Photonics Dictionary

An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a specific function within an optical system. These components may include lenses,...

Optical cements and adhesives are specialized materials used in the assembly and bonding of optical components in optical systems. These materials are designed to provide secure and durable bonds...

An optical channel monitor (OCM) is a device used in optical communication systems to monitor and analyze the performance of individual channels within a wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM)...

Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light signals over long distances with minimal loss of signal quality. It serves as a...

Optical glass refers to a type of glass specifically engineered and manufactured for use in optical components and systems, such as lenses, prisms, mirrors, and filters. Optical glass is...

An instrument for determining the temperature of a hot object by examining the color spectrum of the visible light it gives off and comparing it to the known temperature and wavelength spectrum of...

An optical table, also known as an optical bench or an optical breadboard, is a specialized platform used in optics laboratories for mounting and aligning optical components. These tables provide a...

Optofluidics is an interdisciplinary field that combines principles from optics and fluidics to create devices and systems that integrate the manipulation of light and fluids. This field focuses on...

A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...

Material used to integrate photoconductors into electro-optical systems. It should provide low resistance to the flow of charge, avoid recombination of the charge carriers, inject only majority...

Photoelastic equipment and supplies refer to instruments and materials used in photoelasticity, a technique used to analyze stress distribution and behavior in materials. photoelastic equipment...

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is a compact and integrated device that incorporates multiple photonic components and functions on a single chip, similar to the way electronic integrated circuits...

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free electrons in a metal or semiconductor at the nanoscale. Specifically,...

Pluggable optics, also known as pluggable transceivers or optical transceivers, are modular devices used in optical communication systems to transmit and receive data over optical fibers. They are...

In passive optical components, loss that varies as the polarization state of the propagating wave changes. Expressed as the difference between the maximum and minimum loss in decibels.

A method of determining prism power at any point on a lens. Prism power equals the product of the dioptric power and the distance, in centimeters, from the optical center.

The minimum amount of strength characteristic of an optical fiber, as determined by proof stressing; expressed in thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch.

A film applied to a coated or uncoated optical surface primarily for protecting this surface from mechanical abrasion, from chemical corrosion, or from both. For example, a thin layer of silicon...

Pyramid error in optics refers to an aberration in the shape of an optical surface, particularly in the context of mirrors. It is a type of distortion that can occur when the surface of a mirror...

Q-switched operation, or q-switching, is a technique used in lasers to produce short and intense pulses of light. The term "Q" in q-switching stands for "quality factor," which is a measure of the...

1. In optics, the ability of a lens system to reproduce the points, lines and surfaces in an object as separate entities in the image. 2. The minimum adjustment increment effectively achievable by a...

Sapphire refers to a crystalline form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is used in various optical and photonic applications due to its exceptional optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Sapphire...

Seidel aberrations refer to a set of monochromatic aberrations in optical systems, named after the German mathematician and physicist Ludwig von Seidel. These aberrations describe deviations from...

An advanced technique that allows the detection of one molecule within a crystal or a cell through optical excitation. Single-molecule spectroscopy (SMS) can image at subwavelength scales, down to a...

A crystal, glass, or quartz slicing and cutting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used in the manufacturing process to precisely cut and slice materials such as crystals, glass, and quartz...

Spherical aberration is an optical aberration that occurs when light rays passing through a lens or curved optical surface do not converge or diverge to a single focal point. Instead of focusing to a...

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is an advanced optical imaging technique used in microscopy to enhance the resolution of images beyond the diffraction limit imposed by traditional light...

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is typically a curved, transparent piece of glass or other optical material...

Three-photon microscopy is an advanced imaging technique that belongs to the family of multi-photon microscopy methods. It is used in biological and medical research to capture high-resolution images...

1. In visual perception, the minimum value of stimulus that can be perceived on the average. 2. In optical detection systems, that signal level at which the probability of detection is 50 percent.

A lens having one or more toric surfaces. A toric surface is one having a maximum power in one meridian and a minimum power in a perpendicular meridian. In ophthalmic optics, toric lenses are used to...

A transducer is a device or component that converts one form of energy into another. It is commonly used in various fields, including electronics, acoustics, and instrumentation, to facilitate the...

The method for measuring the index profile of an optical fiber or preform by illuminating it coherently and transversely to its axis, and examining the far-field radiation pattern.

An ultrafast pulsed laser is a type of laser that emits extremely short pulses of light with durations typically on the order of femtoseconds (10-15 seconds) or picoseconds (10-12 seconds). These...

Ultraviolet (UV) fiber optics refers to optical fibers that are designed and optimized for the transmission of ultraviolet light, which is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than...

In optics, the term vacuum typically refers to a space devoid of matter, including air and other gases. However, in practical terms, achieving a perfect vacuum, where there is absolutely no matter...

A technique for determining the nonlinear optical properties of a sample material by moving the sample through a focused laser beam and measuring changes in the beam's characteristics, such as...

In a single-mode optical fiber, the wavelength that causes material dispersion and waveguide dispersion to cancel each other. In a multimode fiber, loose term for the wavelength at which there is a...

Zerodur is a type of glass ceramic material known for its exceptional thermal and mechanical properties, particularly its low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) close to zero. It was developed by...