Photonics Dictionary

A method of cleaning and drying coated optical components. The cooled parts are placed in a container above a boiling solvent, whose vapors condense on the parts. When the parts reach the temperature...

A process by which high-quality fiber optics are made. See axial vapor-phase deposition.

See inside vapor-phase oxidation; outside vapor-phase oxidation.

A vapor-phase oxidation process for fabricating graded-index optical fibers. It differs from outside vapor phase deposition in that the preform is developed radially rather than longitudinally. An...

A lamp that emits light as the result of the passage of an electrical current through ionized cesium vapor.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment refers to a class of specialized apparatus used in the process of chemical vapor deposition, a technique for depositing thin films of various materials onto...

Chemical vapor deposition is a process of applying dopants to a glass bait by flame reactions of gaseous compounds. See also outside vapor-phase oxidation; inside vapor-phase oxidation.

A method of thin-film deposition in which electrons boiled off a heated cathode are used to melt the coating material. If a multipocket crucible is used, many materials can be processed at the same...

A sensor generally used for infrared imaging. It consists of two chambers separated by a thin, blackened membrane. An infrared image is formed on the membrane by a lens or mirror and produces...

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...

A method that produces low-loss optical fibers. A glass tube rotates while reactants pass through the tube and heat is externally applied by a burner that traverses the tube. The oxidizable vapors in...

In the context of thin film deposition processes such as evaporation or sputtering, masks are used to selectively deposit material onto substrates, creating patterns or structures with precise...

A lamp that has mercury in a tube or bulb that has first been evacuated. The electricity travels through the vapor between the electrodes and produces a blue-green light that is rich in ultraviolet...

Devices in which the lasing medium is a vapor of metal atoms or ions, sometimes mixed with another gas. Metal vapor lasers use a variety of metal types to generate a variety of laser lines for...

A method of growing single crystals in which atoms and molecules from gaseous organic compounds interact and form a layer on a single-crystal substrate.

Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) is a technique used in the fabrication of optical fibers. It is a specialized form of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) that is employed to produce...

A process for the production of optical fibers. A glass bait is rotated in a traversing flame of a reaction burner. Reactants passed through the flame react with oxygen at the high temperatures to...

The use of a plasma to induce the formation of oxides in the production of graded-index optical fibers.

Reactive evaporation refers to a process in thin-film deposition where a material is deposited onto a substrate through evaporation, and chemical reactions take place during or after the evaporation...

A high-brightness, short-duration source in which low-pressure gas initiates the discharge to vaporize material from the tube wall, leading to a high-pressure discharge of ionized wall material.

The process of applying a film of aluminum to a surface, usually by evaporation in a vacuum.

The electric arc that is a particular discharge between two electrodes in a gas or vapor which is characterized by high cathode densities and a low voltage drop.

In present usage, especially for spectroscopic identification, an arc between electrodes that serves as a radiation source. Gas tubes that contain mercury vapor and mixtures of helium, neon and argon...

The spectrum of the light produced by vaporizing an element in an electric arc.

A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that forms at temperatures close to absolute zero. It is named after Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein, who independently predicted the...

A mercury vapor discharge lamp that has cadmium added to emit radiation in the red region as a complement to the mercury vapor's blue and green radiation.

An electric discharge between two carbon rods that are touched together to start the arc and then separated slightly. The light comes from the heated carbon vapor. High-intensity arcs use cored...

In analysis, the carbon layer that is evaporation-deposited on a specimen to protect and ready it for study by electron microscopy.

Light produced when a metal is bombarded with high-velocity electrons causing small amounts of the metal to vaporize and emit radiation. Also known as electronoluminescence.

A photocathode that exhibits maximum sensitivity in the blue and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. The sensitivity is obtained by the exposure of a thin layer of antimony to cesium vapor at an...

Cold atoms refer to atoms that have been cooled to extremely low temperatures, typically in the microkelvin (µK) to nanokelvin (nK) range, close to absolute zero (0 Kelvin or -273.15°C). At...

A dichroic coating, also known as a dichroic filter or dichroic mirror, is an optical coating designed to selectively transmit or reflect certain wavelengths of light while simultaneously absorbing...

A vacuum pump in which heated oil or another substance is forced through jets as a vapor that collides with gas molecules and carries them away from the chamber being evacuated.

A lamp that uses the transmission of an electric current through a gas or vapor to produce illumination. Neon, mercury and argon lamps are examples of electric-discharge lamps.