree of polarization in terms of
measurements of the intensity of the light trans-
mitted through a linear polarizer oriented so as
to dene a direction perpendicular to the direc-
tion of propagation of the light. Rotation of the
polarizer through all orientations in the plane
perpendicular to the propagation direction, and
measurement of the intensities of the transmit-
ted light, make possible (in principle) a deter-
mination of a maximum and a minimum in the
transmitted intensity, I
max
and I
min
, in terms
of which the degree of polarization of the light,
P, can be dened by the ratio
P
I
max
I
min
I
max
+I
min
.
The denition assigns P the values 1 and 0 in the
cases of completely polarized light and (com-
pletely) unpolarized light respectively. See par-
tially polarized light.
polarization, electric The electric dipole
moment per unit volume of a dielectric. Electric
polarization occurs when a dielectric is placed
in an electric eld that tries to align the electric
dipoles parallel to each other. This results in a
separation of electric charge in the assembly of
dipole moments which in turn produces charges
on the surface of the dielectric. The degree of
polarization is dependent on temperature since
thermal agitation tends to oppose the order pro-
duced by the electric eld.
polarization, elliptical State of polarization
of light or other electromagnetic radiation in
which the electric eld vector of the radiation
at a particular point in space rotates in time in
the plane perpendicular to the direction of prop-
agation of the radiant energy such that the tip
of the vector traces out an ellipse. Elliptically
polarized light can be represented as a super-
position of two linearly polarized light waves
of unequal amplitude, which have mutually or-
thogonal directions of polarization, and which
are out of phase with respect to one another by
a non-integer multiple of .
polarization, linear State of polarization of
light or other electromagnetic radiation in which
the electric vector of the radiation oscillates in
time along a xed direction in a plane perpendic-
ular to the direction of propagation of the radiant
energy. Also known as plane polarization.
polarization, membrane See potential, rest-
ing; repolarization (cell); nerve impulses, prop-
agation of.
polarization of light Property of light and
other electromagnetic radiation dened by a
non-randomorientationof the electric (andmag-
netic) vector of the radiation eld in the plane
perpendicular to the direction of propagation of
2001 CRC Press LLC
the radiant energy. A specic state of polar-
ization is in general specied in terms of the
direction of the electric vector, E, in the plane
perpendicular to the Poynting vector. Types of
polarization can be categorized as linear, ellip-
tical or circular.
polarization, plane Alternate termfor linear
polarization.
polarizer An optical device whose input is
natural light and whose output is polarized light
(attained usually with the help of a Nicol prism,
Polaroid sheet, etc). Depending on the nature of
polarization of the outcoming light (e.g., plane
polarized, circularly polarized), the polarizer is
called a plane polarizer, circular polarizer, etc.
Polaroid Trade name for a transparent sheet
of dichroic material which transmits light that is
linearly polarized along a particular direction.
A common type of polaroid material consists of
colorless plastic sheet treated with an iodine so-
lution that creates parallel chains of polymeric
molecules containing conductive iodine atoms
which produce a plane of polarization by dichro-
ism. Commonly used to reduce glare in optical
and lighting devices. A generalization of the
term relates to a range of photographic and op-
tical products based on polymeric materials.
Polaroid camera Trade name for a camera
that makes use of lm containing its own de-
veloping and printing agents that make possible
the production of a nished positive print within
minutes after the photograph is taken. Devel-
oped by Edwin H. Land in 1948. Also known
as Land camera.
pole piece Magnetic pieces that attach to op-
posite ends of a magnet to nish a magnetic cir-
cuit. Often have an air gap between them. Their
size and shape determine the magnetic ux dis-
tribution in the gap. Can concentrate magnetic
ux creating a large magnetic eld in a small
volume or spread ux lines out uniformly creat-
ing a small uniform magnetic eld over a larger
volume. See ux, magnetic.
pole strength A measure of the strength of
a magnet. The pole strength p has MKS units
of A.m and is dened by m = pl where m the
magnetic moment of a bar magnet with north
and south poles of strength +p, and p and l is
the separation of the poles.
polling A technique for coordinating access
to a shared medium. A master checks whether
each slave has data to send, and if it does, gives
it a chance to use the medium.
potential, contact The potential difference
that develops between two dissimilar metals
placed in contact. It is given by the difference
between work functions for the two metals and
varies with the temperature of the junction. Two
such junctions placed in series and kept at dif-
ferent temperatures produce a net electromotive
force through the circuit which forms the basis
of thermocouple thermometers. See also ther-
mocouple.
potential, demarkation The demarkation
potential is the threshold potential beyond which
there is the initiation of an action potential. If
a stimulus provided by sensory information or
neurotransmitters changes the local membrane
potential by as much as the demarcation poten-
tial of approximately 60 mV, then the initial
signal leads to the rapid opening of Na
+
chan-
nels and to the initial steps toward creating an
action potential. See nerve impulses, propaga-
tion of.
potential difference In electrical circuits, it
is the work required to transfer unit charge be-
tween two points in the circuit. The SI unit is
joules per coulomb but it is commonly referred
to as volts. The potential difference across a
resistance in an electrical circuit is obtained by
applying Ohms law. In an electric eld, it is the
work required to move a unit charge between
two points A and B. It can be obtained by cal-
culating the difference in electric potentials at
points A and B, by
V =
_
B
A
E dl
where V is the potential difference, Eis the elec-
tric eld, and dl is a path element between Aand
B. See also Ohms law; potential, electric.
2001 CRC Press LLC
potential divider A circuit used to transmit
a selected fraction of the input potential to the
output. It typically consists of two resistors in
series with the output taken across a single re-
sistor.
potential, electric The work required to
bring a unit positive charge from innity to a
certain position. This is given by
V =
W
q
,
where V is the electric potential, W is the work
done by an external force, and q is the test charge
brought from innity at a constant speed to the
required position. The SI unit of electric poten-
tial is joules per coulomb, otherwise known as
volts i.e.,
1 volt = 1 J/C .
If the electric eld E is known, the electric po-
tential can be calculated from the line integral
V =
_
x

E dl
where x is the position at which the electric po-
tential is required, dl is a length element along
the path taken by the test charge coming from
innity to point x.
potential, evoked When certain areas of the
brain are driven toward electrical activity under
stimulationof specic sensorypathways, the po-
tentials coming fromthemare called evoked po-
tentials. These evoked potentials are recorded
by placing wires on the scalp over the areas of
the brain being stimulated with a particular stim-
ulus.
Common examples of evoked potential tests
are the visual evoked potentials (VEP), the
brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP),
and the sensory evoked potentials (SEP). In VEP
the patient sits before a screen and responds to
alternating visual patterns. In BAEP the audi-
tory part of the brain is tested by presenting to
the patient a series of clicks to each ear. In SEP
a small electrical impulse is administered to the
patient on an arm or leg. Not common but ex-
isting, are motor evoked potential tests that can
detect lesions along motor neuron pathways of
the central nervous system.
Evoked potential tests are often used to help
make a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), be-
cause they can indicate dysfunction along neu-
ronal pathways caused by demyelination of the
axons of neurons.
potential, extracellular Potential that arises
when an action potential crosses the synapse and
enters the post-synaptic membrane. The current
that ows into post-synapse and into the mem-
brane closes the current loop by owing out of
the cell along the length of the walls of the mem-
brane and into the extracellular space, and sub-
sequentially re-enters the synapse.
Because the extracellular resistance R
ex
is
so small compared with the large resistance of
the membrane R
m
, the voltage across the mem-
brane V
m
is effectively equal to the current I
multiplied by R
m
. Also, since R
ex
R
m
, the
extracellular potential drop V
ex
is going to be
much smaller than V
m
.
By equating currents
V
m
R
m
=
V
ex
R
ex
,
we get typical values
V
ex
=
V
m
R
m
R
ex
=
5 10
3
V
1 10
5

50
= 2.5V .
The extracellular potentials of populations
of neurons can be recorded and form the basis
of the electroencephalographic measurements
(EEG).
potential, graded (membrane) A graded
potential is a potential whose value depends on
an external parameter. An example of a graded
potential is the postsynaptic potential (PSP).
The postsynaptic potential is a transient change
in the electric polarization of the membrane
caused by the inux of neurotransmitters as a re-
sponse of an action potential at the presynaptic
membrane. The PSP is a graded potential be-
cause its degree of hyperpolarization (increase
in negative charge inside the cell membrane
inhibitory) or depolarization (decrease of the
2001 CRC Press LLC
Extracellular potential.
negative chargeexcitatory) varies on depen-
dence of the activation of the ion channels by
the neuro-transmitters (see neuro-transmitters).
potential gradient The spatial rate of change
of electric potential in a conductor, dielectric or
free space. It is obtained by evaluating the po-
tential difference per unit length along the direc-
tion of the electric eld vector. In three dimen-
sions, the electric eld Eis related to the spatial
derivative of the potential V as follows:
E =
_
i
V
x
+j
V
y
+k
V
z
_
.
potential, Henderson In the acid-base bal-
ance equation
HB H
+
+B

,
where HBis a weak acid and the reaction shows
how it dissociates, the reaction rate is given by
the constant K
a
. The reaction constant is in turn
given by the ratio [H
+
][B

]/[HB]. From the

reaction it is evident that strong acids dissoci-
ate more readily and have high K
a
while the
opposite is true for weak acids.
In 1908 Henderson studied a metabolic reac-
tion involving CO
2
and applied the law of mass
action to get
_
H
+
_
HCO

= K
a
[CO
2
] [H
2
O] .
Later, Sorensen (1909) introduced the po-
tential for hydrogen notation where pH =
log[H
+
]. Using the pH notation also for the
rate constant K
a
(pK
a
= log K
a
), Hassel-
balch in (1916) rewrote Hendersons equation
to get the HendersonHasselbalch equilibrium
equation
pH = pK
a
+ log
_
HCO

[dCO
2
]
,
where dCO
2
stands for dissolved CO
2
.
The pH and pK
a
notations are particularly
good since the hydrogen concentrations and the
reaction constants K
a
for weak biological acids
are very small numbers. The acid-base balance
equations above indicate then that strong acids
have a low pK
a
, and vice versa.
potential, interaction (1) An interaction po-
tential between two particles comes from their
mutual interaction force. The interaction poten-
tial at point B, relative topoint A, is proportional
to the integrated mutual force if one would take
one particle along a path that joins both points.
More specically, the interaction potential is
proportional tothe workdone W
AB
inbringinga
particle frompoint Ato point B along a specic
path,
W
AB
=
_
B
A

F

dl ,
where F is the force between the particles, and
l species the path of approach. For there to
be a potential associated to a specic force, the
work done has to be independent of the partic-
ular choice of the path. These forces are said
to be conservative. Examples of conservative
forces are the gravitational force and coulombic
forces.
2001 CRC Press LLC
(2) The membrane potential arises from the
charge separation that occurs between the extra-
cellular and the intracellular regions. Because
it requires electrical work to take an ion against
the electric eld created by the disbalance of
charges, there is a corresponding potential dif-
ference across the membrane.
potential, intercellular (1) Potential differ-
ence between different cells.
(2) Before transmission of an action poten-
tial across a synapse, the pre- and post-synaptic
membranes lie at different potentials. The re-
lease of neuro-transmitters propagates the sig-
nal by equalizing the potentials and provoking
an action potential at post-synapse. See poten-
tial, extracellular; potential, membrane; neuro-
transmitters.
potential, junction The junction potential is
the potential difference at the boundary between
two solutions with different ionic compositions.
It arises fromthe different diffusion constants of
the ions in each particular solution.
The junction potential may give signicant
contributions in electrophysiological measure-
ments of the order of mV. Namely, it may be
important in measurements of ion permeation
through ionic channels using the patch-clamp
technique, in which extraneous ions with low
mobilities are used in fairly high concentrations.
See voltage clamp, ionic current in cell.
potential, liquid (1) The thermodynamics
of simple molecular liquids are usually well
described by pair interparticle potentials. An
empirical potential for simple liquids is found
to have a repulsive interaction at very small
distances that is inversely proportional to the
twelfth power of the distance between them. As
they separate, an attractive interaction due to
a weak charge-polarization or induced dipole-
dipole interaction comes into effect. The inter-
particle potential can be written as
U(r) = 4
__

r
_
12

r
_
6
_
,
where and are the depth of the interaction
well at equilibriumandthe effective radius of the
particles, respectively. These two parameters
are experimentally obtained.
(2) Both sides of the interface between two
ionic solutions may be at different potentials due
to the differences in diffusion coefcients of the
ions. The drop in potential gives rise to a junc-
tion potential. See potential, interaction; poten-
tial, junction.
potential, membrane The membrane po-
tential, or transmembrane potential difference,
is the electrical potential difference across a
plasma membrane (see potential, resting; action
potential).
The membrane potential arises from both the
ion pumps and from the ow of ions through
channels that are open in the cell plasma mem-
brane (see osmotic equilibrium(cell)). The pas-
sive owof ions throughthe membrane channels
depends on the osmotic gradient of ions across
the plasma membrane. The ion pumps use en-
ergy from ATP hydrolysis to actively transport
ions across the plasma membrane in favor or
against their osmotic gradient.
Because of the different mechanisms in-
volved in distributing ionic composition in and
out of the cytoplasm, the intracellular uid is
substantially different from that of extracellular
uids. The relationship between ion concen-
tration and membrane potential is given by the
Nernst equation. See Nernst equilibrium poten-
tial.
potential, miniature endplate (MEPP) The
miniature end plate potential arises from small
uctuations (typically 0.5 mV) in the resting po-
tential of post-synaptic cells. The prole of the
potential is of the same shape, although much
smaller than, the end plate potentials caused by
the stimulation of the pre-synaptic cell. MEPPs
are considered as evidence for the quantal re-
lease of neuro-transmitters at synapse, a single
MEPP resulting from the release of the con-
tents of a single synaptic vesicle. See neuro-
transmitters.
potential, receptor, hair cell In general,
the dermis consists of several types of tissue:
glands, nerve endings, fat cells, hair follicles,
and muscles. The nerve endings, called recep-
tors, perform an important sensory function, re-
sponding to various stimuli including: touch,
pressure, pain, heat, and cold.
2001 CRC Press LLC
In particular, the receptor hair cells in the in-
ner ear are responsible for the marked sensitiv-
ity of mammalian hearing. These hair cells are
responsible for the transformation of the me-
chanical sound into a neural signal. Mechanical
input, from acoustic pressure waves, deect the
hair cells receptive organelle, the hair bundle.
Bending of these hair cells (stereocilia) causes
the opening of small channels in the cell mem-
brane to which the hair cells are attached. There-
fore, the movement of stereocilia controls the
ion current owinto the cell. Bending the stere-
ocilia in the direction away from (toward) the
center of the cochlea leads to an increase (de-
crease) of the intracellular potential. Intracellu-
lar voltage changes as small as 0.1 mV are able
to cause neuro-transmitter release at the synap-
tic contacts and in this way action potentials are
evoked in the bers of the auditory nerve.
potential, resting The resting potential of a
membrane is the electrical potential of the inside
of a cell membrane relative to its surroundings.
In almost all types of animal cells the inside of
their membranes are negative with resting po-
tentials in the range of 20 to 100 mV, with
70 mV being the typical value.
Although the membrane resting potentials
are initially caused by the action of sodium ion
pumps, their value comes primarily from the
subsequent diffusion of potassiumout of the cell
through potassium leak channels. The resting
potential is thus close to the Nernst potential for
potassium. See action potential; osmotic equi-
librium (cell).
potential well A region in which a charged
particle experiences a lower potential energyand
consequently becomes trapped in that region.
The particle can escape from the potential well
provided it gains sufcient energy equal to the
difference between its kinetic energy and the
well depth. This is known as the binding en-
ergy. According to quantum physics, any par-
ticle trapped in a potential well can have only
discrete energy levels; i.e., the levels are quan-
tized. The concept of a potential well is mostly
used to describe the physics of trapped atomic
and subatomic particles such as electrons.
potentiometer An instrument used to mea-
sure precisely an unknown potential difference
of an EMF by comparing it to the known poten-
tial difference of a standard cell under the con-
dition in which there is zero current from the
unknown potential difference. The term poten-
tiometer is alternately used to refer to a three-
terminal voltage divider. Two of the terminals
are connected by a xed resistance while the
third is a variable sliding contact that can be
moved by a rotatable shaft. This forms a vari-
able resistance between the sliding contact and
the other two terminals. The changing resis-
tance with changing position of the sliding con-
tact may be linear, logarithmic, sinusoidal, etc.
In everyday language, the term has been short-
ened to pot.
power density The power density spectrum,
W(), is dened as
W() = lim
T
1
T
|F
T
()|
2
,
where T is the time interval of interest andF
T
()
is the Fourier transform of the given random
function f(t), given by
F
T
() =
_
T
0
dtf(t) exp(jt) .
The function W() is an even function of fre-
quency:
W() = W() ,
since for a real function f(t),
F
T
() = F

T
() .
Sometimes the spectrum is limited to positive
frequencies by considering
W

() = 2W() for > 0

= 0 for < 0 .
The power in a band extending from
1
to
2
is
_

2

1
dW

() .
power detection A form of detection in
which the demodulator supplies a substantial
power output directly to the load without using
2001 CRC Press LLC
an intermediate amplifying stage. A demodula-
tor is a circuit, apparatus, or circuit element that
is used in communication to demodulate the re-
ceived signals, i.e., to extract the signal from a
carrier with minimum distortion.
power factor The ratio of the power, P (in
watts) dissipated in a circuit to the effective volt-
amperes, V
eff
I
eff
, applied to it. The power dissi-
pated is given by
P = V
eff
I
eff
cos ,
where cos is the power factor, is the phase
angle between the alternating current and volt-
age, V
eff
and I
eff
are the root-mean-square val-
ues of the sinusoidal current and potential dif-
ference, respectively. The power dissipated in a
pure inductance or pure capacitance is zero since
= 90

in both cases, which makes the power

factor equal zero. The power factor of a circuit
is usually expressed in percent; cos = 1 is
spoken of as unit power factor or 100 percent
power factor.
power gain The ratio of the output power to
the input power in a device or circuit.
power, in AC circuits This can be divided
into apparent power and actual power. The ap-
parent power is the product of the effective volt-
age and effective current. Actual power is given
by the product of apparent power and the power
factor. Apparent power is expressed in volt-
amperes while actual power is in watts. For
a sinusoidal voltage and current, the effective
current, I
eff
, and voltage, V
eff
, usually called the
root-mean-square values, are given by
I
eff
=
I
0

2
V
eff
=
V
0

2
,
where I
0
and V
0
are the peak values of the cur-
rent and voltage respectively. The power ex-
pended by a circuit is given by the actual power.
It is common practice for an AC circuit or ap-
paratus to be rated by the apparent power. See
also power factor.
power in wave motion The rate at which en-
ergy E, transported by the wave at speed v, is
delivered by the wave. For a vibrating string, the
average rate of energy (averaged over the time
interval of motion) transported across a point on
the string P is the average energy density that
crosses the point in a unit time, multiplied by
the length of the wave at that point (wave speed
times the unit time), P = v

dE
dx
_
=
1
2

2
y
2
0
v,
with as the mass density of the string, the
angular frequency and y
0
the displacement am-
plitude. The power delivered by a wave is pro-
portional to the square of both amplitude y
0
and
frequency . See also oscillations, energy of.
power rating The maximum power output
available from a device, or the power it requires
to operate.
power spectral density For a specied band-
width of radiation consisting of a continuous fre-
quency spectrum, the total power in the specied
bandwidth divided by the specied bandwidth is
the spectral density.
Let x(t) be a randomprocess such that at time
t
1
, x(t
1
) is a randomvariable having a probabil-
ity density, p
x
1
(), which statistically describes
the process at t
1
. The probability that the pro-
cess x(t) will have a value in the range (a, b) at
time t
1
is then given by
Prob [a x(t
1
) b] =
_
b
a
p
x
1
()d .
One simple measure of the degree of random-
ness of a process x(t) is indicated by the pro-
cesss autocorrelation function
R
x
(t, ) = cE[x(t)x(t +)] ,
where cE denotes a statistical average over the
joint density of the process x(t) at time t and
x(t) at time t + . The frequency character-
istics of a stationary random process x(t) are
exhibited by its spectral density, S
x
(), dened
as the Fourier transform of the processs auto-
correlation function
S
x
() =
_

R
x
() exp
j
d ,
where is the frequency. The function S
x
()
is called the spectral density or power spectrum
of the stationary random process x(t).
2001 CRC Press LLC
Poynting vector Vector quantity, denoted S,
the magnitude and direction of which determine
the magnitude and direction of the energy trans-
ported by light or other electromagnetic radia-
tion across a unit area in a unit of time. The
vector is explicitly dened in terms of the cross
product of the electric and magnetic vectors of
the radiation, E and B, via the relation
S =
1

(E B) ,
where is the permeability constant of the
medium. The signicance of vector S derives
fromthe fact that the integral of the normal com-
ponent of S over a given surface equals the rate
of ow of electromagnetic energy through the
surface.
pre-amplier An amplier operating before
the main amplier to boost the signal. It is nor-
mally used before signal processing occurs to
avoid amplifying the noise.
precooling This is a stage in an experiment
used to speed up the overall cooling process.
It is common practice to introduce a little air
as exchange gas before the subsequent transfer
of liquid helium into the cryostat for cooling.
Cryostats in the temperature range above 1 K
that use
4
He for cooling, usually use nitrogen
for precooling.
presbyopia A reduction in the ability of the
eye to accommodate to bring close objects to a
focus on the retina. This is a naturally occurring
consequence of aging.
primary cell An electrochemical cell that
cannot be recharged is called a primary cell.
They usually have high energy density and good
shelf life. They are widely used in electronic
equipment and are disposable. Typical exam-
ples are zinc-carbon cell and alkaline cell.
principal focus The point of intersection of
a focal plane with the optic axis of the sys-
tem. Corresponding to the rst and second focal
planes, we have the rst and second foci.
principal maxima The peaks of largest in-
tensity in the interference pattern produced by
interfering beams of light or other electromag-
netic radiation. Generally correspond to the
zeroth and rst-order maxima in an interfer-
ence pattern, as, for example, the central and
two neighboring maxima in the intensity pattern
produced by the passage of coherent radiation
through two slits.
principal planes/points Every lens/lens sys-
tem has two principal points/planes and are two
of six cardinal (or Gaussian) points/planes of the
optical system. A ray entering a thick lens from
the rst focal point will emerge parallel and a
ray parallel to the axis on the object side will
pass through the second focal point. The exten-
sions of the incident and emergent rays, in each
case will intersect, by denition, the principal
planes that cross the axis at the principal points.
Principal planes in general do not coincide and
may sometimes be located outside the optical
system.
principle, convolution The convolution of
two functions,
1
(x) and
2
(x), is by denition,
the function (x) equal to:
(x) =
_
+

dy
1
(y)
2
(x y) .
The Fourier transform of (x), (p) is the ordi-
nary product of the respective transforms of
1
and
2
. See principle, deconvolution.
principle, cryodyne See principle, Gifford-
McMahon.
principle, deconvolution In general, the de-
convolution principle is the inverse of the con-
volution principle (see principle, convolution).
The goal inthis procedure is, givena single func-
tion (x), two functions
1
and
2
(that when
convoluted together yield (x)) can be sepa-
rately determined.
The method is of practical use to image
restoration, enhancement, reconstruction, and
signal ltering. Numerical algorithms exist
that can reconstruct image objects by iterative
coded-source image deconvolution. In many
cases, a sharper image is sought when the source
image has contributions from noise.
Novel techniques in the recording and imag-
ing of X-ray and gamma rays use neural net-
2001 CRC Press LLC
works for the deconvolution phase mixed with
nonlinear ltering for noise removal and edge
enhancement.
principle, Gifford-McMahon This is an ex-
ample of expansion-cooling, and external work
cycle. The cycle consists of four phases; in the
pressurization phase, the warm volume is at a
maximum. In the subsequent intake phase the
valve remains open to enlarge the cold volume
and reduce the warm volume. The expansion
phase then takes over, when the exhaust valve is
slowly opened and the cold volume is cooled by
expansion. The nal exhaust phase occurs when
the displacer is moved downward to displace the
remaining cold gas. This is also known as the
cryodyne. The cryodyne is used to provide small
refrigerators that cool microwave equipment or
optical devices to 70, 20 or 4 K.
principle of complementarity The wave na-
ture (electromagnetic wave) and particle nature
(collection of photons) of light are manifested
in different experiments. Similarly, matter also
exhibits both wavelike and particlelike proper-
ties. Niels Bohr proposed that matter has a dual
nature and that the wave and particle aspects
of matter complement each other. Einstein ex-
tended this duality concept to electromagnetic
waves and photons.
principle of reversibility Any ray in an opti-
cal system, if reversed in direction, will retrace
the same path.
printed circuit A pattern of conductors on
a board of insulating material to which compo-
nents are added to form a circuit. A printed
circuit is often created by photolithography.
prism A block of optical material with at
polished sides that are arranged at precise an-
gles to each other. Prisms do not form images
but can be used to deviate beams of light, invert
or rotate an image, disperse light into its com-
ponent wavelengths, or isolate separate states of
polarization.
prism, achromatic See aberration, chro-
matic.
prism binocular Binoculars in which Porro
or other prisms are used to produce erect nal
images and to reduce the length of the instru-
ment. The distance between the objective lenses
can thus be made greater than the interpupillary
distance, thereby enhancing the stereoscopic ef-
fect produced by ordinary vision.
prism, combination of A combination of
prisms used to give a nal erect image while
simultaneously removing the left-right reversal
produced by a typical telescope. Use of prisms
avoids the problems of aberration and of in-
crease in length of optical systems associated
with lenses.
prism, Litrow If a Brewster prism (a prism
in which both a particular wavelength and lin-
ear polarization rays at minimumdeviation enter
and exit the prism at a Brewster angle) is cut in
half along the plane in which there is a bisector
between the two Brewster entrance/exit faces, a
Litrow prism is used as the planar element of a
hemispherical laser resonator.
prism, Nicol Apolarizing prism. The princi-
pal section is perpendicular to the entrance face,
but the optic axis is neither parallel nor perpen-
dicular to the face. It transmits the extraordinary
ray, but the ordinary ray is totally internally re-
ected.
prism, Porro A reecting prism, commonly
used in binoculars to provide erect images. It
consists of two right angle prisms such that light
entering perpendicular to the hypotenuse sur-
face is totally reected in turn by the two op-
posite surfaces, to emerge from the hypotenuse
surface parallel to the incident light.
prism, Rochon A common type of polariz-
ing beam splitter when a ray of light, incident
normally at the entrance face, travels along the
optic axis in the rst half of the prism. Both
ordinary and extraordinary rays are undeviated
and have the same refractive index. The second
half of the prismhas its optic axis at right angles
to that in the rst half, but the ordinary ray is
undeviated since its refractive index is the same
in both halves. The extraordinary ray has min-
2001 CRC Press LLC
imum index in the second half and is refracted
at the cut.
prism, Wollaston Wollaston prisms are used
to provide double images of single sources and
split a beam of light into two naturally orthogo-
nal linearly polarized beams.
programming The process of preparing a
set of coded instructions that can be executed
by a digital computer to yield the solution to a
specic problem or perform a specic function.
progressive wave A wave that transfers en-
ergy from one location in space to another (in
contrast to a standing wave). Typical progres-
sive waves are waves traveling along a stretched
string and compression and rarefaction waves
traveling along a tube. For example, a wave de-
scribed by the shape y = f(x) at the position
x and at some time instant t = 0 traveling in
the x direction with a constant velocity v is de-
scribed by the equation y = f(x vt) at any
time instant t. Also known as a traveling wave.
projection effect Due to the three-
dimensional nature of objects, only such points
of objects that lie in the focal plane are imaged
as sharp point images in the screen plane. Other
points on the screen plane are depicted by small
luminous areas that are sections cut out of this
plane from the cone of image rays emanating
from the off-focal plane points.
propagation constant (1) Acharacteristic of
a transmission line that summarizes the effects
on the wave being transmitted by the line. It is
a complex number, the real part of which (the
attenuation constant) measures the signal loss
while the complex part (the wavelength or phase
constant) measures the shift in phase the wave
undergoes.
(2) A complex quantity that measures the at-
tenuation and phase change of a sinusoidal trav-
eling wave along a transmission line. The real
part of the propagation constant is the attenua-
tion constant in nepers per unit length; the imag-
inary part is the phase change constant in radians
per unit length. The propagation constant, , at
a specic frequency is given by
= log
e
I
1
/I
2
where I
1
and I
2
is the current at two different
points separated by unit length along the trans-
mission line, I
1
is closer to the signal source,
and I
1
/I
2
is the vector ratio of the currents. The
propagation constant can also be written as
= +i
where is the attenuation constant, is the
phase change constant, and i =

1. The am-
plitude of the vibration of a wave, E, at any
distance, x, along the transmission line, is re-
lated to the initial amplitude, E
0
(i.e., at x = 0),
of the wave by
E = E
0
e
x
.
The propagation constant is also known as prop-
agation coefcient.
propagationconstant, acoustic The angular
wave number k

, which is a complex number in

a porous material, multiplied by the imaginary
unit i =

1, ik

= = + i. , the real
part of the propagation constant , is called the
attenuation constant, and it quanties the ex-
ponential amplitude decay of the acoustic wave
in the direction of propagation. The imaginary
part of is the phase constant . The complex
wave number k

is obtained from the solution

of the wave equation.
propagation loss The loss of energy from
a beam of electromagnetic radiation due to ab-
sorption, scattering and spreading of the beam.
propeller sound Noise generated by pro-
pellers devices equipped with rotating blades
mounted on a shaft is of note as, for example,
the major source of ship noise. Acoustic radia-
tion is due to the complex dynamic interaction
of propeller blades and nonuniform ow elds
that can, in extreme cases, lead to cavitation.
The sound characteristics depend on the blade
form and operating conditions; noise control is
an issue of continuing interest. Noncavitating
propeller noise can be classied as (a) mechani-
cal blade tonals that depend on angular velocity
and blade number, (b) broadband noise caused
by the interaction of propeller blades with tur-
bulent structures and trailing edge vortices that
cause a vibratory response, and (c) propeller-
singing occurring at matching vortex shedding
2001 CRC Press LLC
and blade resonant frequencies. Cavitation gen-
erates broadband noise, caused by growing and
collapsing sheets of bubbles forming on the pro-
peller blades.
prosthesis An articial replacement for a
missing body part. Prostheses include articial
limbs, false teeth, hearing aids, articial kid-
neys, and implanted pacemakers. In the con-
struction of articial organs, the use of biomate-
rials (materials that are biocompatible) are used.
Modern devices include structural improve-
ments that allow them to be of lighter materials,
more realistic appearance, and greater exibil-
ity. In some cases prostheses can permit the
patient to participate in sports activities.
protocol Two or more parties at the same
level of communication are referred to as peer
entities and a protocol is a set of rules and for-
mats that govern the communication between
peer entities.
proton pumps Proton pumps are ion pumps
that promote active transport of H
+
(protons).
Because they involve active transport, they
spend energy in their function by hydrolizing
ATP. Proton pumps nd their most use in ar-
eas of the cell where metabolic activity is be-
ing carried out, like intracellular organelles, en-
dosomes, lysosomes, synaptosomes, chromaf-
n granules, golgi membranes, and endoplas-
mic reticulum where production of H
+
is the
highest.
Proton pumps are also of use in the pro-
duction of ATP from glucose and other nutri-
ents in the process called cellular respiration.
An important step during cellular respiration is
the electron transport chain (ETC), over which
ATP is produced during the many steps in the
process that involves oxidation of NADH and
FADH
2
and reductions of O
2
into H
2
O. The
cytochromes, the typical protein carriers in the
ETC, can accept electrons, pump protons, and
generate H
2
O from O
2
and H
+
.
In plant cells, vacuoles contain proton pumps
in their membranes that, by transporting protons
to one side, create a gradient in potential that is
used later to move sugars and other ions in and
out of the vacuole.
pseudo sound Pressure uctuations associ-
ated with ow uctuations that propagate at the
speedof the bulkow(or a fractionof this speed)
rather than at the speed of sound. Such uctu-
ations develop when, above a certain Reynolds
number characteristic for the particular ow ge-
ometry, more or less steady vortices form at
lower ow velocities. At higher ow veloci-
ties turbulence sets in, and the pressure uctua-
tions associated with turbulent ow are irregu-
lar. Small alternating pressures accompany the
relatively large velocity amplitudes, and only a
fraction of the energy carried by the owis emit-
ted as sound (noise). Pseudo sound is generated
in heat exchangers in the ow over tube bun-
dles, in blood vessels (blood ow), and fans (air
ow).
p-type silicon Silicon that has been doped
with an acceptor type impurity (boron (B), gal-
lium (Ga), etc.) and in which holes, positively
charged, are the majority carriers (hole concen-
tration is much higher than electron concentra-
tion).
pulse generator A circuit used to generate
pulses. A pulse generator will often allow vari-
ations in the repetition rate, amplitude, width,
polarity, etc., of the pulses. They are commonly
used to produce inputs for digital circuitry.
pulse height discriminator A device that
passes pulses higher than a predetermined pulse
level, but blocks pulses lower than that level.
pulse, longitudinal A pulse in a compres-
sional zone (generated, for example, by giving a
piston conned in a long tube a short, rapid in-
ward stroke) traveling at a speed v, with particles
of matter displaced in the direction of propaga-
tion (longitudinally). The uid in contact with
the piston subjected to the pulse is compressed;
its density and pressure rise above the undis-
turbed values. The compressed uid moves for-
ward and compresses adjacent uid layers, caus-
ing the compression pulse to advance down the
tube. For a longitudinal sound wave in a gas,
the velocity is v =
_
p
0

0
, where is the ratio
of specic heats for the gas, and p
0
and
0
, the
undisturbed pressure and density, respectively.
2001 CRC Press LLC
pulse operation A method of operation in a
circuit inwhichthe signals are passedinthe form
of discrete pulses rather than as analog signals.
pulse rate (Also known as for pulse-
repetition frequency.) The rate at which pulses
are transmitted in a pulse train. It is the recip-
rocal of the period and is measured in units of
Hertz.
pulse shaper A circuit used to shape a pulse
toa desiredform, or tomodifyits characteristics.
pulse train A series of pulses with similar
characteristics occurring at regular intervals.
pulse, transverse Adisturbance (created, for
example, by applying a single sidewise move-
ment to a stretched string) characterized by the
motion of the particles of matter perpendicular
to the direction of propagation of the disturbance
(pulse). In a transverse pulse each particle re-
mains at rest until the pulse reaches it, moves for
the duration of the pulse and then returns to its
initial state. For the stretched string, the speed
of propagation of the disturbance is v =
_
F/,
where F is the elasticity measured by the ten-
sion in the string and the mass per unit length
of the string.
puncture voltage The voltage gradient that
leads tobreakdownor puncture across anelec-
trical insulator. This leads to a sudden decrease
in the resistance of the material to such an extent
that high-value currents may ow through local
regions. In the case of solid insulation, punc-
ture represents damage to the material, whereas
in the case of liquid or gaseous insulation, the
interruption of the current ow and the removal
of the offending overvoltage restores the mate-
rial close to its original condition. The break-
down of insulation is time dependent; the higher
the voltage above the critical value, the shorter
the time for breakdown.
pupil Pupils are derived from knowledge of
the eld stop in an optical system and are used
to determine the limiting cone of rays from the
object point to the conjugate image point. In the
analysis of optical systems, two types of pupils
are considered: the entrance pupil and the exit
pupil.
1. entrance pupil: the image of the control-
ling aperture stop formed by all the imaging el-
ements preceding it.
2. exit pupil: the image of the controlling
aperture stop formed by all imaging elements
following it.
In visual optics, the pupil is the aperture in the
iris, normally circular and contractile, through
which light enters the posterior portion of the
eye.
pupil, entrance See pupil.
pupil, exit See pupil.
Purkinje effect Perceptual variation in rel-
ative lightness of different colors as illumina-
tion changes from daylight (photopic) to twi-
light/night (mesopic/scotopic). That is, during
the day when vision is photopic, objects close to
550 nm wavelengths will tend to appear lighter
than objects of 500 nm. When vision becomes
scotopic, the situation is reversed. Also known
as Purkinje Shift.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Q
Q-factor (1) Also known as the quality fac-
tor. It is a gure of merit for an electrical cir-
cuit (or any energy storage system), and is given
by Q = 2
average energy stored
average energy dissipated per half cycle
. For a
resonance system with high Q values, it is also
equal to f
0
/f, where f
0
is the resonant fre-
quency, andf = f
2
f
1
is the frequencyband,
dened as those frequencies that give more than
50% of the total power delivered at resonance.
(2) Symbol: Q. Also known as the quality
factor. A gure of merit for a tuned circuit. It
determines the rate of decay of stored energy.
The decay time becomes longer with increasing
value of the Q-factor. For a tuned circuit, it is
given by
Q =
2f
0
L
R
=
1
2f
0
CR
where L = inductance, C = capacitance, R =
resistance associated with a real inductance or
capacitance, and f
0
= resonant frequency. The
resistance may also be included as part of the
tuned circuit to reduce the Q-factor. It is also
given by Q = f
0
/f, where f is the band-
width at the 3dB points of the voltage vs. fre-
quency response function of a resonant circuit.
Q-meter Laboratory instrument that mea-
sures the Q-factor of a circuit or circuit element
by determining the ratio of reactance to resis-
tance.
quadrature State of being separated by 90

