The Collaborative International Dictionary
Reflecting \Re*flect"ing\, a.
Throwing back light, heat, etc., as a mirror or other surface.
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Given to reflection or serious consideration; reflective; contemplative; as, a reflecting mind.
Reflecting circle, an astronomical instrument for measuring angless, like the sextant or Hadley's quadrant, by the reflection of light from two plane mirrors which it carries, and differing from the sextant chiefly in having an entire circle.
Reflecting galvanometer, a galvanometer in which the deflections of the needle are read by means of a mirror attached to it, which reflects a ray of light or the image of a scale; -- called also mirror galvanometer.
Reflecting goniometer. See under Goniometer.
Reflecting telescope. See under Telescope.
Wikipedia
A mirror galvanometer is an electromechanical instrument that indicates that it has sensed an electric current by deflecting a light beam with a mirror. The beam of light projected on a scale acts as a long massless pointer. In 1826, Johann Christian Poggendorff developed the mirror galvanometer for detecting electric currents. The apparatus is also known as a spot galvanometer after the spot of light produced in some models.
Mirror galvanometers were used extensively in scientific instruments before reliable, stable electronic amplifiers were available. The most common uses were as recording equipment for seismometers and submarine cables used for telegraphy.
In modern times, the term mirror galvanometer is also used for devices that move laser beams by rotating a mirror through a galvanometer set-up. The name is often abbreviated as galvo.
Usage examples of "mirror galvanometer".
Barrett ran his eyes across the instruments already on the table: astatic galvanometer, mirror galvanometer, quadrant electrometer, Crookes balance, camera, gauze cage, smoke absorber, manometer, weighing platform, tape recorder.
The idea is that the current in the cable, by passing through an electromechanical device, will cause this tube to move slightly to one side or the other, just like the spot of light in the mirror galvanometer.