image orthicon
A technician carefully examines an image orthicon tube in a television studio.
Noun: A type of camera tube, now obsolete, used in early television cameras to convert an optical image into an electrical signal. It operates by focusing electrons, emitted from a photoemissive surface in proportion to the intensity of incident light, onto a target, where they cause secondary emission of electrons that are then scanned to produce the video signal.
The term image orthicon specifically refers to the historical television camera tube technology. * Early studio television broadcasts relied on the image orthicon for picture capture. * The image orthicon tube was known for its sensitivity compared to earlier camera tubes.
- The image orthicon is often discussed in the context of the technological evolution of television, from mechanical scanners to modern CCD and CMOS sensors.
- In technical descriptions, it is frequently compared to its predecessor, the iconoscope, and its successor, the vidicon.
- Orthicon: A related, simpler type of camera tube that also uses electron scanning but lacks the image section and secondary emission amplification of the image orthicon.
- Camera tube: The general category of vacuum tubes used for capturing images in television cameras before the advent of solid-state imagers.
- IO tube (an abbreviation).
- There are no perfect synonyms, as it is a specific technical term. Descriptive phrases include "an early television camera tube" or "a type of photoelectric camera tube."
- Image section: Refers to the initial part of the image orthicon where light is converted into an electron image.
- Scanning section: Refers to the part of the tube where the electron image is read out.
There are no common idioms associated with this specific technical term.
A technician carefully examines an image orthicon tube in a television studio.
- a now obsolete picture pickup tube in a television camera; electrons emitted from a photoemissive surface in proportion to the intensity of the incident light are focused onto the target causing secondary emission of electrons