,
or one quarter cycle. Also known as phase
quadrature.
quadripole The eld that results from two
magnetic dipoles arranged as a unit. If the dipo-
lar axes point in opposite directions, then, at
large distances compared to the physical dimen-
sions of the quadripole, the magnetic eld pat-
tern has a quadrupolar symmetry.
quadrupole, electric In its simplest form,
an arrangement of two equal electric dipoles in
opposite orientation.
Electric quadrupole congurations.
The electric eld falls off as 1/r
4
, where r is
the distance from the center of mass.
quadrupole sound sources This refers to
the arrangement of the sound sources of which
there are two basic types: lateral and linear
quadrupole sources. In the lateral quadrupole
arrangement, the monopole sources with alter-
nating phases are at the corners of a square.
Sound is radiated in a cloverleaf pattern, with
strong projection in front of each source and
with the sound being canceled at points equidis-
tant from adjacent opposite monopoles. In a
linear quadrupole arrangement, the two oppo-
site phase dipoles lie along the same line, as in
a tuning fork, for example. In this arrangement,
in the near eld there are four maxima and four
minima, while in the far eld there are two max-
ima and two minima.
quality, sound See also timbre. A string can
be plucked, bowed or struck, e.g., in a harp, vi-
olin or piano, respectively. Quality depends on
the relative amplitude of various overtones to
the fundamental tone. Fundamentals are indis-
tinguishable; overtones introduce the necessary
quality that is important for the ear. Notes of the
same pitch and loudness produced by different
instruments can be distinguished by the quality.
quantization of charge Charges, whether
positive or negative, come in certain specic
amounts, namely, 0, q, 2q, 3q and so on.
For example, the charge of one electron is equal
2001 CRC Press LLC
to q, while the charge of one proton is equal to
+q. Robert A. Millikan used an oil-drop appa-
ratus to demonstrate the quantization of charge
and won a Nobel prize in 1923.
quarter-wave lm Film whose thickness,
multiplied by the index of refraction of the lm
material, equals one fourth (or an odd integer
multiple of one fourth) of the wavelength of the
radiation incident on the lm. The signicance
of quarter-wave lm derives from the perfect
constructive or destructive interference that oc-
curs between parts of a wavetrain reected at
front and rear surfaces of the lm(depending on
dielectric constants of media on the two sides of
the lm), resulting in a maximumor a minimum
in the reectivity of the lm.
quarter-wave line A section of transmis-
sion line that is one quarter-wavelength long
at the fundamental frequency being transmitted.
When shorted at the far end, it has a high im-
pedance at the fundamental frequency and for
all odd harmonics, and a low impedance for all
even harmonics. It is often used as an imped-
ance matching device between two transmission
lines with different impedances (Z
1
, Z
2
) such
that Z
2
0
= Z
1
Z
2
where Z
0
is the impedance of
the quarter-wave line.
quarter-wave plate Plate of birefringent ma-
terial with ordinary and extraordinary indices
of refraction n
1
and n
2
, cut with its surfaces
parallel to the optic axis and with its thickness
d adjusted so that the difference (n
1
n
2
)d
equals (exactly) one-quarter of the wavelength
of the radiation of interest. Passage of this radi-
ation through quarter-wave plate, perpendicular
to the plate surfaces, produces a difference be-
tween the phases of the ordinary and extraordi-
nary components of the radiation exactly equal
to /2, which serves to effect the conversion of
linearly polarized light into circularly polarized
light, and vice versa.
quiescent component A device that has
power applied to it, but is receiving no input
signal.
quiescent current A current in a circuit or
device to which power has been applied, but no
input signal has been applied. For example, the
current in an AC amplier circuit with no AC
input.
quincke tube A commonly used device for
demonstrating the interference of sound waves
and measuring their wavelength. Sound waves
froma high frequency source enter the apparatus
at S and the energy divides between A and B.
The two waves reunite at C and are picked up
by detector at D.
2001 CRC Press LLC
R
radiance The radiant energy per second per
unit solid angle passing through a unit area per-
pendicular to the bisector of the solid angle con-
taining the measured radiation. Measured in
units of watts/steradian/m
2
.
radiation (1) Propagating electromagnetic
energy, interpreted classically to consist of os-
cillating (time-varying) electric and magnetic
elds that propagate through space with a speed
dependent on the properties of the matter that
occupies the space, and interpreted quantum-
mechanically to consist of units of electromag-
netic energy known as photons with energies
equal to hf, where f is the frequency of the
radiation and h is Plancks constant. Classical
interpretation of radiation applies where photon
energies are small compared to the energy sen-
sitivities of the measuring equipment such that
the observed effects involve large numbers of
photons that act on the average to produce clas-
sical elds. Types of electromagnetic radiation,
classied by distinct ranges of frequencies, in-
clude radio, microwave and infrared waves, vis-
ible light, and ultraviolet, X- and gamma-rays.
(2) The term is alternatively used to refer to
a stream of energetic nuclear particles or elec-
trons.
radiation carcinogenesis By denition, a
carcinogen is any agent that causes cancer in
animal and human tissue. Carcinogens may be
inorganic (asbestos, arsenic) or organic (certain
molds, viruses). Other types include X-rays,
UV, and gamma rays. Contamination may be
through air (radon, smoke), skin absorbed (pes-
ticides), or ingested (nitrites).
Radiation carcinogenesis is then the devel-
opment (from the beginning) of malignant can-
cer tumors exclusively from radiation exposure.
Radiation carcinogenesis studies explore the re-
lationship between radiation dose and response
as well as dose rate effects. The studies pro-
vide assessment of dose response in individual
organs and usually extrapolate results obtained
from animal models to humans. See radiation
effect, cumulative.
radiation damping, acoustic Sound waves
will undergo an exponential decay if there is ab-
sorbing material present in their path of prop-
agation. The amplitude of the wave decreases
with time due to the loss of mechanical energy
to the mediumor its surroundings. This effect is
more signicant, for example, in a room where
standing waves are set up and absorbing material
is present at the corners of the room. The acous-
tic resistance and the coefcient of absorption of
the room need to be taken into account.
radiation effect, cumulative Radiation ef-
fects are counted above the tolerance dosage
of approximately 5 Rems per year (whole body
dosage). The classication of doses range from
mild and acute, to chronic, as a function of
dosage. Effects may occur as a result of cumu-
lative small doses of radiation or exposure to ra-
diation from accidents. Mild radiation sickness
is a common side-effect of radiation therapy for
cancer.
Mild doses of radiation are 25 to 50 Rems
in less than one week; these do not produce de-
tectable clinical effects on the body. Doses of up
to 150 Rems may show blood changes and may
prove to be a longtime hazard. A dose up to 250
Rems is considered a moderate dose that will
provoke nausea and vomiting within 24 hours.
Injury may vary from slight to serious and the
recovery is subject to good health and no com-
plications. A dose of 250 to 350 Rems brings
nausea and vomiting in under four hours with
the possibility of mortality in two to four weeks.
Higher doses, up to 600 Rems, are considered
a median lethal dose with 50% probability of
death or a very good chance of incapacitation.
Doses greater than 600 Rems will provoke im-
mediate nausea and vomiting with mortality in
one to two weeks. The doses usually have the
acute effects, the immediate effects within 48
hours, and delayed effects of injury or incapac-
ity in the range of one to ve weeks. There are
chronic effects that result in changes to the skin
and vascular changes. See radiation exposure;
radiation standards; radiation effect, genetic.
2001 CRC Press LLC
radiation effect, genetic Genetic effects of
radiation are readily understood in terms of the
effects that ionizing radiation has on living cells.
Upon the irradiation of biological tissue, the ra-
diation reacts with molecules and atoms causing
the release of free electrons. This release comes
fromthe interaction of high energy photons with
the electron cloud of atoms and the transferal of
the photon energy to the electrons, thus ionizing
the atomand setting the electron free. Free elec-
trons in turn react with water dissociating it and
creating free radicals. Biological molecules, es-
pecially DNA, are very susceptible to radicals
that cause strand breaks in them, thus altering
the genetic code of cells.
The use of ionizing radiation to create free
radicals is exploited in radiotherapy, where
treatment and elimination of cancerous tumors
is achieved by destroying the genetic code of
malignant cells, thus causing a disruption of cell
activity. The success of the therapy lies in the
ratio of tumor cells vs. healthy cells that are af-
fected. See radiation exposure; radiotherapy.
radiation exposure Exposure to radiation
emitting substances is becoming an increasingly
complex problemdue to increased exposure that
exists both from natural as well as industrial
sources.
Naturally occurring radiation sources come
from the radioactive decay of radium and radon
gas, found in some groundwater sources. Expo-
sure dangers from radon, however, are mostly
frombreathing the gas after it is released into the
atmosphere, rather than from drinking. Other
sources are from thorium and uranium. There
are also some biologically internal sources of ra-
diation like potassium
40
and carbon
14
that occur
naturally in living cells. Other types of radiation
come fromcosmic rays that have outer space ori-
gin.
The total annual dose received by a person
fromthese naturally occurring radiation types at
sea level is approximately 0.91 mSv. Twice this
amount may be received by a person who lives
at higher elevations where cosmic rays are more
intense, or by people who live in a geographic
place with soil with a high radium content. In
this last case, radon from the decay of radium
may accumulate indoors, and, if the house is
not well-ventilated, the person may be exposed
to doses as high as 100 mSv per year in their
lungs.
Articial radiation may come from nuclear
power plants, uranium mining, and medical re-
search, and may contribute substantially to wa-
ter contamination. Nuclear weapons testing has
been responsible for strontium
90
and tritium
contaminants in water. It has been estimated
that the average annual radiation dose received
frommedical anddental irradiationindeveloped
countries approaches in magnitude the dose re-
ceived from natural background radiation.
Other articial sources of radiation include
radiation from radioactive minerals in crushed
rocks, phosphate fertilizers, radiation from
building materials, radiation-emitting compo-
nents of television sets, and smoke detec-
tors, among others. Total exposure of radia-
tion from articial sources amounts to approx-
imately twice that of radiation from natural
sources alone. See radiation standards.
radiation impedance, acoustic Fundamen-
tal characteristic of medium in which sound is
transmitted. It refers to the opposition of the
transmission of sound in a particular medium.
It is generally numerically given by c (g/cm
2
sec), where is the density of the medium and
c is the velocity of sound in that medium which
is determined solely by the physical properties
of the medium.
radiation, isotropic Diffuse radiation such
that the radiant energy is propagating in many
different directions through a given small vol-
ume of space. The diffuse radiation has the same
intensity in all directions.
radiationof sound The propagationof sound
waves from a source outward in a medium.
There can be plane wave propagation or spheri-
cal wavefronts. Point sources produce spherical
wavefronts.
radiation pressure The pressure exerted by
radiation on a given surface as a result of the rate
of transfer of (radiant) linear momentum across
the surface per unit area (producing a force per
unit area on the surface). Electromagnetic radi-
ation pressure can be interpreted to derive from
the force of the magnetic eld of the radiation in
2001 CRC Press LLC
the direction of propagation. Pressure produced
by the absorption (reection) of electromagnetic
radiation by a surface equals two times the time
average of the Poynting vector of the radiation
divided by c.
radiation pressure, acoustic Traveling
sound waves, on striking a surface, become ab-
sorbed or reected. In doing so, they exert a
force on the surface on which they fall. This
canbe usedas a mechanismfor measuringsound
energy. See radiometers; rayleigh disk.
radiation protection Protection against ra-
diation has become increasingly important as
more and more techniques and applications
make use of radioactive materials inapplications
that involve materials quality testing to medical
diagnostics and treatment of disease.
The most common type of radiation that peo-
ple are exposed to is ultraviolet radiation from
the sun. An increase of skin cancer, cataracts,
and other effects from UV exposure have made
UV exposure an important health issue. In ef-
forts to provide meaningful ways of protection,
the UV Index has been established. The index
is meant to associate levels of exposure to risks
of disease from radiation damage to tissue. The
UV Index ranges between 0 and 10+, and is in
proportion to the amount of UV radiation that
reaches the earths surface over a one-hour pe-
riodat noon. Other useful indices usedbysuntan
lotion and sunscreen companies is the sun pro-
tective factor (SPF). SPF numbers in these prod-
ucts indicate the amount of protection against
the different types of UV.
Radiation protection against radioactive ma-
terials handling and managing is given by lim-
iting personnel exposure to radiation from the
substances. Storage is usually provided in lead
sealed cabinets or cannisters. X-ray rooms are
usually shielded as well as other facilities that
expose doses of radiation to detectors. Pocket
dosimeters provide a way of measuring the total
accumulated dosage received, thereby monitor-
ing radiation safety limits. See sun exposure
and skin cancer, sunburn, radiation standards,
radioactive waste, radioisotope storage.
radiation quality See radiation standards;
radioactive waste; radiation protection; radia-
tion exposure.
radiation, resonance Electromagnetic radi-
ation with a frequency matched to a transition
frequency of the atoms or molecules of a given
material. Alternatively refers to the radiation
emitted by a gaseous material when the atoms
or molecules of the material are excited by inci-
dent radiation of the same or higher energy.
radiation, selected Electromagnetic radia-
tion of a particular frequency. Generally refers
to radiation that is selected by reection from a
grating in a particular direction, or by transmis-
sion through an etalon via constructive interfer-
ence at a selected wavelength.
radiation standards Patients being treated
for cancer are usually administered a dose of 50
Sv or more in daily exposures in periods that can
last from four to six weeks. Protection for the
normal tissue of the patient as well as protection
to the medical personnel against excessive oc-
cupational exposure to stray radiation are taken
in order to prevent or diminish damage and con-
tamination. Comparable safeguards are utilized
to minimize the exposure of workers employed
in other activities involving radiation or radioac-
tive material. Similarly, standards of safety have
been developed for the handling and disposal of
radioactive waste.
In the U.S., the FDA has regulatory power
over radiation and radioactive materials man-
agement. This includes radiation control over
consumer products that may be able to radi-
ate excess radiation in, for example, X-ray ma-
chines, televisions, microwave ovens, etc.
For personnel who work in an environment
that deals with radioactive materials usage and
handling (with radiation doses that exceed 20
mR/hr at one meter), pocket dosimeters give an
instantaneous measure of the total accumulated
dosage. These dosimeters are able to detect
X-rays as well as gamma radiation.
There are standards on the permissible
dosage to which people may be exposed. Occu-
pational exposures should not exceed 500 mSv
per year, compared with public exposures of less
than 5 mSv per year. See radioactive waste.
2001 CRC Press LLC
radio (1) An apparatus for receiving, broad-
casting, or transmitting radio signals without
connecting wires or waveguides.
(2) The process of transmission and recep-
tion of information by electromagnetic waves
of radio-wave frequencies.
radioactive waste Radioactive waste is pro-
duced in increasing amounts as byproducts of
nuclear weaponry, nuclear-power generation,
and research. Because much of this waste re-
mains radioactive for long periods of time, it is
particularly hazardous and difcult to store.
Fuel from nuclear power generators is con-
sidered waste once it cannot be reprocessed any-
more. At this point the waste is usually pre-
pared for storage. In the U.S., the Department
of Energy has the responsibility of receiving the
spent fuel from utilities. The process starts by
keeping the waste in temporary storage that then
are packaged in corrosion-resistant canisters of
steel. Some other types of radioactive waste
coming from ssion in solution are completely
evaporated, leaving the waste in solid form that
is subsequently heated until all the constituent
nitrate salts are converted to oxides. The ox-
ides are then put into a glass-forming oven and
mixed with materials that form a borosilicate
glass. Lastly, the glass melt is poured into steel
canisters. After the waste has been prepared in
canisters, the planned method for ultimate dis-
posal is called geologic disposal, which means
that the waste is depositedinundergroundmined
tunnels.
Radioactive waste disposal is a world-wide
problem that usually demands large amounts
of money and resources to keep from doing
harm. The lack of appropriate disposal has led
some countries to dump radioactive pollutants
in the oceans. There is evidence that links vari-
ous radioactive pollutants to human health prob-
lems such as cancer, birth defects, and genetic
changes. See radiation exposure.
radio channel A radio channel refers to a
frequency band in the electromagnetic spectrum
dedicated for radio communication. The band-
width of any radio channel typically depends on
the application.
Radio signals in the medium radio frequency
range of 525 to 1700 kHz are coded in amplitude
modulation (AM). Mediumfrequency AMradio
waves may propagate between the transmitter
and the receiver as a ground wave, a space wave,
and/or a sky wave. Ground waves embody sur-
face waves traveling along the earth-atmosphere
boundary. Ground waves suffer signal attenua-
tion as the wave penetrates the ground or water
surface, losing an amount of energy dependent
in part on the electromagnetic wave frequency
as well as the conductivity and the permittivity
of the ground/water surface. Space waves rep-
resent that part of the transmitted electromag-
netic wave traveling through the atmosphere.
Space waves are often blocked or impeded from
reaching the receiver due to geographic topol-
ogy or the earths curvature. Sky waves repre-
sent reections of upward-bound space waves
off the ionosphere. Sky waves seldom occur
during the day, when solar radiation ionizes
the ionospheres D layer (about 40 miles from
the earths surface) which thus absorbs or scat-
ters the upward-bound sky waves. During the
night, when the D layer becomes less ionized,
the upward-bound sky waves reach and reect
ground-ward at the E layer (60 miles above
ground level) and F layer (130 miles above the
earths surface). Medium-frequency AM radio
communication depends primarily on ground
waves and sky waves; space waves, due to shad-
owing, are relatively irrelevant.
Radio signals in the very-high frequency
range of 88 to 108 MHz are coded in frequency
modulation (FM). Very-high frequency radio
communications depend primarily on space
waves and relatively little on ground waves or
sky waves. Due to their very long wavelength,
very-high frequency electromagnetic waves can
typically diffract round or reect off geologi-
cal and human-made structures that would have
blocked a medium-frequency wave. Such re-
fractions and reections result in multiple time-
delayedpropagationpaths betweenthe transmit-
ter and the receiver. The signal power attenua-
tion and multipath prole resulting from refrac-
tions and reection may in principle be calcu-
lated using physics principles, but may vary in
a very complicated manner with time as the re-
ceiver (such as a radio set installed in an auto-
mobile) travels amidst a complex surrounding
of reectors and refractors. Global broadcast-
ing in four shortwave sub-bands lying between
2001 CRC Press LLC
5950 kHz and 26.1 MHz, and FM broadcasting
in the very-high frequencies between 88 and 108
MHz.
The radio channel may be further corrupted
by thermal noises of the electronic hardware,
co-channel and adjacent channel interference,
multipath propagation effects, non-stationary
reectors and refractors near the transmitters
and/or the receivers, obstructions by human-
made structures, or by the geographical topol-
ogy. These physical effects translate into ad-
ditive stationary and non-stationary impulse
noises, time-varying multiplicative distortion to
signal amplitude, spectral distortion and inter-
symbol interference, depolarization, and pro-
longed deep attenuation of signal power. These
channel non-idealities may be mitigated by vari-
ous diversity techniques at the transmitter and/or
the receiver spatial diversity by deploying
multiple displaced antennas, polarization diver-
sity by deploying antennas of different polar-
izations, time diversity by interleaving the in-
formation symbols, or frequency diversity by
modulating the transmitted signal with different
or time-varying carrier frequencies. Sophisti-
cated high-speed signal processing techniques
are also essential and commonly used to miti-
gate channel non-idealities.
radio communication Radio communica-
tion represents communications between two or
more geographical points using as the transmis-
sion medium unguided electromagnetic waves
in the radio frequencies. Radio communication
in the frequency range of 525 to 1700 kHz uses
amplitude modulation (AM), with 10 kHz al-
lowed for each AMchannel in the Americas and
9 kHz for much of the rest of the world.
Radio communication in the short-wave fre-
quency range between 5950 kHz to 26.1 MHz
are primarily for long-distance international
broadcasting. Shortwave radio channels have
only a 5 kHz bandwidth, sufcient for speech
communication but not for music transmission.
Radio communication in the very-high fre-
quency range of 88 to 108 MHz uses frequency
modulation (FM), with a 200 kHz allowed for
each FMchannel in the United States. FMchan-
nels typically transmit in stereo, with a left sub-
band and a right sub-band on either side of the
carrier frequency for each stereo channel.
radio, for navigation Radiowaves propagate
at 300,000 km/s and thus permit measurements
of distance as a function of time and direction
as a function of differential distance to two or
more known points. In free space, radio naviga-
tion is capable of considerable accuracy. Along
the surface of the earth, however, the effect of
multiple propagation paths between a transmit-
ter and receiver reduces the accuracy. Since air-
craft and ships may move over large areas, sys-
tems that involve cooperation between a vehicle
and a ground station required a high degree of
international standardization.
radiography The process of producing ra-
diographs using X-rays as a probe. A radio-
graph is in simple terms a photograph using
X-rays. Radiography has found wide accep-
tance and use in diverse areas like medicine, bi-
ology, civil engineering, the aerospace industry,
and environmental protection.
The main difference between radiography
and other branches of nuclear medicine is that,
in radiography, the patient is subjected to an
external source of X-rays. Analysis is based
on scattered and transmitted radiation. In other
branches, the patient is usually the source of the
radiation. Also called skiagraphy. See radiol-
ogy.
radiography, neutron Non-destructive
imaging technique that involves the detection
of the attenuation of a neutron beam by the ob-
ject being radiographed. The technique gives
information about internal structure of materi-
als because not all parts of the object provide
the same attenuation, thus giving an image of
the internal attenuation regions.
Neutron radiography is similar to X-ray ra-
diography, but complementary in terms of the
information obtained through it. While X-ray
gives information about the electron cloud sur-
rounding the nucleus of an atom, neutrons give
information about the nucleus itself. Neutrons
are either scatteredor absorbedbythe atomic nu-
clei. There are two typical detection methods.
In the indirect method of obtaining an image,
a screen is put opposite to the neutron beam on
the other side of the sample. After neutron bom-
bardment, the screen becomes radioactive and,
after getting it into contact with an X-ray lm,
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a radiograph is obtained where the darkening of
the X-ray lm corresponds to the highest radi-
ation decay regions of the screen. In the direct
method, the X-ray lm and a conversion screen
are both put in the neutron beam, along with the
sample.
An example of a neutron source is
Californium
252
, in which one gram emits 2.3
10
12
neutrons per second.
radioimmunoassay Radioimmunoassay
(RIA) is a technique in biochemistry and
medicine to measure extremely small amounts
of substances (e.g., antigens, hormones, en-
zymes, steroids, vitamins, immunoglobulins,
drugs) in body uids. In general terms, the
technique consists of injecting a subject with a
substance or antigen that will cause the body
to produce antibodies. Later, serum from the
subject is extracted and the present antibodies
are obtained and treated with a radioactive
antigen and later with a non-radioactive antigen.
The technique provides then a method of de-
termining the amount of the substance present
in the body. Radioimmunoassay is used by hos-
pitals to help diagnose diabetes, thyroid gland
disorders, and other diseases. It is also used to
measure plasma renin activity.
radioiodination A technique in which bio-
logical molecules (peptides, proteins) are radio-
labelled with isotopes of iodine radioiodines
like I
125
or I
131
in tracer studies. The success
of the technique lies in the fact that radioiodine
is very well suited for radiolabelling hydrophilic
and lipophilic compounds widely used in biol-
ogy and medicine. The versatility of these ra-
dioisotopes has made possible the present status
of diagnostic nuclear medicine.
In this technique, it is critical that after a
molecule is radioiodinated, any remaining ra-
dioiodine is removed from the sample to pre-
vent radioactive detection other than the desired
molecules. Radioiodine is by itself widely used
as a tracer in the diagnosis and treatment of the
thyroid gland. See radioisotope tracers; radio-
labelling; radiology.
radioisotope storage Storage place to put
short-lived or other radionuclides used in radi-
ological studies. Depending on the usage, ra-
dioisotope storage should be accessible but at
the same time provide proper shielding and se-
curity to prevent accidents and mishandling.
Types of radioisotope storage range from
simple multi-drawer shielded modules to stor-
age safes. Usually, shielding is provided by 0.5
to 1 inch of lead on all sides, depending on the
types of radionuclides used. See radionuclides.
radioisotope tracers A radioactive sub-
stance that, when introduced into a biological
system, can be followed in time and space. Usu-
ally, a biological process or structure is being
examined and the tracer provides information
about the time development or distribution of
the tracer that may be assembled to give an un-
derstanding of the process or a diagnosis of a
disease. Tracers are located in the body by de-
tecting their radioactive decay radiation, includ-
ing the emitting of alpha or beta particles, or
gamma rays.
Typical tracers in medical applications that
involve diagnosis and treatment include isotopes
of iodine, technetium, astatine, and scandium.
See radionuclides; radiolabelling; radiology.
radiolabelling A technique in which a ra-
dioactive tracer is tagged to another molecule
(e.g., hormone, enzyme, protein) in order to nd
or follow its location in the body. The level
of radioactivity is a direct measurement of the
amount and number of the molecules that are
labelled. The selectivity with which the tagging
molecule has to work requires specic studies in
organic-inorganic chemical synthesis, biochem-
istry, and receptor binding studies.
The technique is used for the imaging of tu-
mors in the diagnosis of cancer with gamma-
emitting radionuclides that are attached to
biomolecules that preferentially target tumor
cells. The same technique is also applied in can-
cer therapy. It is also used in the assessment of
how the body metabolizes drugs in radiophar-
maceutical studies.
radiology The branch of medicine that deals
with the use of radioactive substances and radi-
ation which, based on their ionizing radiation,
are used to produce images and give treatment
to disease. The most common example is the
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use of X-rays to produce non-invasive images
of bones and dense tissue in the body.
Examples of sub-branches are radiologic
anatomy, medical imaging, magnetic resonance
imaging, computed tomography, cardiovascu-
lar radiology, mammography, musculoskeletal
radiology, positron emission tomography, uo-
roscopy, ultrasound, radiation medicine, nuclear
medicine, neuroradiology, quantitative radiol-
ogy, gastrointestinal radiology, and genitouri-
nary radiology.
radiometers Mechanical devices for measur-
ing sound energy that are large in comparison to
their associated wavelength. If sound waves hit
a disk or plate hung on a torsion balance at nor-
mal incidence, a pressure is exerted on the disk.
Some of the energy is reected and the acoustic
pressure causes the disk to rotate. The amount
of acoustic energy is indicated by the amount of
twisting or motion. See also rayleigh disk.
radiometry (1) The science of measuring op-
tical radiationat anywavelength. All fundamen-
tal radiometric measurements measure optical
energy. Since optical energy induces heat into
an absorber, it follows that a thermal-sensitive
detector, calorimeter, can be used to measure
optical energy.
(2) Alsorefers toaninstrument for measuring
the intensity or force of radiation.
radio, mobile A small mobile radio terminal
used for short-distance radio links.
radionuclide generators Apparatus for the
production of radionuclides. Radiation therapy,
radionuclides for diagnostic and investigative
medicine, and positron emission tomography
studies have made radionuclide generators an
essential component of hospitals. Their impor-
tance lies in providing radionuclides that cannot
be transported because of their intrinsic short
half-lives.
Radionuclide generators can be of the type
of ssion reactors that produce a broad range of
radionuclides or in-hospital medical cyclotron
reactors. See tomography, positron emission,
ventriculography, radionuclide, radionuclides,
radiotherapy.
radionuclides Radionuclides are isotopes
of atoms that decay producing radioactivity.
They emit various ionizing radiations, for exam-
ple, electrons, positrons, alpha particles, gamma
rays, and X-rays. The particular emissions de-
pend on the radionuclide.
Radionuclides are of importance in medi-
cal applications where diagnosis and treatment
of disease requires the intervention of tracers
and/or ionizing particles and radiation. There
are three predominant uses for radionuclides in
medicine: in radiographic imaging techniques,
in studies of metabolism, and in radiation ther-
apy.
In imaging techniques, the purpose is to visu-
alize the distribution of an injected radionuclide
within a given organ as a means of studying the
anatomic structure and pathological conditions
of the organ. In assessments of metabolism, the
goal is to quantitate the absorption and retention
of radionuclides in organs, as a function of time
and other medical variables.
Examples of radionuclides include: Car-
bon
11
, Nitrogen
13
, Oxygen
15
, and Fluorine
18
,
which are important in PET studies. Other
gamma emittingradionuclides are Technetium
99
and Iodine
131
, used in imaging and metabolic
studies, respectively. See radionuclide genera-
tors; tomography; positron emission; radiother-
apy.
radio sonde A miniature radio transmit-
ter that broadcasts meteorological information,
such as pressure and temperature, and other sci-
entic data from various levels of the atmo-
sphere to ground. A radio sonde is usually car-
ried by a balloon or kite.
radiotherapy Radiotherapy refers to the
treatment and management of malignant disease
with radiation. The treatment usually involves
irradiation with X-rays or other ionizing radi-
ation, and by ingestion of radioisotopes. The
ionizing radiation results in the production of
free electrons that react with water in the tis-
sue to form reactive free radicals. The radi-
cals then interact with the surrounding biologi-
cal molecules, especially DNA, causing strand
breaks. Radiotherapy is a local treatment and
may be used when cancerous cells are contained
in a few areas of lymph nodes.
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Radiotherapy is more effective and safest if
the radiation is given in multiple small doses
(fractions) over a long period of time. In gen-
eral, the reason is that small doses separated in
time allow normal tissue to repair the damage
done to healthy tissue, and this repair is usu-
ally faster than the repair to tumors. This tech-
nique produces an overall reduced toxicity to
normal tissue. Also, the tumor will have bet-
ter oxygenation, allowing for tumor shrinkage
as the treatment progresses (poorly oxygenated
tumor is less sensitive to irradiation). Regard-
ing the well-being of the patient, there is better
treatment tolerance. Another advantage in the
planning of the treatment is that the amount of
radiation can be reduced as the size of the tumor
shrinks. This usually leads to the delivery of ra-
diation in multiple fractions over a time period
that typically spans one to two months.
RAM (random access memory) Memory
in a computer used to read and write data. The
locations may be accessed in any order.
Raman effect See scattering, Raman.
Raman scattering, coherent anti-Stokes
(CARS) In CARS, a sample is subjected to
two collinear strong laser beams at different fre-
quencies,
1
and
2
. If the frequency difference

2
(assuming
1
>
2
) coincides with the
frequency of a Raman-active rotational or vibra-
tional mode nu
R
, then there is enhancement of
the signal at
A
= 2
1

2
(anti-Stokes) and

S
= 2
2

1
(Stokes). In Stokes, a phonon
is produced from the scattering while in anti-
Stokes a phonon is absorbed.
Either
A
or
S
can be used for analysis,
but the anti-Stokes signal offers the advantage
that its frequency is well above
1
and can be
readily separated from the incident beams and
spontaneous uorescence signals by optical l-
tering. In CARS, intensities of up to 10
4
to
10
5
can be achieved over those of conventional
Raman spectroscopy, which allows for faster
data acquisition. Other advantages over con-
ventional Raman spectroscopy include the fact
that smaller samples can be used, better spatial
discrimination can be obtained, and different re-
gions within a sample can be examined. The
last two reasons are of special interest to CARS
compositional studies of ames and plasmas.
Raman scattering, electrophoretic The use
of Raman scattering techniques can be com-
bined with electrophoretic separation in order
to study effects of an electric eld on the vibra-
tional modes of the molecules in solution. Also,
any property that can be related to the vibra-
tional modes can be analyzed in dependence of
the applied electric eld.
Electrophoresis by itself is a technique based
on the mobility of particles suspended in an
electrolytic solution. Because different parti-
cles (e.g., proteins) move in the same electric
eld at different speeds, the difference in speed
can be utilized to separate the contents of a sus-
pension. When used in conjunction with Raman
scattering techniques, conformational changes
of polymers in solution (for example) can be
determined as a function of the applied electric
eld. Raman spectroscopy of vibrational spec-
tra from the polymers is very sensitive to slight
changes in the local structure (changes in bond
lengths and bond angles). Shifts and changes to
the Raman spectra are then reections of con-
formational changes.
Modern electrophoretic techniques include
capillary electrophoresis in which the solute is
contained inside a capillary and subjected to an
electric eld parallel to the length of the cap-
illary. Its advantages over normal techniques
are due to its heat dissipation characteristics and
sensitivity.
random code A random, or pseudo-random,
code is used as the signature spreading sequence
to modulate the data signal of a particular user
in code division multiple access (CDMA). This
randomcode is used to modulate (or spread) that
particular users message bits via either an am-
plitude modulation scheme (i.e., direct sequence
CDMA) or a frequency modulation scheme (i.e.,
frequency hopping CDMA). The same noise
spreading code is used at the receiver to correlate
the received signal so as to recover the original
data signal. Different users in a CDMA sys-
tem are typically assigned orthogonal or near-
orthogonal signature spreading code sequence,
such that the transmitted digits from different
2001 CRC Press LLC
users have no or little interference against each
other at the receiver after de-spreading.
rating The specied limit to operating con-
ditions of an electrical or electronic component,
e.g., the power rating of a transistor, resistor, etc.
ratio detector An electric circuit that has two
input terminals and one output terminal. The
output signal is only determined by the ratio of
the two input signals.
ray, bound In an optical ber, bound rays
are those that are conned to the ber core.
ray, extraordinary In double refraction (see
ray, ordinary), the extraordinary ray does not
obey Snells Lawon refraction at the crystal sur-
face. The extraordinary ray can be described
in terms of components polarized in directions
both perpendicular and parallel to the optic axis,
propagating with different velocities. The emer-
gent extraordinary ray is polarized in a direction
perpendicular to the polarization of the ordinary
ray.
rayleigh disk (1) A thin disk suspended by
a wire into a uid, either liquid or gas. If the
disk makes an angle with the direction of uid
ow, the hydrodynamic forces on the disk tend
to align it perpendicular to the uid ow (i.e.,
90

