WordNet
n. a concave reflector used to produce a parallel beam when the source is placed at its focus or to focus an incoming parallel beam [syn: paraboloid reflector]
Wikipedia
A parabolic (or paraboloid or paraboloidal) reflector (or dish or mirror) is a reflective surface used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is part of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface generated by a parabola revolving around its axis. The parabolic reflector transforms an incoming plane wave traveling along the axis into a spherical wave converging toward the focus. Conversely, a spherical wave generated by a point source placed in the focus is reflected into a plane wave propagating as a collimated beam along the axis.
Parabolic reflectors are used to collect energy from a distant source (for example sound waves or incoming star light) and bring it to a common focal point, thus correcting spherical aberration found in simpler spherical reflectors. Since the principles of reflection are reversible, parabolic reflectors can also be used to project energy of a source at its focus outward in a parallel beam, used in devices such as spotlights and car headlights.
Usage examples of "parabolic reflector".
Faraday explains that the NSA has a parabolic reflector inside the extinct Palawai volcano on the island of Lanai that is eighty meters in diameter.
Faraday explains thatthe NSA has a parabolic reflector inside the extinct Palawai volcano onthe island of Lanai that is eighty meters in diameter.
The giant parabolic reflector lay almost on its back, pointing a little east of the zenith—.
I picked out the stunner by its parabolic reflector, the cameras, and a toroidal coil that had to be part of the floater device.
The parabolic reflector leaked a little, so that his arm was numb to the elbow when he was finished.
One day, as he was waiting with his colleagues for a bomb known as Scorpion to be detonated, he noticed a discarded parabolic reflector lying on the ground.
It is designed like a parabolic reflector, so that it is nearly impossible to make glass spray out of it.
I found a stun gun with a big parabolic reflector, big enough to knock out a one-gulp, too big for a pocket.
Firstly, it is reflected and given direction by the cut-away skull bone, acting as a parabolic reflector.