Photonics Dictionary

A device used in the sputtering of thin films, in which a magnet system on the back of the cathode deflects the electrons, lengthening the ionization path. The accelerated ions transfer their...

A type of flat panel display made up of a layer of gas between two glass plates. The glass is coated with parallel conductors that form cells which, when energized, produce a gas discharge that makes...

Plasmon ion-assisted deposition (PIAD) is a technique used in thin-film deposition processes, particularly in the production of optical coatings. This method combines two key processes: plasmon...

The direct cladding used for fused silica cores to create large numerical aperture fibers and used as overcoats to glass-clad fibers to reduce microbend loss and increase mechanical protection.

A device attached to the end of an alignment telescope that detects and calculates a plane mirror's rotation axis that is perpendicular to the line of sight. The device is adaptable for evaluation of...

A technique for depositing a material coating on metal, ceramic, semiconductor or polymer substrates. The interaction of laser energy with the target creates a plume of ablated material that is...

A process that employs heat to remove polyimide plastic coatings from silica optical fibers and capillary tubing.

A solid-state panel of the photoconductor-electroluminescent type. The photoconductive layer, sensitive to x-rays, is coated by the electroluminescent, which gives the visible image. When the former...

Reactive evaporation refers to a process in thin-film deposition where a material is deposited onto a substrate through evaporation, and chemical reactions take place during or after the evaporation...

A lamp used in projection that is made with a reflector built into the bulb, normally by coating a portion of its interior with a reflective material to ensure the reflector's optimum position in...

A measurement in optical thin-film coating processes whereby the gases remaining in the vacuum chamber after coating are characterized by mass spectroscopy.

An interferometric method for describing the surface shape of large coated or uncoated optical flats. The procedure uses a commercially available small-aperture phase-shifting interferometer for...

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The scanning takes place inside the television tube as electrons, guided by...

A gelatinous fluid that can be used as a porous thin-film coating for optical components, including laser beam collimators, or as a protective coating for glass and crystalline materials.

Of evaporative coatings, a condition resulting when small chunks of material fly from the hot crucible onto the substrate surface and adhere there.

A vacuum deposition method in which the coating material (target) is removed from the surface of the coating source (cathode) by ion bombardment and deposited upon the substrates.

Sputtering equipment is machinery used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering. Sputtering is a method of depositing thin films of material onto a substrate surface...

A sputtering target is a solid material used in the process of physical vapor deposition (PVD), specifically sputtering. Sputtering targets are typically made of metals, metal alloys, or compounds...

A projection printer that is capable of reproducing a multiplicity of images from a master transparency on a single support coated with a photosensitive layer by indexing the receiving material from...

Structural color refers to coloration in materials that is not caused by pigments or dyes but is instead a result of the physical structure of the material. In structural color, the interaction of...

A substrate refers to a material or surface upon which another material or process is applied or deposited. In various fields, such as electronics, biology, chemistry, and manufacturing, the term...

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...

Imaging materials that generally consist of a polyester base, a transparent electrically conductive layer and an organic photoconductive top coating. When charged and exposed to light, an...

A form of liquid crystal widely used in displays, achieved by sandwiching a liquid crystal material between two substrates whose inside surfaces have been prepared with a special coating that aligns...

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,...

Equipment dependent on the effects of a vacuum. The principal applications in optics are in the coating of lenses and substrates and the fabrication of multilayer interference filters.

A method of cleaning and drying coated optical components. The cooled parts are placed in a container above a boiling solvent, whose vapors condense on the parts. When the parts reach the temperature...

A film or plate that is usually coated on both sides with a very fast emulsion that is sensitive to x-rays, and used to record x-ray diffraction patterns photographically.