Photonics Dictionary

Ion-beam sputtering (IBS) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used for depositing thin films onto substrates. It involves bombarding a target material with a beam of energetic ions,...

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 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...

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

Method of preserving the measured color value and color information as it is translated from differing devices. For example the output of a television display may be measured to have an identical...

A group of frequencies or wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum which exhibits resonance or energy contributions near and in relation to a peak resonance wavelength.

An absorption peak refers to a sharp increase or spike in the absorption of electromagnetic radiation at a particular wavelength or energy level. It is a distinctive feature in the absorption...

An accelerometer is a sensor or transducer that measures the rate of change of velocity of an object, or in simpler terms, it measures acceleration. Accelerometers are widely used in various...

A curve expressing an optical fiber's total transmitted power as a function of its launch angle at the input.

The present radiation level within a laser or electromagnetic radiation operating area.

Electromagnetic radiation present upon the open aperture of the source within an operating environment.

An achromat, in the context of optics, refers to a type of lens or lens system designed to reduce chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon where different colors of light...

The optical reconstruction of image information contained in a sound field. First the diffraction pattern, formed by an object irradiated by ultrasonic rays, interferes with a mutually coherent...

The angular change of an incident beam due to vibrational induced refractive index changes within a crystal.

Discipline within optical physics that addresses sound vibration, phonon effects and their influencing behavior within optical elements and systems.

The change in refractive index that occurs as acoustic vibrations are transmitted through an optical material.The index changes are periodic in relation to the frequency, spatial orientation, and...

Glass designed to absorb most infrared and ultraviolet radiation while transmitting most of the visible region.

The transport of molecules in a cell which requires the use of a cell's internal energy. The energy used in the cell may be ATP as a primary transport or an electrochemical gradient give as the...

1. In optics, the housing, usually cylindrical, that contains the lenses and iris diaphragm of a camera. 2. In fiber optics, a device for coupling two connectors.

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional objects by adding material layer by layer. This is in contrast to...

Method for studying absorption coefficients of low-loss materials, in which a sample is allowed to come to thermal equilibrium with its surrounding blackened enclosure. The sample is irradiated with...

A television format with enhanced vertical resolution (400 lines as compared with the standard 330) that, unlike high-definition television, can operate on existing bandwidths and with existing...

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) refers to a set of safety features and technologies designed to assist drivers in the driving process and enhance overall vehicle safety. These systems use...

A visible laser beam generated coaxially with an infrared or other invisible laser beam to aid in its positioning.

Diffuse light emitted by the atmosphere due to the excitation of particles of atmospheric gas. These excited particles release light that is visible from Earth as a faint luminescence in the night...

A precisely defined series of steps that describes how a computer performs a task.

An assembly of fibers in which the coordinates of each fiber are the same at the two ends of the bundle. Also called coherent bundle.

Also known as all-glass fiber. A fiber with both a silica core and a silica cladding, regardless of the presence of a polymer overcoat or buffer.

Left- and right-hand circularly polarized beams that are produced at different velocities by passing plane-polarized light through an optical substance. When recombined, they exhibit different phases...

Substances that exhibit the characteristics of both acids and bases and are capable of both P- and N-type conductivity.

A type of fiber optic sensor that detects alteration in position, distance, pressure, liquid level or temperature by transmitting light across a gap to a reflector; a change in the light returned to...

A glass or metal measurement tool having a precisely calibrated angle between two of its faces.

An angstrom, symbolized by the Ångström or Å, is a unit of length used to express atomic and molecular dimensions. It is equal to 0.1 nanometers or 1 × 10-10 meters. The...

The angular spectrum approach is a mathematical and computational technique used in the field of optics to analyze and simulate the propagation of optical waves, particularly in the context of wave...

A light source that emits an uneven distribution of radiant energy through the visible range.

Anisotropic is a term used to describe a material or substance that exhibits different properties or behaviors in different directions. In other words, the physical or mechanical characteristics of...

Anisotropy refers to the property of exhibiting different values or characteristics when measured in different directions. In various fields, including physics, materials science, and geology,...

A type of solar eclipse that occurs when the sun is at perihelion and the moon is at apogee. Because the apparent size of the moon is insufficient to cover the sun, the outer edge of the solar disc...

Characteristic of an absorber in the IR region, whereby absorption increases as a direct function of the intensity of the incident, continuous radiation.

A device that prevents electrons from a saturated pixel in a CCD imaging device from spilling into an adjacent pixel. The antiblooming gate drains a pixel of any charge in excess of its full-well...

The elimination of magnetic moments and decrease in magnetic susceptibility with a decrease in temperature due to the equal power of atomic magnets.

An antigen is any substance that is capable of triggering an immune response in an organism. Antigens are typically proteins or large polysaccharides, although other types of molecules can also act...

The amplitude, polarization and phase contained in the field distribution over the aperture.

An aptamer is a short, single-stranded DNA or RNA molecule that can bind to a specific target molecule with high affinity and specificity. Aptamers are often referred to as chemical antibodies due to...