Photonics Dictionary

A power loss caused by transverse or lateral deviation from optimum alignment of source to optical waveguide, waveguide to waveguide, or waveguide to detector.

A prism or prism assembly that serves to displace the instrument's optical axis.

Spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) is a technique that extends traditional Raman spectroscopy by incorporating measurements at different spatial offsets. This method allows for the selective...

A technique used to measure the mode-field diameter of an optical fiber by scanning one fiber past another at a distance of five microns or less.

The analysis of fluorescence emitted by discrete atoms, in flames, that have absorbed radiation from an external source. It is used to study the physical and chemical processes that arise from...

A femtosecond laser is a type of laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of femtoseconds, where one femtosecond is equal to 10-15 seconds. These lasers are capable of...

A device used to scan, with a small, intensely bright spot, portions of a picture surface and to transform the original picture into a series of electrical signals. In optical character recognition,...

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the transmission of data using modulated beams of light through free space (air or a...

The frequency space between consecutive transmission peaks in the transmission spectrum of a Fabry-Perot interferometer or etalon. The free-spectral range is inversely proportional to the distance...

A technique used in holography that involves the mixing of lasers of different wavelengths to produce a beam of shorter wavelength.

A pump-probe technique whereby a single wavelength source may be used in order to excite a given sample to determine electronic transitions.

A 2D profile sensor is a type of sensor used in various industrial and technological applications to measure and capture detailed information about the shape, contour, or profile of an object in two...

A 3D profile sensor, also known as a 3D profiling sensor or 3D depth sensor, is a technology that is used to capture and measure the three-dimensional shape or profile of an object or a scene. These...

3D Laser Triangulation - A technology that allows sensors to probe the surroundings. Laser triangulation systems have an ideal operating point, or the standoff distance, where its reflected spot is...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that builds three-dimensional objects layer by layer from a digital model. This technology allows the creation of...

A two-lens arrangement intended to image light into a microscope slide sample. The primary aberrations present are red and blue rings observed around the image focus.

A dispersion relation defined in order to value the reciprocal amount of dispersion. It is defined as the refractivity over the difference in index values of the shortest and longest visible...

Image of a uniform source through the sample of a microscope image system. Light from the sample plane is reimaged by the objective into the image plane.

A form of roof prism used to invert an image. The prism has faces cut normal to the optical axis; therefore, the prism may be placed within the optical path of a system and invert the image without...

Device which measures the index of refraction of glass as well as the dispersion over visible range.

A reflecting prism that inverts the image. The image is reflected four times internally and emitted laterally. The prism is cut normal to the optical axis while the image is internally reflected from...

A departure from ideal paraxial imaging behavior. The distortion of an optical field wavefront as it is propagated through the elements of an optical system. The field distortion is due to the...