Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to optical systems that correct for spherical aberration.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Without aberration: in optics, applied to a lens or combination of lenses, as in a telescope, which brings parallel rays to a focus without spherical or chromatic aberration.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Opt.) Having two or more parts of different curvatures, so combined as to remove spherical aberration; -- said of a lens.
- adjective (Opt.) the point or focus from which rays diverging pass the lens without spherical aberration. In certain forms of lenses there are two such foci; and it is by taking advantage of this fact that the best aplanatic object glasses of microscopes are constructed.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective of an optical system Free from, or corrected for,
spherical aberration andchromatic aberration
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective free from or corrected for spherical aberration
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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(An aplanatic triplet will be found best for this purpose.)
A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public Frank Bertram Wade
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It was thought that the use of this Herschel aplanatic combination as an eyepiece, combined with the Wollaston doublet for the objective, came as near perfection as the compound microscope was likely soon to come.
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Sir John Herschel, another of the very great physicists of the time, also gave attention to the problem of improving the microscope, and in 1821 he introduced what was called an aplanatic combination of lenses, in which, as the name implies, the spherical aberration was largely done away with.
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To compute exactly the extent to which these evils have been developed he has devised a syncretic abacus, in which, on the principle of the spectroscope, the aplanatic foci are arranged in fluorescent nodules each equidistant from the metacentre.
Punch or the London Charivari, October 10, 1920 Various 1898
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Mr. Orguly Bolp's large painting, entitled "Embrocation," is an interesting experiment in the handling of aplanatic surfaces, in which the toxic determinants are harmonized by a sort of plastic _meiosis_ with syncopated rhythms.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, April 5, 1916 Various 1898
hernesheir commented on the word aplanatic
A plan, a tic.
January 2, 2011