). This occurs regardless of the ab-

solute value of the direction of ow (e.g., left-
ward or rightward), so it is particularly suited
to measuring the presence of small sound elds
present in the uid. In superuid helium, it is
also possible to create thermal waves, denoted
as second sound. Early experiments in super-
uid helium used Rayleigh disks to sense sec-
ond sound waves and test the two-uid model.
See also helium-4, superuid.
(2) These are small paper disks, whose sizes
are much smaller compared to the wavelength
of the sound under investigation. They are sus-
pended on a ne ber at 45

and can be used to

showstreamline ow. Instruments based on this
design are also used for comparing intensities of
sounds of denite pitch.
rayleighs criterion An arbitrary, but use-
ful criterion which relates the lens diameter, D,
wavelength, , and the limit of the resolution,
, for just resolvable images. This requires
that the centers of the two image patterns be no
closer than the angular radius of the Airy disk;
i.e., the principal diffraction maximum of one
image falls directly over the rst minimum of
the other.
=
1.22
D
.
rayleigh waves Acoustic waves associated
with earthquakes that travel in a thin layer close
to the surface of the earth along a great circle
fromthe epicenter. The wavelength is a fraction
of the size of the plate the wave travels on. Such
waves can also be used for exploration of defects
in material.
ray of sound The concept is used in geomet-
ric acoustics in which a sound emanating froma
source is assumed to travel in rays of unchanging
frequency.
ray, ordinary When light is propagating
through a crystal whose optical axis is at an
arbitrary angle with respect to the beam direc-
tion, the light would experience double refrac-
tion two refracted beams called ordinary and
extraordinary rays emerge. The ordinary ray
obeys Snells Law and would emerge linearly,
polarized perpendicular to the optic axis.
ray, principal A ray that passes through the
lens/optical systemundeviatedis calledthe prin-
cipal ray (also called the chief or undeviated
ray).
rays, pencil of Usually, the section of a ray-
bundle made by a plane containing the chief ray
(any ray froman off-axis object point that passes
through the center of the aperture stop). Also, a
bundle of rays diverging from or converging to
a single point.
reactance The imaginary part of the imped-
ance associated with energy storage. Differs
from resistance, which is the real part of the
impedance and is associated with energy dis-
sipation. The unit of reactance is the ohm. For
a pure inductance or capacitance, it is given by
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2fL and 1/(2fC), respectively, where f is
the alternating current frequency.
reactive current In the phasor representa-
tion of an AC current, the component of the AC
current perpendicular to the ACvoltage is called
the reactive current.
reactive factor The ratio of the reactive
power of a circuit (i.e., the product of reac-
tive voltage and amperes) to the apparent power
(equal to the product of the root-mean-square
current and voltage).
reactive voltage That component of the pha-
sor representing the voltage of an ACcircuit that
is in quadrature (i.e., 90

) with the current.

reading glass A large-aperture, simple bi-
convex lens held such that the object to be
viewed remains between the focal point of the
lens and the lens itself, producing a magnied
virtual image.
read only A signal is stored in an electric
circuit. This signal can only be used as an input
signal to outside electric circuit. Any change in
outside circuit cannot alter this signal.
receiver, radio Aradio receiver captures am-
plitude modulated or frequency modulated radio
waves and converts them to signals that drive an
output transducer such as a loudspeaker. A sim-
ple radio receiver consists of six stages. The rst
stage is a radio-frequency section that provides
a coupling between the antenna and the radio re-
ceiver. It also provides any pre-selection or am-
plication before the frequency of the incoming
signal is changed. The second stage is a mixer
and local oscillator section that converts the in-
coming signal to a predetermined xed inter-
mediate frequency, which is usually lower than
the signal frequency. The next stage is an in-
termediate frequency amplier section, which
provides most of the radio receivers amplica-
tion and selectivity. The main stage is a second
detector section that either detects amplitude-
modulated signals or frequency-modulated sig-
nals. The next stage is a modulation frequency
sectionconsistingof either anaudioor videoam-
plier that provides the additional amplication
to drive an output transducer. The last stage is
an output transducer, such as a loudspeaker used
to provide an audio signal.
reception, diversity A communication sys-
tem that has two or more paths (referred to as
channels). An example of space-diversity re-
ception is the use of two antennas at different
heights to provide a means of compensating for
changes in electrical-path differences between
direct and reected rays. The outputs of the two
channels are combined to give a single received
signal and thus reduce the effects of fading. Fad-
ing is the variation in signal strength at a receiver
due to variations in the transmission medium.
reception of sound For acoustic waves to
be detected, a receiver must either partake or
otherwise inuence the motion of the particles
of the medium or must respond in some way
to the pressure variations on its surface. This
forms the basis of sound detectors such as the
ear, where the pressure variations are felt on the
ear drum that vibrates with the same frequency
as the impinging sound.
reciprocal network A circuit whose output
is reversibly proportional to its input.
reciprocity Deals with the reciprocal rela-
tion between transmitters and receivers of sound
waves. If there are any obstacles between the
point of origin and reception of sound, the sound
emanating at the origin is perceived with the
same intensity at the point of reception as if
an equal sound had originated at the point of
reception and recorded at the original point of
emanation.
recording of sound Mechanical vibrations
in a medium need to be converted to electrical
signals for recording. Several different media
for recording exists such as records, tapes and
compact disks, as well as lm.
recording, quadraphonic These sound sys-
tems possess a frequency range that includes
all the audible components of the sounds be-
ing reproduced. It is necessary that the intensity
range associated with the recording sounds be
distortion-free. The spatial sound pattern and
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the reverberation characteristics of the original
sound should also be preserved.
rectication (cell) The rectication behavior
of the cell membrane is exhibited more readily
in the behavior of the current as a function of the
membrane potential. Because the current across
the membrane is a direct measure of the ion ux
through it, then, as a function of the membrane
voltage, the permeability of the membrane to
different ions will show a nonlinear behavior.
The ion channels conduct ions more readily
in one direction than in another when the direc-
tion of the driving force is reversed. This is the
behavior of an electrical rectier. The rectifying
characteristics of the membrane are usually de-
picted by the plot of the current vs. the voltage
for specic channels.
In the gure below (a), the I-V linear curve
makes the channel an ohmic channel, while in
(b), the channel is a rectifying channel. The
units are usually measured in mVfor the voltage
and pA for the current.
rectier An electric circuit that changes an
alternative input signal into a unipolar output
signal. Most of the rectier makes of the diodes.
The gure shows a block diagram of a rectier.
rectier, bridge This is a specic rectier.
The gure shows this rectier made of four diodes.
The input signal is alternating and the output sig-
nal is only one direction.
Rectier, bridge.
rectier, electrolytic A rectier that uses
electrolytic mechanisms to change an alterna-
tive electric signal to a unipolar electric signal.
When the alternate signal is applied to the elec-
trolyte, the molecules in this electrolyte become
positive and negative ions. These ions produce
a unipolar electric signal. Usually this signal is
a current or voltage.
rectier, full-wave A rectier that has a
unipolar output signal during both halves of the
input sinusoid.
rectier, half-wave A rectier that only has
a unipolar output signal during one half of the
input sinusoid.
Rectier, half wave.
rectier, mercury vapor Arectier in which
the mercury vapor is lled in a tube.
rectier, metal A rectier whose anode and
cathode terminals are enclosed in a metal cham-
ber.
rectier, selenium A rectier in which a se-
lenium layer is deposited on an aluminum plate.
Electron ow from a selenium to an aluminum
plate is easier than from the opposite direction.
rectilinear propagation In geometric optics,
the propagation of light is described in terms
of rays. This is stated in terms of the law of
rectilinear propagation of light; namely, light
travels in straight lines. That mode of propaga-
tion where the light path can be described by an
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V in
V out
V in V out
V in V out
innitely thin pencil, the light ray, which propa-
gates perpendicular to the wave front. This limit
is commonly known as the limit of geometrical
optics and can be obtained by setting the wave-
length 0. Any deviations from this limit
are proportional to , leading to the existence
of diffraction effects for radiation of sufciently
long wavelength.
redlight, healing effect Dating back to Niels
Ryberg Finsen in the last part of the 19th century
(founder of modern phototherapy: treatment of
disease by the inuence of light), light has been
used to relieve ailments. As part of his discover-
ies, he found that lengthy exposure to red light
by smallpox victims prevents the suppuration
of the pustules. Separate studies make use of
infrared and ultraviolet light in heat lamps to
treat neuritis and arthritis conditions to relieve
inammation.
On UV irradiation treatments, the heating of
tissues by IR after the UV tends to suppress
the observable manifestation of dilation of the
minute blood vessels in the dermis, or erythema
(reddening of the skin). If the IR heating occurs
before the UV, there is an increases in the degree
of erythema.
Biostimulation of biological tissue has been
observed during photo-stimulation. Wave-
lengths of about 660 nm seem to cause an in-
crease in the speed of tissue repair. Different re-
sults may be obtained depending upon whether
the light source is continuous or pulsating. See
light, monochromatic, biological action.
red light stimulation and bacteria growth
While the part of the spectrum from 600 nm
to 700 nm is important for chlorophyll synthe-
sis and photosynthesis, bacterial photosynthesis
takes place close to 900 nm, deeper into the red.
For bacterial photosynthesis, there is a re-
action center with the pigment bacteriochloro-
phyll, which absorbs light of longer wave-
lengths. These bacteria require some electron
donor other than water, and they do not release
oxygen. The green bacteria (Chlorobiaceae)
and purple sulfur bacteria (Chromatiaceae) use
elemental sulfur, sulde, thiosulfate, or hydro-
gen gas as the electron donor, whereas the purple
nonsulfur bacteria use electrons from hydrogen
or organic substrates. All these bacteria require
exposure to red light as well as anaerobic con-
ditions for photosynthetic activity.
reed A musical box composed of a thin rod
clamped at one end, and excited by air pres-
sure from the mouth being blown in through the
mouth piece, which in turn makes the free end
vibrate.
reectance (Also known as reectivity). The
ratio of the reected to the incident power (ux).
Depending on the nature of the incident radia-
tion, one talks of specular, diffuse or total re-
ectance. Alarge value of reectance can cause
serious loss of light ina multi-component optical
system. To reduce the losses due to reectance,
the optical surfaces are coated with lm of a
transparent substance with a thickness equal to
one-quarter wavelength of light in the lm.
reection, acoustic This occurs when a pro-
gressive plane wave in one uid medium im-
pinges upon the boundary of a second medium
causing the acoustic disturbance to bounce back
into the rst medium.
reection coefcient Ratio of the reected
voltage to the incident voltage when a transmis-
sion line of characteristic impedance, Z
0
, is ter-
minated with an impedance, Z
R
. The reection
coefcient is given by
Z
0
Z
R
Z
0
+Z
R
.
Note that when the characteristic impedance
matches the termination impedance (i.e., Z
0
=
Z
R
), the reection coefcient is zero so there is
no reected voltage.
reection coefcient, acoustic This is given
by the ratio of the reected owof sound energy
tothe incident owof soundenergyfor the trans-
mission of acoustic waves from one medium to
another. The reection coefcient
r
= I
r
/I
I
,
where I
r
and I
I
are the reected and incident
intensities respectively.
reection density The negative of natural
logarithm of the reectance. Equivalently, the
natural logarithm of the ratio of the luminance
of a non-absorbing perfect diffuser to that of the
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surface under consideration, both surfaces be-
ing illuminated at 45

to the normal and viewed

normal to the surface.
reection, laws of For any small region of
a surface that can be considered smooth, (a) the
incident ray, the normal tothe surface at the point
of incidence, and the reected ray, all lie in the
plane of incidence, and(b) the angle of incidence
(between the incident ray and the normal to the
surface) and the angle of reection (between the
normal to the surface and the reected ray) are
equal to each other for any wavelength of light.
reection, multiple Caused by multiple pas-
sages of a light ray between two reecting sur-
faces (e.g., in a thin lm). The interference pat-
terns provided by transparent material like a lm
of oil on water, soap bubbles, etc. result in col-
orful effects.
reection, selective Reection by a body
showing selective (wavelength-dependent) ab-
sorption. The color of specularly reected light
from such materials is complementary to the
color of a thin lm of the material viewed by
transmission.
reection, specular Reection of a well-
dened narrow beam from a surface, when the
beam can be approximated with a ray and the
laws of reection are followed.
reection, total internal When light from a
medium of higher index is incident on an inter-
face at an angle greater than the critical angle, it
will be totally internally reected. No light will
emerge into the lower index medium.
reective power The ratio of the energy ux
of the beamreectedfroma surface tothe energy
ux of the beam incident on the surface.
refracting edge The edge along which two
refracting plane surfaces of a prismintersect (on
extension, if necessary).
refracting face The two non-parallel planes
constituting the boundaries of a prism where re-
fraction takes place.
refraction Continuationof the part of the ux
associated with a wave (of light) in a medium
different from the one in which the wave is trav-
eling currently. For specular incidence, and a
smooth surface of separation of the two me-
dia, the laws of reection and refraction are fol-
lowed.
refraction, acoustic The bending of sound
waves due to a change in velocity. When a trav-
eling wave strikes a second medium at an angle
in which its velocity is different fromthat which
it is traveling in, the wave continues at a differ-
ent angle. This effect is signicant in the ocean
and depends on changes in temperature, salinity
and depth in sea. Wind also causes refraction of
sound waves.
refraction, atmospheric Changes in direc-
tion of light rays due to a gradual increase in air
density (and hence index of refraction) on com-
ing closer to the surface of the earth. The appar-
ent direction of a star as seen through a telescope
is thus different fromits true direction. The con-
tinuous thermal and density uctuations in the
atmosphere cause uctuations inthe apparent di-
rection of a star. Some other manifestations of
atmospheric refraction are that stars are visible
a short time after they have actually set below
the horizon, and the disks of the sun and moon
near the horizon appear oval instead of circular.
refraction, conical The situationinwhichre-
fracted light spreads out in a hollow cone inside
a biaxial crystal, resulting from the incidence
of a beam of unpolarized light such that it is
refracted along one of the optic axes (internal
conical refraction). External conical refraction
is the emergence of a hollow cone of polarized
light whena hollowcone of incident unpolarized
light is refracted within a biaxial crystal into a
narrow pencil or ray of light.
refraction, double See ray, ordinary.
refractivity The name given to some quan-
titative measure of refraction, usually (n 1),
where n is the refractive index of the medium.
Its dependence on wavelength causes the phe-
nomenon of dispersion.
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refractometer An instrument to determine a
refractive index for various purposes like iden-
tication of gems and stones, suitability of ma-
terials for lenses, and for analysis of gaseous
samples. Physical properties like total inter-
nal reection, angle of minimumdeviation from
a prism, shift of fringes in an interferometer, etc.
are used to help determine the refractive in-
dex. In the case of solid samples, it is convenient
to have at least one polished surface. Otherwise,
a solid sample with irregular shape is immersed
in a mixture of liquids that is adjusted to have
the same refractive index as the solid (till the
outline of the solid disappears).
refractometer, Pulfrich A device used to
measure the refractive indices of solids and liq-
uids, which uses right angle prism and the prin-
ciple of internal reection.
refrigerants, nuclear Relies on the princi-
ples of magnetic cooling or adiabatic demag-
netization of the nuclear spins in metals. It is
a single-cycle refrigeration process and is effec-
tive for producing sub-mKtemperatures. Due to
the small nuclear moment in metals, the dipole-
dipole interactions are reduced and in principle
spin temp of less than 1 mK can be reached by
nuclear cooling. Copper in wire formor powder
form is most commonly used as the nuclear re-
frigerant. The required polarization is produced
by precooling to as lowa temperature as possible
while applying a large external eld.
refrigeration This involves the process of
drawing heat fromsubstances to lower their tem-
perature. Mechanical refrigeration systems are
based on the principle that absorption of heat
by a uid known as the refrigerant as it changes
from a liquid to a gas lowers the temperature of
the surrounding air. In the compression system,
a compressor exerts pressure on a refrigerant gas
causing it to pass through a condenser. It thus
loses heat and liquees. On circulation of the
liquid through the refrigeration coils, it vapor-
izes, drawing heat from the air surrounding the
coils. The refrigerant gas then returns to the
compressor, and the cycle is repeated.
refrigeration cycle, Stirling This is a re-
versible cycle that gives rise to one of the most
useful type of refrigerators. It is a four cycle
process: 1 2: the gas or refrigerant is com-
pressed isothermally at temperature
H
and re-
jects heat Q
H
to a hot reservoir. 2 3: Gas is
forced through the regenerator at constant vol-
ume, giving up some heat Q
R
to the regenera-
tor. 3 4: An isothermal expansion occurs
at the low temperature
c
during which heat Q
c
is absorbed by the gas from the cold reservoir.
4 1: Gas is forced at constant volume from
the cold to the hot end through the regenerator.
Stirlings refrigeration cycle.
refrigeration, nuclear A nuclear cooling
stage is employed in a dilution refrigerator. It
provides a high cooling power at a lowbase tem-
perature. See refrigerants, nuclear.
refrigerator, dilution A technique that em-
ploys solutions of
3
He and
4
He which is capable
of maintaining continuously low temperatures
as low as 2 mK. This is an improvement over
the single refrigerant cryostat which tends to be
limited to base temperature of 1 K for
4
He and
0.3Kfor
3
He. The method depends on the phase
separation of
3
He-
4
He mixtures below 0.9 K.
The
3
He rich phase oats on top of the more
dense phase. When the
3
He atoms move across
the boundary fromthe concentrated to the dilute
phase, a heat of the solution is taken fromthe liq-
uids. The dilution process can be operated as a
single cycle.
refrigerator, helium This system uses he-
liumfor cooling belowtemperatures of 1 K. The
process involves evaporation cooling of liquid,
Pomeranchukcoolingbyadiabatic solidication
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of the liquid, and dilution cooling by mixing
3
He
and
4
He. See refrigerator, dilution.
refrigerator, Joule-Kelvin These are mi-
crominiature refrigerators based on the Joule-
Kelvin effect. These devices have no moving
parts except for the remote compressors. The
ne capillaries are about 63 m wide and are
produced by photo-lithography. Relatively high
temperatures are achieved using nitrogen gas as
the working uid. Other units attempt to em-
ploy a three-stage cooling process involving ni-
trogen, hydrogen and helium to achieve helium
temperatures.
refrigerator, Leiden This employs the con-
cept of circulating
4
He rather than
3
He in a di-
lution refrigerator. With a circulation rate of
10
3
mol/s, temperatures as low as 10 mK
have been achieved.
refrigerator, nitrogen System that uses liq-
uid nitrogen for cooling or as the refrigerant.
This type is often used in hospitals where it is
necessary to cool to temperatures near 77 K for
the preservation of human tissues, blood and
bone marrow.
refrigerator, Pomeranchuk This involves
using a method for obtaining temperatures be-
low1K, andclose to2mKusingthe by-adiabatic
solidicationof the liquid. The coolingpower of
this type of refrigerator is proportional to the ab-
solute temperature over the temperature range.
By suitable precooling, using a dilution refrig-
erator or an adiabatic demagnetization stage and
by the application of pressure, liquid
3
He is
brought to a certain point on its melting curve.
Increasing the pressure in the cell produces so-
lidication. The cooling power of this method is
simply the amount of heat that can be absorbed
when n moles /second of liquid are converted
into a solid at constant temperature T. One of
the main problems with this method is devising
a method for compressing the helium without
frictional heating.
regeneration The input signal is amplied
through the circuit block (see gure). The out-
put signal feedback increases the input signal.
This increasedsignal is further ampliedthrough
the circuit if the combined gain is greater than
one.
Regeneration.
regenerative depolarization (cell) (1) In the
synaptic junction between two neuron cells, the
electrical signal that comes down the membrane
of one end is transmitted to the neighboring cell
via neuro-transmitters. The quantityof the neuro-
transmitters is in proportion to the strength of
the signal. The actual signal received at post-
synapse can be either hyperpolarizing or depo-
larizing. In the latter case there is a decrease
of the negative charge inside the cell membrane
causing an excitatory stimulation.
The owof neuro-transmitters fromone mem-
brane to the membrane of the other cell prevents
the signal from dying out and regenerates the
action potential or membrane depolarization at
post-synapse.
(2) An example of a regenerative depolariza-
tion is in the generation of spike trains in the cen-
tral nervous system (CNS) neurons. Sustained
depolarizing input waveforms to neurons, which
hold the membrane potential above threshold,
provoke rhythmic ring. Less likely, but possi-
ble, are extra spikes that come after a depolar-
izing after-potential that crosses threshold. The
extra spikes may subsequently cross the ring
potential threshold themselves, provoking an-
other spike. The cycle may continue, thus ob-
taining regenerative or delayed depolarizations.
See potential, graded (membrane); repolariza-
tion (cell).
reinforcement Superposition of waves that
are in phase undergo vector addition of the dis-
placement of the particles leading to an augmen-
tation in the amplitude of the acoustic waves.
Superposition no longer holds if the intensity
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V in V out
of the sound becomes very high, such as in an
explosion.
relative permeability Measure of magnetic
softness. Dened by
r
= /
o
, where and

o
are the permeability and the permeability of
free space, respectively. See permeability, mag-
netic.
relative permittivity Measure of electric po-
larizability. Ratio of the permittivity of a mate-
rial to
o
, the permittivity of free space. See
permittivity.
relaxation, acoustic Molecules are thought
to have a certain stiffness that causes a delay in
response to a vibration. The time lag between
a change in pressure and the corresponding dis-
placement results in some absorption of acoustic
waves.
Reproduction of sound involves the prelimi-
nary process of reception, then recording, trans-
mission and amplication. Electronics permits
the reproduction of sound with delity. See also
recording of sound.
relay An electrically activated switch. Gen-
erally, it consists of an electromagnet that, when
energized with a current, attracts a pivoted
spring loaded lever. On moving toward the elec-
tromagnet, the tip of the lever touches a xed
contact. The pivot of the lever is one terminal
of the switch while the xed contact is the other.
As a result, the switch is now closed. When
the current in the electromagnet is turned off,
the lever will spring back to its original position
and break the electrical connection between the
two terminals. The relay may consist of several
levers and can therefore open and close several
switches simultaneously.
relay (in communication) A relay system
uses active satellites to retransmit information
to earth. The signals are usually amplied and
the frequency changed by a transponder. A
transponder is a combined transmitter and re-
ceiver systemthat automatically transmits a sig-
nal when a predetermined trigger is received by
it.
reluctance The opposition presented by a
magnetic circuit to the establishment of mag-
netic ux in it. It is dened by the ratio of
magnetomotive force to magnetic ux in a mag-
netic circuit. The reluctance, R, depends on the
length, L, cross-sectional area, A, and magnetic
permeability, , of a magnetic circuit by
R =
L
A
.
Reluctance is the reciprocal of the permeance of
a magnetic circuit. It is analogous to the concept
of resistance in an electric circuit.
reluctance, magnetic Proportionality con-
stant R between magnetomotive force E
m
and
magnetic ux in a magnetic circuit. Dened
by
E
m
= R .
Measures the opposition presented by a mag-
netic circuit to magnetic ux. See magnetomo-
tive force. See also ux, magnetic.
remanence Magnetic moment of a material
in zero applied eld. Usually measured after
applying a magnetic eld to saturate the mate-
rial and then reducing the applied eld to zero.
If all the magnetic moments remain completely
aligned then the remanence is close to the satu-
ration magnetization. This is an important pa-
rameter for permanent magnets where a large
remanence is required.
repeater A repeater is a device at the physi-
cal level that receives signals in one circuit and
automatically delivers corresponding signals to
one or more other circuits. Arepeater is most of-
ten used with telephonic or telegraphic circuits
to amplify the signal strength. In pulse telegra-
phy, repeaters perform pulse regeneration of the
transmitted pulses. Repeaters can operate either
on signals in one direction only or on two-way
signals. Telephone repeaters operate on four-
wire circuits or two-wire circuits. Repeaters al-
low a link to span a longer distance.
repolarization (cell) At the beginning of an
action potential, the sodium channels open very
quickly when the membrane potential reaches
the threshold potential. Once the action poten-
tial is at its peak, the sodiumchannels close with
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equal speed. This creates the sodium inactiva-
tion; it is caused by gates within the channel that
are sensitive to the depolarization of the mem-
brane. Following the sodium inactivation is the
opening of the potassium channels, which al-
low the diffusion of K+ out of the cell. The
combined effect of sodium inactivation, which
blocks the inux of cations, and potassium acti-
vation, which causes the efux of other cations,
is the immediate return of the cell membrane to
a polarized state, with the inside negative in rela-
tion to the outside, i.e., repolarization. See nerve
impulses, propagation of; potential, membrane;
potential, resting.
repulsion, electric The mechanical force that
moves apart charges of the same polarity or ob-
jects carrying charges of the same polarity.
residual charge The charge remaining on the
plates or dielectric of a capacitor after an initial
discharge of the capacitor.
resistance A property of an electrical con-
ductor that determines the size of a direct cur-
rent that can ow on the application of a certain
potential difference across it. The relationship
between resistance, current and potential differ-
ence is given by Ohms law. The unit of resis-
tance is the ohm (), which can be any value
but in practice is between wide limits (10
6
to
10
8
) depending on the material and geometry
of the body. Although it is generally a constant
for a particular body, a change in temperature
may change its value. On the atomic level, re-
sistance is due to collisions of electrons with the
atomic lattice of the material, thus dissipating
heat energy in the process. See also Ohms law.
resistance, contact Resistance across the in-
terface of two conductors in contact. This re-
sistance is generally higher than that of the bulk
material because the contact area is usually lim-
ited to a number of contact points on the two sur-
faces. Pushing the two surfaces closer together
increases the number of contact points and con-
sequently decreases the contact resistance.
resistance, internal A small resistance in-
herent in any AC or DC voltage source. Conse-
quently, not all of the EMF of a source is avail-
able for use in its external circuit, and the loss is
referred to as the drop in potential due to internal
resistance. It is given by
r =
E V
I
,
where r is the internal resistance, Eis the emf, V
is the potential difference across the terminals,
and I is the current.
resistance, minimum at low temperatures
Observations have shown that many metals have
a negative temperature coefcient at lowtemper-
atures and sometimes show a minimum in their
resistance curve, for example, metallic oxides
and suldes and semiconductors. Existence of
localized moments in dilute alloys that couple to
the conduction electrons affects electrical con-
ductivity. The magnetic impurities act as scat-
tering centers, and if they are responsible for
lattice imperfection, then at low temperatures
the scattering caused will be the primary source
of electrical resistance. Nonmagnetic scatter-
ers lead to resistivity dropping monotically with
decreasing temperatures. In magnetic alloys,
the resistivity has a rather shallowminimumoc-
curring at low temperatures around 10 K that
depends weakly on the concentration of mag-
netic impurities. The minimum arises when the
scattering of conduction electrons shows unex-
pected features when the scattering center has a
magnetic moment according to Kondo theory.
resistance, Umklapp This owes its origin
to phonon collisions, in contrast to normal scat-
tering. The Umklapp process presents a direct
resistance to the ow of heat. Umklapp scatter-
ing is negligible at very low temperatures since
there are no phonons of a sufciently large wave
vector in the crystal. An Umklapp process deal-
ing with three-phonon scattering is dened as
one in which the total crystal momentum is not
conserved a process more likely to occur at
high temperatures than at low temperatures. At
the higher temperatures, the mean free path of
the phonons is ultimately limited by interatomic
spacing thus reducing the spread in thermal con-
ductivity of different crystalline solids.
resistivity A property of the material from
which an electrical conductor is made that does
2001 CRC Press LLC
not depend on the physical shape of the con-
ductor. It has the units ohm-meters (-m). It
can be used to determine the resistance, R, of a
conductor from the following:
R =
L
A
,
where is the resistivity, L is the length of the
conductor, and A is the cross-sectional area.
resistivity, cytoplasm Because resistance is
inverselyproportional tothe cross-sectional area
of the material through which current ows, cy-
toplasmic resistance is rather high, especially in
dendrites that are long and thin processes of the
neuron. In addition, the length also contributes
directly to the resistance because the greater the
length, the higher the number of collisions be-
tween the ions (that transport the current) and
the cytoplasm components. Values are usually
an order of magnitude smaller than the mem-
brane resistance. See resistivity, membrane.
resistivity, membrane The conductance
across the membrane is directly proportional to
the number of open ion channels. Then, the to-
tal conductance is given by the combination of
the ion-gated K
+
, Na
+
, and Cl

channels. The
membrane resistivity is readily obtained from
the inverse of the conductance. This resistance
is from the ionic (rather than the capacitive)
membrane current. Typical values for the mem-
brane resistance are in the proximity of 200 k.
resistor Acomponent used in circuits to pro-
vide a resistance of known value. Electrical en-
ergy is converted into heat when current ows
through a resistor. Thus resistors are sometimes
used as heating elements. They are also used
to control current and voltage in circuits. Types
are wire wound, metal lm, etc. Many resis-
tors used in electronic applications have color
bar codes on the outside that indicate the value
of the resistance.
Circuit diagram symbol for a resistor.
resistor, ballast (1) A resistor that mantains
a constant current in an electric circuit. It does
this by having a resistance that is proportional to
the current which ows through it, and that can
vary rapidly with the current. It usually consists
of a resistive element inside a gas lled tube.
(2) A resistor used in electrical circuits to
regulate the current. It is made from a material
with a positive temperature coefcient; i.e., an
increase in temperature will result in an increase
in the resistance. It is usually connected in se-
ries with a circuit, especially power supplies, so
that a sudden increase in the current leads to an
increase in temperature which in turn increases
the resistance thereby reducing the current.
resistors in parallel Network of resistances
in which the two ends of each resistor are con-
nected to the corresponding ends of every other
resistor.
Resistors in parallel.
The network can be replaced by an equivalent
resistance, R, given by
1
R
=
1
R
1
+
1
R
2
+
1
R
3
+ ,
where R
1
, R
2
, R
3
, etc. are the values of the
individual resistances making up the network.
The potential difference across each resistance
is the same, which enables the current in each
resistance to be determined using Ohms law.
resistors in series Resistances connected to
each other in a similar way to the links in a chain.
Resistors in series.
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R
1 R R2 R3
R
1
R2 R3
These can be replaced by a single equivalent
resistance R such that
R = R
1
+R
2
+R
3
+
where R
1
, R
2
, R
3
, etc. are the values of the in-
dividual resistances. The current through each
resistance is the same. This enables the poten-
tial difference across each resistance to be de-
termined using Ohms law.
resolutionof anoptical system The distance
between two object point sources such that the
two points can be distinguished in the image.
The resolution is limited by diffraction effects,
so that for any form of radiation it will be deter-
mined by the wavelength and the aperture of the
system.
resolution, principle of Refers to the use of a
quantitative criterion to determine the resolution
of an optical system. That most commonly used
is the Rayleigh criterion, which states that two
object points are just resolved when the diffrac-
tion pattern of the image of one falls on the rst
minimum of the diffraction pattern of the other.
This gives an angular separation of the object
points
()
min
= 1.22/D ,
where = wavelength and D = aperture of the
system.
resolving power For two just resolved points
in the image of an optical system of focal length
f the center-to-center separation of the images
is
()
min
= 1.22f/D .
The resolving power is then dened as 1/
()
min
. See resolution, principle of.
resonance This phenomenon occurs in the
case where a mass is maintained in a state of
vibration by a periodic force. It is a case of
forced vibrations, and, when the frequency of
the driving force equals the natural frequency
of the system, the amplitude of oscillations in-
creases signicantly.
resonance in AC circuits Occurs when the
frequency of the applied periodic voltage is at
or near the natural frequency of the circuit. The
resonant circuit consists of an inductor and ca-
pacitor in parallel or in series. The resonant
frequency, f, is given by
f =
1
2

