Photonics Dictionary

Designed for the function of optical wavefront analysis. Shack-Hartmann camera aberration sensors use a lens array to image the wavefront to the CCD image plane. Live feedback may be applied through...

1. A geometrical arrangement of two or more light beams for use in laser shows, object detection or other applications requiring arrayed multiple beams. 2. A mathematical 2 X 2 or 3 X 3 matrix for...

A Dammann grating is a type of diffractive optical element (DOE) used to create an array of equally spaced, uniform-intensity spots or beams. It is named after its inventor, Dr. Herbert Dammann. The...

A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Each mirror element in the film can be...

A diffraction grating is an optical component consisting of a surface with a periodic structure of equally spaced, parallel grooves or rulings. These rulings act as an array of closely spaced slits...

A laser having a rod that is a stacked array of discs immersed in a transparent flowing coolant fluid. In this way, the cooling rate is increased, the temperature gradients are basically parallel to...

An imaging process, similar to specific Doppler mapping radar techniques, that utilizes a laser, an optical imaging system, and a line array of photodetectors and spectrum analyzers. The laser...

A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to transmit light from a source to a spectrometer unit, where the light is...

Photon flow created by imaging of light into a detector array; IPD is the electrical signal used by the image processor in a laser radar angular tracking system.

The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an applied...

A group of single emitter laser diodes, usually arranged vertically or horizontally with respect to each other. The power output of the array increases in direct proportion to the number of single...

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level. These components are miniaturized optical elements that manipulate light at a...

An array of refractive microlenses that are round, square and hexagonal and as small as 15 µm. They are used for Hartmann testing, laser diode collimation and other applications that require...

Also known as gatling gun laser. A system that has an array of lasers sharing a common central axis on a rotating Fabry plate to achieve increased laser firing rates by sequential Q-switching.

A monolithic laser diode incorporating multiple coupled emitters.

The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is an optical device used for measuring the wavefront aberrations of an optical system. It is widely used in adaptive optics systems to correct distortions and...

An array of active optical devices (modulators, laser diodes and/or detectors), each of whose electrical inputs or outputs are directly connected to electronic logic circuits, which also are a part...

A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light in two dimensions, typically in the form of an array. SLMs are...

A memory system composed of a stack of holographic plates, a mode-locked laser and a rapid detector array. Ultrashort laser pulses are used to extract information from the stack. In this way, storage...

Array used in coded-aperture imaging experiments with two-beam CO2 lasers that provide an artifact-free process, faithful reproduction of the true image, and more photon collection than the pinhole...