Photonics Dictionary

Optical elements that have been coated with one or more layers of dielectric, or metallic material. These coatings serve to reduce or increase reflection from the surface, and to protect the surfaces...

A glass substrate that has its rear surface coated with a reflective coating. Also known as a back-surface mirror.

A shallow, fine-pitch diffraction grating having a precise dielectric overcoating that experimentally has absorbed wavelength-specific incident light that is polarized in the P-plane.

Optical surface damage due to abrasive rubbing. Abrasion damage affects are less than the thickness of the optical coating layers. Surface investigation may be achieved by aluminization of the coated...

An optical lens manufactured to control the transmission of light over a specified wavelength range. Low absorption lenses are produced which are anti-reflection coated for UV, VIS and IR wavelengths...

A cathode-ray tube having a screen that is coated on the back with a thin film of aluminum, which serves to intensify the propagation of light.

An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to minimize unwanted reflections and increase the transmission of light...

An astronomical mirror, also known as a telescope mirror or primary mirror, is a key component of a reflecting telescope. It serves as the primary optical element responsible for gathering and...

A beamsplitter is an optical device for dividing a beam into two or more separate beams. A simple beamsplitter may be a very thin sheet of glass inserted in the beam at an angle to divert a portion...

An enclosure whose walls are coated to absorb completely all radiation striking them.

A compound prism composed of two 30° prisms, one of which is partially coated with a suitable opaque metal of high reflecting power. The prisms are cemented with Canada balsam so that the coated...

1. The negative electrode of a device in an electrical circuit. 2. The positive electrode of a primary cell or storage battery. 3. The primary source of electrons in an electron tube, serving as the...

A phototube having a cesium-coated cathode that has its greatest sensitivity in the infrared region.

A photoelectric detector consisting of a glass tube internally coated with a low conductance material. Voltage applied along the tube causes photoemission from the photocathode at the end of the tube...

Film that produces color negatives or transparencies by the use of three emulsions, one coated over the other, that are each sensitive to one of the colors red, blue or green.

A corner cube, also known as a corner reflector or retroreflector prism, is a type of optical device used to reflect light or electromagnetic waves back towards their source with minimal deviation in...

A mirror coated to reflect cold (white) light while transmitting hot (infrared) energy.

A diffraction grating is an optical component consisting of a surface with a periodic structure of equally spaced, parallel grooves or rulings. These rulings act as an array of closely spaced slits...

Type of solid-state display tube in which the readout surface is coated with a material that changes color when positively or negatively charged.

An electron-beam lithography (EBL) system is a sophisticated nanofabrication tool used in the semiconductor industry and research laboratories to pattern extremely fine features with sub-micrometer...

The recording of the information contained in a modulated electron beam onto photographic or silicon resin-coated materials. A direct recording method involves the passage of the recording medium...

An electrowetting display (EWD) is a type of electronic display technology that utilizes the principles of electrowetting to control the behavior of colored oil droplets on a hydrophobic surface....

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a laboratory technique used to detect and measure the presence of specific substances, such as antibodies, antigens, proteins, hormones, or other...

Coating carried out in a sealed chamber evacuated by a mechanical pump in series with an oil diffusion pump to a pressure less than 10-4 mm of mercury, measured by a vacuum gauge. At such a low...

An X-Y electrically addressable series of arrays with individual electron emitters bombarding a phosphor-coated transparent plate. The phosphor is induced into luminescence, similar to traditional...

A fluorescent screen refers to a phosphorescent or fluorescent-coated surface that emits visible light when exposed to other forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as x-rays or ultraviolet light....

An early form of photographic media consisting of glass plates coated with an emulsion.

Describing a surface that is coated with a film of metal of such thickness that it transmits about one-half of the incident light and reflects about one-half.

An infrared lens is an optical component specifically designed and optimized for transmitting, focusing, or manipulating infrared (IR) radiation within the infrared spectrum. These lenses are used in...

An optical component coated to reflect infrared radiation. Gold, silver and aluminum are typical coating materials.

A hollow sphere coated internally with a white diffusing material and provided with openings for incident beam, specimen and detector used for measuring the diffuse reflectance or transmittance of...

A surgical device used to deliver laser light. Specifically,contact tips are made with artificially grown sapphire which is precisely cut to an orientation which permits efficient light transmission....

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a fine layer of hydrophobic powder, such as silica nanoparticles or Teflon....

Lithography is a key process used in microfabrication and semiconductor manufacturing to create intricate patterns on the surface of substrates, typically silicon wafers. It involves the transfer of...

A 30-60-90° spectrograph prism that is coated on the surface opposite the 60° angle with a reflecting film.

A plastic disc coated with ferric oxide or other films on which data can be stored by selectively magnetizing areas of the surface.

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle detection, imaging, spectroscopy, and night vision technology. It consists of a...

A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly curved piece of glass or other substrate that serves as the starting point for...

The observation and measurement of the flatness of a mirror surface by contacting an optical flat with the mirror. The process generally is done before coating so as not to damage the delicate coated...

In physics, momentum transfer is the amount of momentum transferred from one particle to another during particle collision or interaction. This phenomenon can be utilized in various areas of physics...

One surface of a nonconducting plate that is coated with many minute particles of photoemissive material that are insulated from one another.

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nanolithography technique used for fabricating nanoscale patterns on a substrate. It is a high-resolution, high-throughput process that involves the mechanical...

A strip or annulus of glass coated with a semitransparent material such as inconel. The coating thickness, and as a result its transmission, varies linearly as a function of distance. The neutral...