LC
,
where L is the inductance, and C is the capaci-
tance. At the resonant frequency, the series cir-
cuit has a minimum in the impedance, while the
parallel circuit has a maximum.
resonance, optical When incident
monochromatic light has a frequency equal to
the resonant frequency of a medium, there will
be optical resonance and strong absorption.
This energy is then re-emitted as resonance
radiation. This gives rise to the close connec-
tion of emittance and absorptance of materials,
known as Kirchoff s law.
resonance scattering, uses in biological stud-
ies Resonance scattering studies provide a
wide range of possibilities in the analysis and
study of diverse biological processes. Usually,
resonance scattering studies the effect on a sam-
ple of an incoming probe that could be in the
form of radiation or particle bombardment. The
radiation tunes in with intrinsic energy modes
of the substance in consideration, in contrast
with elastic and inelastic scattering experiments.
The incident frequency of the probe is usually
tuned to a particular substance in the sample
such that measurements of concentration, abun-
dance, real-time tracking, diffusion rate, reac-
tion rate, or other properties can be realized.
The main results come from the analysis of the
absorbance of the incident radiation, due to res-
onance, and of the scattering characteristics.
See particular uses in Raman scattering, co-
herent anti-Stokes (CARS), Raman scattering,
electrophoretic, NMR nuclei in biological ma-
terials, nuclear angiography. Other uses are in
coherent nuclear resonance scattering studies.
resonance, sharpness of This depends on
the amount of damping in the system. The less
dampingthere is, the sharper the resonance peak.
See also radiation damping, acoustic.
resonators That which can vibrate to pro-
duce acoustic waves. Examples are pipes and
2001 CRC Press LLC
Sharpness of resonance.
air cavities. They can act as sound producers or
detectors.
restoring force Simple harmonic motion will
result whenever this quantity, which is a prop-
erty of the medium, is directly proportional to
the displacement caused. In acoustics the restor-
ing force is provided by the medium. This force
always acts to accelerate the particle in the di-
rection of its equilibrium position.
retarded potential Electric potential at a
point which is delayed in reaching its maximum
value with respect to another point due to the
nite speed of propagation of electromagnetic
waves in the medium.
retentivity Describes the retention of a mag-
netic moment by a ferromagnet once a magnetic
eldis removed. Canalsorefer tothe reverse ap-
plied magnetic eld required to restore the zero
overall magnetization state.
retina The inner transparent near layer of the
eye. This is the neurosensory layer of the eye.
The light entering the retina encounters about
ten layers consisting of ganglion cells, bipolar
cells, horizontal cells, and amacrine cell lay-
ers, which are different types of neural cells be-
fore encountering the photoreceptors (rods and
cones) the site of photon absorption. The
retina represents the terminal expansion of the
optic nerve.
reverberation The echo or reection of
sound. Of great importance in architectural
acoustics.
reverberation chamber Small live rooms
that can be used to determine the absorption co-
efcient of a material by investigation of the
reverberation time. The wall surfaces of such
chambers should be highly reecting so as to
produce a large reverberation time in absence
of testing material. It should also have a large
volume to produce a large number of modes of
vibrations and should have irregular wall sur-
faces to aid diffusion of sound waves.
reverberation time Relates the empirical re-
lation between echo characteristics of an enclo-
sure, its size, and the amount of absorbing mate-
rial present and gives a measure of the acoustical
properties of a room. It is dened by Sabine as
the time in seconds that is required to reduce the
intensity from a level of 60 db above the thresh-
old of audibility to the threshold.
Sabine equation for reverberation time T
T = 0.049V/a ,
where V is the volume of the roomand a its total
absorption.
reverse leakage current A current that is
caused by a reverse bias voltage in an electric de-
vice. For example, for a diode that has a positive
and negative terminal if the positive terminal
is connected to negative side of the voltage and
the negative terminal is connected to the posi-
tive side of the voltage the current owing
from the negative terminal to positive terminal
is called reverse leakage current.
rheostat An adjustable resistor used to con-
trol the current in a circuit by varying the re-
sistance. This results in the dissipation of un-
used electrical energy as heat. Rheostats may
be constructed using coils or grids from a vari-
ety of metals and alloys; they may also be made
of carbon, either pulverized and held in tubes or
in the formof solid rods or disks. The resistance
is adjusted by a linear or rotary sliding contact.
right-handed rotation For a linearly polar-
ized light beam passing through an optically ac-
tive crystal, a right-handed rotation of the plane
of polarization is that which is in a clockwise
direction when looking back toward the source.
right-hand screw rule When a rotating or
circulating quantity is related to a vector, the
2001 CRC Press LLC
right-hand screwrule relates the direction of cir-
culation to the vector direction. In this rule, the
extended thumb of the right hand gives the vec-
tor direction and the direction of the curled n-
gers of the right hand give the direction of cir-
culation. Examples are:
1. the direction of the magnetic moment of a
current loop and the sense of circulation of the
current in the current loop,
2. the direction of the electric current in a
straight wire and the direction (rotation sense)
of the circles of magnetic eld lines centered on
the wire, and
3. the direction of the magnetic eld inside
a solenoid and the sense of circulation of the
current in the solenoid windings.
rings, vibration of A set of frequency stan-
dards used for producing sounds of denite
pitches.
ripple tank Liquid in a wooden trough that
can be used to demonstrate wave phenomena of
reection, refraction, interference, and diffrac-
tion.
ripple voltage The ACvoltage superimposed
onto the DC voltage from a rectier, such as the
output from a half- or full-wave rectier. Ex-
pressed as a percentage of the average voltage.
It may be reduced by a series choke and shunting
capacitor, or zener diode. In practice, it is elim-
inated by including an active circuit (regulator)
after the shunt capacitor.
rise time A time during which a signal is in-
creased from a specic low value (usually 10%)
to a high value (usually 90%). The gure shows
a resister and capacitor circuit. The input signal
is a DC voltage. The output voltage increases
from zero to the input voltage value. Rise time
is for the output voltage value changing from
10% to 90% of the input voltage value.
Rise time.
rods, vibration in Propagation occurs by
longitudinal waves, i.e., as the wave disturbance
moves along the bar, the displacement of the par-
ticles is parallel to its axis. The propagation is
similar to acoustic waves. Several acoustic de-
vices utilize longitudinal vibrations in a bar; for
example, the sound of denite pitches can be
produced by bars of different lengths. Vibra-
tions in nickel tubes are used to drive the vibrat-
ing diaphragm of a transducer.
ROM Read-only memory, an electric chip
that permits reading but restricts the writing op-
eration. In computer systems, ROMcan be used
to store an operating system program.
roton Quanta of vortex motion or micro-
scopic vortex rings. They can be characterized
by the parameters energy, momentum, and effec-
tive mass.
routing The process of nding a path from a
source to every destination in a network.
Rowland ring Named after H.A. Roland
(18481901). A magnetic material, usually a
ferromagnet, formed into a ring. Magnetic ux
is contained entirely within the solid material
of the ring so that no demagnetization eld is
present.
2001 CRC Press LLC
t
V
s
t
V V
s
V
s
10%
90%
S
sagitta The segment of a line between the
vertex of a small curve and the chord joining
the two symmetric ends of the curve, which is
perpendicular to the chord. Kepler gave this
name sagitta because of the resemblance of
this line with an arrow. Its length measures the
maximum elevation (depression) of the convex
(concave) surface containing the arc.
Sagitta.
sagittal focus The point of intersection of the
line of secondary image and the sagittal plane.
For a conical bundle of rays starting from a
non-axial point, the cross-section of the beam
after leaving the lens is initially circular, then
it becomes gradually elliptical with the major
axis in the sagittal plane, until the tangential or
the meridional focus where the ellipse degener-
ates into a straight line. Beyond this point, the
beams cross-section rst opens out into a circle
of least confusion, and then deforms into a line
called secondary image. This line image lies
in the meridional plane and has a greater image
distance than the primary focus.
sagittal plane The plane (also called the
equatorial plane) containing the principal ray
(or the chief ray) and perpendicular to the tan-
gential or the meridional plane.
sagittal rays A bundle of rays cut by the
sagittal plane to form the pencil of sagittal rays.
sagittal section A section cut by the sagittal
plane.
sampling (1) Atechnique inwhichonlysome
portions of an electrical signal are measured and
used to represent the information contained in
the original signal. The sample measurements
are usually a set of discrete values of the origi-
nal continuous signal. The rate of sampling of
a periodic quantity must be at least twice the
frequency of the signal if the output values are
to represent the input signal without signicant
loss of information.
(2) A technique used in radio navigation sys-
tems where information fromthe navigation sig-
nal is extracted only when a sampling gate is
activated by a selector pulse.
sampling function The one-dimensional
sampling function can be expressed mathemat-
ically as
S(x) =

n=
(x nx) ,
where is the Dirac-delta function. A two-
dimensional version of the sampling function
can be written as
S(u, v) =

(u u
n
, v v
n
) ,
which can be weighted to
S(u, v) =

R
n
T
n
D
n
(u u
n
, v v
n
) ,
where R
n
is a reliability weight, D
n
is a density
weight and T
n
is a taper.
sampling gate A circuit that takes signals
from the input signal only when an external
pulse is active. This external pulse is applied
to the transistor gate.
sampling period A time interval during
which the input signal is picked up.
sampling window A time interval during
which the input signal is picked up and the out-
put signal is the sum of the input signal and the
external triggering signal.
satellite (1) An articial body that is pro-
jected from the earth and may orbit either the
earth or another body of the solar system.
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(2) Information satellites transmit signals
containing many different types of information
to the earth. These satellites are typically used
to provide atmospheric and meteorological data,
infrared, gamma-ray and X-ray studies of celes-
tial objects, surveys of the earths shape, surface
and resources, and as navigational aids.
(3) Communications satellites are used to re-
ceive radio-frequency signals from the earth by
means of highly directional aerials and return
them to another earth location for purposes of
long-distance telephony, TV broadcasting, etc.
These satellites provide links that traverse very
long distances at high bandwidth. They use the
4 to 6 GHz bands, and their potential link band-
width is in the order of Gbps.
satellite beacon A beacon satellite acts as a
radio-navigation station. Its emissions are in-
tended to enable a mobile-radio service to de-
termine its bearing or direction in relation to the
satellite beacon. The primary use is to facilitate
a search and rescue operation.
satellite, geostationary (Also known as
geosynchronous satellite.) A satellite orbiting
above the earths equator at an altitude of ap-
proximately 35,000 km, such that its period of
rotation is equal to the earths rotational period.
Thus, the satellite continuously views the same
portion of the earths surface.
Low-earth and geostationary satellites typ-
ically rebroadcast messages that they receive
from any of the earth stations. Data rates of
up to 500 Mbps are possible. The up-and-down
propagation delay for geosynchronous satellites
is about 250 ms, which is unacceptable for most
interactive services (though acceptable for tele-
vision broadcast).
satellite, synchronous A synchronous satel-
lite orbits the earth approximately 35,900 km
above the equator and moves in a west-to-east
direction. At this altitude it makes one revolu-
tion in 24 hours and thus is synchronous with
the earths rotation.
saturation The condition where the output
signal of a physical measurement increases to
a constant maximum value and cannot increase
any further due to subsequent increases in the
input signal. The phenomenon is generic in vir-
tually all physical systems and corresponds to
complete breakdown of the linear regime.
saturation, current/voltage/resistance A
current/voltage/resistance value that cannot in-
crease further when the outside signal (volt-
age/current) increases. In a transistor, the source
or drain current cannot increase even though the
applied voltage increases further. This current
is called saturation current.
sawtooth wave A periodic wave whose am-
plitude linearly changes with time between cer-
tain time periods. The shape of wave is like that
of a saw.
Sawtooth wave.
scale, diatonic The natural musical scale in
Western music in the key of C major, ascending
from middle C, which has a frequency of 256
Hz, although it is represented musically as 261.2
Hz.
scale-of-ten This is similar as scale-of-two,
but it has ten inputs. Every input signal fromten
inputs is one and the output signal will be one.
scale-of-two An operator in a circuit in which
every two input pulses produce one output pulse.
This kind of circuit is normally used in comput-
ers for mathematic operations.
scales, equally tempered On a keyboard in-
strument like a piano or organ, the notes A to G
are sounded by depressing white keys and addi-
tional black keys are situated between each pair
of consecutive white keys that differ from each
other by a tone. Each black key sounds a note
2001 CRC Press LLC
t
v
that is intermediate in pitch between the white
ones on either side of it.
scales, musical A denite series or succes-
sion of tones ascending or descending according
to xed intervals. The range between any note
and the octave above it is divided into seven in-
tervals by the insertion of six intermediate notes,
the various pitches of which give a number of
consonant intervals with each other and with the
notes at each extreme of the octave.
scanner An instrument that can convert the
information on materials into an electric signal.
Normally, the scanner is the picture converter. It
converts the picture on the paper into the electric
signal that can be stored in computers.
scattering, acoustic Incident waves on re-
ectionas secondarywaves undergowavelength
shift in increasing proportion toward higher fre-
quencies. It has been shown that the amplitude
of the secondary waves varies directly as the vol-
ume of the scatterer, and inversely as the square
of the wavelength of the incident sound. The in-
tensity I of the reected sound varies inversely
as the fourth power of the wavelength
The law of scattering I = 1/
4
.
scattering, Brillouin Light of frequency v
i
incident on a solid is scattered at a frequency
v
s
= v
i
v
e
, due to inelastic scattering by
the medium. When the scattering is due to the
inelastic phonons of the medium, the effect is
known as Brillouin scattering. In this case the
scattering conditions limit v
e
to v
e
< 100GHz
or 1cm
1
.
The effect can be explained classically by the
fact that the operative acoustic phonons set up
an effective diffraction grating in the medium
so that the incident light is Bragg diffracted and
Doppler shiftedbythe acoustic phonontraveling
at the velocity of sound. The quantum descrip-
tion is more exact and is based on conservation
of energy and momentum for the scattered pho-
tons and the emitted or absorbed phonon. For
incident photon frequency v
i
, wave vector

k
i
,
scattered photon (v
s
,

k
s
) and phonon (,

K),
this gives

k
i

k
s
=

K and v
i
v
s
= .
Brillouin scattering is mostly done on ther-
mal phonons; the phonon wave vector

K can
be determined by xing

k
i
and

k
s
. The ex-
periment is done with a laser source. Since
the phonon lines are very close to the elas-
tic (Rayleigh) peak, a very high resolution
Fabry-Perot interferometer is used to resolve
them. The observed sidebands with decreased
(increased) frequency are called Stokes (anti-
Stokes) and each contains three peaks corre-
sponding to a longitudinal phonon and two
transverse phonons.
Brillouin scattering is a useful technique for
the study of the elastic properties of materials
such as layer compounds, amorphous materials,
gels, phase transitions etc.
scattering, Coulomb The scattering of an in-
cident charged particle by a stationary charged
target due to Coulomb repulsion between them.
The classic example is that of Rutherfordscatter-
ing of alpha particles by gold foils. The experi-
ments showed that the average scattering angle
per atom was very small, of the order of 10
4
radians. This led to the Rutherford model of
the atom where most of the positive charge and
essentially all of the mass is assumed to be con-
centrated in the nucleus at the center of the atom.
This model was subsequently quantitatively ver-
ied by experiment and led to a good estimate
of the size of the nucleus, for copper atoms less
than 2 10
12
cm.
scattering, cross section The total cross sec-
tion for scattering is the ratio of the scattered
power to the incident intensity. The cross sec-
tionhas the dimensions of area, sothat it gives an
intuitive indication of the relative importance of
various scattering mechanisms. In general, the
cross section is made up of the sum of that for
absorption by the target and that for scattering
out of the beam.
scattering, incoherent Scattering in which
there is no phase relationship with the incident
radiation. Hence there are no associated inter-
ference effects and the intensities of such scat-
tered beams can be added to obtain the total scat-
tered intensity.
2001 CRC Press LLC
scattering, inelastic That in which the inci-
dent radiation is absorbed by the scatterer and
re-emitted at a different frequency.
scattering, Mie The scattering of light by
a single sphere or incoherently by a group of
spheres separated from each other by distances
much greater than the wavelength. The theory
(G. Mie, 1908) is based on the diffraction of a
plane electromagnetic wave by a homogeneous
sphere in a homogeneous medium; it is valid
for all types of spheres and mediums. The the-
ory, which is very complex, involves the solu-
tion of Maxwells equations in spherical polar
coordinates. The polar diagrams for scattering
depend strongly on the ratio of sphere diameter
to wavelength. The theory is of great practical
importance and can be used in the study of light
scatteringbycolloidal suspensions, atmospheric
dusts, clouds, fogs, etc. as well as to explain
natural phenomena such as rainbows and solar
corona. When the wavelength is of the order of
the diameter of the sphere, the effect can be used
to monitor variations of the latter.
scattering of light in tissue Light transmit-
ted by tissue is in a large proportion of long
wavelengths (red), whereas backscattered and
otherwise scattered light is of short wavelengths
(blue). This corresponds to the observation that
skin looks red when transilluminated by white
light. In contrast, blood in veins and melanin
deep in the dermis preferentially absorb red and
reect blue light.
Because red and near IR light has a typical
absorption length in biological tissue of 1 to 10
cm, as opposed to 10 to 100 mm of scattering
length, elastic scattering of light in the optical
wavelengths dominates the scattering phenom-
ena, giving rise to turbidity. In general, turbidity
destroys phase coherence in the incident light,
blurring and making it very difcult to make a
sensible image out of the scattered light.
With recent advances in laser technology, the
understanding of turbidity has been brought into
new importance in the development of spectral
diagnosis of disease and optical tissue imaging.
The importance of light imaging as compared
to X-rays, for example, is that in addition to
providing real time imaging, it is a non-invasive
procedure that may provide information about
biochemical constituents.
Current research in imaging using optical
light has been able to image inside tissue that
is up to 1 cm in thickness. The imaging is
achieved by collecting specic light (transmit-
ted) that goes through the tissue and discarding
the scatteredlight that reaches the other side with
a delay relative to the unscattered light.
scattering, Raman An incident monochro-
matic beam of light of frequency v
i
is scattered
inelastically to a frequency v
s
= v
i
v
e
. When
the inelastic scattering is by electronic excita-
tions or optical phonons, the scattering is called
Raman scattering. The sidebands at v
e
are
typically in the range 10 to 1000 cm
1
. The
lower frequency band is called Stokes and the
upper anti-Stokes.
Raman scattering can be described classi-
cally by the induction of a dipole moment in the
crystal by the electric eld of the laser beam,
hence by the polarizability tensor. Symmetry
arguments show that a crystal with a center of
inversion cannot be both infrared and Raman ac-
tive; it follows that both are allowed for piezo-
electric crystals. Quantum mechanically, the
Raman process, as for Brillouin scattering, can
be described by the conservation of momentum
and energy for incident and scattered photon and
the participating phonon.
The experiment is carried out with a laser
source and a double monochromator with pho-
tomultiplier tube detection. In chemistry, the
technique is useful for measurement of rota-
tional and vibrational molecular spectra, while
in physics it is generally used for phonon spec-
troscopy in solids for such studies as structural
phase changes and soft modes, magnetic and
amorphous materials, doped semiconductors
etc. See scattering, Brillouin.
scattering, Rayleigh Scattering of electro-
magnetic waves by small particles, of diameters
less than the wavelength. The result for a classi-
cal model, calculated by Lord Rayleigh in 1871,
gives for the scattered intensity I
s
= I
0

4
,
where is the incident wavelength. This well-
known result has been veried in innumerable
contexts and accounts; it has been shown, for ex-
ample, for blue sky and red sunset, attenuation
2001 CRC Press LLC
in optical bers due to impurities and the central
elastic peak in Rayleigh and Raman scattering.
scattering, Thomson The classical scatter-
ing of electromagnetic waves by electrons. It
was applied by Thomson to the scattering of
X-rays by a metal foil. Under suitable assump-
tions (the X-ray wavelength is small compared
to the atomic diameter and the energy of an X-
ray quantum large compared to the binding en-
ergy of the atomic electron but small compared
to its rest mass energy), the interaction can be
consideredas beingbetweenthe oscillatingelec-
tric eld of the X-ray and the charge of the elec-
tron. The theory provides the scattering cross
section and the angular distribution of scattered
X-rays.
Schottky anomalies Heat capacity of solids
decreases with decreasing temperature; how-
ever, at extremely low temperatures other con-
tributions to the heat capacity may become sig-
nicant. Impurities in a crystal give rise to this
type of anamoly.
scintillation Emission of light by a solid
bombarded with radiation. The process is tra-
ditionally used to detect high energy particles
such as , and radiation in scattering exper-
iments. For the case of rays, the scintillation
counter may consist of a scintillation detector
(T doped, NaI crystal and photomultiplier),
ampliers, and a discriminator. The rays in-
teract with the crystal by photoelectric effect,
Compton effect, and pair production. For each
of these interactions the primary energy goes
into the kinetic energy of the electrons and the
remainder into secondary photons that are de-
tected.
Scott connection A connection between
transformers that can convert two-phase power
to three-phase power or vice versa.
screened cable A cable with a exible pro-
tective screen of conductive material surround-
ing it.
search coil A coil used to measure magnetic
eld properties. A stationary coil may measure
properties of a time-varying magnetic eld. A
rotating coil may measure properties of a con-
stant magnetic eld. In both cases an induced
EMF due to the change in magnetic ux in the
coil is measured. Can be part of a ballistic gal-
vanometer or a uxmeter. See ux, magnetic.
See also Lenzs law of induction, uxmeter.
searchlight A powerful beam of light pro-
duced and projected long distances, usually with
the help of an intense light source (e.g., carbon
arc) positioned at the focus of a paraboloidal re-
ector.
secondary cell An electrochemical cell
that can be electrically recharged many times
is called a secondary cell. They are also
called rechargeable batteries. Typical examples
are lead-acid cells in automobiles and nickel-
cadmium batteries.
secondary focus See sagittal focus.
secondary maxima These occur between
the principal maxima of interference fringes for
Fraunhofer diffraction by N identical apertures.
The intensity I() at a point on the screen mak-
ing angle with the center of the grating is given
by
I() = I
0

sin

sin N
sin

2
,
where
I
0
= ux density in the = 0 direction
emitted by one of the slits.
=
kb
2
sin
k = wave number of incident radiation =
2/
b = slit width
=
ka
2
sin
a = distance between slit centers .
Principal maxima occur when sin N/ sin =
N or = 0, , 2, . . . , minima oc-
cur for (sin N/ sin )
2
= 0 or =

N
,
2
N
,
3
N
. . . and secondary maxima
2001 CRC Press LLC
appear between each pair of neighboring min-
ima.
Seebeck effect This is the net EMF estab-
lished in a circuit made from two junctions of
dissimilar metals connected in series while the
two junctions are maintained at two different
temperatures. The magnitude of the potential
difference between the two junctions determines
the magnitude of the EMF. The Seebeck effect is
the basis of a temperature measurement device
known as a thermocouple. See also thermocou-
ple.
seismic waves There are two basic types of
waves: P-waves or primary waves are longi-
tudinal waves that can propagate equally well
through a solid and through a uid medium.
S-waves or secondary waves are transverse
waves that can propagate through solids but not
throughliquids. These are bodywaves andtravel
within the body of the earth. Also, there are L-
waves or large waves that travel in the upper
surface of the earth. See also rayleigh waves,
surface waves.
seismograph Very sensitive instrument used
for recording earth tremors that relies on the
principle of a pendulum driven by the earth
tremors.
selectivity Quality or state of being selective.
selenium cell Can be one of two types:
photovoltaic or photoconductive. The photo-
voltaic selenium cell requires no external EMF.
An EMF is generated across the terminals of
the cell when light shines through an optically
transparent windowonto a thin lmof goldover-
laying the selenium lm. The photoconductive
selenium cell requires an external EMF to op-
erate. The cell also has a transparent window
to admit light. Changes in light intensity cre-
ates changes in the conductivity of the selenium
whichchanges the current throughthe cell. Both
types of cells are used to measure light intensity.
self-capacitance Self-capacitance is the ratio
of the charge to the potential of a conductor, C =
q/V , where q is the charge on the conductor
and V is the potential of the conductor. Self-
capacitance is the measure of howmuchcharge a
conductor can hold per unit potential; it depends
on geometry of the conductor and the medium
that the conductor is embedded in.
self-diffusion coefcient The self-diffusion
coefcient is dened as the coefcient of pro-
portionality that quanties the strength of the
ux of particles into one another. In a sense, it
tells how good the particles in a substance mix
with one another.
More precisely: consider a substance com-
posed of two species of particles whose only
distinction is that one species is labeled (e.g., ra-
dioactive) but are otherwise equal. Assume that
initially the two species are separated into two
domains along the x axis. If the concentration
of labeled particles is described by a function
n(x), then after some time the two species will
mix, tending to make n(x) more uniform and
thus increasing the entropy of the uid.
If we dene J
x
as the ux of labeled particles
along the x direction, then one expects that
J
x
= D
n(x)
x
.
The coefcient D (D > 0) is the coefcient of
self-diffusion of the substance. Because n(x)
changes as a function of time, fromparticle con-
servation, it follows that
n
t
=
J
x
x
.
Combining the two equations we get:
n
t
= D

2
n
x
2
,
which is the diffusion equation.
Self-diffusion should not be confused with
mutual diffusion in which the labeled particles
are different from the others.
self-focusing Self-focusing of a laser beam
may occur in a non-linear optical medium. If
the refractive index increases with the incident
intensity and if one assumes a Gaussian trans-
verse intensity distribution, then the center of
the beam will travel slower than the edges. The
net effect is that the medium acts as a positive
lens and self-focusing occurs, which can lead to
2001 CRC Press LLC
focal spots a few microns in diameter. If self-
focusingis arrangedtoexactlycancel diffraction
then self-trappingof the light beamwill occur. If
the intensity is high enough, self-focusing may
lead to damage of the crystal.
semiconductors Materials in which the con-
ductivity is between conductive metals and insu-
lators. Their conductivity can be changed after
impurity doping, such as crystal silicon, germa-
nium, and three-ve compound crystal materi-
als.
semitone The interval between any two con-
secutive notes of the musical scale such as C
and C#.
sensitive ame A tall, steady, high pressure
gas ame that ducks and roars in the presence
of sound waves.
sensitivity A minimum input signal that
causes a distinguishable output signal. This sig-
nal could be light, electric, stretch, etc.
sensitivity of ear The response of the ear
varies with frequency. The hearing threshold
for a person with acute hearing is 0 dB and the
threshold of pain at about 130 dB. The thresh-
old for hearing, audibility and that of pain also
depends on frequency.
sentence (logical) Logical words that are
constructed by the computer software and can
be executed in the computer.
sequential logic Logic in which the output
signal is dependent on the previous input signal
by a delay time.
server An entity that controls access to a
shared resource.
servomechanism A feedback system whose
output signal represents mechanical motion.
shadow The shade of nite extent cast upon
a screen or another body by an opaque object in-
tercepting the incident rays from a light source.
Depending on the size of the source, the shadow
is complete (umbra) for a point source and of
Sensitivity of ear.
variable intensity (umbra and penumbra) for an
extended source. For macroscopic objects, the
shadow can be constructed using the ray ap-
proach. For objects with sizes comparable to
the wavelength of light, the wave nature of light
has to be invoked for a correct description.
shadow, acoustic Region in which sound in-
tensity is theoretically zero since no rays reach
here.
shadow, penetration of sound into The
diffraction of acoustic waves into regions ob-
scured by obstacles allows sound to be propa-
gated in such areas.
shear waves Type of wave, also known as
transverse, in which displacement of a particle
is perpendicular to the direction of motion.
shielding (low temperature) Shielding is
necessarytoreduce heat leaks. Radiationshields
help inhibit connective oscillations in the helium
gas above the liquid that may be driven by the
temperature gradient down the cryostat. This
can transfer large quantities of heat to the cold
part of the cryostat. As such, built-in infrared
shields and traps are used. The cryostat must
also be protected from longer wavelength radi-
ation and from emission caused by other equip-
ment in the vicinity. An entire dilution refrig-
erator can be enclosed in a large Faraday cage
an enclosed metal box known as a shielded
room. Thermal conduction down support tubes
and connecting leads are also major sources of
leaks.
2001 CRC Press LLC
shift register A digital circuit that can store
a set of information in the form of pulses. The
register has the capability of serially shifting the
data from each stage of the register to the adja-
cent one. It may be a unidirectional or a bi-
directional shift register, depending on whether
it can shift only from left to right, only from
right to left, or both.
shock wave A wave formed by compression
in a medium when an object moves violently
through the medium at a speed in excess of that
sound.
short-circuit When the load resistance of a
circuit is zero we call the circuit short-circuited.
It can occur, for example, when a copper wire is
connected to the two terminals of a battery.
shortsighted See eye, near-sighted.
short wave A radio wave that has a wave-
length in the range 10 to 100 m or a frequency
greater than 3 MHz, i.e., in the high-frequency
band (HF).
shunt A component placed in parallel across
the terminals of a circuit or device in order to
divert a known current fromit. For example, if a
current to be measured by a galvanometer is too
large for that instrument, a large fraction of the
current may be bypassed through a shunt resistor
to reduce the sensitivity of the galvanometer in
a known way and thus enable the current to be
determined.
sidebands The waveform for simple sine-
wave amplitude modulation is given by
e(t) = E(t)(1 +m) sin
s
t ,
where E(t) = E
0
sin
c
t is the unmodulated
carrier wave with amplitude E
0
and frequency

c
. The frequency at which the unmodulated
amplitude is varied is
s
and m is referred to
as the degree of modulation. The equation of a
wave with simple sine-wave amplitude modula-
tion can thus be written as
e(t) =E
0
sin
c
t +
mE
0
2
cos (
c

s
) t

mE
0
2
cos (
c
+
s
) t .
The last two terms in the above equation are
called the lower and upper sidebands with side-
band frequencies of (
c

s
) and (
c
+
s
),
respectively. In general, there can be a range of
frequencies over which the average amplitude is
varied. All the information content of the signal
is contained in the sidebands.
sidebands, double (DSB) Double-sideband
modulation is a method of encoding a signal,
g(t), with no DC component. The product
e(t) = A
c
g(t) cos
c
t
represents a double sideband suppressed carrier
signal, where A
c
is the amplitude of the unmod-
ulated carrier. The radio-frequency envelope
follows the wave-form of the modulating sig-
nal g(t). The spectral components of the DSB
signal, e(t), are given by its Fourier transform
E(j) =
1
2
G[j (
c
)]
+
1
2
G[j ( +
c
)] ,
where G(j) is the Fourier transform of g(t).
Note that the upper and lower sidebands are
translated symmetrically
c
about the origin.
sidebands, independent (ISB) Independent
sideband transmission is double-sideband trans-
missioninwhichthe informationcarriedbyeach
sideband is different. The carrier may or may
not be suppressed.
sidebands, single (SSB) It is possible to
transmit all the information represented in a
modulated signal by transmitting only a sin-
gle sideband. The carrier component of an
amplitude-modulated wave contains no infor-
mation since its frequency, amplitude, and phase
are not affected by the modulation. Thus the
carrier need not be transmitted. Moreover, each
sideband contains the same information about
the modulation and only a single sideband need
be transmitted. Single-sideband transmission
requires a frequency band only half as wide as
that required to transmit the modulated wave
consisting of two sidebands and the carrier.
Single-sideband transmission also requires one-
third the power of transmitting all the compo-
nents of the amplitude-modulated wave.
2001 CRC Press LLC
signal Avarying electrical parameter, such as
current or voltage, that is used to convey infor-
mation through an electronic circuit or system.
A signal is usually transmitted as electrical im-
pulses or radio waves.
signal, asynchronous Asynchronous signals
are transmitted by prexing start and postx-
ing stop information to the original signal. On
the other hand, the start and stop information
need only appear for each group or block of
synchronous signals. Thus asynchronous sig-
nals can usually not be transmitted as fast as
synchronous signals.
signal, binary Asignal inthe formof a binary
code, i.e., digital rather than analog.
signaling (1) A method of controlling com-
munications. Signaling is used to send a signal
from the transmitting end of a circuit to inform
a user at the receiving end that a message is to
be sent.
(2) In a telecommunications network, signal-
ing is the information exchange that involves the
establishment and control of a connection and
the management of the network. This is in con-
trast to the user information that is transferred.
signaling, common battery A common bat-
tery is a single electrical power source used
to energize more than one circuit, component,
equipment, or system. In many telecommuni-
cations applications, the common battery is at a
nominal 48 VDC.
signaling, common carrier Common-
carrier signaling is a term used in telecommu-
nications that applies to a method employed by
a telecommunications company that holds itself
out to the public for hire to provide communi-
cations transmission service. See also carrier.
signaling, composite Signaling in which an
arrangement is made to provide direct current
signaling and dial pulsing beyond the range of
conventional loop signaling. Composite signal-
ing permits duplex operation; i.e., it permits si-
multaneous two-way signal synchronous signal-
ing.
signaling, double current (Also known as
polar direct-current telegraphy transmission.)
Double current signaling is a formof binary tele-
graph transmission in which positive and nega-
tive direct currents denote the signicant condi-
tions.
signaling, ashinglight Flashinglight signal
systems as designed for high visual impact and
maximum operating efciency.
signaling, frequency exchange (Also
known as two-source frequency keying.)
Frequency-changing signaling is when the
change from one signicant condition to an-
other is accompanied by the decay in amplitude
of one or more frequencies and by the build-up
in amplitude of one or more frequencies.
Frequency-exchange signaling applies to
supervisory signaling and user-information
transmission.
signaling, multifrequency Multifrequency
signaling is often applied to trunk circuits for
the transmission of switching information. It
thus increases the speed of setting up inter-ofce
connections. Digital information is transmitted
by combinations of two of the following ve
audio frequencies: 700, 900, 1100, 1300, and
1500 Hz. A sixth frequency of 1700 Hz is used
in combination with the 1100 Hz frequency as
a priming signal and in combination with the
1500 Hz frequency as a start signal.
signaling path The signaling path in a trans-
mission system is a path used for system con-
trol, synchronization, checking, signaling, and
service signals used in system management and
operation. It is not the path for the data, mes-
sages, or calls of the user.
signaling underwater Communication is
primarilydone bytransmitting ultrasonic waves.
High efciency transducers are used to allow
signals to be beamed from source to receiver.
signal, inhibiting A signal that prevents the
occurrence of an event. An inhibiting signal
may by used, for example, to disable an AND
gate. It thus prevents any signals from passing
2001 CRC Press LLC
through the gate as long as the inhibiting signal
is present.
signal, mark Amark signal is a termin teleg-
raphy, which represents one of the two signi-
cant conditions of encoding. The other, comple-
mentary signicant condition is called a space
signal.
signals, AC, whole-organ (1) It has been
established that heart or cell activities have vari-
ations in their electrical properties that can be
measured by galvanometers. For example, if
an isolated frog heart (still beating) is placed
in between two condenser plates, the rhythmic
movements of the heart cause variations in the
electrical capacitance and also in the impedance
of the condenser to the circuit.
(2) Low-frequency alternating current mea-
surements indicate that activity from cells con-
tribute to changes in the impedance of tissue.
From these measurements it has been deter-
mined that the frequency that causes the maxi-
mum change in the impedance is in the audio-
frequency range, and it is related to changes in
the permeability of the cell.
signal sampling Signal sampling is when
an initial continuous waveform is replaced by
a nite discrete set of signal points that repre-
sent samples of the continuous signal. The most
common application is when a continuous time-
varying analog signal is transferred to a digital
system.
signals of specic frequencies The three
(ideal) types are low pass lters, which only al-
low frequencies below a particular value to be
passed, band pass lters, which allow signals
between a lower and upper value to be passed,
and high pass lters, which only allow frequen-
cies higher than a particular value to be passed.
Real lter circuits, which may allow some un-
wanted frequencies to pass, approximate these
ideals.
signal-to-noise ratio A measure of the noise
of a system, link, channel, etc. The signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR) is usually expressed in decibel
(dB) units and dened as
SNR (in dB) = 10 log

s
n

2
,
where s is the peak signal level and n is the
root-mean-squared noise level.
sign conventions A sign convention is used
in geometric optics to measure distances in an
optical system. This convention is essential for
internal consistency in solving problems. A
commonly used sign convention is the Carte-
sian convention. If Cartesian axes are drawn at
the refracting (or reecting) surface such that the
origin coincides with the vertex of the surface,
then assuming that light travels fromleft to right
always:
1. Object and image distances are negative to
the left of the origin and positive to the right.
2. The radius of curvature is positive if the
center of curvature is to the right of the vertex
and negative if to the left.
3. Vertical dimensions above the horizontal
axis are positive and negative below.
silencers Device used for deadening the
sound of gas escaping from internal combustion
engines or for deadening the sound of rearm.
silent zones Phenomenon common to large
explosions. Waves of tremendous intensity re-
veal abnormalities not evident with low inten-
sity waves. Large explosions are accompanied
by a succession of pressure pulses arriving in
different paths after reection and refraction in
the atmosphere. There are regions where the
sound is not audible, while at greater distances
the sound is rather evident.
silsbee effect The superconductivity of a
wire- or lm-carrying current can be quenched
or destroyed at a critical value. In thick speci-
mens where the surface effects can be ignored,
the critical current is that which creates at the
surface of the specimen a eld H
c
. Smaller sam-
ples remain superconducting with much higher
currents than those calculated in this manner.
The size of the critical current depends on the
nature and geometry of the specimen.
2001 CRC Press LLC
simple harmonic motion Deals with the
study of motion of vibrating bodies and is any
motion that repeats itself in equal intervals of
time. The force acting on the particle is propor-
tional to the displacement but is opposite to it
in direction. The particle is attracted toward a
xed point in the line of motion.
simplex A simplex communication channel
or operation allows transmission of signals in
one direction only. Compare with duplexing.
simplex code A set of K simplex codewords
maybe formedfroma set of Korthogonal equal-
energy codewords by subtracting from each of
these K orthogonal codewords their geomet-
ric mean. The resulting simplex codeword set
would have pairwise cross-correlation equal to
1
1K
, a codeword energy equal to
M1
M
of the
energy of each of the original orthogonal code-
words, and a pairwise distance identical to that
in original orthogonal code.
singing arc If a continuous current arc is
shunted by an inductance L and a capacitance
C in series, for certain values, a musical note
is emitted of frequency N = 1/2

