Photonics Dictionary

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...

Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry to obtain IR spectra of samples. It is particularly useful for analyzing solid and liquid samples without...

A technique whereby two laser beams, one at an excitation wavelength and the second at a wavelength that produces Stokes Raman scattering, interact coherently in a sample, producing a strong...

A small mass spectrometer, with a limited mass range, equipped with an analyzer to generate a cycloidal-path beam of the sample.

Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy, also known as Nomarski interference contrast microscopy, is an optical imaging technique used in microscopy to enhance the contrast of transparent...

A spectrophotometer in which the beam emitted by the radiation source is split into beams that travel through the sample and a reference cell and are subsequently recombined to fall on the detector....

A device utilizing an electron beam for the observation and recording of submicroscopic samples with the aid of photographic emulsions or other short-wavelength sensors. With the electron microscope,...

An analytical technique used to determine the nature of extremely small samples by forming the x-ray spectrum of the samples through excitation by a finely focused electron beam.

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...

An electron-gun system is an assembly used to generate and control a focused beam of electrons. Electron guns find applications in various fields, including cathode ray tubes (CRTs), electron...

A microscope in which laser light is delivered through single-mode fibers that replace the pinhole usually used in confocal microscopy. When the Gaussian mode is imaged from the fiber output onto the...

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used in biology and medicine for the quantitative analysis of the physical and chemical characteristics of cells and particles suspended in a fluid. The method...

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....

A fiber optic device that uses a HeNe laser, beamsplitter, monochromator and photomultiplier to detect trace levels of chemicals and viruses in samples inside or outside the body.

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid, or gas sample. It operates based...

A holographic grating is a type of diffraction grating that is produced using holographic recording techniques. It consists of a periodic structure of alternating transparent and opaque regions,...

Holographic tomography is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and tomography to provide three-dimensional reconstructions of transparent or weakly scattering objects with high...

Heat measurement method in which the sample is made part of the interferometer and the temperature increase is determined by measuring the change in optical pathlength through the material. By moving...

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is a spectroscopic technique that involves using a laser to excite molecules or atoms, leading to their emission of fluorescence light. This technique is widely used...

Lensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and reconstructs microscopic images without the use of traditional lenses. Instead of...

An interference microscope that uses a light beam originating from a low-coherence light source. The sample is placed in one interferometer arm, and the other arm provides a reference beam. The...

Technique in which the polarization rotation of light, and its relationship to the magnetic field strength can be analyzed and related to various experimental parameters when passed through a...

An instrument that produces an intense, tightly focused beam of ions to stimulate emissions from a minute section of a sample undergoing spectroscopic analysis. The ion beams found in microprobes are...

Microscopy is a scientific technique that involves the use of microscopes to observe and study objects that are too small to be seen with the naked eye. Microscopes are instruments that magnify and...

In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such as mirrors, lenses, stages, or other elements within an optical setup. The...

Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors are used to rapidly interchange the intensity between a reference beam and...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics and biomedical research to obtain high-resolution, cross-sectional images of biological tissues. An OCT imaging...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in medical and scientific fields to capture high-resolution, cross-sectional images of biological tissues. It provides...

A technique used to generate a phase shift between reference and sample light beams. The phase shift can be performed through the use of a mirror that is moved along the optic axis by a piezoelectric...

A device that is used to determine the index of refraction of a gas or liquid through the interference patterns formed by two beams of light, one of which has been transmitted by the sample. A single...

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials characterization, and various industrial applications. Unlike traditional optical...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the surfaces of solid specimens. SEM achieves this by...

A transmission interference microscope that produces interference patterns of a sample by using birefringent plates that split a polarized beam of light into ordinary and extraordinary rays, then...

Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is an optical microscopy technique that belongs to the category of quantitative phase imaging methods. It is designed to provide high-resolution,...

A spectrophotometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the intensity of light at various wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically in the visible and ultraviolet regions. It is...

STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence microscopy that surpasses the diffraction limit, enabling the visualization of...

Superresolution refers to the enhancement or improvement of the spatial resolution beyond the conventional limits imposed by the diffraction of light. In the context of imaging, it is a set of...

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...

The series of processes used to identify and evaluate crystal structure by using crystalline solids to diffract x-rays. In the Laue method, radiation of a wide range of wavelengths is transmitted by...

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...