Photonics Dictionary

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are substances or compounds used to enhance the thermal conductivity between two surfaces in contact. These materials are primarily employed in electronic devices,...

A term referring to various processes for forming visible images outside of a camera to be photographed on ordinary film. Unlike regular infrared photography, thermal photography is an indirect...

A refrigeration method based on the Peltier effect. When an electric current passes through a thermocouple of two dissimilar metals joined in two places, heat is absorbed at the cold junction and...

Also known as analog thermogram. The resultant photograph, illustrating, in tones ranging from black to white, the spatial relationship of the infrared radiation temperatures of the different details...

Thermography is a technique that involves the use of an infrared imaging device, called a thermal camera or infrared camera, to detect and visualize the infrared radiation emitted by objects. This...

The production of an image on a magnetic film that is exposed to infrared radiation and heated to a point above Curie temperature in regions of the image. The image is contacted with paramagnetic...

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) refers to a technology that converts heat energy into electricity using the principles of thermophotovoltaics. In a thermophotovoltaic system, thermal radiation from a heat...

A type of recording material, usually a photodielectric polymer, offering in situ development mechanisms because of its density storage capabilities, high diffraction efficiencies and excellent noise...

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...

Referring to compound semiconductor materials combining one element that has three valence electrons with one or more that have five. Examples include gallium arsenide and indium antimonide. (III-V).

A laser having a material, such as ruby, that has an energy state structure of three levels: the ground state (1) wherein excitation applied to the material raises ions in the material into the...

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...

In visual perception, the smallest difference in illumination perceived on the average.

In laser damage testing, the exposure of many sites of a sample to different intensities of laser irradiation to discover the point at which the laser induces failure of the material.

A method of scanning in which a frame transfer device produces a continuous video image of a moving object by means of a stack of linear arrays aligned with and synchronized to the movement of the...

The process or device by which more than one signal can be sent over a single channel by using different time intervals for the different signals. This may be done by varying the pulse duration,...

Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is a technique used in photon counting applications, particularly in the field of experimental physics, biophysics, and fluorescence lifetime imaging...

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 laser fitted with up to eight optical fibers that transmit the energy to different workstations in turn.

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...

A variation of tomography in which several photographs of a patient are taken at different angles, and back-projection of the resulting radiographs produces light distribution in a chosen...

Topological photonics is a branch of physics and optics that explores the application of topological concepts to the behavior of light in photonic systems. Drawing inspiration from the field of...

Topology is a branch of mathematics that focuses on the properties of space that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, crumpling, and bending, but not tearing or gluing....

A surface that is swept out by revolving a circle about an axis that lies in the plane of the circle but that does not intersect its center. The result is a surface having different curvatures in...

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

The element in a charge-coupled device that receives the charge packets transferred from the line of sensor sites and then delivers the image data to the device's output circuitry.

Multiple scattering method used in biological analysis in which approximations yield simple, explicit solutions, at least for slab geometry. The approximations are usually differential equations...

In the context of optics and lasers, a transverse mode refers to a specific spatial pattern of the electric field within the cross-section of a laser beam. These modes represent the different...

Abbreviated TEA CO2 laser. A gas laser that provides shorter pulses and higher peak powers than conventional CO2 lasers. The electrical excitation pulse occurs transversely to the optical axis...

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...

The size of the field of view in the object space of an optical system as differentiated from that in the image space (apparent field).

An observed effect of the ability of certain atomic particles to pass through a barrier that they cannot pass over because of the required energy level, based on a law of quantum mechanics that...

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 defect of natural quartz crystals in which both the right and left quartz are in the same crystal.

This results from the simultaneous absorption of two photons, each having half the energy needed for excitation and requiring a high spatial and temporal concentration of photons. The ensuing...

Two-photon polymerization (TPP) is a technique used in additive manufacturing, specifically in the field of 3D printing. It involves using a focused laser to polymerize a photosensitive material in a...

Referring to compound semiconductor materials combining one element with two valence electrons and one or more with six. Examples include beryllium oxide and zinc selenide. (II-VI).

The form taken by scattered light, as a result of the Tyndall effect.

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...