Photonics Dictionary

Powder used to produce a smooth optical surface through abrasive polishing. Compounds may produce a surface finish specified for each.

A supporting member used to hold optical parts during grinding and polishing. It also describes the assemblage of optical parts on the supporting member; e.g., a block of lenses or block of prisms.

Pitch, wax, resin or other cement suitable for holding optical parts to a spindle during grinding and polishing processes.

1. A group of optical fibers that are fused and then treated to produce a vacuum-tight optical fiber cone or plate. 2. An artificial crystal in its raw state, after generation but prior to cutting or...

Custom lapping and polishing services involve specialized processes used to improve the surface finish and dimensional accuracy of components to meet specific requirements or standards. These...

A custom optic refers to an optical component that is designed, manufactured, and tailored to meet specific requirements or applications. These optics can include lenses, mirrors, prisms, filters, or...

A tool made by imbedding small particles of diamond in the working edge. In the optical field, the most commonly used diamond tools are glass saws, cup-shaped tools for curve generators, and diamond...

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce high-quality optical surfaces and components with extremely tight tolerances. It...

Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and mirrors, from materials such as metals, plastics, and crystalline materials...

A hole filled with dirt such as a polishing abrasive and located in an optical surface. See dig; scratch.

An optical resonator in which feedback is accomplished by two parallel planes. In diode lasers, the planes are obtained by cleaving, polishing, etching, etc.

The process whereby the shape of an optical surface is altered by polishing.

The process whereby a rotating wheel carries grains of an abrasive, suspended in a vehicle, across the surface of the optical glass to be ground. The workpieces are forced downward by pneumatic...

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric shapes, such as spheres or paraboloids. Unlike conventional mirrors, which...

A lens blank is a piece of optical material in a raw, unfinished state, typically in the form of a disk or block, from which lenses are eventually fabricated. Lens blanks are made from various...

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a precision optics polishing technique used for shaping and finishing optical surfaces to achieve extremely high levels of smoothness and accuracy. It is...

An accurate metal prism or plane parallel plate that is cemented to an optical element and remains with it during a series of grinding or polishing processes. The metal element contains threaded...

A small optical polishing machine intended for polishing the surface of a metal specimen before etching for examination under a microscope. Although shaping and polishing machines for this purpose...

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...

A molded lens is an optical lens manufactured using a molding process, typically involving the shaping of a material, such as glass or plastic, into the desired lens shape. This process involves...

A casting consisting of an optical material molded into the desired geometry for grinding, polishing or, in the case of optical waveguides, drawing to the final optical-mechanical specifications.

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...

Optical manufacturing tools and machinery encompass a wide range of equipment, instruments, and systems used in the fabrication, shaping, finishing, and testing of optical components and systems....

The optical process, following grinding, that puts a highly finished, smooth and apparently amorphous surface on a lens or a mirror.

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...

The cutting of pitch tooling surfaces by an optical technician to permit polishing compounds to flow across the surface of the tool.

A defect on a polished optical surface whose length is many times its width. Block reek is a chainlike scratch formed in polishing. A runner cut is a curved scratch caused by grinding. A sleek is a...

The name of the mixture of liquid and grinding or polishing compounds used in processing optical materials.