LC. The
superposition of the oscillating current on the
continuous current in an arc causes heating ef-
fects in the gases around the arc.
siren An instrument consisting of a small
metal wind chest with a at top in which a num-
ber of equally spaced holes are drilled around
the circumference of a circle. A metal wheel,
which can rotate freely, is parallel and close to
the top of the wind chest and has a similar set
of holes drilled in it. The wheel rotates by the
slanting jets of air, which issue from the wind
chest. As the wheel spins, a puff of air passes
through the holes every time two sets of holes
are opposite to each other and this gives rise to a
sound of frequency equal to the number of times
the holes coincide per second.
skin effect Effect by which alternating elec-
tric current in a conductor ows near the surface
of the conductor. This effect becomes important
at high frequencies and for good conductors and
is most pronounced for superconductors. It re-
sults in an increase in effective resistance since
less of the cross-sectional area of the conductor
is used to transport current.
skin effect, anomalous This situation occurs
when the conducting slab is thick compared to
the skin depth a thin layer on the surface in the
material but not compared to the mean free
path of the electrons. An electric eld can inu-
ence the electrons only when they are within a
skin depth of surface, and conversely, electrons
can radiate energy back out of the metal only
when they are within a skin depth of the surface.
If electrons have orbits in the magnetic eld that
carry them from within a skin depth of the top
of a slab to within a skin depth of the bottom,
then electrons in such orbits can reproduce on
the far side of the slab the current induced by the
driving electric eld on the near side. Therefore
there is resonant increase in the transmission of
electromagnetic energy through the slab when-
ever the thickness and magnetic eld are such
that orbits can be so matched with the surfaces.
slew rate The change rate of the maximum
absolute output voltage in a circuit.
slip ring Provides electrical connection be-
tween a continuously rotating object such as a
coil and a stationary metal brush. Used in elec-
tric motors and electric generators to make elec-
trical connection to a coil that rotates in a mag-
netic eld.
small-signal approximation The signal pro-
cessing in electric circuits is divided into two
ranges: one is a small signal, which is usually
for AC signals, and the other is a large signal,
which is usually for DC signals. For different
processing, the parameters for calculations are
different. The small signal processing is called
small-signal approximation. For small-signal
processing, the change of the signal magnitude
must be smaller than the total signal magnitude.
Smoluchowski equation The Smolu-
chowski equation relates the probability for a
random walker to go from an initial point to a
nal point, using a determined number of steps,
to intermediate probabilities. Smoluchowskis
formulation provides an alternate approach to
2001 CRC Press LLC
the problemof Brownian motion as provided by
Einsteins formulation.
Consider a one-dimensional Brownian par-
ticle moving in a discrete system. Dene the
probability p
n
(x
0
|x) as the probability that, in a
series of n steps, the Brownian particle initially
at point x
0
will reach point x. Smoluchowskis
equation is given by
p
n
(x
0
|x) =

z=
p
n1
(x
0
|z)p
1
(z|x) ,
for n >= 1.
Snells law When light goes from the
medium of index n
1
to the medium of index
n
2
, it undergoes refraction. This is governed by
Snells Law:
n
1
sin
1
= n
2
sin
2
,
where
1
is the angle of incidence and
2
is the
angle of refraction. The angles are measured
with respect to the surface normals.
sodar An acoustical system located on the
ground or on a ship that emits a sound impulse
and receives its echoes scattered by atmospheric
turbulence. Sodars are used for acoustic re-
mote sensing of the atmospheric boundary layer
in particular, different dynamic regimes of
this layer vertical proles of wind velocity,
and intensities of temperature and wind velocity
uctuations. Afrequency band of sodars is from
one to a few kHz. The diameter of an acoustical
antenna that is used to emit a sound impulse and
receive its echoes can reach a value of several
meters.
software Software consists of logical sen-
tences in computer science and can execute cer-
tain operations.
solar battery An electric device that can con-
vert solar energy or light energy to electrical en-
ergy.
soldering uxes (lowtemperature) The sol-
der junction is produced by dipping a piece of
oxidized wire, usually niobium, into molten sol-
der. When the solder freezes tight mechanical
contact is established and the junction is ready.
The ux is seen to penetrate enclosing a region
around the niobium oxide. The magnetic eld
in the area between the junctions is created by
passing a current through the niobium wire.
solenoid A coil of wire, usually uniformly
wound with a length greater than its diameter,
used to create a uniform magnetic eld at its
center. The magnetic eld within the solenoid
is given by

o
ni ,
where
o
is the permittivityof free space, nis the
number of turns per meter length of the solenoid,
and i is the current in the solenoid. When the
solenoid is made long compared to its diameter,
the eld inside is uniform at positions not too
close to the ends.
sonar Acronym for sound navigation and
ranging. Refers to underwater acoustics in-
volved in the detection and tracking of sub-
marines and surface vessels in naval warfare.
sonic barrier Also known as sound barrier,
when a bullet or shell travels with a velocity
greater than that of sound, a sound like a crack
of an explosion is heard by the shock wave that
is created. When the ratio of velocity of air-
craft/velocity of sound (Mach number) exceeds
1, a shock wave develops.
sonic boom A loud explosive sound caused
by the sudden dissipation of a pressure eld built
up and around an airplane as it reaches the speed
of sound.
sonobuoy An acoustic receiver and radio
transmitter mounted in a buoy, used to detect
and transmit underwater sounds.
sonoluminescence The transformation of
sound energy into light energy by a process us-
ing ultrasonic waves. These waves are aimed
at an air bubble in a water cylinder, causing the
bubble to oscillate vigorously thereby expand-
ing and contracting to a maximum size of about
50 microns. A near-vacuum situation at expan-
sion causes catastrophic collapse of the bubble
which is accompanied by a ash of light. En-
ergy is concentrated by a factor of more than a
trillion. See also triboluminescence.
2001 CRC Press LLC
sonometer Also known as a monochord. An
instrument in which a wire, usually metal, is
xed to a steel peg at one end. The wire passes
over a freely running pulley and tension is pro-
duced by attaching weights to the free end. Usu-
ally two xed bridges and one movable bridge
are also provided to vary the length of the vibrat-
ing segment. It can be used for the demonstra-
tion of standing waves and resonant frequencies.
sonorous Deep, resonant or rich sound.
sonovox An electronic device used by a per-
son whose larynx has been removed, for trans-
mitting recorded sounds to the laryngeal area to
be emitted in turn as words through the mouth.
sound in gas The motion of a vibrating body
is communicated to a gas by the production of
longitudinal waves that travel in the same direc-
tion as the vibration of the gas particles. The
velocity with which these waves travel in the
gas are dependent on its elasticity and density.
The velocity of sound in gases is given by C =

/
o
where is the bulk modulus of elasticity
and
o
is the density of the medium. The com-
pressions and rarefactions in sound waves take
place very rapidly so that the associated heating
and cooling does not have time to be transferred
to the surrounding medium and, therefore, the
changes are adiabatic. The velocity in gases is
independent of pressure and varies as the square
root of the absolute temperature.
sounding board Stringed instruments are
generally connected by rigid supports to some
form of base. The string itself transfers lit-
tle sound energy into the surrounding medium.
The vibrations are actually transferred to base or
board, which is more suitable for transmitting
energy into the surrounding medium. There-
fore, a much larger vibrating area is in contact
with the surrounding medium, and the rate at
which energy is transmitted is greatly increased.
sound in solid/liquid This scenario is more
complex than acoustic waves in a gas and in-
volves both shear and longitudinal stresses and
strains in the medium. The velocity of longitu-
dinal waves V , in an isotropic solid is
V =

(B + 4)/3(G)/ .
Where Bis the bulk modulus, G, the shear mod-
ulus, and , the density of the solid.
sound intensity The rate of ow of energy
across a unit area perpendicular to the direction
of propagation. Also known as energy ux.
soundintensitylevel Measure basedoncom-
paring two intensities. It is a logarithmic func-
tion, and the units are in decibels:
SL(dB) = 10 log I/I
0
,
where I is the intensity at the threshold of hear-
ing 10
12
W/ m
2
at 1000 Hz.
sound level meters Instruments used for
measuring loudness. They generally consist of
a sensitive microphone of good stability, a lin-
ear amplier, one or more attenuators, a set
of frequency-weighting networks and an indi-
cating meter. Electrical voltages correspond-
ing to sounds picked up by a microphone are
rst amplied and then passed through a suit-
able frequency-weighting network, which en-
sures the readings of sound level on meter cor-
respond to observed loudness levels, to operate
the indicating meter.
sound, range of audibility The human ear is
sensitive to a range from about 30 Hz to 10,000
Hz. See audibility, limits of.
sound spectra The results of sound analy-
sis are often represented with the frequencies of
the harmonics represented on the horizontal axis
and the amplitude of each particular harmonic
represented on the vertical axis. Certain instru-
ments will have specic spectrum.
Sound spectra.
2001 CRC Press LLC
sound synthesis Refers to the fact that a
soundof anyqualitycanbe regardedas a mixture
of harmonics of appropriate relative amplitudes.
source code Source coding represents an in-
tentional condensation of a data records sym-
bol rate to maximize coding compaction (i.e.,
minimize data rate) with minimum distortion
in the information content. The source code
represents a compact (and thus more efcient)
representation of the data (e.g., speech, images,
videos) provided by the information source by
removing the inherent redundancy in the origi-
nal data stream. This source coding compres-
sion is performed prior to any additional pro-
cessing by the communication system and is
independent of the particular communications
system to be used for transmission or storage.
Source coding stands in contrast with channel
coding, which refers to the additional processing
on the source code performed by a communica-
tion system to render the transmission more ro-
bust against channel distortions. At the receiver,
the channel decoder will undo the channel cod-
ing, followed by a source decoder to undo the
source coding to recover the original transmitted
information.
source resistor An equivalent resistor, which
is contained in a power source.
space biology As part of its scope, space
biology considers the study of the biological ef-
fects of space travel on living organisms. As
the studies involve longer and longer periods of
space ight, space biology is more and more
concernedonhowwell andfor howlonghumans
and other forms of life can withstand conditions
in space. Space biology is especially keen in de-
tecting and studying re-adaptation on earth once
space ight has ended.
Specic aspects of space travel under study
include weightlessness, inertial forces experi-
enced during lift-off, radiation exposure, the ab-
sence of day-night cycle (biorhythm), and heat
produced within the spacecraft.
The absence of the night-day division of time
has effects on the cyclic patterns of changes
in physiological activities that are synchronized
with daily, monthly, or yearly environmental
changes. These include circadian rhythms that
respond to light and dark stimulus (opening and
closing of owers, nighttime increase in activity
of nocturnal animals). Circadian rhythms also
include changes in blood pressure and urine pro-
duction during the 24-hour period. In general,
internal rhythms that are synchronized to exter-
nal stimuli (light, temperature, etc.) may be af-
fected and gradually drift out of phase from the
original earth environment.
space biology, cardiovascular effects Be-
cause gravity plays a major role in determining
the distribution of ventilation, blood ow, gas
exchange, alveolar size, intrapleural pressures,
and mechanical stresses within the human lung,
the absence of gravity affects the cardiovascular
system.
The removal of the force of gravity in the
lungs during space ight has been linked to in-
crease in diffusing capacity, pulmonary capil-
lary blood volume increase, and increase in
membrane diffusing. This means that the lungs
are much more uniformly soaked with blood.
Lack of gravity also has important effects on
cardiac lling pressure and intravascular uid
distribution. Without gravity, a major central
uid shift occurs. Current data is contradic-
tory regarding the behavior of the central ve-
nous pressure, where there are discrepancies be-
tween ground-based models and in-ight mea-
surements.
space biology, effects on vision Although
there are no strong effects of space ights on vi-
sion, there are changes regarding the ability to
orient and position the body relative to the en-
vironment. The knowledge of the relative posi-
tion of the body is a function that involves input
from the eyes and inner ear, as well as receptors
in the muscles and joints. In space, the body is
left with input only from vision and the inner
ear.
In the inner ear, the vestibular system com-
posed of the semicircular canals and the otoliths
provides information about the sense of rotation
and tilting movements. The information com-
ing from these systems are used to control eye
movements as a function of postural reexes.
For example, if the head is suddenly rotated, the
vestibular system sends information to the brain
to help stabilize the position of the eyes while
2001 CRC Press LLC
the head is moving. Also, information about the
nal position of the body is analyzed. All of
these functions are affected in space since the
inner ear needs gravity to properly measure the
different orientational changes. This may trans-
late to symptoms of dizziness and nausea.
space biology, mechanical effects Long-
term space ights negatively affect the structure
of muscles and muscular function. Impaired
musculoskeletal functions as well as poor mus-
cular coordination have been reported by astro-
nauts after returning to earth. This effect may
be due in part to muscle atrophy, that is, the lack
of the stimuli provided by the constant pull of
gravity. The decrease in muscle strength may
also be due to other factors that relate to neuro-
muscular control and changes in the contractile
force of individual muscle bers.
There are also changes in the bone structure.
Because the human skeleton is constantly under
a renewing process, disruptions may cause im-
balance in the growth-resorption process of the
bone. Reduced mechanical workloads on the
body in space may induce the skeleton to dis-
card bone it no longer needs. Also, hormonal
changes may be linked since some hormones
(e.g., parathyroid hormone) are strong stimula-
tors of bone resorption.
space biology, weightlessness Space stud-
ies have revealed that space ight participants
initially suffer from symptoms such as nausea,
sensory disorientation, and poor muscular co-
ordination. Prolonged ight and exposure to
weightlessness affects physical functions that
are a direct result of gravity-driven adaptations.
These include and affect weight-bearing mus-
cles, gravity-sensing portions of the inner ear,
and blood pressure. See space biology, me-
chanical effects; space biology, cardiovascular
effects.
space charge Electric charges that distribute
in a material or an electronic device.
space craft A vehicle used for traveling in
space.
space-division multiplexing Aformof mul-
tiplexing where the data paths are separated in
space. The multiplexing is usually done with
switching where data samples in the switch are
on separate data circuits.
spark The ionization and rapid discharge in
air and other insulators placed between two con-
ductors that produce a sufciently high electric
eld. A sharp snapping sound or a loud explo-
sive noise is emitted depending on the length
of the gap between the conductors. For exam-
ple, thunder is a result of a very large spark
discharge between the earth and clouds. Under
sufciently intense elds, such discharges may
also take place in liquids and solid dielectrics,
in which case the insulating property of the ma-
terial will be impaired. See also lightning ash.
spark gap Generally, two electrodes sepa-
ratedbya dielectric that breaks downintoa spark
discharge at a voltage determined by the type
of dielectric and the distance between the elec-
trodes. It is mainly used as a voltage limiting
safety device (e.g., lightning arrester), genera-
tor, of electromagnetic waves, and as a means
of depositing concentrated energy, e.g., spark
erosion. See also lightning arrester.
spark sound A powerful electric spark can
be the source of a single intense pressure pulse,
or, if the electric circuit is tuned, the spark may
be oscillatory with accompanying pulses of al-
ternating pressure. The pressure effects produce
rarefactions and compressions (acoustic waves),
which may be sonic or supersonic according
to the frequency of the electrical oscillations in
spark discharge.
speaking arc See singing arc.
specic charge The charge tomass ratioof an
elementary particle is called the specic charge
of the particle. For example, the specic charge
of an electron is 1.75910
11
coulomb/kg while
the specic charge of a proton is 9.578 10
7
coulomb/kg.
specic conductance The ratio of the elec-
trical current to the electric eld in a given ma-
terial, also known as conductivity.
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specic heat at absolute zero The third law
of thermodynamics states that the entropy of all
systems and of all states of a system is zero at
absolute zero. This implies that the specic heat
capacityat constant volume andat constant pres-
sure goes to zero as temperature goes to absolute
zero.
specic heat at low temperatures The spe-
cic heat capacity of all solids decreases with
decreasing temperature and at 4.2 K for a typ-
ical solid it will be between 10
3
and 10
4
of
the value at room temperature. The very low
heat capacity at low temperatures also means
that only small cooling powers are needed in
order to further decrease the temperature of a
sample, for example, in a dilution refrigerator.
However, at these low temperatures, other con-
tributions may become signicant from impuri-
ties. See Schottky anamolies.
specic heat, cooperative, anomaly Spin
disorders in the paramagnetic state give an in-
verse relationship with temperature for specic
heat at high temperatures. This spin disorder
should vanish at 0 K, which can be due to Schot-
tky peak or a cooperative singularity. The for-
mer occurs in dilute systems. The latter is more
likely if the exchange interactions are strong,
thus causing transition to the ferromagnetic and
antiferromagnetic states. See superconductors;
specic heat.
specic heat, Debyes theory Model for lat-
tice heat capacity at low temperatures that cor-
rects for inadequacies of the Einsteins model
where observation shows a T
3
dependence
rather than a T
1
dependence. Debye assumed
that a crystal having N lattice points could be
excited by 3N acoustic vibrational modes. The
factor of three here refers to the three polariza-
tions associated with each wavevector. Debyes
theory predicts that the lattice heat capacity is a
universal function scaling for all solids through
the parameter known as the Debye temperature.
specic heat, electronic Heat capacity is of
particular signicance at lowtemperatures when
the electrons at the Fermi surface are involved.
The electronic-specic heat capacity gives a
measure of the electrons at the Fermi surface.
The electronic-specic heat has a shallower tem-
perature variation than thermodynamic-specic
heat andonlybegins todominate for most metals
below a few Kelvins.
specic heat, Schottky The heat capacity
of all solids decreases with decreasing temper-
ature. However, impurities in a crystal at these
low temperatures contribute to the heat capac-
ity signicantly. This is the Schottky anomaly
and can increase the heat capacity between 10
to 1000 times the lattice value.
specic impedance, acoustic The ratioof the
acoustic pressure in a medium to the associated
particle velocity. It has a magnitude c, where
is the constant mean density of medium at a
point and c is the velocity of propagation of the
wave.
spectacles A pair of ophthalmic lenses of
suitable power mounted in a frame to correct
for ametropia.
spectra, acoustic The variation of intensity
with frequency which can be represented graph-
ically. See sound spectra.
spectra, band Bands of semi-continuous
spectral lines separated by gaps and associated
with transitions between molecular energy lev-
els. Each band is actually composed of many
ne lines, corresponding not only to electronic
transitions but also to vibrational and rotational
energy levels.
spectra, continuous Composed of an innite
number of spectral lines corresponding to the in-
nite number of wavelengths present, e.g., in a
true white light source. One of the most com-
mon sources of continuous spectra is the emis-
sion spectrum for a heated solid. The standard
for such spectra is the black body which absorbs
and emits all wavelengths completely.
spectra, ghost Artifacts of periodic errors in
the spacing of the lines of a grating, that give rise
to ghost lines accompanying the principal max-
ima. For Rowland ghosts, the error has a single
period and the ghosts are symmetrical about the
principal maxima. Lyman ghosts, involving two
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incommensurate periods or a single error of very
short period, are much harder to identify.
spectra, line Correspond to images of a spec-
trometer slit illuminated by one or several distin-
guishable wavelengths. Since only individual
atoms give true line spectra, emission spectral
sources are gaseous in nature and may be ex-
cited by arcs, sparking, ames, etc. For some
elements, spectral lines are arranged in series,
being related to the distribution of the atomic
energy levels. The simplest and most famous is
the Balmer series for hydrogen.
spectral luminous efcacy The ratio of the
radiant ux at a given wavelength in the visible
spectrum divided by the radiant power at that
wavelength. It rises to a maximum value for a
standard observer of 683 lumens per watt near
the middle of the visible spectrum. The param-
eter gives a measure of the luminous ux that is
produced by unit radiant power.
spectra, vibrational Spectra lines or bands
corresponding to transitions between molecular
vibrational levels. For diatomic molecules, the
vibrational levels can be treated in the harmonic
oscillator approximation
E
n
= hv

n +
1
2

,
with vibrational quantum number n = 0, 1, 2.
The frequency v is a measure of the spring con-
stant for interatomic forces. Transitions be-
tween vibrational energy levels can be observed
by infrared absorption or by Raman scattering,
with selection rule n = 1. These selec-
tion rules are modied by anharmonicity, which
changes the form of the potential function and
allows overtone transitions n = 2, 3, . . .
Stacks of rotational levels are associated with
each vibrational level and transitions between
these levels are governed by J = 1 where J
is the rotational quantum number. Such transi-
tions give rise to vibration rotation band spectra.
For polyatomic molecules, one must consider
the normal modes of vibration and stretching.
The selection rules have additional requirements
that there be a change in dipole moment for in-
frared and a change in the induced dipole mo-
ment for Raman.
The selection rules are determined by the
symmetry of the molecule, which can in turn be
inferred from infrared and Raman spectra. The
different vibrations can be represented by po-
tential energy surfaces and anharmonic effects
in the potential mix the different modes. Use of
model potential functions allows interpretation
of the vibrational spectra and hence a complete
description of the vibrational modes.
spectrometer An instrument to measure the
wavelengths or radiant intensities of the spec-
trum of a light source, the design depending on
the wavelength of radiation. For example, one
uses glass prisms and transmission gratings in
the visible region, rock salt prisms for the in-
frared region, and reection gratings for ultra-
violet and X-ray regions.
spectroscope An instrument or system that
enables us to see the spectrum of a light source,
usually consisting of a slit, a collimating lens, a
prism or grating and a telescope.
spectroscopy The study of the absorption,
emission or scattering of electromagnetic radia-
tion by matter.
spectroscopy, electron The collection of
techniques involving the spectral analysis of
electrons from a sample taken from a beam of
incident photons or electrons. There are many
different types, principally photoelectron spec-
troscopy (PES, UPS or MPS for ultraviolet exci-
tation, and ESCA or XPS for X-ray excitation),
Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and others.
The applications in chemistry and surface
studies are numerous, where the techniques have
become standard analytical laboratory tools.
PES is a powerful technique for determining
electronic binding energies in various species
leading to determination of electronic structure
of molecules and solids. XPS and ESCA are
complementary techniques to PES for studying
inner core energy levels, and all are important
techniques for studying surfaces and surface re-
actions. AES is an extremely useful technique
for element detection on surfaces at extremely
low coverage.
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spectroscopy, interference Spectroscopy
based on examination of light by an interferome-
ter. Alight beamwith a given wavelength is split
into two or more components which are then
recombined coherently such that their phase is
preserved, giving rise to a set of interference
fringes. Since each wavelength has its own set
of fringes, spectroscopy can be carried out.
In a two-beam interferometer the incident
beam is split so that the light follows two sep-
arate paths. The most well known two-beam
instrument is the Michelson which can also be
used for accurate measurement of displacement.
In a similar instrument, the Mach-Zender inter-
ferometer, a sample to be studied is put into one
of the light paths and changes in the interfero-
gram are observed.
The most important interference spectrome-
ter based on multiple beam interference is the
Fabry-Perot, where interference takes place in
a thin etalon composed of two glass plates. For
high reectance plates, the fringes are extremely
sharp so that the instrument is useful for study-
ing the ne structure of spectral lines.
spectroscopy, laser The use of a laser source
in a spectrometer to replace traditional sources
such as the mercury arc lamp. The main ad-
vantage of the laser is that it is an intense, al-
most perfectly monochromatic source. The high
intensity allows studying weak lines that are
unobservable with other sources. It also per-
mits development of special techniques such as
non-linear optical spectroscopy and numerous
variations of Raman spectroscopy. The high
monochromaticity of the laser permits higher
resolution in the spectrometer.
spectroscopy, Mossbauer Based on the
Mossbauer effect, which is the resonant absorp-
tion of nuclear gamma radiation in a condensed
medium. The Mossbauer spectrometer is based
on the measurement of the transmission of reso-
nant gamma rays through the sample as a func-
tion of energy. This is accomplished by sweep-
ing the Doppler velocity of the sample with re-
spect to the source. Since the effect is char-
acterized by the absence of recoil or thermal
broadening due to transfer of recoil energy di-
rectly to the lattice, the spectrum is best mea-
sured for strongly bound nuclei at low temper-
atures. Mossbauer spectra may be measured in
transmission and also by scattering, the latter
allowing study of surface effects.
There are many applications of Mossbauer
spectroscopy in physics, technology, chemistry
and biology. These include study of surface
lms, metal layer interfaces, amorphous ribbons
and wires, diffusion in intermetallic alloys, in-
dustrial glasses, high pressure effects, chemical
isomer shift, chemical bonds, proteins and many
more.
spectroscopy, NMR The phenomenon of ab-
sorption of electromagnetic energy by magnetic
nuclei of the nucleus, particularly protons, in
the presence of an external applied eld. Tran-
sitions between the proton levels at a given eld
can be obtained by applying an appropriate RF
eld at the proton resonant frequency. The ex-
periment is generally done at a xed RF fre-
quency and by sweeping the magnetic eld.
Applications include: (a) determination of
the chemical shift in the resonance due to the
chemical environment; (b) determination of ne
structure, due to spin-spin coupling, used for
the identication of unknown molecules; and
(c) line width determination, which gives infor-
mation on the molecular motion.
Magnetic resonance imaging in magnetic
eld gradients for medical diagnostics is one of
the most important commercial applications.
spectrum, absorption Obtained by passing
light from a source with a continuous emission
spectrum through a target, absorbing material
and thence into a spectrometer.
spectrum analyzer A device used to de-
termine the spectral components of radiation
present in a designated range of the electromag-
netic spectrum. The technology used depends
on the specied frequency range; for radio fre-
quencies, an electronic device is used while for
the visible range, a diffraction grating spectrom-
eter is appropriate.
An optical spectrum analyzer uses the
acousto-optic effect to analyze the frequency
content of an electrical signal. The latter is con-
verted into an acoustic signal by a piezoelec-
tric transducer and the acoustic wave diffracts a
monochromatic beam of light incident upon it.
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The form of the resulting diffraction pattern de-
pends on the frequency content of the acoustic
wave from which the latter can be deduced.
spectrum, angular The energy spectrum of
a given phenomenon as a function of angle with
respect to a reference direction.
spectrum, color See spectrum, visible.
spectrum, electromagnetic The entire range
of electromagnetic radiation. At low frequen-
cies (long wavelengths), there is no limit to the
wavelength; values up to 50 million km have
been observed in radio astronomy. Increasing
frequency covers radio waves, microwaves, vis-
ible spectrum, ultraviolet, X-rays and -rays.
spectrum, emission The spectrum obtained
by observing the radiation emitted from an op-
tical source.
spectrum, normal In the development of
the classication of atomic spectra by Kayser
and Runge in the nineteenth century, the spec-
trum of iron was chosen as a standard or normal
spectrum that could be used as a reference for
the spectral series of other elements. This work
led to the establishment of a series of empirical
rules for the positions of the spectral lines of the
elements.
spectrum, secondary The focal length of an
optical imaging systemcan be achromatized in a
certain region of the visible spectrum such that
the rate of change of focal length with wave-
length is zero for that part of the spectrum. Not
all wavelengths in the spectrumwill have this fo-
cal point, leading to a colored zone around the
image point, known as the secondary spectrum.
spectrum, spark The emission spectrumob-
tained by an electrical arc or spark in a gas.
When a condenser is connected across the gap,
a very rich spectrum characteristic of the metal
of the electrodes is obtained. Most emission
spectra are currently produced by an inductively
coupled plasma source.
spectrum, visible Corresponds to those
wavelengths to which the eye is sensitive. This
corresponds roughly to the wavelength range
400 to 700 nm, with violet (shorter than 450
nm), blue (450 to 490 nm), green (490 to 560
nm), yellow (560 to 590 nm), orange (590 to
630 nm) and red (longer than 630 nm).
spectrum, X-ray Produced when a metal
is bombarded with high energy electrons. It
consists of a series of sharp lines superposed
on a continuum. The continuum, called Brem-
strahlung, is classical in origin, and is caused
by radiation from decelerating electrons in the
metal. The discrete spectral lines are due to ejec-
tion of electrons from the inner atomic shells
and the falling of another electron into the hole
left behind, accompanied by the emission of an
X-ray. Hard X-rays are associated with tran-
sitions to the K atomic shell. Softer X-rays
of longer wavelength are associated with transi-
tions to the L atomic shell.
speech, analysis of Microphones connected
to an amplier can be used to determine the dis-
tribution of frequencies in speech.
spontaneous ordering This refers to the or-
dering of magnetic spins at the Curie tempera-
ture T
c
as a result of the exchange interaction
being able to overcome the thermal randomiza-
tion. The gure shows examples of disordered
and ordered states respectively.
Disordered and ordered states.
sputtering Charged radicals split out. This
process is usually employed for depositing ma-
terial on lms. The charged radicals bombard
the target material and produce certain radicals
that deposit on the substrate. A lm is formed
on this substrate.
2001 CRC Press LLC
square wave A periodic wave whose ampli-
tude has two values. The shape of the wave is
square.
Square wave.
squid Refers to superconducting quantum
interference device. It is made up of a ring of
superconducting material with a weak link. The
magnetic ux through this ring is quantized in
units of h/2e where h is Plancks constant and
e is the electron charge. Can be used to measure
magnetic ux very accurately and forms the ba-
sis of a magnetometer that is able to measure
magnetic moments extremely accurately.
squid, medical use of Superconducting
quantuminterferometric devices (SQUID) work
by detecting minute magnetic elds. Their use
is widely spread since magnetic elds appear
anywhere there is an electrical current.
Squids are usually circular or square-shaped
devices of less than a millimeter in height. A
squid consists of a superconducting ring or
square interrupted in two places by Josephson
junctions (insulating links connecting two su-
perconductors). When sufcient electrical cur-
rent is applied to the squid, a voltage is generated
across its body. In the presence of a magnetic
eld, this voltage will rise or fall in proportion
to the magnetic eld.
Magnetometer squids are coupled to a ux
transformer that functions to amplify the mag-
netic eld input. Gradiometer squids consist of
two loops that give signals from two different
points in space. In the latter, a ux in the squid
only appears if the eld is not the same at the
two points. This apparatus is thus sensitive to
non-uniform elds.
Modern squids can be approximated as close
as 20 mto samples. In this way, squids can be
used as microscopes on living organisms and
other specimens that cannot be frozen. It has
uses in the study of biomagnetic phenomena.
Namely, migration patterns of bacteria and mi-
crobes that possess magnetite particles in their
bodies can be tracked down through the environ-
ment. These studies play a role in bioremedia-
tion, which proposes using bacteria to convert
hazardous waste into inert byproducts. In ad-
dition, coupling of low-T
c
squids to NMR help
understand the chemical environments of atoms
and molecules.
Squids are widely used to detect magnetic
elds fromthe beatingheart (magnetocardiogra-
phy). In practical terms, they can be used in the
measurement of irregularities in the heartbeat of
an unborn child. Squid-based apparatuses serve
as diagnostic tools in the early detection, diag-
nosis and follow-up of ischemic heart disease.
Also, they serve as clinical tools for arrhythmia
localization. They also serve to detect and ana-
lyze brain signals in magneto-encephalography.
stability The quality of being stable.
stabilization Making stable.
stabilizedpower supply Apower source that
outputs a constant power.
stable states Firm states that do not change
with time under certain conditions.
standard cell A primary cell used for in-
strument calibration because of its very accu-
rately known and constant potential difference.
A standard cell differs from other secondary
cells in that the electrochemical reactions are
not reversible for a standard cell.
standard illuminant A blackbody radiator
working at the freezing point of platinum with
the luminous intensity per square centimeter de-
ned as 60 candelas. To measure colors of non
self-luminous samples, three standardluminants
A, B and C are used. The source Ais a tungsten
lament lamp of specied characteristics oper-
ating at a color temperature of 2575

C. The
standard illuminants B and C are obtained by
using suitable lters with Aso as to mimic noon
sunlight and normal overcast daylight, respec-
tively.
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t
standing waves Boundary conditions in any
scenario, e.g., for a string with two xed ends,
points of zero displacement cause the string to
vibrate with nodes at the ends. The fundamental
or the rst harmonic consists of twonodes andan
antinode. The points of maximum amplitude of
vibration are called antinodes and spaced evenly
between the nodes. The distance between nodal
points for the nth harmonic mode of vibration is
seen to be l/n.
star connection Another commonly used
three-phase circuit for an AC motor. Here, four
wires are employed. The star-connection is also
commonly used in a two-phase, four-wire mo-
tor as shown in the gure below. It has the same
advantages as in the delta connection.
Star connection.
stark effect The splitting of spectral lines
in the presence of a strong electric eld. It is
analogous to the Zeeman effect where lines are
split by a magnetic eld. The strong electric
eld can be produced by an electrical discharge
in a gas at low pressures.
state attribute The state attribute refers tothe
characteristics of a particular state of matter. For
example, simple solids possess crystalline sym-
metry that indicates short- as well as long-range
correlations in their positions; i.e., given the po-
sition of a point, subsequent positions of the rest
of the crystal can be generated starting from the
lattice constant. This is due to the regularity of
the crystal. In addition, the solid has discrete ro-
tational symmetries, depending on the geomet-
rical conguration of the unit cells. On the other
hand, simple liquids and gases have symmetries
that correspond to uids in the sense that they
posses only short-range positional correlations
that do not continue to long distances.
The thermodynamic attributes are given by
the value of the state variables of the substance,
and the different phases can be separated into
domains, as described by their state diagram.
See state variables; state diagram.
state diagram The state diagram of a ther-
modynamic systemis a diagramthat denotes the
different equilibrium states of matter as a func-
tion of a thermodynamic state variable. Two-
dimensional representations of state diagrams
have to be drawn by having one dependent and
one independent state variable, with all the rest
xed at particular values.
The different states (solid, liquid, gas) of the
substance whose state diagramis representedare
delimited by lines that indicate where the tran-
sition from one state to the other occurs. The
lines are called lines of rst order transition be-
cause they involve non-analytic behavior in the
state variable, as opposed to lines of second or-
der that involve non-analytic behavior in the rst
or higher derivatives of the state variables.
As an example, the P-V state diagram for a
simple liquid is given in the gure, where the
lines separate the different equilibrium states of
the system. The diagram is drawn for a particu-
lar xed volume of the system. The gas and liq-
uid transition line terminates at a point called a
critical point. The tricritical point is the point at
which all of the phases can coexist. Note that at
sufciently high temperature, a continuous path
can be drawn fromthe gas to the liquid (and vice
versa) because there are no fundamental differ-
ences in the symmetry between each other, only
in their density.
state variables In the study of thermody-
namics, the systems that are considered are in
equilibrium. The equilibrium state is character-
ized by being a state stable against internal uc-
tuations in temperature, pressure, chemical po-
2001 CRC Press LLC
State diagrams.
tential, and composition among other variables.
The equilibrium requisite implies that all of the
variables have denite values at the equilibrium
and thus they are called state variables. Ther-
modynamics provides a series of relations be-
tween these state variables that make it possible
to calculate the value of any other variable at
equilibrium.
State variables are classied as either exten-
sive or intensive. The value of an extensive vari-
able depends on the size of the system(e.g., vol-
ume). In contrast, intensive variables are not
dependent on the system size or number of par-
ticles (e.g., temperature). Each state variable
has a complementary or conjugate variable of
the other type. The variable complementing the
volume is the pressure, while the variable com-
plementing the composition of a component is
its chemical potential.
stationary channel A stationary channel
refers to a communication channel whose fre-
quency response does not vary with time. Such
a channel may be represented as a time-invariant
lter.
step function A function that only has two
values. The change from a low value to a high
value is abrupt.
Step function.
stereophony Necessitates the coinciding of
acoustic image with visual image regarding the
direction of sound and the production of stereo
sound. Systems should possess a frequency
range that includes all the audible components
of the sounds being reproduced, a distortion-
free intensity range that embraces the intensity
range associated with the recording sounds, and
should be able to preserve the spatial sound pat-
tern of the original sound as well. See also
quadraphonic sound.
stereopsis See acuity, stereoscopic.
stereoscope An instrument that separates the
eld of view of the two eyes (usually by op-
tical methods) such that only certain portions
of the stereogram targets viewed through it are
seen by one eye and other portions by the other
eye. Together, they give rise to a binocular pre-
cept of depth. Common stereoscopes include
the Wheatstone and Brewster stereoscopes.
stereoscopic effect The principle of estab-
lishing a three-dimensional image by an opti-
cal system using a binocular eyepiece for both
eyes. The effect is of great practical importance
in several devices, such as prism binoculars and
binocular microscopes. The effect is based on
two slightly differing images seen by the two
eyes; based on normal experience, the brain is
able to construct a mental three-dimensional im-
age and obtain depth information.
Stern-Volmer kinetics SternVolmer kinet-
ics describe how the uorescence lifetime of
photochemical systems decay in the presence of
an interacting environment. The uorescence
described here comes from a chemical reaction
whose driving energy is light. Lifetimes of the
decay determine the reaction mechanismas well
as the electronic structure of the excited states
of organic and inorganic molecules.
2001 CRC Press LLC
t
The simplest way to determine the uores-
cent lifetime of a compound is to excite it with
a short pulse of light and measure how the uo-
rescence intensity decays with time. For simple
molecules, the uorescent intensity decays as
I(t) = I
o
exp(t/), where I(t) is the inten-
sity, I
o
, the intensity at time 0, t is time, and
is the lifetime.
When the initial sample is analyzed in the
presence of other molecules, they might in-
teract. In typical photochemical experiments,
the sample is quenched by the surrounding
molecules that decrease the lifetime of the uo-
rescent molecule. If the interaction between the
two types of molecules is of collisional nature,
the lifetime dependence on the quencher con-
centration is given by the SternVolmer equa-
tion as
o
/ = 1 +k
q

o
[Q] where is the new
lifetime in the presence of the quencher, k
q
is the
bimolecular quenching rate constant, and [Q] is
the quencher concentration.
Applications of uorescence lifetimes nd
their way into areas of biomedical research
where uorescent probes are used to study
biomembranes, enzymes, photosynthetic sys-
tems, nucleic acids, and malignant tissues. It
has also found applications in the study of semi-
conductors, laser dyes, polymers, and other ma-
terials.
Stokes parameters Used to give a com-
plete, quantitative representation of polarized
light. For a monochromatic wave propagating
in the z direction

