Optical system in the context of "Aperture"

In an optical system (generally a lens), the entrance pupil is the optical image of the physical aperture, as 'seen' through the optical elements in front of the stop. The corresponding image of the aperture stop as seen through the optical elements behind it is called the exit pupil. The entrance pupil defines the cone of rays that can enter and pass through the optical system. Rays that fall outside of the entrance pupil will not pass through the system.

If there is no lens in front of the aperture (as in a pinhole camera), the entrance pupil's location and size are identical to those of the aperture. Optical elements in front of the aperture will produce a magnified or diminished image of the aperture that is displaced from the aperture location. The entrance pupil is usually a virtual image: it lies behind the first optical surface of the system.

Stray light is light in an optical system which was not intended in the design. The light may be from the intended source, but follow paths other than intended, or it may be from a source other than that intended. This light will often set a working limit on the dynamic range of the system; it limits the signal-to-noise ratio or contrast ratio, by limiting how dark the system can be. Ocular straylight is stray light in the human eye.

An image intensifier or image intensifier tube is a vacuum tube device for increasing the intensity of available light in an optical system to allow use under low-light conditions, such as at night, to facilitate visual imaging of low-light processes, such as fluorescence of materials in X-rays or gamma rays (X-ray image intensifier), or for conversion of non-visible light sources, such as near-infrared or short wave infrared to visible. They operate by converting photons of light into electrons, amplifying the electrons (usually with a microchannel plate), and then converting the amplified electrons back into photons for viewing. They are used in devices such as night-vision goggles.

A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. Sights are equipped with a referencing pattern (reticle) mounted in a focally appropriate position in its optical system to provide an accurate point of aim. Telescopic sights are classified in terms of the optical magnification (power) and the objective lens diameter.

The first experiments directed to give shooters optical aiming aids go back to the early 17th century. For centuries, different optical aiming aids and primitive predecessors of telescopic sights were created that had practical or performance limitations. Most early telescopic sights were fixed-power and were in essence specially designed viewing telescopes. Telescopic sights with variable magnifications appeared later, and were varied by manually adjusting a zoom mechanism behind the erector lenses. Other types of scopes include prism sights and low-power variable optics.

Optomechanics is the manufacture and maintenance of optical parts and devices. This includes the design and manufacture of hardware used to hold and align elements in optical systems, such as:

• Optical tables, breadboards, and rails
• Mirror mounts
• Optical mounts
• Translation stages
• Rotary stage
• Optical fiber aligners
• Pedestals and posts
• Micrometers, screws and screw sets

Optomechanics also covers the methods used to design and package compact and rugged optical trains, and the manufacture and maintenance of fiber optic materials

In electromagnetics, directivity is a parameter of an antenna or optical system which measures the degree to which the radiation emitted is concentrated in a single direction. It is the ratio of the radiation intensity in a given direction from the antenna to the radiation intensity averaged over all directions. Therefore, the directivity of a hypothetical isotropic radiator, a source of electromagnetic waves which radiates the same power in all directions, is 1, or 0 dBi.

An antenna's directivity is greater than its gain by an efficiency factor, radiation efficiency. Directivity is an important measure because many antennas and optical systems are designed to radiate electromagnetic waves in a single direction or over a narrow-angle. By the principle of reciprocity, the directivity of an antenna when receiving is equal to its directivity when transmitting.