photorefractiveadj.
/ˌfəʊtəʊrᵻˈfraktɪv/, U.S. /ˈˌfoʊdoʊrəˈfræktɪv/, /ˈˌfoʊdoʊriˈfræktɪv/ 1. Zoology and Ecology. = photorefractory adj. rare.
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1968 Ecology 49 220 The first of these not exhaustive possibilities suggests that a photorefractive process (perhaps in the hypothalamus or pituitary) is terminated by the production of testosterone.
2. Materials Science. Characterized by or involving photorefraction (photorefraction n. 2).
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1974 Appl. Physics Lett. 25 155 By multiphoton absorption we have obtained greatly increased photorefractive sensitivity in doped and pure LiNbO3.
1983 Science 4 Mar. 1122 Nonlinear Optics and Lasers... Four-wave coupling, oscillation, and pumpless phase conjugation in photo-refractive media.
1990 Sci. Amer. Oct. 38/1 Beam fanning and other photorefractive effects have been exploited in such applications as..phase-conjugate mirrors, novelty filters and edge enhancement of images.
2003 Nature 10 Apr. 557/3 The current frontrunners [for reusable holographic materials] are photorefractive crystals—materials in which light redistributes electrons.
3. Ophthalmology.
a. Designating, relating to, or using photorefraction (photorefraction n. 1).
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1978 Science 20 Oct. 331/2 Part of an extensive photorefractive study of accommodative and refractive errors of infants from birth to 1 year of age.
1987 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 229 467 Photorefractive measurements of the refractive state, in water, of the Humboldt penguin indicate that it can accommodate sufficiently to make up the loss of the refractive power of the cornea.
1992 Ophthalmic & Physiol. Optics. 12 147 Photorefractive methods allow rapid measures of the refractive and accommodative state of infants and young children.
b. Designating or relating to surgical procedures in which a laser is used to reshape the cornea and correct refractive errors such as myopia or astigmatism; esp. in photorefractive keratectomy.
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1986 J. Marshall et al. in Lasers in Ophthalmol. 1 44/1 The introduction of photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) as a clinical procedure is obviously premature at this time.
1994 CLAO Jrnl. 20 123 This difference also demonstrates that the line of sight should represent the primary reference axis for videokeratography and photorefractive surgery rather than the vertex normal or the visual axis.
2002 Guardian 18 July (Online section) 10/2 This is the laser behind the boom in photorefractive keratectomy, which has improved the eyesight of millions of patients.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1968