E(t) =

Ex(t) +

Ey(t)

Ex(t) =

i E
ox
(t) cos [(kz wt) +
x
(t)]
Ey(t) =

j E
oy
(t) cos [(kz wt) +
y
(t)] ,
then the Stokes parameters are dened as:
S
0
=

E
2
ox

E
2
oy

S
1
=

E
2
ox

E
2
oy

S
2
= 2E
ox
E
oy
cos
S
3
= 2E
ox
E
oy
sin ,
where =
x

y
.
It follows that S
2
0
= S
2
1
+ S
2
2
+ S
2
3
so that
S
0
is proportional to the intensity of the wave.
A convenient geometrical representation is that
S
1
, S
2
and S
3
can be regarded as Cartesian co-
ordinates on the surface of a sphere P of radius
S
0
, called the Poincar Sphere. Then any possi-
ble polarization of the wave can be represented
by a point on the surface of P.
stop Any kind of diaphragm to restrict the
amount or angle of light passing through any
part of the optical system.
stop, aperture Any diaphragm or rim of the
lens or anything else that restricts the amount of
light reaching the image. In addition to limit-
ing the light gathering power, it also limits the
resolving power of the system. The aperture
stop could be located anywhere inside or out-
side the optical system. Its image in the object
space is called the entrance pupil. For an opti-
cal system with many components, the effective
aperture stop for the whole system is the stop
whose entrance pupil subtends the smallest an-
gle as seen from the object point.
stop, eld Any device that limits the lateral
size or the angular breadth of the object that can
be imaged by the system. One usually employs
a diaphragm in the image plane to act as a eld
stop (e.g., the opening in the lm holder of a
camera). Thus, the eld stop is conjugate to the
object. Often, to retain only the good quality
part of the image (by avoiding the contributions
fromthe far off-axis rays), an aperture is inserted
as a eld stop in an optical system.
storage vessels, liqueed gas The efciency
of storage of any liqueed gas is related to its
latent heat of vaporization, which controls the
evaporation rate as a function of extraneous heat
inow and the normal boiling point which gov-
erns the extraneous heat inow from the sur-
roundings. Glass, usually pyrex, dewar asks
are usedfor liquidair. Metal dewars have the dif-
culty of outgassing themcompletely and there-
fore require an internal adsorbent trap. Powder
and foam insulation are useful. It should also
be noted that metal dewars have a larger heat
leak with liquid hydrogen in them than with he-
lium. It should be noted that heliumgas diffuses
through glass.
2001 CRC Press LLC
stored energy in capacitor When a battery
is connected to a capacitor, the positive charges
ow into one terminal of the capacitor while the
negative charges ow into the other, until the
potential difference between the plates reaches
the EMF of the battery. In the process, energy
is converted from the chemical energy in the
battery to the electric energy stored inside the
capacitor, E = 1/2QV = 1/2CV
2
.
stray capacitance Stray capacitance is the
undesirable capacitance that exists betweencon-
ductors carrying currents or charges. In general
stray capacitance is quite small and can be ig-
nored in most cases, but for critical applications,
it should be minimized.
stress waves See shear waves.
striking note See subharmonics.
stringed instruments Examples of plucked
stringinstruments are the harp, guitar, mandolin,
and banjo. A plucked string has the full har-
monic series of overtones. The stiffness of an
actual string and damping due to internal fric-
tion causes a slight departure fromthe harmonic
series.
strings, vibrations in A string can be set
into vibration by plucking, striking, or bowing.
Nodes are set up at the xed ends, separated by
length L, and the antinodes in between. There
is the fundamental, or the rst harmonic, which
satises wavelength = 2L, then second har-
monic = L, third harmonic = 2/3L, and
so forth.
stroboscope An instrument for studying pe-
riodic or varying motion by illuminating moving
bodies with a rapidly ashing electric light, thus
making the rotating or vibrating bodies look al-
most stationary.
subharmonics The presence of low fre-
quency harmonics in the sound of bells, tuning
forks and vibrating piezoelectric crystals, for ex-
ample, that are not produced by a resonator or
from resonances. It is also known as a striking
note and is possibly due to intermittent contact
between the bell and clapper or the tuning fork
and surface, respectively.
subscriber A subscriber station is a tele-
phone station that has access to the public tele-
phone network. A telephone station is a tele-
phone set connected to a telephone system.
subsonics Speeds less thanthe speedof sound
in air or other medium. Frequencies lower than
the auditory capacity of human ear.
subsonic whistle Whistles that blow at a fre-
quency that is inaudible to human ear but can be
picked up by animals such as dogs.
subtracter A device that has two inputs and
one output, the output being equal to the differ-
ence of the two inputs.
sufcient (logical) A condition needed to
nish a logic operation.
SUM An operation that adds all input signals.
sunburn Reddening of the skin caused by
the exposure of the skin to the ultraviolet (UV)
light (wavelengths between 290 and 320 nm)
coming from the sun. Its effects range from a
mild redness to more severe reactions with addi-
tional tenderness, pain, swelling and occasional
blistering formations. The effects are felt usu-
ally within the rst 6 to 12 hours, and peak in
intensity within 24 hours. After a period of 3 to
5 days, a tan develops that may last a few more
days. If the sunburned area is extensive, symp-
toms such as nausea, headaches, fever, chills,
and delirium may occur.
UVlight can also reach the skin by reection
from snow, sand, water, sidewalks, and grass.
Even on a bright cloudy day with a thin cloud
cover, it is possible to receive 60 to 80% of the
UV light from a clear day.
Creams to protect against sunburn and the
UV rays are called sunscreens. They act as bar-
riers, ltering out the transmission of particular
wavelength ranges of light (e.g., zinc oxide oint-
ment). Sunscreens are classied according to
their sun protective factor (SPF). An SPF rating
of 4provides onlylimitedprotection, while a rat-
ing of 8 provides maximum sunburn protection.
2001 CRC Press LLC
A rating of 15 gives ultra protection (absorbs
burning as well as tanning rays). A disadvan-
tage of most sunscreens is that they need to be
applied frequently during the day for protection
to be constant. See sun exposure and skin can-
cer.
sundial An instrument that indicates time of
day by the position of the shadow of a pointer
or gnomon cast by the sun on the face of a cali-
brated dial.
sun exposure and pigmentation Pigmen-
tation, coming from the darkening of the skin
after sun exposure, is due to an increase in the
production of melanin in the skin. The melanin
(whichabsorbs UVlight) is producedbythe skin
as a reactive and protective response to protect
against further UV rays.
There are three major ranges in wavelength
for the classication of UV rays: ultraviolet-A
(UVA), ultraviolet-B (UVB), and ultraviolet-C
(UVC). UVA has the longest wavelength with
UVC the shortest. Because UVC gets absorbed
by the ozone layer, only UVA and UVB are of
concern to sun exposure. UVA stimulates in
greater degree the production of melanin due to
its ability to penetrate into deep layers of the
skin. Therefore, it is predominantly responsi-
ble for tanning, although in sufcient exposure
quantity may result in sunburn. UVB probably
causes most cases of sunburn and most skin can-
cers, because it gets absorbed in the outer layers
of the skin, burning without stimulating much
tanning.
sun exposure and skin cancer There is evi-
dence that links excessive sun exposure to can-
cer. This evidence even relates sunburns and
cancer occurrences separated by years, meaning
that a sunburn may have repercussions later in
life. Not all of the types of skin cancer turn out to
be melanoma that can spread through the body,
and may be surgically removed. Another con-
nection that may lead to tumor formation comes
from studies of the exposure to ultraviolet-B
(UVB, shorter wavelengths than UVA) light that
shows interference with the immune system of
the skin.
There is also evidence that a risk factor for
some skin cancers is light skin color. Cumu-
lative, long-term exposure, is associated with
higher rates of skin cancer, particularly in light
skinned people. Similarly, whites have a higher
proportion of skin cancer in the body areas that
are routinely exposed to higher levels of sun
(e.g., face, shoulders, noses, arms). People with
a large number of moles, freckling, or a fam-
ily history of melanoma have a higher risk of
skin cancers. People with dark skin color are
somewhat protected by the amount of melanin
in their skin because their skin lters twice as
much UVB as the skin of whites, although the
amount of UVthat gets transmitted to the dermal
layers of the skin is still signicant.
It is estimated that one person in ve will
develop skin cancer during their lifetimes, in
which 90% of all skin cancers are due to sun
exposure. See sunburn.
superconducting circuits (1) Electrical con-
nections to samples that one wishes to isolate
thermally use niobiumwires. Such wires are su-
perconducting with a high critical eld through-
out the entire liquid helium temperature range.
They combine low thermal transport with per-
fect electrical conductivity. Lead wires as heat
switches at temperatures below 0.1 K are also
commonly used in circuits. Superconductors
are used as switching device and memory stor-
age elements in electronic computers.
(2) If a current is owing in a circuit contain-
ing a resistance R and an inductance L and an
EMF is suddenly removed, the current falls to
1/e of the original value with normal conduc-
tors in about 10
5
s. However, due to the al-
most negligible resistance in a superconductor,
the current persists long after the EMF has been
removed, and in some cases a persistent current
has been observed for a period of several years.
superconducting electrons This refers to
the electrons in a superconductor that are in the
ground state. In a superconductor at any nite
temperature, a dynamic equilibrium exists, that
is, normal electrons recombine to create pairs
the Cooper pair continuously created by
the break up of pairs. Electron tunneling is a
common phenomenon when at least one of the
electrodes is a superconductor at a junction.
2001 CRC Press LLC
superconducting thin lms These materials
offer virtually zero resistance to electrical cur-
rent and are extremely useful in microelectron-
ics. They have the capacity to carry large cur-
rents at signicantly higher temperatures than
the superconducting material. Thin lms of nor-
mal metals and superconductors in contact can
form superconductive electronic devices, which
replace transistors in some applications.
superconducting tunneling It is possible for
electrons to tunnel between a superconducting
lm and a normal one across a thin insulating
barrier. Quantum mechanically, an electron has
a nite probability of tunneling through the bar-
rier if there is an allowed state of equal or smaller
energy available for it on the other side. In this
manner, a direct measurement of the energy gap
can be made.
superconduction, Heisenbergs microscopic
theory of Explains how the inuence of
the strong intermolecular magnetic eld causes
spontaneous magnetization of ferromagnetic
substances. Heisenberg showed that the eld
originates in the quantum mechanical exchange
integral. There is no classical counterpart of this
and it is associated with the difference in the
Coulomb interaction energy of electrons when
the spins are parallel or antiparallel. This model
has also been successful at explaining the spin
waves at low temperatures.
superconductive alloys Examples of such
alloys include two parts gold and one part bis-
muth, and rhenium with molybdenum which, as
alloys, display supercondcuting properties.
superconductive compounds See supercon-
ductors.
superconductive cylinder For the case of
a long thin cylindrical sample in a longitudinal
magnetic eld, the magnetization curve for an
ideal superconductor is as follows: at the critical
eld, the ux penetrates the superconductor and
the normal state is restored.
superconductive elements Examples of su-
perconducting elements are aluminum, cad-
mium, gallium, indium, lead. Superconductiv-
Superconducting cylinder.
ity has been observed in metallic substances for
which the number of valence electrons Z lies be-
tween about 2 and 8 and the critical temperature
T
c
shows a sharp maxima for transition metals
with Z = 3, 5, and 7.
superconductive sphere The magnetization
curve for a sphere is as seen below. Between
the states H
p
, the penetration eld, and H
c
, the
critical eld, the superconductor is in the inter-
mediate state. This is a geometric effect. Since
the sample has broken into alternately normal
and superconducting states, the magnetic ux is
able to pass through the normal state.
Superconductive sphere.
superconductivity Aphenomenon shown by
certain metals, alloys, and other compounds of
having negligible resistance to the ow of elec-
tric current at temperatures approaching abso-
lute zero. Each material has a critical temper-
ature T
c
, which generally is under 10 K, above
which it is a normal conductor and belowwhich,
a superconductor. Recently, some materials
have been shown to be superconductive at tem-
peratures hundreds of degrees above absolute
zero.
superconductivity, BCS theory A theory
of superconductivity proposed by the Ameri-
can physicists John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper
and John R. Schrieffer in 1957 for which the
2001 CRC Press LLC

three were awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize in

physics. The theory describes superconductiv-
ity as a quantumphenomenon, in which the con-
duction electrons move in pairs and thus show
no electrical resistance.
superconductivity, destructionbycurrents
High current densities cause a superconductor
to be restored to its normal or resistive state.
When a transport current ows in a supercon-
ductor that is in the mixed state, a Lorentz force
acts on the ux lines so as to move them at right
angles to their axes and to the direction of cur-
rent ow. Movement of magnetic ux causes a
voltage to be induced across the sample in the
same direction as the current ow. This causes
the superconductor to become resistive, and heat
is dissipated. The motion can be reduced if the
ux lines are pinned by defects such as disloca-
tions, grain boundaries, vacancies and clusters
of impurities in the crystal structure. This can
be achieved by work hardening. See work hard-
ening.
superconductivity, electrodynamics of For
a mathematical description of the response of a
superconductor to an applied DCmagnetic eld,
one needs to take into account perfect conduc-
tivity, the Meissner effect. The equations used
in conjunction with Maxwells equations predict
that the magnetic ux is excluded from all ex-
cept a surface region of the bulk superconductor.
The decay of the eld at the surface has a simple
exponential formwith a characteristic length. In
a normal metal the eddy currents produced by
an induced current are quickly reduced by the
scattering process. However, these currents on
an atomic scale persist and give rise to a weak
diamagnetic susceptibility in all materials.
superconductivity, transition of The transi-
tion to superconductivity occurs in several met-
als, alloys and compounds when they are cooled
to below the transition temperature T
c
. There is
a drastic change in electrical and thermal proper-
ties. The DC electrical resistance disappears in
the new phase. The transition to superconduc-
tivity is a function of temperature and applied
magnetic eld.
superconductivity, transition, pressure effect
It has been found that the transition temperature
T
c
below which a substance will behave as a su-
perconductor is a function of pressure and stress
generally. However, pressure is not a dominat-
ing factor, and the density of the electron states
at the Fermi surface is more important as well
as the interaction between electrons which arise
from coupling with the lattice vibrations.
superconductivity transition, resistive In
the transition to superconductivity, the most sig-
nicant feature is the disappearance of resis-
tance to DC current.
superconductivity, two-uid model This
model is based on the postulate that a supercon-
ductor possesses an ordered ground state that
is characterized by an order parameter, and that
the entire entropy of the systemresides in the ex-
cited states at energies above that of the ground
state. Superconducting properties are associ-
ated with the superuid fraction f of the con-
duction electrons in the ground state, while the
remaining normal fraction (1 f) retains the
properties of electrons in the normal state at
T > T
c
. The two components are totally inter-
penetrating and non-interacting. This model is
useful in that it provides a simple physical pic-
ture providing a semi-quantitative understand-
ing of, and the interrelation between, thermal
and magnetic properties.
superconductor, Gibbs free energy in The
transition to a superconducting state is a func-
tion of temperature and applied magnetic eld.
In pure samples, the transition is reversible and
can be described by equilibrium thermodynam-
ics. The condition for equilibrium is found by
minimizing the magnetic Gibbs free energy.
superconductors Materials that may be met-
als, alloys or compounds that display the phe-
nomenon of no resistance to the ow of an
electric current below critical temperatures T
c
.
Superconductors also exhibit strong diamag-
netism, meaning that they are repelled by mag-
netic elds. Superconductivity is manifested
only below a certain critical temperature T
c
and
a critical magnetic eld H
c
, which vary with the
material used.
2001 CRC Press LLC
superconductors, critical eld of Belowthe
critical temperature T
c
, the superconducting be-
havior can be quenched and normal conductivity
restored by the application of an external mag-
netic eld the critical eld H
c
.
H
c
H
o

1 (T/T
c
)
2

where
H
o
= H
c
at T = 0K .
Critical eld of superconductors.
superconductors, energy gaps in The ther-
mal and electrical properties of the supercon-
ducting state differ from those of metals in the
normal state, and there exists an energy gap be-
tween the superuid ground state and the states
of the normal electrons. The energy gap is ac-
tually temperature-dependent, falling from its
zero temperature value to zero at the critical tem-
perature.
superconductors, high eld A high mag-
netic eld applied to a superconductor will re-
store a superconductor to its normal or resistive
state. See superconductors.
superconductors, infrared absorption and
transmission The transmission and absorp-
tion effects in superconductors are generally
the same in normal and superconducting states
for different frequencies (e.g., optical frequen-
cies) except in the microwave and infrared fre-
quencies. This is determined by observing
frequency-dependent conductivity. The absorp-
tion becomes very small as the temperature ap-
proaches 0 K. This indicates a quantumeffect of
the excitation of electrons across an energy gap.
superconductors, intermediate state See
superconductive sphere.
superconductors, London Deals with the
theoretical treatment of the skin effect in super-
conductors. It is dened as those superconduc-
tors that deal with a penetration depth greater
than the intrinsic coherence length. Local elec-
trodynamics is used to treat this type of super-
conductor. See superconductors, Pippard.
superconductors, penetration depth Cur-
rents in a superconductor are not strictly super-
cial but occupy a layer of nite depth belowthe
surface. The magnetic eld also penetrates to a
certain depth. This causes the susceptibility for
small objects to be reduced, and the observed
critical magnetic eld for a superconductor be-
comes greater for one of small dimensions than
a larger one. See skin effect, anomalous.
superconductors, phase diagram The tran-
sition to superconductivity by substances is akin
to a second order phase transition. This means
that there is no latent heat involved and a sharp
nite discontinuity in the specic heat is seen.
superconductors, Pippard Deals with the
theoretical treatment of the skin effect in super-
conductors. It is dened as those superconduc-
tors that deal with penetration depths less than
the intrinsic coherence length but greater than
the London penetration depth. Non-local elec-
trodynamics is used to treat this type of super-
conductor. See superconductor.
superconductors, resistance of, high frequen-
cy effect Resistance disappears in supercon-
ductivity for the DCcase. In the anomalous skin
effect, when the skin layer involved in electri-
cal conduction at high frequencies is very thin,
if this becomes less than the electron mean free
path, the classical theory of electrical conduc-
tion breaks down and resistance is proportional
to the cube root of the frequency. High fre-
quency resistance occurs in superconductors be-
low the transition point by several factors than
that observed at higher temperatures. This has
been observed for frequencies of the order of
1200 Hz to 23,000 Hz.
2001 CRC Press LLC
superconductors, specic heat The specic
heat displays a strong discontinuity at the tran-
sition point for superconducting substances. As
the temperature drops below the transition tem-
perature in a zero magnetic eld, the specic
heat increases substantially and then decreases
slowly.
superconductors, transition temperatures in
This refers to the temperature at which an ele-
ment or alloywill displaysuperconductingprop-
erties. The values for elements generally range
from about 0.105 K for iridium to higher values
such as 7.199K for lead and 9.25K for niobium.
superconductors, type I The magnetic ux
is expelled thereby producing magnetization
that increases with the magnetic eld until a crit-
ical value is reached, at which it falls to zero
as for a normal conductor. These types exhibit
Meissner diamagnetism.
Superconductors, type I.
superconductors, type II In this type the
magnetic eld begins to penetrate the specimen
at a lower critical eld but the superconductiv-
ity is completely destroyed only at a higher eld.
This type does not exhibit the full Meissner ef-
fect.
supercooling This refers to the cooling of
a substance below the temperature at which a
phase change is expected to take place without
the phase change occurring, causing it to be-
come metastable; i.e., it is possible to cool a
liquid below its freezing point without its freez-
ing.
Superconductors, type II.
superuidity This is shown by particles that
obey BoseEinstein statistics and are in the low-
est allowed energy state. The particles therefore
have zero resistance to motion and zero entropy.
Substances that exhibit superuidity are Helium
II, which can ow through tiny holes impervi-
ous to any other liquid, and a pair of electrons
in superconductors.
superleak This is used, for example, in
a refrigerator. Stainless steel tubes packed
tightly with jewellers rouge which prevents liq-
uid other than superuid from circulating.
superposition of light waves The principle
of superposition for a linear optical systemstates
that, if there are different individual solutions to
the wave equation, then a linear combination of
them is also a solution. In practical applications
to interference and diffraction, a scalar theory
is used: e.g., for superposing two waves of the
same frequency traveling in the same direction.
The superposition can be carried out by direct al-
gebraic addition. Alternatively, a complex rep-
resentation can be used and the superposition is
then carried out by the addition of phasors which
incorporate the amplitude and the phase of each
wave. This method forms the basis for analy-
sis of interference and diffraction phenomena in
optics.
superposition of waves When two waves
traverse the same medium, the waves add. The
amplitude of the resultant wave at a particular
point is the algebraic sum of the two component
amplitudes.
supersonic vibrations Speeds greater than
that of sound or frequencies above those that
can be heard by the ear.
2001 CRC Press LLC
surface charge The charge that resides on the
surface of an object or at the interface between
twosubstances is calledsurface charge. Ina per-
fect conductor, the surface charge results from
the fact that the eld inside a perfect conduc-
tor is zero. For a dielectric material, the surface
charge results from the polarization of the ma-
terial and equals the product of polarization and
a unit vector normal to the surface, = Pn.
surface charge density The amount of elec-
tric charge, Q, that is spread over the surface
area, A, of an object as a thin layer. The surface
charge density, , is given by
= Q/A .
It has the SI units of coulombs per square me-
ter, Cm
2
. The charge distribution may not be
uniformon insulators and can therefore have dif-
ferent local surface charge densities.
surface tension, cell membrane Because
the cell membrane is the boundary between two
dissimilar liquids, but at the same pressure, any
kink or deformation in the topology of the mem-
brane will be met by an equivalent imbalance in
pressure from one of the liquids. The direction
of the restoring forces will be such that the mem-
brane will minimize its surface area, as a direct
result of its surface tension.
The importance of the surface tension of the
cell membrane has been linked to olfactory stim-
ulation. In this process, receptor cells may trig-
ger an olfactory response based on chemical re-
actions that occur at the surface of the cell and
to a solution of odorant molecules that may al-
ter the surface tension at the surface of the cell
membrane. See turgor pressure.
surface waves See Rayleigh waves.
surge protection To protect from a abrupt
change in signals.
susceptance, electric Unit: siemens. The
imaginary part of the admittance, Y , which is
given by
Y = G+iS ,
where S is the susceptance, G is the conduc-
tance, and i =

1. For a circuit containing a

resistance R, and reactance X, the susceptance
is given by
S =
X
R
2
+X
2
.
susceptibility, diamagnetic Anegative mag-
netic susceptibility due to an induced magnetic
moment in a system of electrons by an applied
magnetic eld. The susceptibility is usually
small with a magnitude 10
5
to 10
6
. The neg-
ative value indicates that the induced magneti-
zation is opposite the applied eld. Important in
materials that have no permanent magnetic mo-
ment on their atoms, which include Cu, Bi, B,
Si, and many inorganic and organic molecules.
Superconductors have the largest diamagnetic
susceptibility, with type I superconductors hav-
ing a value of -1. They are often referred to as
perfect diamagnets since the induced magnetic
moment is large enough that it exactly cancels
the applied magnetic ux within the supercon-
ductor and so there is no penetration of magnetic
ux into the interior of a superconductor. See
susceptibility, magnetic.
susceptibility, electric A dimensionless
quantity,
e
, which relates the electric polariza-
tion Pof a material to the applied electric eld,
E, by

e
=
P

0
E
,
where
0
is the permitivity of free space. Elec-
tric susceptibility is a measure of the ease with
which a dielectric can be polarized. The electric
susceptibility is also given by

e
=
r
1 ,
where
r
is the relative permittivity of a material.
susceptibility, magnetic Measures how eas-
ily a material is magnetized by a (usually) small
applied magnetic eld. The susceptibility of a
material is the proportionality constant between
the applied magnetic eld Hand magnetization
Mof a material and is dened by
M= H.
If H and M are parallel to each other, then
is a scalar quantity. is related to the relative
2001 CRC Press LLC
permeability of the material by
r
= 1+. See
permeability, magnetic.
susceptibility, measurement by Sucksmiths
method Method of measuring magnetic sus-
ceptibility in which a sample is suspended from
a deformable ring in a non-uniform magnetic
eld. The force on the sample in the non-
uniform eld is proportional to the magnetic
moment of the sample, which in turn depends
on the susceptibility of the sample. The force it-
self is measured by measuring the deformation
of the ring and leads to a determination of the
susceptibility of the sample.
sweep generator An electric circuit that pro-
duces a signal to examine other periodic signals.
switch Amechanical or solid state device for
opening and closing a circuit, such as a circuit
breaker (mechanical) or a transistor (solid state).
Switches are also used to select one of several
components to be included in a circuit for a de-
sired mode of operation. Other switches, such
as ip-ops, cause the operating condition of a
circuit to change between two discrete levels.
switching, time division A time division
switch separates data paths in time; a crossbar
switch separates data paths in space. In time
division switching, the n inputs are stored in a
temporary buffer. The switch reads from the
buffer n times faster than the input and writes
the data to the outputs in the proper order.
switch, timer A switch operated by clock-
work, electric motor or resistor-capacitor circuit
toopenor close a circuit at a predeterminedtime.
synchrocyclotron A cyclotron in which the
magnetic eld is held constant, and the fre-
quency of reversal of voltage used to accelerate
charged particles is adjusted so that the particles
stay in step as they speed up. This allows for
such effects as the relativistic increase in mass
that occurs at speeds close to the speed of light
for the accelerating particles. See cyclotron.
synchronization Any circuit or device that
is operated by means of clock pulses is syn-
chronous.
synchronous capacitor A synchronous mo-
tor running without mechanical load and draw-
ing a large leading current, like a capacitor; used
to improve the power factor and the voltage reg-
ulation of an alternating-current power system.
synchronous motors Such a motor is one
in which the rotor normally rotates at the same
speed as the revolving eld in the machine. The
stator is similar to that of an induction machine
consisting of a cylindrical iron frame with wind-
ings located in slots around the inner periph-
ery. A revolving eld can be produced in syn-
chronous motors by use of the same method as
for inductionmotors. Withthe mainstator wind-
ing connected directly to the supply, an auxiliary
winding may be connected through a capacitor.
synchroscope An instrument used to com-
pare both the phase and frequency of two dif-
ferent AC sources. Used mainly to determine
when a synchronous motor has been brought to
synchronous speed; this occurs when the EMF
induced in its armature windings have a phase
difference of about 180

with the ACpower sup-

ply line potential. The motor can then be con-
nected directly to the line. See also motor, syn-
chronous.
synchrotron Device used to accelerate
charged particles to high speeds so that exper-
iments to determine their structure and proper-
ties may be performed. Uses a magnetic eld to
make particles move in a circle and an electric
eld whose polarity changes periodically to ac-
celerate the particles. The strength of the mag-
netic eld and the frequency of the electric eld
are changed as the particles speed up. Very high
speeds are possible withprotons reachingspeeds
of more than 99% of the speed of light. Also
used to generate intense electromagnetic radi-
ation (synchrotron radiation) in the infrared to
hard X-ray range.
synthetic sound This is produced by sinu-
soidal alternating currents of various denite
frequencies that are generated continuously and
can imitate the quality of various musical instru-
ments.
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system (in communication) A communica-
tions system is the complete assembly of ap-
paratus and circuits required to effect a desired
transfer of information. In telecommunications,
a system is a set of equipment or apparatuses
that is combined to perform a function within a
carriers telecommunications network. An ex-
ample is a switching system.
2001 CRC Press LLC
T
Talbots Law Aslowlyickeringlight source
can be detected by the eye. However, due to the
nite response time of the eye, this icker can-
not be detected above a critical frequency, This
principle is known as Talbots Law and can be
demonstrated quantitatively by a rotating sector
wheel. Above the critical frequency of rotation
of the wheel, the intensity of transmitted light
varies as the proportion of sectors cut from the
wheel. Talbots Lawnds application in motion
pictures, where for practical purposes blurring is
prevented by projection at 24 frames per second.
tangent law Assuming that there is no spher-
ical aberration of the principal rays from the
object points, the condition to be satised for
elimination of distortion for a Gaussian image
is
ny tan u = n

tan u

,
where u and u

are the angles made by the prin-

cipal rays with the optical axis, y and y

are the
sizes of the object and image, and n and n

are
the refractive indices of the object and the image
spaces, respectively.
tangent plane The plane containing the opti-
cal axis and the off-axis object point. The princi-
pal ray always lies in the tangent (or meridional)
plane.
telecentricity A lens is said to be telecen-
tric if the chief rays are parallel to one another.
Usually, they are also parallel to the lens axis and
perpendicular to the object and/or image plane
that are also perpendicular to the axis. A lens
is said to be telecentric in object space and/or
telecentric in image space. A focal lens can be
non-telecentric or telecentric on either side, but
cannot be doubly telecentric. An afocal lens can
be non-telecentric or doubly telecentric but not
telecentric on one side.
telecommunication Telecommunication is
the study or practice of the transfer of informa-
tion over a distance by electromagnetic means,
such as wire in cable telegraph and telephone,
or radio waves in broadcasting.
telegram A message sent by telegraph and
then delivered in written form.
telegraph A system or device for transmit-
ting messages or signals to a distant receiver,
usually by making and breaking an electrical
connection.
telegraph, polarential Adirect-current tele-
graph system employing polar transmission in
one direction and a form of differential duplex
transmission in the other. There are two types
of polarential systems, known as types A and B.
In half-duplex operation of a type A polarential
system, the direct-current balance is indepen-
dent of line resistance. In half-duplex operation
of a type Bpolarential system, the direct current
is substantially independent of the line leakage.
Type A is better for cable loops where leakage
is negligible but resistance varies with tempera-
ture. Type B is better for open wire where vari-
able line leakage is frequent.
telegraphy, radio Communication by means
of a telecommunication system that transmits
documentary matter, such as written or printed
matter or xed images, and reproduces it at a
distance. The matter is transmitted as a suitable
signal code, such as international Morse code,
either by means of wire or by radio (radio teleg-
raphy).
telemetry (1) Measurement at a distance.
(2) A measuring instrument that measures a
quantity and transmits the measured data as an
electrical signal to a distant recording point is
known as a telemeter. Space exploration and
physiological monitoring in hospitals both re-
quire the use of telemetry.
telephone An apparatus for transmitting
sound (especially speech) over a distance by
wire, cord or radio. It is an assembly of appa-
ratus that includes a suitable handset containing
the transmitter and receiver, and usually a switch
hook and the immediate associated wiring.
2001 CRC Press LLC
telephone, analog Aplain old telephone ser-
vice connection with no advanced features.
telephone, radio Normally, communication
between two points takes place along suitable
cables (telephone lines) except where this is in-
appropriate, such as ship-to-shore telephony. A
radio telephone is used when a radio link is
needed to connect a particular access point to
the main system.
teleprinter A device for transmitting tele-
graph messages as they are keyed, and for print-
ing messages received. It is a formof a start-stop
typewriter that comprises a keyboard transmit-
ter, which converts keyboard information into
electrical signals, and a printer receiver, which
reverses the process. Teleprinters are used in
telex systems and in some older computing sys-
tems.
telescope, astronomical Any telescope used
to study astronomical objects. The telescope
rst used by Galileo for this purpose consisted
of two convex lenses, separated by the sum of
their focal lengths, with the focal length of the
objective larger than that of the eyepiece. In
an astronomical telescope, the rays that enter it
parallel leave it parallel; the ratio of their angles
with the telescope axis give the angular magni-
cation. Instead of a lens system, mirrors can
be used to collect light from the stars. (See tele-
scope, reecting). Outside the visible region
(for example for radiotelescopes), one uses spe-
cial radio-dishes and antennas.
telescope, electron Telescopes that are un-
like optical telescopes in that the radiation falls
on the photocathode surfaces or on charge-
coupled devices (CCDs). By accelerating the
resulting electrons and making themincident on
a uorescent screen, direct image of objects in
the ultraviolet and infrared regions can be ob-
served. In the optical region also, the intensity
of faint star images can be enhanced.
telescope, reecting Astronomical tele-
scopes using a (front polished paraboloidal) mir-
ror to collect light from the stars. Depending
on various popular arrangements, the star is ob-
served at the primary focus of the mirror (for a
large mirror), or the collected light is brought
out at right angles to the beam by use of a plane
mirror or prism (Newtonian), or through a hole
in the primary by reection froma concave ellip-
soidal secondary mirror (Gregorian), or by the
use of a convex hyperboloidal secondary mirror
(cassegranian). The reecting-type telescopes
can be made very large because, unlike the dif-
culties involved in making a large bubble- and
strain-free lens for a refracting telescope (with
chromatic aberration problems), one can polish
a very large geometrically well-dened surface.
The mirror can be supported on the back also,
in contrast to the lens, which can be supported
from the rim alone. The chromatic aberration is
absent because refraction is not involved.
teletype (1) A kind of teleprinter.
(2) To operate a teleprinter or send by means
of a teleprinter.
teletypewriter (Also known as teleprinter.)
A device for transmitting telegraph messages as
they are keyed and for printing messages re-
ceived.
television Adisplay instrument that converts
a received electromagnetic signal into a visible
image.
telex Aninternational systemof telegraphyin
which printed messages are transmitted and re-
ceived by teleprinters using the public telecom-
munications network. The word telex comes
froma combination of the words teleprinter and
exchange.
temperament Certain adjustment of tones or
intervals of the scale of xed tone instruments
like organs or pipes, so that a larger variety of
melodious combinations are possible.
temperature, Bloch The electrical con-
ductivity or resistivity is extremely sample-
dependent at low temperature. The Bloch T
5
temperature law is observed in many metals at
low temperatures. The residual resistivity is
very sensitive to the presence of impurities and
structural defects and, for a dirty specimen, may
not be much smaller than that at room tempera-
ture.
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Bloch temperature.
temperature changes during passage of
sound Compressions and rarefactions take
place so rapidly that the gas does not have suf-
cient time to lose or absorb heat from the sur-
roundings. The process is adiabatic. In general
the speed of sound is proportional to the square
root of the absolute temperature in general.
temperature, critical This refers to the tran-
sition temperature in superconductors below
which drastically altered thermodynamic and
electrical properties are observed in the sample.
temperature, Debye Dealing with the heat
capacity that results from lattice vibrations, the
Debye T
3
law predicts that the lattice heat ca-
pacity is a universal function scaling for all
solids through the parameter
d
, the Debye
temperature. Materials with strong interatomic
forces and light atoms such as diamond and sap-
phire have relatively high Debye temperature,
and soft materials with low acoustic velocities
have smaller values.
temperature, degeneracy The number of
electrons per unit volume in the conduction band
and the number of holes per unit volume in
the valence band are a function of temperature.
However, these depend strongly on the presence
of impurities in the semiconductor. Introduction
of additional levels of energies due to the impu-
rities can introduce degeneracy.
temperature, inversion According to the
Joule-Kelvin effect, when gas is allowed to ex-
pand through a porous plug or orice, it may
become warmer or cooler. The temperature
change can be determined from isenthalps for
the gas. Temperatures increase on one side of
the isenthalp and reduce on the other side of it.
Inversion temperatures are along the isenthalp.
Inversion temperature.
temperature, lowest helium Experimental
parameters for helium have been found for tem-
peratures down to about 0.1 K.
temperature, magnetic For paramagnetic
salts there is an observable magnetic property,
the susceptibility of which is temperature sensi-
tive and provides a thermometric parameter. For
most magnetic cooling salts at temperature T
1K the magnetic susceptibility varies inversely
with the absolute temperature; at higher temper-
atures, there is a complicating inuence due to
magnetic interactions. There may be discrep-
ancies between the thermodynamic temperature
and the magnetic temperature below 1 K.
temperature measurements, clinical The
temperature of the body is a direct result of the
balance between heat production and heat loss.
In humans, the metabolism maintains the body
temperature within a narrow range (36.5

