A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light after passing through a prism. As scientific understanding of light advanced, it came to apply to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. It thereby became a mapping of a range of magnitudes (wavelengths) to a range of qualities, which are the perceived "colors of the rainbow" and other properties which correspond to wavelengths that lie outside of the visible light spectrum.
Spectrum has since been applied by analogy to topics outside optics. Thus, one might talk about the "spectrum of political opinion", or the "spectrum of activity" of a drug, or the "autism spectrum". In these uses, values within a spectrum may not be associated with precisely quantifiable numbers or definitions. Such uses imply a broad range of conditions or behaviors grouped together and studied under a single title for ease of discussion. Nonscientific uses of the term spectrum are sometimes misleading. For instance, a single left–right spectrum of political opinion does not capture the full range of people's political beliefs. Political scientists use a variety of biaxial and multiaxial systems to more accurately characterize political opinion.
In most modern usages of spectrum there is a unifying theme between the extremes at either end. This was not always true in older usage.
In Latin, spectrum means "image" or "apparition", including the meaning "spectre". Spectral evidence is testimony about what was done by spectres of persons not present physically, or hearsay evidence about what ghosts or apparitions of Satan said. It was used to convict a number of persons of witchcraft at Salem, Massachusetts in the late 17th century. The word "spectrum" [Spektrum] was strictly used to designate a ghostly optical by Goethe in his Theory of Colors and Schopenhauer in On Vision and Colors.
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Learn how principles of basic science are integrated into major biomedical imaging modalities and the different techniques used, such as X-ray computed tomography (CT), ultrasounds and positron emissi
Learn how principles of basic science are integrated into major biomedical imaging modalities and the different techniques used, such as X-ray computed tomography (CT), ultrasounds and positron emissi
In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, troughs, or zero crossings. Wavelength is a characteristic of both traveling waves and standing waves, as well as other spatial wave patterns. The inverse of the wavelength is called the spatial frequency.
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon that can occur under certain meteorological conditions. It is caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the Sun. Rainbows can be full circles. However, the observer normally sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground, and centered on a line from the Sun to the observer's eye.
Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light is a book by English natural philosopher Isaac Newton that was published in English in 1704 (a scholarly Latin translation appeared in 1706). The book analyzes the fundamental nature of light by means of the refraction of light with prisms and lenses, the diffraction of light by closely spaced sheets of glass, and the behaviour of color mixtures with spectral lights or pigment powders.
Covers the fundamental concepts of laser operation, including dispersion theory, gain and resonators, different types of laser systems, noise characteristics, optical fibers, ultrafast lasers, and nonlinear frequency conversion.
Light enables to see the world around us, while playing a key role in our biological functioning. During the last decades, light has become an important research topic for chronobiologists and neuroscientists, and their findings are increasingly interwoven ...
EPFL2021
Light matter interactions such as extinction, reflection, and transmission can be described by classical optics. Dur-ing the past decades, research focused on a novel resonant extinction type called plasmonics that allows for en-hancement of both types of ...
Our ability to generate new distributions of light has been remarkably enhanced in recent years. At the most fundamental level, these light patterns are obtained by ingeniously combining different electromagnetic modes. Interestingly, the modal superpositi ...