photodiode

noun

pho·​to·​di·​ode ˌfō-tō-ˈdī-ˌōd 

: a photoelectric semiconductor device for detecting and often measuring radiant energy (such as light)

Examples of photodiode in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While the photodiodes in a typical optical CMOS sensor can convert nearly all incoming photons into charge, Sherry says, terahertz photons are so low in energy that his team’s camera needs roughly 100 000 of them to produce a single electron. —IEEE Spectrum, 17 Apr. 2012

This works by sending a tiny bit of the optical signal to a photodiode that measures how much optical power is there. —Ars Technica, 12 Jan. 2025

This is due mainly to the fact that no room has to be left for the focusing of light or for the lenses themselves, meaning that the light source, sample and photodiode can be as close to one another as possible, producing a much stronger signal. —Ben Coxworth, New Atlas, 12 Aug. 2024

Canon’s team reported that their system is also much faster at capturing the electrons transferred from the photodiodes, capturing as many as 121,000 electrons with the same lag as previous photodiodes, which is more than double the capacity of comparable earlier systems. —IEEE Spectrum, 19 Jan. 2024

The first attempt was only moderately successful because the resulting photodiode didn't perform as well as expected in the SWIR range. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 18 Jan. 2024

There’s also a residue UV picked up by the top layer photodiode. —IEEE Spectrum, 24 Nov. 2023

Moreover, advances in lidar for autonomous vehicles have led to more efficient photodiodes for converting light to electricity. —IEEE Spectrum, 2 Oct. 2023

To break it down even further, infrared LEDs and photodiodes sensors team up to figure out your heart rate by shining light into your skin and measuring how much bounces back. —Talene Appleton, Men's Health, 10 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1945, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for photodiode

• photocathode
• abode
• anode
• barcode
• bestowed
• boatload
• borrowed
• carload
• caseload
• cathode
• commode
• corrode

Medical Definition

photodiode

noun

pho·​to·​di·​ode -ˈdī-ˌōd 

: a photoelectric semiconductor device for detecting and often measuring radiant energy (such as light)