C to
37.5

C) despite wide variations in heat produc-

tion or environmental temperature. The part of
the human brain in charge of thermo-regulating
the body is the hypothalamus, where elevation
in the temperature of blood going to that part of
the brain initiates heat loss by causing dilation
of blood vessels and sweating.
Because of the narrow range of values, tem-
perature measurements are key in prevention
and diagnosis of diseases. In particular, fever
2001 CRC Press LLC
can easily be detected, being a result of a distur-
bance in the regulation of temperature. Because
the hypothalamus tries to balance the body tem-
perature, during fever, the temperature that the
hypothalamus tries to achieve has been shifted
from its normal position. This may be due to
chemicals called endogenous pyrogens, which
are derived from white blood cells.
Clinical measurements of temperature have
to be taken with care. For example, pressure ap-
plication to the skin whose temperature is being
measured is undesirable due to possible changes
in the vascular tissue around it. Also, local
sweating may inuence the nal reading.
temperature, Neel This is with respect to
magnetic behavior at different temperatures.
The spins become ordered below the Curie tem-
perature T
c
; however, the ordered state is not al-
ways ferromagnetic. In some cases the adjacent
spins may be antiparallel. In this antiferromag-
netic state, there is no net spontaneous magneti-
zation but hysteresis is present and the suscepti-
bility shows a sharp maximum at this transition
temperature. Known also as Neel point. See
spontaneous ordering.
temperature, negative absolute The abso-
lute temperature scale refers to the Kelvin scale
which extends upwards from 0 K representing
273

C. There are no negative values on this

scale.
Tesla The SI unit of magnetic ux density,
one tesla (1 T) is equal to 1 Vs/A(or equivalently
1 J/A
2
). The average magnetic ux density from
the geomagnetic eld on the surface of the earth
is around 4 10
5
T.
Named after Nikola Tesla (18561943)
whose investigations into time varying electro-
magnetic elds led to the utilization of AC elec-
tric power distribution and the development of
radio.
test charge A minute amount of charge used
to evaluate the electric eld at a particular po-
sition is called a test charge. The electric eld
at a point in space is dened as the force expe-
rienced by the test charge divided by the charge
of the test charge. The test charge needs to be
as small as possible to avoid disturbing the eld
to be measured.
thaw rigor Upon death, muscles of animals
and humans undergo what is usually called rigor
mortis. This means that muscles contract after
death due to Ca
2+
leaks from the sarcoplasmic
reticulum, articially initiating the muscle con-
traction cycle without neuronal signal. After the
contraction consumes all of the remnant ATP,
the muscles remain contracted because there is
no ATP to pump back the calcium or at least to
release the myosin from the actin. See muscle,
mechanics.
Asimilar process occurs during thawrigor in
which meat shortens considerably after thawing.
This happens when the meat has been frozen
before the completion of rigor mortis and the
ice crystals have slashed open the sarcoplasmic
reticulum. Then on thawing, the meat is nally
warm enough to respond to the accumulations
of Ca
2+
that causes extreme contraction.
This concept is of importance to the meat in-
dustry since the nal tenderness of their product
depends on the technical steps in freezing the
meat.
theorem, the relationship becomes in differ-
ential form .E = /
0
.
thermal drift A uctuation caused by the
temperature change.
thermionic emission (1) Electrons liberated
fromthe surface of a metal as a result of thermal
energy supplied to them by heating the metal
to high temperatures. The energy supplied per
electron must be greater than the potential bar-
rier at the surface that ordinarily keeps it in.
(2) Term describing the emission of elec-
trons or positively charged ions from the sur-
face of a conducting material when it is held
at high temperatures. It is caused by some of
the electrons/ions gaining sufcient kinetic en-
ergy through random uctuations to overcome
the binding energy of the conductors surface.
This effect is the basis for the operation of vac-
uum tubes.
2001 CRC Press LLC
thermistor A thermal meter whose readout
is responsive to the temperature, such as a ther-
mometer.
thermocouple A device that converts ther-
mal energy to electrical energy in order to mea-
sure the temperature of an object. It consists
of two wires of dissimilar metals connected to-
gether in a circuit. A current will ow if two
such junctions are connected together and main-
tained at different temperatures. A temperature
measurement is usually made by maintaining
one of the junctions at a known temperature
(e.g., 0

C) while the other junction is brought

into contact with the object. The magnitude of
the potential difference between the two junc-
tions is a measure of the temperature. Tabu-
lated data of potential differences and their cor-
responding temperatures are readily available
for the different types of thermocouples. See
also Seebeck effect.
thermodynamics, third law of The entropy
of all systems and of all states of a systemis zero
at absolute zero. In other words, it is impossible
to reach the absolute zero of temperature by any
nite number of processes.
thermoelectricity Conversion of heat energy
directly to electrical energy and vice versa. See
Peltier effect, Seebeck effect, Thomson effect.
thermography (1) Technique inwhichanap-
paratus records temperatures in sequential mea-
surements for diagnostic purposes. The ther-
mometer used for the temperature readings is
called a thermograph.
(2) Diagnostic technique in which an infrared
camera is used to measure temperature varia-
tions on the surface of the body. Images are
then produced that may reveal sites of abnormal
tissue growth.
thermometer, acoustic Thermometers that
operate by sensing sound waves. This is done by
measuring the velocity of sound in a gas at very
small pressures since this is directly related to
temperature. The velocity of sound is measured
by observing acoustic resonances.
thermometer, carbon radio resistor The
most commonly used and cheapest thermome-
ter to work below 4 K. Its characteristics vary
widely from manufacturer to manufacturer and
different ones are required for different temper-
ature ranges. It is usually made from graphite
composite inside a ceramic coating and does not
exhibit simple semiconducting behavior. Car-
bon resistors undergo a change in calibration
over a period of time but the change between
successive runs gradually decreases after the re-
sistor has been trained by repeated cyclings
between room temperature and 4 K. The carbon
resistor is less sensitive to magnetic elds than
germanium.
thermometer, germanium Semiconductor
material thermometer that gives very repro-
ducible results even after many cycles from 300
K to less than 1 K. Recalibration is not usu-
ally needed. The resistivity of a semiconductor
increases as the temperature is reduced. The
semiconductor needs to be doped with suitable
impurities to prevent the low temperature resis-
tances from becoming very high. Self heating
can sometimes be a problem and the power dis-
sipation during measurement must therefore be
kept low.
thermometer, hyperne This is a ther-
mometer employed in measurements in the mi-
crodegree region by means of nuclear cool-
ing, i.e., hyperne enhanced nuclear cooling.
This relies on the temperature-dependent para-
magnetic susceptibility that results fromnuclear
spins. It involves adiabatic demagnetization to
quench the hyperne elds.
thermometer, Matsushita resistors Type of
thermomenter that employs the resistance prop-
erty of metals. See thermometer, resistance.
thermometer, resistance Pure metals have
a linear resistivity-temperature relationship at
room temperature, but the resistivity generally
does not followa simple relationship at lowtem-
peratures when it may also be a function of the
magnetic eld. The cryogenic behavior is a
functionof sample purity, since residual resistiv-
ity arises fromimpurity scattering of conduction
electrons. Generally, the usefulness of metallic
2001 CRC Press LLC
resistance thermometers below 10 K is limited.
The resistance of certain alloys like constantan
is nearly independent at high temperatures, but
decreases with decreasing temperature below 5
K. These are used as resistance thermometers
but their sensitivity is not high. Sensitivity can
be increased by adding lead to bronze or brass.
thermometers, clinical A clinical ther-
mometer is a thermometer used to measure body
temperature. Typically, it is made of glass in the
shape of a tube of uniformbore with a narrowing
above the mercury bulb in its lower part. The
mercury is in a vacuum inside the tube, and a
temperature scale is usually etched on its front.
When measuring temperatures, the mercury ex-
pands or contracts, thus changing the height of
the mercury column inside the tube. The nar-
rowing above the mercury bulb permits the mer-
cury column to remain in position when the in-
strument is removed fromthe body or positioned
in any way other than vertical. See temperature
measurements, clinical.
thermometers, semiconducting These type
of resistance thermometers maintain their high
sensitivity down to the lowest attainable tem-
peratures, where metallic elements become too
insensitive although it is difcult to calibrate be-
yond the lowest point on the
3
He vapor pressure
scale. See thermometer, resistance.
thermometers, vapor pressure Provides
quite accurate measurements of temperature
over an extended range, however they usually
are not commercially made devices. A ther-
mostat is usually used to achieve and maintain
steady temperatures throughout the desired
range. The thermometers are based on the prin-
ciple that the saturation vapor pressure of a pure
substance is a monotic and sensitive function
of temperature. The following components are
needed: supply of working substance in highly
pure form, a sensitive, accurate and wide-range
pressure measuring device, and a cell to be con-
nected to measuring and supply systems.
thermometry, gamma ray anisotropy See
thermometry, nuclear orientation.
thermometry, NMR Thermometers that em-
ploy the principle of nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) for increased sensitivity. They are suit-
able for temperature measurements in the mK
range. The pulsed NMR thermometer has the
advantage of being self-calibrating. It is sub-
jected to an applied eld for a short time. The
decay of the induced voltage signal is propor-
tional to the nuclear magnetization and hence in-
versely proportional to temperature. Very pure
platinumis the material used in such thermome-
ters.
thermometry, noise This deals with the fact
that a measurable but variable voltage arises in
an n electrical conductor of resistance R as a
result of random thermal excitation of the con-
duction electrons. In 1928, it was shown that the
noise voltage detected across the resistor varies
as the square root of the product of Rand T, the
thermodynamic temperature.
thermometry, nuclear orientation Appli-
cation of quantum level population differences
in thermometry. It is applicable in very low
temperature thermometry. The basic idea this
operates on is that the spatial distribution of nu-
clear radiation arising in the decay of the 60-Co
nuclei emitted from a radioactive source can be
related to an identiable laboratory axis, i.e., the
symmetry of a single crystal of cobalt metal and
to the temperature of the source atoms. It can
obtain values of temperature below 2 K. Nu-
clear orientation thermometry depends on the
anisotropic emission of gamma rays from po-
larized radioactive nuclei. The scale of the
anisotropy in the intensity pattern is determined
by the degree of polarization, which in turn de-
pends on the absolute temperature. In practice
the polarization is achieved by substituting the
radioactive nuclei in a ferromagnetic host lat-
tice so that the nuclear dipoles are aligned by
the very large 10T internal eld.
thermometry, osmotic pressure This uses
the principle of osmosis as a measure of temper-
ature. In osmosis, certain molecules are able to
be transmitted through a semi-permeable mem-
brane connected to a tube. A hydrostatic pres-
sure is therefore built up in the tube. This causes
diffusion of water downward until equilibriumis
2001 CRC Press LLC
reached. The pressure balancing osmosis obeys
the ideal gas lawand proportional to the temper-
ature of the gas and is equal to the pressure the
solute molecules would exert if they were a gas
at that volume. Osmotic pressure can therefore
be used as a measure of temperature.
thermophone Device used for the produc-
tion of sound by heating a thin conducting
wire by an alternating current; the temperature
changes cause changes in length. This sets the
wire into resonant vibration, which produces
sound.
thermopile Thermocouples connected in se-
ries, where every alternate junction is exposed
to radiant heat or brought into thermal contact
with an object. This arrangement results in the
adding together of the EMFs due to pairs of
junctions, thus providing greater sensitivity than
a single thermocouple to temperature measure-
ment.
Thevenin equivalent A theory suggested by
Thevenin to use an equivalent circuit instead of
a real circuit to simplify physical analysis.
Thomson coefcient Used in measurement
of Thomson heat which is evolved or absorbed
when a current ows through a conductor across
the ends of which a temperature difference is
maintained. The rate at which Thomson heat
is transferred into a small region of a wire car-
rying current I with temperature difference dT
is equal IdT where is the Thomson coef-
cient. The coefcient depends on the material
of the wire and on the temperature of the small
region under consideration.
Thomson effect The EMF generated in a sin-
gle electrical conductor by maintaining a ther-
mal gradient in it; a heating and cooling effect in
the conductor is then produced by current ow
along the thermal gradient. This effect is closely
related to the Peltier and Seebeck effects. See
also Peltier effect; Seebeck effect.
three-phonon process An Umklapp process
dealing with three phonon scattering, it is de-
nedas one inwhichthe total crystal momentum
is not conserved, a process more likely to oc-
cur at high temperature than at low temperature.
At higher temperatures, the mean free path of
the phonons is ultimately limited by interatomic
spacing thus reducing the spread in thermal con-
ductivity of different crystalline solids.
threshold of hearing The amplitude of the
weakest sound wave that can be detected by the
ear varies with the frequency of the wave with
the normal ear being most sensitive at 3500 Hz.
The minimum audible amplitude is of the or-
der of 10
9
cm. The lowest frequency that the
normal ear can distinguish is about 30 Hz. The
highest audible frequency diminishes with age
from about 30,000 Hz, down to 10,000 Hz or
even lower.
threshold voltage A voltage at which an
electronic device begins to conduct a current.
thyristor Asemiconductor switchdevice that
changes the current direction in an electric cir-
cuit.
timbre The subjective characteristics that
make it possible for us to distinguish be-
tween two tones having the same intensity level
and fundamental frequency but different wave
forms; i.e., it expresses our ability to recognize
sound of a violin as different fromthat of a trum-
pet even when the instruments are sounding the
same note with equal loudness. It is primarily
dependent on the waveform of the tone being
heard and to a lesser extent on the intensity and
frequency.
time base A line produced by sweep circuit
operation on a display screen.
time constant The length of time required
for the amplitude of an exponentially chang-
ing quantity (current or voltage) to change by
63.2%. For example, the decreasing current i(t)
through a series resistance, R, and capacitance,
C, is given by
i(t) =
V
R
e
t/RC
,
where V is the applied potential difference. The
time constant is the value of time that reduces the
exponential factor to e
1
; i.e., the time constant
2001 CRC Press LLC
is RC. Similarly, the time constant for a series
inductance, L, and resistance, R, is L/R.
timer circuits Electric circuits that periodi-
cally supply time pulse.
tomography, emission Any of several tech-
niques for making detailed imaging of only a
predetermined plane section of a solid object
(planar imaging) while blurring out the images
of other planes. The signal usually comes from
high energy photons (X-rays, gamma rays). A
computer is usually used to assist in forming a
composite image.
The computerized axial tomography (CAT)
is an example where a CAT scanner produces
cross-sectional views of previously inaccessi-
ble internal body structure. Another example
is neutron tomography where neutrons are used
to visualize a sample and detect substances con-
taining water, organic substances, plastics, and
lubricants. See tomography, positron emission.
tomography, positron emission Technique
for measuring the concentrations of positron-
emitting radioisotopes within the tissue of liv-
ing patients. In positron emission tomography
(PET), the distribution of positron-emitting ra-
dionuclides are imaged in the patient who has
been administered with the tracer after the in-
troduction of the compound usually either by
injection or inhalation. Like other imaging tech-
niques (CT, MRI, SPECT), PET relies on com-
puterized reconstruction procedures to produce
tomographic images.
Radionuclides used in PET include Car-
bon
11
, Nitrogen
13
, Oxygen
15
, and Fluorine
18
,
with (relatively short) half-lives of 20 min, 10
min, 2 min, and 110 min, respectively. Because
of their short half-lives, facilities equipped for
PET that use these radionuclides are usually e-
quipped with a particle accelerator (cyclotron).
In PET, the tracer decays by emitting a
positron from the nucleus that, after combin-
ing with an outer electron, annihilate each other
emitting two high-energy photons (gamma rays)
at 180

fromeach other. The emitted radiation is

then detected inside the detector as coming from
the tracer. Both photons have to be detected
simultaneously on opposite sides of the detec-
tor, otherwise the signal is discarded as coming
from the outside. The detection places the sig-
nal along the line connecting the two sections of
the detector that recorded the signals.
PET is widely used in areas of neurologi-
cal diseases, including cerebrovascular disease,
epilepsy, and cerebral tumors. In general, PET
has the capability to image parts of the body
where abnormal biochemical changes are oc-
curring. For that same reason, PET is useful
in drug research, pharmacokinetics, and phar-
macodynamics.
tone arm The pivoted pickup bar of a record
player with a head consisting of a needle set
into a cartridge, that follows the grooves of the
record, converting the oscillation into the elec-
trical impulses.
tone control Output at different frequencies
can be controlled by variable amounts depend-
ing on whether the frequency is high or low.
Tone control is easily obtainable for electric gui-
tars by the use of capacitors and resistors in cir-
cuits; however for pianos, whether tone control
is possible at all is still controversial.
tone deaf The inability to express or to dis-
criminate distinctions in musical pitch.
tones Sounds that impress the ear with their
individual character, especially pitch, quality of
sound or timbre.
tones, combination When two or more notes
of different frequencies are played simultane-
ously, the sound produced is a composite of the
tones. There is the difference tone, the summa-
tion tones, and other combinations too.
tone, warble Acontinuous trillingtone as op-
posed to steady tones particularly used in alarms
and sirens.
tooth rigidity The nature of the rigidity of
a tooth comes from its composition. The tooth
is a bonelike calcied structure, composed of
a core of soft pulp-like tissue containing blood
vessels and nerves that is surrounded by a layer
of hard dentin. The dentin is coated in turn with
cementum or enamel at the crown (the visible
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part in the mouth). The enamel constitutes the
hardest substance in the body.
The dentin in humans is composed of het-
erogenous material of a solid (circumpulpal)
phase surrounding a network of tubules. These
tubules, measuring about 1 to 3 m in diam-
eter, contain elongated cell bodies that radiate
fromthe dental pulp organ throughout the entire
dentin.
toroid A coil of wire wrapped as a solenoid.
The solenoid is curved so that the ends join to-
gether forming a donut or toroid shape. For a
current-carrying toroid with a small width and a
large radius, the magnetic eld is uniformwithin
the toroid and no magnetic eld lines emerge
from the toroid. See solenoid.
trafc The message, signal, etc. that is trans-
mitted through a communications system. It is
the ow or volume of such information.
transducers Electrical device that picks up
sound vibrations, e.g., a microphone. A device
that transforms a signal of one type into a signal
of another type. An acoustic signal is a mechan-
ical signal; on being incident on a microphone,
it is transformed into an electrical signal.
transducers, medical applications In gen-
eral, a transducer is a device that converts a form
of input energy into another form of output en-
ergy. The relationship between the input and
output is usually xed and well known.
Common examples of transducers are the
ones that convert sound and other mechanical
inputs into electrical signals, like microphones,
cassette recorders, piezoelectric crystals, ultra-
sound; or light into electricity, like photoelec-
tric cells; or take electricity as input and out-
put in several forms, like loudspeakers, light
bulbs, and solenoids. Medical applications of
transducers include all sorts of general probes
that convert temperature, sound waves, and me-
chanical force into electrical and electromag-
netic output suitable for imaging, and surgical
probes.
There are two classications for transducers:
those that require a source of energy in addition
to the input signal (active), and those that do not
(passive).
transfer function The ratio of the measured
output divided by the applied input of an elec-
tronic device or circuit. The transfer function,
H(j), is usually expressed as the ratio of the
output toinput voltage as a functionof frequency,
.
transformer Anelectrical device for increas-
ing or decreasing the voltage of an alternating
current source by electromagnetic induction be-
tween two or more coils that are not connected
electrically. The coils are usually arranged so
that the magnetic ux associated with one wind-
ing also threads the others either by placing them
in close proximity or by winding them on the
same ferromagnetic core. The simplest trans-
former consists of two sets of windings: the pri-
mary and secondary windings. The primary is
the winding that receives the AC voltage from
the supply circuit, while an AC voltage is in-
duced in the secondary by the primary.
The primary voltage, V
1
, and secondary volt-
age, V
2
, are related by the following:
V
1
N
1
=
V
2
N
2
,
where N
1
and N
2
are the number of turns in the
primary and secondary, respectively. If there
were no losses in the transformer, its power out-
put would be the same as its power input so that
I
1
V
1
= I
2
V
2
,
where I
1
and I
2
are the currents in the primary
and secondary, respectively.
The secondary may have several electrical
connections (known as taps) on different turns
to enable the selection of different output volt-
ages. Transformers are used in power supplies
of many electronic devices that plug into the
main power supply. They are also widely used
in transmitting electrical energy over long dis-
tances by raising the secondary voltage to high
values in order to reduce line losses.
transformer, acoustic A device or mate-
rial that couples two different media of differing
characteristics, e.g., acoustic impedance, so as
to allow continuity of transmission of acoustic
waves across both medium.
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Circuit diagram symbol of a transformer.
transformer, auto Transformer that consists
of a single winding so that the primary is formed
by the whole winding while the secondary is
formed by a part of this winding that is tapped
to give the desired voltage.
Auto-transformer.
This arrangement acts as a step-down trans-
former. Such transformers are used in starting
devices for induction motors or as a means for
varying the ACvoltage to be applied to a device.
See also Variac.
transformer, auto- A transformer typied
by having only one common coil onto which
both the input and output terminals are con-
nected. The output terminal has an adjustable
brush which can slide along the common coil,
thus adjusting the output voltage to values less
than or greater than the input voltage.
transformer, current (1) A device that en-
ables the alternating current in a circuit to be
measured. There are basically two types:
1. An auto-transformer conguration where
the primaryis connectedinseries withthe circuit
in which the current is to be measured, and the
secondary is connected directly to the terminals
of anammeter. The current throughthe ammeter
is proportional to, but much less than, the main
current and the ammeter will not be subjected to
the high potentials of the main circuit.
2. A toroidally wound coil, usually on a fer-
romagnetic core. The conductor carrying the
current to be measured is passed through the
center of the toroid, thus forming the primary
winding and consequently, the toroidal wind-
ings form the secondary which steps-down the
current in a known ratio. An ammeter can then
be connected directly to the secondary.
(2) A transformer device commonly used to
measure currents in a circuit. The primary coil
is placed in series with the circuit in which cur-
rent is to be measured, while the secondary coil,
which has more turns than the primary, is con-
nected to a current measuring device.
transformer, input One used to match the
impedance of an AC signal source to the in-
put impedance of a circuit for maximum power
transfer. They are also used to exclude DC volt-
age from the input of the circuit. See also trans-
former.
transformer, output One that matches the
output impedance of a circuit to the impedance
of a load connected to the output. For example,
the output impedance of an audio amplier has
to match the impedance of a speaker for max-
imum power transfer and therefore maximum
sound output.
transformer, step-down One in which the
output voltage from the secondary is lower than
the input voltage to the primary. This is achieved
by having a secondary with a smaller number of
turns than the primary. See transformer.
transformer, step-up One in which the out-
put voltage fromthe secondary is higher than the
input voltage fromthe primary. This is the oppo-
site to a step-down transformer and is achieved
by having a secondary with a larger number of
turns than the primary. See transformer.
transformer, voltage One used to connect
high tension lines to an instrument in order to
measure voltage. The primary winding is con-
nected in parallel to the main circuit and the sec-
ondary winding is connected to a suitable instru-
ment such as a voltmeter.
transient, behavior Opposite to steady be-
havior, an instant state.
transistor, mn-mp-mn A transistor consists
of n-type, p-type, and n-type semiconductors
that form a sandwich conguration.
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primary
secondary
transistor, mp-mn-mp A transistor consists
of p-type, n-type, and p-type semiconductors
that form a sandwich conguration.
transistor, complementary Two transistors
whose geometry is the same, but one is n-
channel in which the electrons are charge carri-
ers and the other is p-channel in which the holes
are charge carriers.
transistor, drift A transistor in which the
base region has a variable conductivity to reduce
the carrier transition time.
transistor, eld effect A transistor whose
conductance in the current path is controlled by
applying an electric eld perpendicular to the
current.
transistor, IMPATT A transistor that em-
ploys an IMPATT (impact avalanche transit
time) and is used in high frequency regions.
transistor, junction An n-type and a p-type
semiconductor contact each other and form a
junction. A transistor contains two junctions.
transistor, mesa A transistor in which two
terminals are positioned at the platform and the
emitter is made by the vapor-deposition metal.
transistor, photo A transistor whose output
is controlled by external light.
transistor, power A transistor that can be
used in high electric power conditions. Its de-
sign is different from normal transistors.
transistor, surface barrier A transistor is a
semiconductor device. The semiconductor con-
tacts the other materials, which forms a contact-
ing barrier between the surface of the semicon-
ductor and the material.
transistor, unijunction Atransistor that con-
sists of a semiconductor bar withtwoohmic con-
tacts anda single, small area emitter p-njunction
positioned between them.
transistor, unipolar A transistor whose cur-
rent ow is due to one type of carrier, electron
or hole.
transition, order-disorder Deals with the
situation of spins in magnetic ordering in alloys.
There is a disordered phase and a sharp transi-
tion temperature above which the ordering dis-
appears. For example, in an alloy -brass made
up of copper and zinc, copper at a site corre-
sponds to spin-up and zinc at a site to spin-down.
See spontaneous ordering.
transit time A time for a carrier transporting
from one terminal to the other.
transmission, analog Analog transmission
in telephony is a method of conveying voice,
data, image, or videoinformationbya signal that
varies continuously in amplitude or frequency
with the information being transmitted.
transmission, asynchronous Asynchronous
transmission is the transfer of data in which the
intervals between the transmitted data packets
are of unequal length. The transmission is usu-
ally controlled by start and stop signals.
transmission, biternary Biternary transmis-
sionis the transfer of twobinarypulse trains over
a single channel by combining the pulse trains
and using a single communications channel in
which the available bandwidth is sufcient for
the transmission of only one of the two pulse
trains at a time.
transmission, blind A form of data trans-
fer that does not require an acknowledge signal
from the receiver. Blind transmission may oc-
cur or be necessary when security constraints,
such as radio silence, are imposed, when tech-
nical difculties with a senders receiver or a re-
ceivers transmitter occur, or when lack of time
precludes the delay caused by waiting for re-
ceipts.
transmission, bursty (1) The operation of a
data network in which the data transmission is
interrupted at intervals. It is a form of trans-
mission that combines a very high data sig-
naling rate with very short transmission times.
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Burst transmission allows communication be-
tween data terminal equipment and a data net-
work operating at dissimilar data signal rates.
(2) A burst in data communication is a se-
quence of signals, noise, or interference counted
as a unit in accordance with some specic crite-
rion or measure.
transmission coefcient, acoustic This is
the ratio of the transmitted sound energy to the
incident ow of sound energy when a progres-
sive plane wave in one medium impinges upon
the boundary of a second medium and is trans-
mitted. The sound transmission coefcient is
independent of the direction of the wave mo-
tion; i.e., it is the same from water into air as
vice versa.
transmission control protocol (TCP) The
protocol used in the Internet to provide connec-
tions. Both ends of a TCPconnection can simul-
taneously read and write packets. The source
adjusts its transmission rate to the rate currently
supportable in the network. TCP uses timeouts
and retransmission to ensure that a destination
receives a transmitted packet.
transmission, diversity A diversity trans-
mission system is a communication system that
has two or more signal paths or channels. The
outputs of these channels are combined to give a
single received signal and thus reduce the effects
of fading.
transmission, full-carrier Full-carrier trans-
mission is a telecommunication systemthat am-
plitude modulates a carrier signal and transmits
the modulated signal along with the carrier. The
other approach, called carrier-suppression,
does not transmit the carrier signal.
transmission, intercellular (1) Transmis-
sion of a signal from one cell to another. An
example is in the transmission of an action po-
tential from one cell to another either through
synapse or through gap junctions. In the
synapse, the signal is propagated by the release
of chemicals (neurotransmitters) from the sig-
naling cell to the other end of the synapse, where
the signal is received. In a gap junction the sig-
nal is transmitted by an ionic current ow that
ows fromone cells intracellular space directly
to the other cell via ion channels that connect
both cells directly.
(2) Transmission or transport of molecules
across a tissue boundary, where the molecules
are transported through a passage between cells
(paracellular transport). See transport, transcel-
lular.
transmission line Generally any conductor
used to transmit electric or electromagnetic en-
ergy. In particular it refers to:
1. the power lines that carry electrical power
to residential and industrial areas,
2. the electrical cables and waveguides used
in telecommunication to transmit electrical sig-
nals,
3. the cable that connects an arial to a trans-
mitter or receiver. Some of the common types
used are coaxial cable and two-wire line.
All transmission lines can be described by a
network of discrete parameters such as induc-
tors, capacitors, and resistors, distributed uni-
formly along its length. The transmission line
is referred to as being balanced if the conduc-
tors have identical properties (e.g., resistance
and impedance).
transmission loss The decrease of power in
the signal being transmitted from one point to
another of a telecommunication system. It is
given by the ratio P
1
/P
2
where P
1
is the mea-
sured power closer to the signal source than the
measured power P
2
. This is usually expressed
in decibels or nepers.
transmission, multipath Multipath trans-
missionis whenradiosignals reachthe receiving
station by more than one path. Some causes for
the signals propagating over more than one path
are atmospheric ducting, ionospheric reection
and refraction, and reection fromterrestrial ob-
jects, such as mountains and buildings. Multi-
path transmission causes constructive and de-
structive interference, and phase shifting of the
signal.
transmission, serial Serial transmission is
a communication system in which the bits in a
word are transmitted sequentially along a single
line. This is in contrast to parallel transmission
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in which the bits in a word are transmitted at the
same time over several lines.
transmission, synchronous Synchronous
transmission is a form of digital transmission
in which the time interval between any two sim-
ilar signicant instants in the overall bit stream
is always an integral number of unit intervals.
transmittance We consider a beam of light
incident at angle
i
to the normal of the bound-
ary between two media of different refractive
indices. The radiant ux density or irradiance
of the incident beamis I =
CE
o
2
E
2
o
w/m
2
. This
beam will be partially reected at angle
i
and
partially transmitted at angle
t
.
The transmittance of the interface is
T =
I
t
cos
t
I
i
cos
i
=
n
t
cos
t
n
i
cos
i

