Photonics Dictionary

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical, electrical, or mechanical properties. These coatings are composed of thin...

Thin-film deposition equipment refers to machinery and tools used in the process of depositing thin layers of material onto a substrate surface. This technique is commonly employed in various...

Time-lapse optical coherence tomography (OCT) refers to a medical imaging technique that captures a series of sequential OCT scans over time, allowing for the dynamic observation and monitoring of...

A time-to-amplitude converter (TAC) is an electronic circuit that converts a time interval between two events into an amplitude or voltage signal. TACs are commonly used in various scientific and...

Tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) is a powerful technique that combines Raman spectroscopy with the enhanced spatial resolution provided by a sharp metallic or dielectric tip. TERS allows...

A Ti:sapphire laser is a type of solid-state laser that utilizes a titanium-doped sapphire crystal as the gain medium. The name Ti:sapphire comes from the combination of titanium (Ti) as the dopant...

Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is an advanced fluorescence microscopy technique that leverages the principle of total internal reflection to selectively illuminate and image...

A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a powerful microscopy technique that uses a beam of electrons to create high-resolution images of extremely thin samples. In a TEM, electrons are...

A precision lens designed to convert the plane wavefront output of an interferometer to a spherical wavefront for the testing of curved (spherical) surfaces.

A magnetic-deflection mass spectrometer that has an electrostatic field placed perpendicularly to its magnetic field, permitting both spatial mass dispersion and perfect double focusing in the plane...

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by the presence of suspended particles. These particles can include sediment, silt, clay, plankton, and other microscopic...

A testing device that provides a contour map of the emergent wavefront for the observer in terms of the given wavelength of the light.

Twyman-Green interferometry is a technique used in optics to measure the flatness or surface profile of optical components with high precision. It is based on the principles of interference of light...

Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) refers to a specific range of ultraviolet radiation with shorter wavelengths than those of visible light. UV-C radiation spans the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths...

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...

Ultraviolet reflectance refers to the ability of a material or surface to reflect UV light. Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than those of visible light,...

A spectrophotometer designed for use in the 200- to 380-nm range of the electromagnetic spectrum and equipped with a calibrated scale to determine wavelength.

Also known as UV-VIS spectrometer, a device that measures the absorbance, reflectance or transmittance of light in the ultraviolet or visible wavelengths absorbed, reflected or transmitted. Commonly...

An Abbe condenser in which the upper lens element is fixed. The lower lens may focus the illumination between the elements so that it emerges from the fixed lens as a large-diameter parallel bundle....

A device that measures the back focal length or vertex power of a lens.

A small television tube originally developed for closed-circuit television. It is about 1 inch in diameter and 5 inches long. Its controls are relatively simple and can be operated by unskilled...

A pair of stars (double star) that can be seen separately with a telescope, generally by setting a filar micrometer for the separation and position angle. Observation of visual binaries improves with...

Volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) are specialized optical elements that consist of periodic variations in refractive index throughout the volume of a transparent material, typically a photosensitive glass...

In the context of electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, a wafer refers to a thin, flat disk or substrate made of a semiconducting material, usually crystalline silicon. Wafers serve as the...

A photometer that uses a wedge, marked to show its reduction of flux density, to make two light sources equal in intensity for comparison of luminous intensities. This is accomplished by the gradual...

An instrument that uses a crystal to diffract x-rays for the measurement of the intensities of the diffracted rays.

Used for high-resolution surface study with subnanometer resolution. XRIM uses interfacial phase contrast with application of hard x-rays over elementary surface structures availing the observation...

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...