An optical instrument either processes light waves to enhance an image for viewing, or analyzes light waves (or photons) to determine one of a number of characteristic properties.
Image enhancement
The first optical instruments were telescopes used for magnification of distant images, and microscopes used for magnifying very tiny images. Since the days of Galileo and Van Leeuwenhoek, these instruments have been greatly improved and extended into other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The binocular device is a generally compact instrument for both eyes designed for mobile use. A camera could be considered a type of optical instrument for storing an image.
Analysis
Another class of optical instrument is used to analyze the properties of light or optical materials. They include:
- Interferometer for measuring the interference properties of light waves
- Photometer for measuring light intensity
- Polarimeter for measuring dispersion or rotation of polarized light
- Reflectometer for measuring the reflectivity of a surface or object
- Refractometer for measuring refractive index of various materials, invented by Ernst Abbe
- Spectrometer or monochromator for generating or measuring a portion of the optical spectrum, for the purpose of chemical or material analysis.
- Autocollimator which is used to measure angular deflections.
- Vertometer which is used to determine refractive power of lenses such as glasses, contact lenses and magnifier lens
DNA sequencers can be considered optical instruments as they analyse the color and intensity of the light emitted by a fluorochrome attached to a specific nucleotide of a DNA strand.
Surface Plasmon Resonance based instruments use refractometry to measure and analyze biomolecular interactions.
Open source encyclopedia content modification information:
Authorship and Review
Open source encyclopedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by PediaView.com. Content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with PediaView.com.
Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Optical instruments", which is available in its original form here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Optical_instruments
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.