photodetector
Americannoun
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Electronics. any device, as a photodiode, phototube, or photovoltaic cell, that uses the photoelectric effect to convert radiant energy into an electrical signal.
Etymology
Origin of photodetector
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Wearables project light into the skin and pick up the reflection with a photodetector to measure your pulse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Electrical engineers at Duke University have created the fastest pyroelectric photodetector ever demonstrated, a device that detects light by sensing the tiny amount of heat it produces when absorbed.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2026
If the vibration of a gravitational wave warps the path of one of the lasers, making the two beams almost infinitesimally misaligned, the laser will hit the photodetector and alert the scientists.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 11, 2016
The machine calibrates the amount of light received by the photodetector against the amount absorbed by the partially oxygenated hemoglobin and presents the data as percent saturation.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
A simple way of measuring the frequency splitting is to mix the split laser modes in a photodetector, which produces a “beat frequency” that corresponds to the frequency difference.
From US News ● Jun. 29, 2011
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
