Photonics Dictionary

An optical cable that is connector terminated. Generally, an optical cable that has been terminated by a manufacturer and is ready for installation.

The physical limit of an optical fiber or cable to withstand an applied force or weight perpendicular to the axis of the fiber.

A device used to delay transmission of a signal for functions such as memory loops, sequential processing or built-in testing. The delay can be achieved by coiling long lengths of coaxial cable or...

A fiber optic cable assembly refers to a complete unit consisting of optical fibers, connectors, protective jackets, and other components that are assembled together to facilitate the transmission of...

A package for an optical fiber or fibers that may include cladding, buffering, strength members and an outer jacket.

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic communications to transmit and receive data over optical fibers. It integrates both a...

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the transmission of data using modulated beams of light through free space (air or a...

A cable assembly containing both optical fibers and copper electrical conductors in the same jacket.

The outer material that surrounds and protects the buffered and unbuffered fibers in an optical cable.

In an interlaced scanning electro-optical system such as television, the system resolution will be less than the number of active scan lines because of the random phase nature of the object being...

In optical fiber, bends that are larger than microbends (see microbending), being visible. Generally they are caused by bending the cable beyond the specified bend radius. Light escaping at the bends...

A cable backbone used to interconnect local area networks at various sites (corporate offices and factories, for example) in a given region. Optical fiber is well-suited to the transmission of both...

In optical fiber, sharp but microscopic curvatures that create local axial displacements of a few microns and spatial wavelength displacements of a few millimeters. One frequent cause is longitudinal...

Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (such as light) by spherical particles. Unlike Rayleigh scattering, which is...

A modulator is a device or component that modifies a carrier signal in order to encode information for transmission over a communication channel. The process of modulating involves varying one or...

A type of tubing used to protect optical fiber cables, consisting of a wire spiral of aluminum, galvanized steel or stainless steel, encased in a polyvinyl chloride or silicon rubber coating. These...

A fiber optic connector or splice that mates two multifiber cables, optically aligning all of the individual fibers simultaneously.

The combination of two or more signals for transmission along a single wire, path or carrier. In most optical communication systems this is referred to as wavelength division multiplexing, in which...

Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light signals over long distances with minimal loss of signal quality. It serves as a...

A configuration or device mounted at the end of a fiber or cable that is intended to prevent reflection.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a non-invasive optical technique used to detect changes in blood volume in tissues. It measures variations in light absorption caused by the pulsatile nature of blood...

The point spread function (PSF) is a fundamental concept in imaging that describes the response of an imaging system to a point source or point object. It characterizes how a single point of light is...

A flexible fiber cable with a small diameter that transports light from the excitation laser to the target. Used in Raman spectroscopy, the probe is capable of obtaining high-quality data at high...

Calculation of peak and average transmission power at a given point along an optical fiber or cable.

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

A strand of aramid yarn, steel or fiberglass in an optical cable intended to prevent bending or stretching that would damage the transport medium.

A two-fiber optical cable containing two single-fiber cables that are connected by a strip of jacket and that can easily be separated from one another for the installation of optical connectors.