E
ot
E
oi

2
.
Similarly, the reectance is
T =
I
r
cos
r
I
i
cos
i
=
I
r
I
i
=

E
or
E
oi

2
.
Application of the principle of conservation of
energy yields the important result
R +T = 1 .
Transmittance varies from zero (no transmis-
sion) to one (transparent interface). This param-
eter is of fundamental importance in describing
the performance of optical components and de-
vices.
transmitter A device, circuit or apparatus
used in a telecommunication system to generate
and transmit an electrical signal to the receiving
part of the system.
transport, coupled solute and solvent (cell)
In transport of molecules across the cell mem-
brane sometimes the problem of forcing a
molecule (substrate) opposite to its concentra-
tion gradient is solved by coupling the move-
ment to the downward owof another substrate.
In this way, the favorable energy balance that
comes from the diffusion of the substrate down
its concentration gradient is used to drive the
other in the energy-absorbing motion from low
to high concentration. This transport is some-
times called secondary active transport be-
cause the energy used to achieve it does not
come directly fromthe energy released fromcell
metabolism.
Two kinds of coupling can occur in this trans-
port, one in which the two crossing species cross
the membrane in different directions (antiport),
and the other in which they cross it in the same
direction (symport). Because osmotic pressure
would drive a solvent to cross in favor of its
concentration gradient, coupled solute and sol-
vent wouldoccur insymport, where bothspecies
cross in the same direction. In both types of the
coupled transport the two species of molecules
have to be available either simultaneously or
sequentially on the corresponding sides from
which they are transported.
Many essential nutrients are transported by
symport systems coupled to Na
+
or proton gra-
dients. The system of uptake of neurotransmit-
ters is a similarly coupled symporter process.
transport, electrical (cell) Refers to the abil-
ity of cells to transport electricity along their
cell membrane. An example is nerve cells when
transporting an electrical signal across the ner-
vous system. This is accomplished by sequen-
tial opening and closing of ion channels along
the membrane that permit the propagation of the
non-equilibriummembrane potential (actionpo-
tential) for long distances. The strength of the
electrical signal is proportional to the perme-
ability of the membrane to the ions that cross,
and this is dependent on the action of the ion
channels across the membranes.
Another example of electrical transport is
seen in the heart, where an electrical transport
cycle is established between the Sinoatrial node,
the Atrioventricular node, the Bundle of His,
and the Purkinjie bers that are responsible for
keeping the heart beating in rhythm. These cells
work like conductive wiring in the heart.
transport, ion current (cell) Changes in the
cell membrane polarization may cause ow of
ions across the membrane. This is because each
ion has an equilibrium potential that keeps
both sides of the concentration of the ion sta-
ble and without owing; once perturbed, an ion
current is established that will stop when the
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equilibrium potential for that particular ion is
obtained.
Ion current across the cell membrane is con-
ducted via ion channels or ion pumps (see os-
motic equilibrium (cell)). Ion pumps require
the expenditure of energy in their functioning
and form the basis for active transport that regu-
lates the osmotic balance in the cell. See Nernst
equilibrium potential; nerve impulses, propaga-
tion of; potential, membrane.
transport, transcellular Transport of
molecules from one region to another separated
by cells. The transport is carried out by trans-
porting the molecules across the plasma mem-
brane of the blocking cells.
An example of this transport is the transport
of molecules across the intestinal epithelium.
Transport of molecules via a transcellular route
happens when they cross the plasma membrane
of the epithelial cells. If the transport occurs
across the junctions between epithelial cells, it
is called paracellular transport.
In the intestinal epithelium, water, for exam-
ple, can be transported both trans- and paracel-
lularly. Large organic molecules (e.g., amino
acids and glucose) cannot pass in between cells,
so they are transported via the transcellular route
with the help of transporter molecules. See
transport, uncoupled.
transport, uncoupled Transport that occurs
when particular molecules or ions are trans-
ported selectively through membranes without
any coupling to any other substrate. It is also
called facilitative transport.
Molecules that fall into this category are
many water-soluble molecules, like sugars and
amino acids, that cannot penetrate the mem-
brane because they are too large to t through
open channels. Included in this group are also
some ions that do not diffuse through channels.
The molecules and ions that undergo uncou-
pled transport penetrate or leave the cell through
the action of membrane transporters. These
transmembrane transporters offer a highly spe-
cic binding site to particular molecules that,
once attached to the binding site, the molecule
is transported either out or into the cell. The pro-
cess by which the molecule crosses is not fully
understood, but it is known that the transporters
do not offer just a hole for the molecule to go
through, like typical channels do.
Because the molecules that get transported
move down their concentration gradient, uncou-
pled transport is considered a type of diffusion.
Two examples of transporters are glucose and
the bicarbonate ion.
transverse waves The direction of propaga-
tion of the wave is at right angles to the direc-
tion of propagation of the particles. This type of
wave can be propagated on a stretched string.
traveling wave A wave pulse will move
transporting energy as it does by the vibration of
neighboring particles in the media. The medium
itself does not move, but energy is therefore
transported in this manner.
traveling wave tube A tube in which inter-
action of electrons produces a wave.
triad A chord of three tones, one consisting
of a given tone with its major or minor aug-
mented or diminished.
triboluminescence Phenomena involvinglu-
minescence when intense ultrasonic waves ex-
ist in materials; e.g., discharge occurs in crystal
planes separated by a small distance on which
a high voltage gradient exists. See also sonolu-
miniscence.
trichromatic coefcient Gives a quantita-
tive assessment of color in terms of three stan-
dard primary colors: red, green and blue vio-
let for example. In the analysis of an unknown
color, a spectrometer is used to measure the
spectral reectance (or transmittance if appro-
priate) of the three components above, and tri-
stimulus values x, y and z are determined at
the given wavelengths. The trichromatic coef-
cients are then given by x = x/( x+ y + z), y =
y/( x+ y + z), and z = z/( x+ y + z). See also
color match.
triggering Releasing, emitting, and creating
by an external pulse.
triggering, ramp Anelectric circuit that gen-
erates a wave when receiving an external pulse.
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triplet A spectral line that can be split into
three component lines upon removal of degen-
eracy by an appropriate applied eld.
Troutons rule Involves the heat of vapor-
ization at the normal boiling point for liquids.
The ratio giving entropy change due to vapor-
ization at the normal boiling point is not con-
stant but increases with temperature. A rough
approximation is about 9, which is useful when
the critical temperature is not known.
trumpets, sound from The blown frequen-
cies with the valves open are in general multiples
of 115 Hz with the fundamental frequency of
115 Hz missing. It has a frequency range from
about 200 Hz to about 1000 Hz, signicantly
greater than other orchestral brass instruments.
trunk call A telephone call on a trunk line
in which the charges are calculated according to
the distance of the call.
trunk, line A transmission line that is used
to interconnect two electric power stations or
two electric power distribution networks. It is
considered a main telephone line in the system.
truth table A table that lists the value of one
or zero for each input and output terminals.
tune Succession of notes or chords forming
the characteristic music of a song or other piece.
tuned circuit The circuit has been adjusted
to produce a resonant wave.
tuning forks Instruments of great purity of
tone and constancy of frequency. It is used as
a means of indicating and preserving standard
pitches.
tunnel diode A diode in which carriers pass
through a sharp barrier by a quantum effect.
turbulence, acoustic Sound levels of sound
waves are strongly affected by random and tur-
bulent uctuations in wind and temperature in
particular in shadowzones. It can also cause the
direction of a source to be difcult to identify,
and a degradation in signal coherence.
turgor pressure Turgor pressure gives the
normal fullness or tension found in animal tis-
sue and plants. The turgor pressure originates
from the pressure that comes from the internal
uids of cells from plants and animals, and the
uid content of blood vessels and capillaries in
animals, for example.
turmalin A mineral with electric properties
that is also used as a gem.
turns ratio The number of active turns in the
secondary windings of a transformer divided by
the number of turns in the primary windings.
See also transformer.
tweeter Asmall loudspeaker that reproduces
high frequency sounds in high delity audio
equipment for high frequencies 3000 to 20,000
Hz.
twin cable A transmission line that has two
parallel conductors separated by insulating ma-
terial. The line impedance of a twin cable is
determined by the diameter and spacing of the
conductors.
twinning, crystal The mode of plastic de-
formation of a crystal (particularly hexagonal
closed pack or body centered cubic crystals) re-
sulting in a partial displacement successively
on each of many neighboring crystallographic
planes such that the deformed part of the crystal
is a mirror image of the undeformed part.
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U
ultra high frequencies (UHF) The short
wave band containing radio frequencies from
about 300 MHz to 3000 MHz. This band is
mainly used for the transmission of television
signals, radar, and airplane navigation.
ultrasonics Inaudible sound waves in the
range greater than 20,000 Hz. The ability to fo-
cus and direct these waves in beams of vibration
at high powers in a small area makes them very
suitable for applications such as the production
of heating effects, destruction of bacteria, un-
derwater signaling, depth sounding, testing of
materials, and seismic exploration.
ultrasound therapy Ultrasound therapy in-
volves the use of sound waves in healing soft
tissue ailments and pain, and speeding up re-
covery. The apparatus consists of a soundhead
within which a crystal vibrates generally in the
frequency range of 1 MHz to 3 MHz.
In ultrasound therapy, it is important to trans-
mit the signal with the least loss fromthe sound-
head to the treated tissue. Because air is not a
good sound conductor, a gel or lotion is usu-
ally put between the soundhead and the skin. In
this way the gel acts as a coupling between
the two parts hampering air from getting in be-
tween. Underwater therapy is also another op-
tion to couple the soundhead and the tissue.
Ultrasound has been used in the treatment of
arteries clogged by cholesterol plaque and blood
clots. Application of the focused sound to the
clot in some cases has led to the reduction of
the blocking material, thus proving benecial in
the prevention of heart attack. Also, it has been
used in the treatment of breast cancer where the
ultrasound is used to produce localized heating.
Umklapp process This is the process
by which thermal resistance occurs in non-
conducting materials. It means op over in
German and refers to the interaction of three or
more lattice or electron waves in a solid. The
sum of the wave vectors is equal to a vector in
the reciprocal lattice. See resistance, Umklapp.
unary operation An operation that contains
one variable.
undercooling The most important factor for
the survival of biological cells during cooling is
the rate of cooling. This is of particular interest
in areas where cells in suspensions are exposed
to low temperatures.
If the cells are cooled too slowly, osmotic
effects may cause harm to the cell since the os-
motic equilibrium between intracellular and ex-
tracellular uid is temperature dependent. If the
cooling rate is too fast, formation of ice crystals
in the intracellular space may harm the internal
structure.
Optimal values for the rate of cooling yield-
ing a high survival curve are related to the hy-
draulic membrane permeability that is the lim-
iting factor in the cell volume shrinkage.
underwater acoustics Of use primarily to
nautical and naval personnel in detecting other
ships. See also ultrasonics.
unidirectional current Adirect current ow-
ing in one direction only is called a unidirec-
tional current.
unison Two notes estimated by ear to have
the same pitch, possessing the same frequency.
The harmonic frequencies of each tone match
the other exactly; the sound is pleasant to the
ear and is considered a consonant.
unit gain buffer A circuit whose output sig-
nal is the same as the input signal and the output
resistor is very large.
unit gain op amp An operation amplier in
which the gain is one.
unit planes/points The conjugate planes for
an optical system for which the transverse mag-
nication is +1.
unit pole A magnetic pole whose strength
is such that when it is exposed to a magnetic
eld of 1 Oe a force of 1 dyne is exerted on it.
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In nature it is impossible to obtain an isolated
pole (magnetic monopole) but in practice, if a
bar magnet is made very long, a north or a south
pole may be approximately isolated to perform
this measurement. See also magnetic poles.
unstable Astate that is changed with a slight
variation of outside conditions.
up-converter A transmitter that changes a
low state to a high state.
up-down waveform generators An electric
device that produces a step wave.
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V
vant Hoffs law This refers either to the law
relating to chemical kinetics or the law govern-
ing the osmotic pressure of solutions.
Regarding osmotic pressure, vant Hoff s law
dictates the fundamental law that relates the os-
motic pressure in dilute solutions to other pa-
rameters as
PV = iRT ,
where P is the osmotic pressure, V is the vol-
ume, T the absolute temperature, R the univer-
sal gas constant, and i a measure of the ab-
normality of the substance. Large values of i
are due to the dissociation of the dissolved sub-
stance into ions.
In chemical kinetics, vant Hoff s law relates
the equilibrium constant of the reaction to the
particular concentration of the reacting species.
See osmometer, and law of mass action.
varactor A device whose reactance can be
changed by external bias voltage.
variable-lengthcode Avariable-length code
represents an efcient source coding method
when the source symbols are not equally prob-
able. A variable-length code allows more fre-
quently occurring data symbols to be repre-
sented by shorter code words and more rarely
occurring data symbols to be represented by
longer code words, thereby increasing informa-
tion transmission rate. A variable-length code
maps k input symbols into n output symbols,
where either k or n (or both k and n) may vary,
depending on the value of the particular symbol
in question. The Huffman code and the Morse
code exemplify variable-length coding.
Variac The tradename of a variable auto-
transformer with windings on a toroidal core.
The output voltage is varied by a rotating brush
contact on the windings. See also transformer,
auto.
varistor A non-linearly variable resistor.
vector potential A vector quantity, A, used
in electromagnetic eld theory to deduce the
magnetic induction, B, at position (x, y, z) and
time t by applying the following:
B = A.
The vector potential, A, is expressed in we-
bers/meter. This is in contrast to the potential
V used to determine the electric eld strength E
by
E = V ,
where V is a scalar potential.
vector potential, magnetic A potential that
can be used to describe the magnetic eld. The
magnetic eld B may be determined from the
vector potential Aby
B = curl A.
velocity of sound, Laplace equation This
varies in different media, and is 330 m/s in air.
Pressure, temperature, density and humidity can
affect the velocity of sound in a gas. Laplace
introduced a correction to the original formula
for velocity of sound V , in a medium given by

E/, where E is modulus of elasticity and

the density of the medium. The correction
involved recognized that the compression and
rarefaction took place so rapidly that the gas did
not have sufcient time to lose or take heat from
surrounding air; i.e., it took place adiabatically
rather than isothermally as thought earlier.
velocity selector A device that selects parti-
cles of a certain velocity from a stream of other-
wise identical particles (same mass and charge).
Operates on the principle that, in an applied
magnetic eld, the magnetic deection force on
a moving particle depends on the particles ve-
locity. The principle of operation is similar to
that of a mass spectrometer. See magnetic force
on moving charge, mass spectrometer.
ventriculography, radionuclide A tech-
nique using an intravascular radioactive tracer
that gives images of the heart ventricles that ul-
timately are interpreted for examination of the
structure and functioning of the ventricles. Data
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fromseveral hundred cardiac cycles may be col-
lected to present a single composite cardiac cy-
cle.
When compared with other competing tech-
niques:
1. It assesses the functioning of the ventri-
cles (systolic and diastolic functions) in a more
reliable and precise way, such as with echocar-
diograms.
2. It gives information about regional and
global wall motion.
3. It gives the heart chamber size and mor-
phology.
4. It gives left and right ventricular ejection
fractions (proportion of blood present in the left
ventricle at the end of ventricular diastole that is
pumped through the aortic valve during systole).
On the down side, besides being more costly,
it requires the puncture of veins and radiation
exposure, andit yields less accurate left ventricle
data, as with echocardiograms.
ventriloquism The act of speaking or utter-
ing sounds with barely visible lip movement.
vertical scanning Movements of the scan-
ning beamwith the change of a vertical variable.
very high frequencies (VHF) The band of
radio signals in the frequency range from 30
MHz to 300 MHz. This band is used for FM
and amateur radio broadcasting as well as for
television transmission.
very low frequencies (VLF) The band of
radio frequencies lower than 30 KHz, some-
times employed in underwater communication
between submarines.
vibration of magnet Refers to the oscillation
of a bar magnet when suspended in a magnetic
eld. The frequency of oscillation f is given
by f = (1/2)(MH/I)
1/2
, where M is the
magnetic moment of the bar magnet, H is the
magnetic eld intensity, and I is the moment of
inertia of the bar magnet. The measurement of
f allows determination of the magnetic moment
M of the bar magnet.
vibrations The to and fro motion of some
particles, either freely or acted upon by external
periodic forces and friction in a medium. When
a vibrating body is immersed in a solid, liquid or
gas, sound waves are set up since the vibratory
displacements are in the same direction as the
propagation of the wave.
vibrators, bone-conduction Conventional
hearing aids make use of amplication of the
sound waves and require that the ear still has
some perception (to some degree) of the air con-
duction hearing mechanisms. There are people,
however, for whom this poses a problem, and
other methods have to be used.
By attaching a special vibrator directly to the
cranial bones, sound can be transferred directly
to the inner ear, bypassing the air conduction
parts (ear canal, ear drum, and ossicles) of the
middle ear. This allows pure tones to still be
transmitted by bone conduction, as in air con-
duction hearing. Depending on the apparatus
used, the attachment is generally performed as
a minor surgical procedure.
vibrometer Instruments used for monitoring
vibrations in systems often using optical tech-
niques.
video frequencies Frequencies in the band of
GHz that allow for the operation of equipment
such as video systems, transmitters, receivers,
antennas, and power supplies.
videophone A telephone device that trans-
mits a visual image and sound. The receiver
can receive and display visible images simulta-
neously with the telephone signals.
vidicon A camera tube that shows an image
after the emitting electron beam hits the inside
surface of the tube.
viewing distance The distance between the
lm or plate and the second nodal point (the
point where the extended outgoing ray meets the
optical axis). For distant objects, it is simply the
focal length of the camera lens, which is usually
less than the least distance of vision. Therefore,
to get proper perspective, one can use a convex
lens with the same focal length as the camera
lens and well-accommodated eye. Alternately,
one can enlarge the photograph until the view-
2001 CRC Press LLC
ing distance is equal to or greater than the least
distance of distinct vision. In the case of a tele-
photo lens, to get proper perspective, one has to
use a viewing distance equal to the focal length,
which is quite large, thus losing the advantage
of the large image size.
vignetting The practice of cutting off or ob-
structing the rays in the outer fringes of the
image-forming pencil, thus avoiding the asso-
ciated aberrations and improving the quality of
the image. In a camera, the nite size of the
photographic plate effectively performs the vi-
gnetting of the image. The term is also used
to describe the reduction in the effective beam
area with increasing obliquity due to mechan-
ical obstructions in the optical system such as
apertures, lens holders, etc.
violins, sound from The origin of the sound
from the vibrating strings. The vibrations of the
string are transmitted to the instrument via the
bridge; the sound post and the entire body of
the violin is involved in the sound production
process.
virtual spaces The virtual extension of the
(real) space on the left side of a refracting sur-
face to the right of the surface, and vice versa.
In detail, a refracting surface can be considered
to divide the space into two parts, known as the
left- and right-hand spaces. Both spaces can be
conceptually extended to innity in both direc-
tions. The left-hand space is considered real on
the left side and virtual on the right-hand side of
the refracting surface. Similarly, the right-hand
space is considered to be real on the right-hand
side and virtual on the left-hand side of the re-
fracting surface.
viscoelasticity, surface A viscous substance
is such that when stress is applied the substance
will ow continuously opposing the stress with
a constant opposing force. The owis the result
of the movement of molecules past one another,
and the resistance is due to intermolecular fric-
tion. The deformation does not involve chem-
ical bond stretching or bond rotations, and ide-
ally all of the mechanical energy is dissipated as
heat. At the moment that the stress is removed,
the substance will remain in the deformed state
because there has been no internal energy stored
for the substance to return to its initial (or any
other) state. In this sense, viscous deformation
is irreversible.
Elasticity describes a substance that, upon
deformation, returns quickly and completely to
its initial conformation. Contrary to viscosity,
the deformation is entirely by chemical bond
stretching and rotating. The deformation is re-
versible.
Viscoelasticity is a fundamental property of
polymers, inwhichboththe viscous andthe elas-
tic properties are exhibited in some degree that
depends on the chemical composition, temper-
ature, and time and strength over which the de-
formation stress exists. Viscoelastic response
is found typically when a polymer undergoes
deformation and, upon release, reverses the de-
formation in a process that requires substantial
periods of time. The same polymer, under dif-
ferent conditions of stress, may exhibit either
viscous or elastic behavior. For a typical poly-
mer, at higher temperatures, the response shifts
from elastic towards viscous behavior. At lower
temperatures, the response is reversed, resulting
in elastic rather than viscous behavior.
Polymers depositedonsurfaces or the surface
of bulk polymers may exhibit a slightly modi-
ed behavior than in bulk since the layers at the
surface only interact with the bulk at one side;
thus the elastic behavior could be modied.
viscoelastometer A viscoelastometer is an
instrument for the measurement of viscoelastic
properties. The materials under study are usu-
ally polymers, prototypes of viscoelastic sub-
stances. Results from trying to determine the
materials deformational response to mechani-
cal force and owunder stress, give information
regarding the rheology of these materials.
Techniques vary, but the general method is to
measure the resilience (elasticity) of the material
and ow properties when subjected to mechan-
ical stress. This has application, for example,
in measuring the change in ow of a resin as a
function of time during the hardening process.
See viscoelasticity, surface.
vision, binocular Vision in which both eyes
are used to give rise to a single, fused precept.
This occurs as a coordinated function of both
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eyes. The fusion of two distinct images from
the two eyes by the brain into a single image
whereby one can judge depth or portion of ob-
jects accurately in a three-dimensional eld can
be dened as binocular vision. To have good
binocular vision without diplopia (double vi-
sion), the images of the object must fall on what
are called corresponding points on the two reti-
nas of the two eyes.
vision, color Vision in which color sense is
present. See vision, photopic.
vision, defects Any ametropia of the eye (i.e.,
myopia, hyperopia, hypermetropia).
vision, photopic Vision due to cone photore-
ceptor function. This is normally at high lev-
els of illumination (>10 candelas/meter
2
) and
is characterized by the ability to discriminate
colors and small details. Color is perceived be-
cause of the trichromatic nature of the three cone
types.
vision, scotopic Vision due to rod photore-
ceptor function. Rods are active at low levels of
illumination (<0.001candelas/meter
2
). This is
characterized by a lack of ability to discriminate
colors and small details. Scotopic vision (night
vision) is characterized by high sensitivity at low
light levels and for detection of movement.
vocoder A synthesizer that produces sounds
from an analysis of speech input. The word
vocoder comes from the combination of the
words voice and code.
voice coil That part of a loudspeaker that
connects to the vibrating diaphragm. It is ca-
pable of moving to and fro in a radial magnetic
eld whose direction is perpendicular to the coil
winding. The driving force applied to the di-
aphragm is directly proportional to the current
owing through the driving coil.
voice, human The sounds of the human voice
are producedwhena current of air fromthe lungs
is forced through the glottis or narrow slit be-
tween the vocal chords. These two membranous
reeds are situated just above the junction of the
windpipe with the larynx and are coupled to a
series of air cavities formed by the larynx, the
front and back parts of the mouth, and the nose
and its associated cavities.
Voigt effect Discovered by Voigt in 1902.
When a strong magnetic eld is applied to a va-
por through which light is passing, the medium
becomes birefringent; i.e., double refraction
takes place. The effect is analogous to the Fara-
day effect of optical activity induced by a mag-
netic eld.
If a vapor has a response frequency v
o
, sup-
pose that a normal Zeeman triplet is formed by
application of a magnetic eld:
v = v
o
v .
When white light is incident that spectral range
at v
o
will be absorbed and components at v
will have 50% absorption compared to the cen-
tral peak. When plane polarized light is inci-
dent, it will be split into components parallel
and perpendicular to the magnetic eld, which
have different refractive indices. Induced bire-
fringence and a change to elliptical polarization
result.
volt Symbol: V . The SI unit of electric po-
tential, potential difference, and electromotive
force. One volt potential difference is dened
as the ratio of 1 watt of power dissipated by 1
ampere current between two points in a circuit.
Alternatively, 1 volt is 1 joule of energy required
to transfer 1 coulomb from one point in a circuit
to another. An electric potential of 1 volt at
a point is 1 joule of energy used to transfer 1
coulomb from innity to that point. The stan-
dard for potential difference is obtained from a
special form of electrolytic cell, e.g., a Weston
standard cell. The volt is named after count
Alessandro Volta (17451827) who developed
the rst rudimentary battery. See also potential,
electric; potential difference.
voltage The value of potential difference be-
tween two points and electromotive force. See
also reactive voltage; volt; potential difference;
potential, electric.
voltage clamp, ionic current in cell In the
voltage clamp technique it is possible to con-
trol the voltage potential across a cell membrane
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while measuring the current that is directly re-
lated to the ionic movement across the mem-
brane. When the voltage clamp establishes a
potential across the membrane, the induced cur-
rent will be a result of the ionic current as well
as the capacitive contribution, given by
I
c
= C(dv/dt) .
Once the charge distribution on each side of the
membrane has been established, the capacitive
contribution goes to zero, and for long periods
the current will be the result only of the ionic
movement across the membrane.
If the clamped voltage is that of a particular
equilibriumpotential of a particular ion, then the
current will be the result of the ow of the other
ions in solution. See potential, resting.
voltage drop The decrease in potential along
a conductor or across the terminals of a resistive
electrical component as a result of the ow of
current through them. It is given by the potential
difference between two points of the conductor
or the two sides of the component. See potential
difference.
voltmeter A device that measures potential
difference. Generally it can be used to measure
both AC and DC voltage. The input impedance
of a voltmeter is very high so that minimal cur-
rent is drawn from the circuit being measured.
Moving coil analog voltmeter, digital voltmeter,
and cathode ray oscilloscopes are some com-
monly used devices for measuring voltages.
vortex sound If a steady ow of uid passes
an obstacle, eddies are usually formed behind
the obstacle. At the edges of the stream, swirling
whirlpools are formed. The rotational motion
of the vortices causes the superposition of many
frequencies and sound is heard. Examples are
a person whistling, or sound of wind through a
crack.
vowel sound Characteristic frequencies as a
result of the natural vibrations of the oral cavities
excited impulsively by the more or less periodic
puffs of air from the glottis.
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W
water, undercooled Also known as sub-
cooled water, this refers to water that continues
to exist in a liquid state at a temperature below
the freezing point of 0

C. It is in a metastable
phase. See supercooling.
water, unfreezable See water, undercooled;
supercooling.
watt Symbol: W. The unit of power. It is
dened as the dissipation of one joule of energy
in one second. The power, P, dissipated by a
resistor is given by
P = IV ,
where I is the current through the resistor in
amperes and V is the potential difference across
it in volts. See also Ohms law.
wattmeter An instrument that indicates the
instantaneous value of the power expended in a
circuit to which it is connected. Generally, it can
be used in both AC and DC. Its operating prin-
ciple is based on the product of current through
a circuit with the potential difference across it.
Consequently, there are four terminals on the
instrument, i.e., two for the current to be con-
nected in series with the circuit, and two for the
voltage to be connected in parallel.
wave analyzer Spectrometers that display
simultaneously the frequency and amplitude of
the more important component of complex
sound.
waveform Refers to the different types of
waves that can be produced, e.g., the sine wave,
square wave, and sawtooth waveforms.
wavefront For a three-dimensional wave
pulse, the surface in its path of propagation all
of whose points are in the same phase of motion.
Sine wave, square wave, and sawtooth wave.
wave front or wave surface This is the lo-
cus of points of equal phase of a wave. For a
harmonic wave

r , t

= A

e
i(

k ,

r ox)
,
where

k is the propagation vector.
The equation of the wave front is

k

r = constant .
If the amplitude A(

r ) is not constant over the

wave front, the wave is called inhomogenous.
The concept of wave front is important for
wave propagation in general in that it allows def-
inition of the phase velocity v
p
/|

k|. It is
the basis for the description of all wave phenom-
ena.
wave function Of a system of particles, this
is the solution to the Schrodinger equation. It
contains all of the dynamic information of the
system. Its main physical interpretation is as a
probability density amplitude used to determine
the spatial probability function for the particles.
From the wave function and the Schrodinger
equation one can determine the quantum num-
bers and energy levels of the system of prime
importance in statistical physics.
waveguide A tube along which electromag-
netic waves are transported.
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wavelength For a harmonic plane wave prop-
agating in a direction of unit vector

s .

r , t

A/

exp i

r .

s
v

.
The wavelength is the spatial period of the mo-
tion such that (

r , t) is the same when

r

s
is replaced by

r

s + .
This gives = v
p
2

.
wavelets, secondary The laws of propaga-
tion of light waves are based on Huygens princi-
ple, which states that every point on a wave front
acts as a source of secondary wavelets that have
a velocity and frequency corresponding to the
primary wave. The envelope of the secondary
wavelets corresponds to the new primary wave-
front a short time later. This intuitive notion was
later put on a rm theoretical basis by Fresnel
and Kirchoff.
wave number This is dened as 2/ where
is the wavelength of the wave in question. It is
a convenient way of expressing the wavelength
in the wave equation.
wave propagation A wave is transmitted
through a medium by the vibrations of parti-
cles. It moves forward by the vibrations be-
ing transmitted to adjacent particles. Regions
of compressions and rarefactions are set up as it
propagates. See also traveling wave.
wave pulse This can be produced in a
stretched string by giving it a sideways tug. This
will produce a pulse that will travel down the
string, each particle in string remaining at rest
until the pulse reaches it; then it moves for short
time and then returns to rest. See also wave
train.
waves, intensity from point source In a
three-dimensional wave, such as a sound wave,
spherical waves travel outward from the point
source, and energy may be absorbed as they
travel through space or a medium. The intensity
of the space wave is dened as the power trans-
mitted across a unit area normal to the direction
inwhichthe wave is travelingandis proportional
to the square of the amplitude.
wave speed Mechanical waves need to travel
in a medium and the properties of the medium,
such as inertia and elasticity, determine the
speed of the wave through it. The speed V is
also related to the wavelength and frequency
f by the following relation.
V = f .
wavetrain A wavetrain is a monochromatic
wave of nite length that contains a certain num-
ber of cycles. Light emitted from atoms is emit-
ted as wavetrains approximately 10
8
to 10
10
secs, as a series of random bursts. The width
of the wavetrains is a measure of the coher-
ence time; from this, one can dene a coher-
ence length over which the phase is well dened.
Several wave pulses in succession will produce
a train of waves.
weber International Systemunit of magnetic
ux, equal to Tesla.meter
2
. One weber is de-
ned as the ux linking a one turn circuit that,
when reduced uniformly to zero in one second,
induces an electromotive potential of one volt
in the circuit. Named after German physicist
Wilhelm E. Weber (18041891). Equal to 10
8
maxwells (or gauss.cm
2
) in CGS units.
Wheatstone bridge A very useful elec-
tric circuit developed and advocated by Charles
Wheatstone in 1843. It is widely used to de-
termine the unknown resistance of a resistor. It
consists of two known resistors, a variable resis-
tor, an unknown resistor R
x
, as in the following
gure. A voltage source is connected to points
A and B. Adjust the variable resistor until the
current i of the galvanometer is zero. Under
this balance condition, the unknown resistance
is given by
R
x
=
R
1
R
2
R
v
.
whistle To make a clear musical sound by the
expulsion of breath; an instrument for producing
a whistling sound. Sounds may be generated by
passing a gas or liquid through an orice or over
an edge. The passage generates vortices, spaced
periodically, which propagate as a sound wave.
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Wheatstone bridge.
whistle, Galton One of the rst type of whis-
tles, the Galton whistle consists of a jet that
sends out a stream of gas against a small cavity.
A miniature organ pipe is used to determine the
upper limit of audibility, generally for control
and signaling purposes. The small, adjustable
closed pipe is about 1 in. in diameter; the reso-
nant length of the pipe is altered by means of a
piston controlled by a screw.
whistler waves A type of wave that seeks
application in many branches of physics, e.g.,
plasma physics, the studyof magnetic elds, and
astrophysics.
whole tone The interval on the musical scale
between any two notes such as C and D.
Wiedemann-Franz law This gives the rela-
tionship between the electrical and the thermal
conduction in a metal, since the owof electrons
is responsible for both these quantities. Accord-
ing to the law, for all metals at temperatures
not too far below 300 K, the ratio of thermal
to electrical conductivity is approximately con-
stant and, when divided by the temperature, is
known as the Lorenz number. However, the law
is not obeyed at all temperatures, and L eventu-
ally starts to fall as the temperature is decreased;
at the lowest temperatures, it starts to rise again
to its original value. This implies that the mean
free path of the electrons in electrical conduc-
tion is not always the same as that for thermal
conduction.
Wimshurst machine An electrostatic high
voltage generator that consists of two counter-
rotating glass disks that have a large number
of metal plates at their perimeters. The disks
usually face each other since their axes coin-
cide, and the metal plates are situated on the
outer faces of the disks. Metal combs, placed on
the outer sides of the disks, collect charge from
the metal plates of opposite polarities. Metal
grounding brushes are placed at the top and bot-
tomof each disk. Wimshurst machines can vary
in size and method of rotating the disks. Some
demonstration models are spun by hand while
others used for generating X-rays are motor-
driven.
wind effect, on sound Sound travels bet-
ter with the wind than against it. The velocity
of wind increases from the earths surface up-
wards. If the wave is traveling against the wind
then its upper portion will be retarded more than
the lower; the opposite occurs when the sound
travels with the wind. In this case the upper
portion moves with a greater velocity than the
lower, the direction of motion of the wavefront is
gradually brought down toward the ground, and
the observer may experience a concentration of
sound.
winding, primary The coil winding in a
transformer that receives the energy from the
supply circuit. See transformer.
winding, secondary The coil winding in a
transformer that receives energy from the pri-
mary winding. See transformer.
wind instruments Any instrument that can
be played by breath or air, e.g., ute, horn or
organ.
wolf note On stringed instruments, a very
difcult note to nd, which on being produced
causes the whole body to vibrate to an unusual
degree.
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woofer A loudspeaker in a sound-
reproducing apparatus that picks up low sound
frequencies up to 500 Hz.
work hardening Repeated bendings of a bar
of soft metal, until the bar eventually refuses to
be bent and breaks. With every bending, more
and more dislocations ow into the metal until
there are so many dislocations that they impede
each others ow. The crystal is then incapable
of further plastic deformation and breaks under
subsequent stress.
work of electrical force The energy ex-
pended by an electric eld, E, in moving a
charge, q, a displacement, l. For a uniform
electric eld this is given by
W = qE l ,
where W is the work done and qEis the electric
force on the charge. Equivalently, it is given by
W = qV ,
where V is the potential difference between the
initial and nal position of the charge. In a non-
uniform electric eld, the work is dened as
W = q

B
A
E dl ,
where dl is an innitesimally small displace-
ment, and A and B are the initial and nal posi-
tions respectively. Generally, one deals with the
work done by an external force in moving the
charge from A to B in the electric eld. This is
the negative of the work done by the eld and is
thus given by
W = q

B
A
E dl .
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X
xerography An electrostatic process for
reproducing documents. Many technical ap-
proaches have been used but the most common
is to use a photoconductive layer. The optical
image to be copied is formed on the surface of
the layer which is then electrostatically charged
by corona discharge. The charge leaks off at the
optically exposed regions, forming an electro-
static image; colored particles (toner) are then
deposited at the charged regions and the nal
image is formed.
xeroradiography Technique in radiology
similar to X-rays where instead of an X-ray lm,
a positively charged selenium plate is used. Ex-
posure to radiation reduces the positive charge
of the plate in different regions, depending on
the level of exposure received by each region.
Developing of the impressed image follows by
applying toner powder to the plate.
The xeroradiography imaging process pro-
duces an image with higher resolution on the
edges of bones and better visualization between
different soft tissue structures in the patients
body. It is widely used in mammography.
X-ray uorescence Absorption of an inci-
dent X-ray and subsequent re-emission of an
X-ray by uorescence froma higher atomic core
energy level. The selection rules for the pro-
cess in terms of atomic quantum numbers are
n 1, = 1, j = 0, 1.
X-ray uorescence is carried out with an
X-ray source (Coolidge tube) used to irradiate a
solid or liquid sample. The emitted X-rays are
analyzed by an X-ray spectrometer.
X-rays Electromagnetic waves in the range
of about 0.1 nm wavelength. They are gener-
ated by electronic transitions due to the bom-
bardment of materials of high atomic weight by
high energy electrons.
X-rays have many applications in science and
technology. Since their discovery, elastic X-
ray diffraction has been the principal means for
the determination of crystal structure and ori-
entation. Diverse spectroscopic tools (see spec-
troscopy, electron) involving X-rays are used for
the characterization of ultra-clean surfaces. In
both medicine and industry, X-rays have long
been used for the non-destructive detection of
defects in the interior of opaque objects.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Y
yoke Completes a magnetic circuit. Usually
a soft ferromagnetic material. Can be in contact
with a core that is also made of a soft ferromag-
netic material and is surrounded by a current-
carrying coil. The yoke transmits the magnetic
ux from the core through the yoke to another
part of the magnetic circuit.
Young-Helmholtz law When any point of a
string is plucked, struck or bowed, all the over-
tones requiring that point for a node will be ab-
sent from the vibration. Therefore, the point
of plucking determines the quality of the note
emitted.
Y-parameters Variables that are in response
to other parameters and plotted in the y-axis.
2001 CRC Press LLC
Z
Zeeman effect Discovered by P. Zeeman in
1896 who observed the broadening of spectral
lines in the presence of a magnetic eld. It was
later shown that the lines were split into dou-
blets, triplets and higher order. The effect was
explained by Lorentz in his classical theory of
the electron: If v
o
is the electronic frequency at
zero eld, then in a magnetic eld H, it is split
into components v
o
v, where v =
eB
m
,
where e = electronic charge, m = electronic
mass and c = velocity of light.
The Lorentz theory predicts the following be-
havior:
(a) Transverse Zeemaneffect (light beamper-
pendicular to

H): splitting of the line into a
triplet with plane polarized components. This is
called the normal triplet.
(b) Longitudinal Zeeman effect (light beam
parallel to

H): splitting of the line into a doublet

with components circularly polarized in oppos-
ing senses.
In fact, only the normal triplet can be ex-
plained by the classical theory. More complex
observedbehavior suchas multi-component split-
ting higher than three (anomalous Zeeman ef-
fect), asymmetric splitting, etc. can all be ex-
plained by a detailed quantummechanical treat-
ment.
Zeeman effect, inverse The Zeeman effect
as observed in absorption. It is produced by
sending white light through a vapor subject to
a magnetic eld. Since the light is not com-
pletely absorbed, the transmitted components
correspond to those observed in emission but
they are circularly polarized in the opposite di-
rection.
zener breakdown Avalanche breakdown
in which electrons in a diode rapidly increase
through ionization collisions with atoms.
zener diode Apn junction that forms a diode
whose reverse current rapidly increases at some
particular reverse bias voltage.
zero sound The effect that occurs at the
characteristic temperature in a Fermi gas when
the frequency between collisions becomes equal
to the applied frequency. The propagation of
sound is impossible since the collisions cannot
occur fast enough. For the interacting Fermi liq-
uid, a collisionless sound propagation may be
excited. In this situation an increase in propa-
gation velocity and a maximumin attenuation is
observed as the sample is cooled through ordi-
nary region where ordinary sound gives way to
zero sound.
zone of silence With highly intense sounds
such as explosions, these are regions where the
sound is not audible.
zone plates A circular grating that acts as a
condensing lens causing the intensity of sound
at the center of the grating to be intensied.
zone rening A melting region in a crystal
growth apparatus. The melting region is smaller
than the ingot length. Using this technique a
more purifying crystal can be made.
zoom lens A telephoto lens whose focal
length can be varied from about 80 mm to 1000
mm or more without changing the sharpness of
the image. This is achieved by employing a sys-
tem of converging and diverging elements, one
or more of which can be moved. To keep the
f-number unchanged, one usually has a basic
imaging system and a variable focus arrange-
ment.
2001 CRC Press LLC