optical depth

noun

The natural logarithm of the ratio of amount of radiation that hits an object to the amount of radiation that emerges from that object on the other side.

Similar
optical thickness

Meanings

nounoptical depth (countable and uncountable, plural optical depths)

plural optical depths

  1. countableuncountablenatural sciencesThe natural logarithm of the ratio of amount of radiation that hits an object to the amount of radiation that emerges from that object on the other side.
    1 more example

    The previous attempt of direct observational detection, undertaken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during the Mars equatorial plane crossing in May 2001, set an upper limit on the normal optical depth to #92;sim 3#92;times 10#123;-8#125; for the Phobos ring and #92;sim 10#123;-7#125; for the Deimos torus.

    2006 August, Alexander V. Krivov, Artem G. Feofilov, Valeri V. Dikarev, “Search for the putative dust belts of Mars: The late 2007 opportunity”, in Planetary and Space Science, volume 54, numbers 9–10, →DOI, page 871

    Synonyms: optical thickness

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe natural logarithm of the ratio of amount of radiation that hits an object to the amount of radiation that emerges from that object on the other side.

Similar
optical thickness
Cite this entry
APA

optical depth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/optical%20depth

MLA

“optical depth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/optical%20depth. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “optical depth,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/optical%20depth.

Source: optical depth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.