Optical fiber is the most common type of channel for optical communications, however, other types of optical waveguides are used within computers or communications gear, and have even formed the channel of very short distance ( e. g. chip-to-chip, intra-chip ) links in laboratory trials.

Optical measurement has been demonstrated on laboratory scale.

* Part 305: Optical laboratory test methods for electronic visual displays

A new Optical Communications laboratory was built for the Research Center on Automation Technology.

* Starfire Optical Range, a United States Air Force research laboratory

USAMEOS provided technicians trained in Biomedical Equipment Repair or Optical Laboratory Operations.

The companies concerned were Pathé, Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Lubin, Selig, Essanay, Kalem, and the Kleine Optical Company, a major importer of European films.

Optical cards were produced by Landis + Gyr and Sodeco from Switzerland and were popular early phonecards in many countries with first optical phonecards successfully introduced in 1977 in Belgium.

In the early 1990s, a firm that designed and built refracting telescopes was named in his honor, Fraunhofer Systems Company, since the telescopes were based on his design but now the company is part of Burbank Optical Company.

Optical sound was introduced for 9. 5 mm in 1938, but efforts to produce a library of sound films were interrupted by the War.

In 2011, light echoes from the 19th century Great Eruption of η Carinae were detected using the U. S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microscope and were possibly designed in their present compound form in the 17th century.

Optical electrophysiological techniques were created by scientists and engineers to overcome one of the main limitations of classical techniques.

Fellows of the British Optical Association were entitled to use the affix FBOA.

Optical libraries, such as the Hewlett Packard 40XT, were created to automate loading and storing of the disks.

; SPICAM: Main objectives of the Multichannel Optical Spectrometer were to find the vertical profiles of ozone, water vapor, carbon monoxide, aerosols, and temperature, in the middle and lower atmosphere, diagnostic of the ionosphere, global distribution of water vapor, and building of the density model of the atmosphere.

Optical instruments were supplied by Giuseppe Campani.

Secondary payloads were Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element II ( SHARE II ); Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra-Violet ( SSBUV ) instrument ; Tank Pressure Control Equipment ( TPCE ) and Optical Communications Through Windows ( OCTW ).

Secondary payloads were: Ascent Particle Monitor ( APM ); Middeck 0-Gravity Dynamics Experiment ( MODE ); Shuttle Activation Monitor ( SAM ); Cosmic Ray Effects and Activation Monitor ( CREAM ); Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment ( PARE ); Protein Crystal Growth II-2 ( PCG II-2 ); Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing ( IPMP ); and the Air Force Maui Optical Site ( AMOS ) experiment.

Middeck experiments were: Israeli Space Agency Investigation About Hornets ( ISAIAH ), Solid Surface Combustion Experiment ( SSCE ), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment ( SAREX II ), Air Force Maui Optical Site ( AMOS ), and Ultraviolet Plume Imager ( UVPI ).

The name " Pentax " was originally a registered trademark of the East German VEB Zeiss Ikon ( from " Pentaprism " and " Contax ") but, as all Germans patents were annulled with the country's defeat, the name " Pentax " was taken by the Asahi Optical in 1957.

Optical telescopes were growing ever larger, and employing adaptive optics to partly negate atmospheric blurring.

Optical observations were conducted by Petr Pravec, Marek Wolf, and Lenka Šarounová during March and April 1996.

At that time the company operated 461 stores under three brands ( OPSM, Laubman & Pank, Budget Eyewear ) in Australia, 35 stores in New Zealand ( where they were market leader ), 75 stores in Hong Kong and 12 in Singapore ( under the Optical Shop brand ), and 12 in Malaysia.

Most of the capital costs of the observatory were provided by the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Indiana University, and Yale University, while the National Optical Astronomy Observatory provides most of the operating services.

Optical fiber, however, made such systems obsolete before many were built.

Optical elements and instruments of precision produced by John Brashear were purchased for their quality by almost every important observatory in the world.

PGNCS, and specifically its computer, were also the command center for all system inputs from the LM, including the Kollsman Instrument built Alignment Optical Telescope, the radar system, the manual Translation and Rotation device inputs by the astronauts as well as other inputs from the LM systems.

Optical effects were used to make the planes look as if they were entering the set.

Moreover, the Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Optical Quantum Devices won the title of Outstanding Research Innovation Group designated by the Ministry of Education and other two Outstanding Research Innovative Groups designated by Shanxi Province.

* Optical coherence tomography ( OCT ): This is an optical imaging modality based upon interference, and analogous to ultrasound.

It was detected using the radial velocity method, based upon measurements made between 2003 and 2010 at the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory in Korea.

Since then the technique has been improved upon, notably by Bouyer's team at Groupe d ' Optique Atomique Laboratoire at the Charles Fabry Optical Institute.

Optical properties of semiconductor quantum dot-inorganic nanotube hybrids reveal efficient resonant energy transfer from the quantum dot to the inorganic nanotubes upon photoexcitation.

* Optical aberration, an imperfection in image formation by an optical system

Optical bistability is an attribute of certain optical devices where two resonant transmissions states are possible and stable, dependent on the input.

:; Optical coherence tomography ( OCT ): Testing through the use of optical scattering for coronary artery disease.

* Optical or infrared: The individual galaxies of clusters can be studied through optical or infrared imaging and spectroscopy.

See also: Optical lens design, Fabrication and testing of optical components

; Optics: Optical isotropy means having the same optical properties in all directions.

Through most of 1603, Kepler paused his other work to focus on optical theory ; the resulting manuscript, presented to the emperor on January 1, 1604, was published as Astronomiae Pars Optica ( The Optical Part of Astronomy ).

** Optical solitons, An equilibrium solution for either an optical pulse ( temporal soliton ) or Spatial mode ( spatial soliton ) that does not change during propagation due to a balance between diffraction and the Kerr effect ( e. g. Self-phase modulation for temporal and Self-focusing for spatial solitons ).

Optical theory progressed in the mid-17th century with treatises written by philosopher René Descartes, which explained a variety of optical phenomena including reflection and refraction by assuming that light was emitted by objects which produced it.

Optical brighteners, optical brightening agents ( OBAs ), fluorescent brightening agents ( FBAs ) or fluorescent whitening agents ( FWAs ) are dyes that absorb light in the ultraviolet and violet region ( usually 340-370 nm ) of the electromagnetic spectrum, and re-emit light in the blue region ( typically 420-470 nm ).

Optical phone cards get their name from optical structure embossed inside the cards.

* Optical lattices ( qubit implemented by internal states of neutral atoms trapped in an optical lattice )

* Optical disc authoring # Sessions, how data is laid out on an optical disc

* Optical axis, a line of rotational symmetry in an optical system

Synchronous Optical Networking ( SONET ) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy ( SDH ) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diodes ( LEDs ).

Optical depth, or optical thickness, is a measure of transparency.

Optical rotation ( optical activity ) is the turning of the plane of linearly polarized light about the direction of motion as the light travels through certain materials.

* Optical attenuator, an electronic device that reduces the amplitude of an optical signal

Optical amplifiers are important in optical communication and laser physics.

Optical axis ( coincides with red ray ) and rays symmetrical to optical axis ( pair of blue and pair of green rays ) propagating through different lenses.

* Optical resolution, the capability of an optical system to distinguish, find, or record details

* Optical character recognition, optical recognition of printed text or printed sheet music

Optical fiber connectors are used to join optical fibers where a connect / disconnect capability is required.

The latest industry requirements for optical fiber connectors are in Telcordia GR-326, Generic Requirements for Singlemode Optical Connectors and Jumper Assemblies.