collimator

A noun referring to an optical device that produces a parallel beam of light, often used in telescopes and other scientific instruments to align or direct light rays.

• 🇫🇷Nom masculin désignant un dispositif optique qui produit un faisceau de lumière parallèle, souvent utilisé dans les télescopes et autres instruments scientifiques pour aligner ou diriger les rayons lumineux.

1. Telescope alignment tool C2 formal scientific

   A small telescope attached to a larger telescope to assist in aligning the line of sight of the larger instrument.

   • The astronomer adjusted the collimator to ensure the main telescope was perfectly aligned.
   • Using a collimator, the technician calibrated the observatory's primary instrument.
   • The collimator's crosshairs helped center the target star.

   🇫🇷Collimateur d'alignement

2. Optical beam device C2 formal scientific

   An optical device consisting of a tube containing a convex achromatic lens at one end and a slit at the other, with the slit positioned at the lens's focus, causing light rays to leave the slit as a parallel beam.

   • The collimator produced a perfectly parallel beam of light for the experiment.
   • In the lab, the collimator was used to test the properties of the optical system.
   • The engineer aligned the collimator to ensure the light beam was collimated.

   🇫🇷Collimateur (dispositif optique)

• collimators plural form
• collimators' possessive plural form
• collimator's possessive singular form