Edgepedia

Time-of-flight detector

A time-of-flight (TOF) detector is a particle detector that identifies charged particles by measuring flight time over a known distance, combined with momentum, to find their mass.

Time-of-flight image sensor

A time-of-flight image sensor measures distance to every point in a scene by emitting light and timing its reflection, producing depth video from one viewpoint.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) is an analytical technique that measures ion mass-to-charge ratios by timing their flight down a fixed path, first demonstrated in 1948.

Time-of-flight neutron diffraction

Time-of-flight neutron diffraction is a crystallographic technique in which pulsed polychromatic neutrons determine lattice spacings from arrival times, recording full diffraction patterns used for residual stress, texture, and structure analysis.

Time-of-flight positron emission tomography

Time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that uses photon arrival-time differences to localize emissions, improving image quality, especially in large patients.

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) is a surface analysis technique that sputters ions from a sample's top layers and measures them by flight time.

Time-optimal path parameterization

Time-optimal path parameterization (TOPP) is the robotics problem of minimizing traversal time along a fixed geometric path, solved by numerical integration, convex optimization, and reachability analysis.

Time-optimal trajectory planning

Time-optimal trajectory planning, also called time-optimal path parameterization (TOPP), finds the fastest way for a robot to traverse a fixed path under its velocity, acceleration, and torque limits.

Time-resolved fluorescence

Time-resolved fluorescence is an analytical technique measuring how fluorescence decays after a short excitation pulse, typically using time-correlated single-photon counting, with imaging applications such as FLIM.

Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy

Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy is a spectroscopy technique that measures how emission anisotropy decays after pulsed excitation, revealing rotational dynamics and size of fluorophores and labeled macromolecules.

Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy

Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy measures how a sample's fluorescence intensity decays after a brief light pulse, revealing nanosecond-scale processes and supporting sensing and in vivo medical diagnosis.

Time-resolved imaging of ultrafast demagnetization in rare-earth alloys with femtosecond XUV pulses

Time-resolved imaging of ultrafast demagnetization is a pump-probe technique in which femtosecond XUV pulses from tabletop high-harmonic sources record sub-picosecond magnetization dynamics with element specificity.

Time-resolved microwave conductivity

Time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) is a contactless technique that measures the transient photoconductance of semiconductor films after a laser pulse, widely used to screen photovoltaic materials such as perovskites and organic blends.

Time-resolved particle image velocimetry

Time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) is a form of particle image velocimetry that captures rapid sequences of velocity fields, resolving unsteady flow dynamics rather than isolated snapshots.

Time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy

Time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy, or tr-PEEM, combines pump–probe laser spectroscopy with a photoemission electron microscope, imaging surface electronic dynamics with nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution.

Time-resolved photoluminescence

Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) is a contactless, non-destructive spectroscopic technique that measures the decay of a sample's light emission after a short excitation pulse, yielding excited-state lifetimes.

Time-resolved resonant X-ray scattering of orbital order dynamics

Time-resolved resonant X-ray scattering of orbital order dynamics (tr-RXS, tr-RSXS) is a pump-probe technique in which X-ray pulses track how orbital order in a material melts, recovers, or rearranges within femtoseconds to nanoseconds.

Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography

Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) is a technique that combines serial femtosecond crystallography at an X-ray free-electron laser with pump–probe triggering, producing femtosecond-resolution molecular movies and first demonstrated at the LCLS in 2009.

Time-resolved spectroscopy

Time-resolved spectroscopy is a family of techniques that measure how a sample's optical response, most often fluorescence, changes over time after excitation by a short pulse of light.

Time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy (TR-XAS) is a pump–probe technique tracking oxidation state, spin state, and local geometry on femtosecond-to-millisecond timescales, first demonstrated in 1984 on carbon monoxide recombination with myoglobin.

Time-resolved X-ray crystallography

Time-resolved X-ray crystallography is a family of methods that films proteins at work, capturing three-dimensional structural snapshots at controlled delays after a reaction is triggered.

Time-resolved X-ray magnetic imaging

Time-resolved X-ray magnetic imaging is a family of microscopy methods that records how nanoscale magnetization changes over time, using X-ray dichroism for magnetic contrast and pump-probe timing.

Time-resolved X-ray solution scattering

Time-resolved X-ray solution scattering (TRXSS), also called time-resolved X-ray liquidography (TRXL), follows structural changes of molecules in solution using an optical laser pump and delayed X-ray probe pulses.

Time-scale calculus

Time-scale calculus is a mathematical framework unifying continuous and discrete analysis, introduced by Stefan Hilger in 1988, studying dynamic equations on closed subsets of the real line.

Sep 17, 2026

Time-Sensitive Networking

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a set of IEEE 802.1 standards that add deterministic communication with bounded latency to standard Ethernet, used in industrial automation and automotive networks.

Time-series photometry

Time-series photometry is the astronomical technique of repeatedly measuring an object's brightness to build a light curve, revealing transiting exoplanets, eclipsing binaries, and pulsating stars.

Sep 17, 2026

Time-sharing

Time-sharing is an operating system technique that gives each running program the processor for short intervals in turn, letting one expensive mainframe serve many terminal users at once.