Photonics Dictionary

A device that enlarges and strengthens a signal's output without significantly distorting its original waveshape. There are amplifiers for acoustical, optical and electronic signals.

A cascade amplifier that uses a common cathode resistor to couple energy from stage to stage.

A device used to create a light output that exceeds light input, the energy being provided by an electric field. It consists of a photoconductive layer with an electroluminescent layer between plates...

An optical fiber that can be used to amplify an optical input. Erbium rare earth ions are added to the fiber core material as a dopant in typical levels of a few hundred parts per million. The fiber...

An amplifying device that returns a portion of its output to its input as a means of modifying the device's performance.

An electro-optic system using, in general form, an evacuated glass envelope with a semitransparent photocathode at one end and a luminescent screen at the other for the amplification of an optical...

A device that serves to emit light of the same wavelength as the input light, only with an increase in intensity. It may be a solid-state device comprising photoconductive and luminescent layers...

Amplifier in which the input and output pulse heights are directly proportional.

A lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or interference. It is particularly useful in fields such as spectroscopy,...

A solid-state panel of the photoconductor-electroluminescent type. The photoconductive layer, sensitive to x-rays, is coated by the electroluminescent, which gives the visible image. When the former...

A type of multiple-pass amplifier in which no optical leakage is allowed until a finite number of passes has occurred; at this time the entire cavity output is released as one pulse.

A wideband amplifier used to process video or picture information.

A broadband filter is an electronic or electromagnetic device designed to pass a range of frequencies or signals within a specified bandwidth while attenuating or rejecting signals outside of that...

In a series of amplifiers, amplification by each of the preceding output.

A CCD image sensor, or charge-coupled device image sensor, is a type of electronic device used to convert optical images into electronic signals. It is a key component in digital cameras, camcorders,...

Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies without causing damage to the amplifying medium. The method was first...

A CMOS camera refers to an imaging device that employs a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to capture digital images. CMOS cameras have become ubiquitous due to their low...

A device containing two photocells behind deep red and blue filters to measure color temperatures. The amplifier gain is adjusted to give a set reading of one photocell; the reading of the other is a...

A dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) refers to a type of optical fiber designed to minimize the effects of chromatic dispersion, which is the phenomenon where different wavelengths of light travel at...

Double-clad fiber (DCF) is a specialized optical fiber that features two concentric cladding layers surrounding a core. The design of double-clad fibers allows them to be used in various...

An EMCCD (electron-multiplying charge-coupled device) camera is a type of scientific camera specifically designed for low-light imaging applications that require high sensitivity and fast readout...

A CCD device in which a solid-state electron multiplying register has been added to the end of the normal serial register. The electron multiplying register allows weak signals to be multiplied...

A fiber laser is a type of laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth ions such as erbium, ytterbium, or neodymium. Fiber lasers generate coherent light through...

Also known as amplification. 1. The increase in a signal that is transmitted from one point to another through an amplifier. A material that exhibits gain rather than absorption, at certain...

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a compound made up of gallium (Ga) and nitrogen (N). It is a wide-bandgap semiconductor material that exhibits unique electrical and optical properties. Gallium nitride is...

Temporal jitter at a signal's receiver when amplified noise causes frequency shifts, as with a soliton traveling through an erbium-doped fiber amplifier.

Harmonic generation refers to a nonlinear optical process in which incoming photons interact with a material and produce new photons at integer multiples of the frequency of the incoming photons....

A device where each pixel in the detector array is mated with a preamplifier on a single silicon chip, providing sensing and signal processing capabilities.

In semiconductor physics and materials science, the term "III-V materials" refers to compounds composed of elements from group III and group V of the periodic table. More specifically, these...

Any of the photoelectric and thermal detectors, spectrographs and monochromators, thermographs, scanners, amplifier tubes, snooperscopes and related equipment developed for use with infrared...

A spectrophotometer having a prism or, more frequently, a grating for the study and recording of infrared spectra. It usually consists of a radiation source such as a Nernst glower, a monochromator,...

The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an applied...

A thermionic tube that has a velocity-modulated electron stream and that may be used as a microwave amplifier or oscillator.

Any noise or current fluctuation that prevents precise measurement of the signal current. Both dark current and signal current have random fluctuations that affect the arrival of pulses. Thermal...

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or integrity of the transmitted information. This type of noise is particularly...

Optical switching refers to the process of controlling the routing or transmission of optical signals within a network using various techniques to selectively switch or redirect optical paths. This...

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light and its interactions with different materials. The term "optoelectronics" is...