Chromatic aberration

Description

A color distortion defect in a lens system. Chromatic aberration is the inability of a lens to bring varying wavelengths of radiation to a common point of focus. It is caused by refractive index variations. White light passing through a single lens will arrive at the image plane with the wavelengths from the blue end of the spectrum focused at a shorter distance than the wavelengths from the red end of the spectrum. The resultant image will have colored edges.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Chromatische Aberration (Deut.); aberration chromatique (Fr.); chromatism

Resources and Citations

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• ASTM, Standard Terminology of Microscopy, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Section 14, General Methods and Instrumentation, ASTM, E175, 75-78, May 1982

• Walter C. McCrone, John Gustave Delly, The Particle Atlas, W. McCrone Associates, Chicago, IV, 1972

• Theodore J. Reinhart, 'Glossary of Terms', Engineered Plastics, ASM International, 1988