Photonics Dictionary

An eyepiece having a rotating index or cross wire linked to an external 360° scale to allow measuring of angles in an image.

High harmonic generation (HHG) refers to a nonlinear optical process in which intense laser light interacts with a gaseous medium, typically an atom or a molecule, to produce harmonics of the...

A photoreceptor material used in solar cells and in drums for laser printers and high-speed copiers because of its high quantum efficiency over a wide spectral band, high data-rate capability and...

Also referred to as image visibility, the contrast of an image is the variation in the intensity of an image formed by an optical system, where the image pixels are defined on a gray scale scheme of...

Generally, a rotatable table with scales marked in degrees. The fiducial marking also may be a vernier scale. The same scheme is applied to linear movement. Such devices are often applied to...

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) refers to a proposed method of generating electricity by harnessing the energy released from the fusion of light atomic nuclei, typically isotopes of hydrogen, through a...

An infrared camera, also known as a thermal imaging camera or IR camera, is a device that captures and visualizes the infrared radiation emitted by objects, revealing temperature variations across...

Integrated photonics is a field of study and technology that involves the integration of optical components, such as lasers, modulators, detectors, and waveguides, on a single chip or substrate. The...

The SI unit of temperature equal to 1°C. See absolute temperature scale.

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 lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a miniaturized device that integrates various laboratory functions and capabilities onto a single, compact chip. Also known as microfluidic devices, lab-on-a-chip systems are...

High power laser ablation device that by pulsed operation produces holes of controllable dimension on the scale of microns. Laser drill applications include turbine manufacturing and surface metal...

The variation of the electronically detected signal with respect to the scaled version of the classical optical signal incident on the photomultiplier tube.

In photonics, a lattice refers to a periodic arrangement of optical elements or structures, often on a microscopic or nanoscopic scale. These optical lattices can be created using various techniques...

A Laurent polarimeter is an instrument used in optics for measuring the rotation of plane-polarized light caused by optically active substances. Optical rotation, also known as optical activity, is a...

In physics, the law of reversibility is often associated with the concept of reversibility in thermodynamics. The law asserts that any process that occurs in a closed system can, in theory, be...

A linear image sensor is a type of solid-state electronic device used to capture and convert light into electrical signals. Unlike area image sensors (such as CCD or CMOS sensors), which capture an...

A linear positioning stage, also known as a linear stage or translation stage, is a precision mechanical device used to accurately move and position objects along a linear axis. These stages are...

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a fine layer of hydrophobic powder, such as silica nanoparticles or Teflon....

Lithography is a key process used in microfabrication and semiconductor manufacturing to create intricate patterns on the surface of substrates, typically silicon wafers. It involves the transfer of...

The luminance portion of a composite video signal, i.e., the portion of the signal that corresponds to the brightness of the image apart from any color value, giving a monochrome, or gray scale,...

In astronomy, the relative brightness of a celestial body. Originally a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 represented the brightest and 6 the faintest visible night sky objects. This scale has been expanded...

Also known as an eyepiece micrometer. A microscope eyepiece that has a finely divided scale ruled or photographed on a section of transparent glass, and located in the focal plane. The dimensions of...

In the field of optics and imaging, a mesoscope refers to an optical instrument that is designed to observe and capture images at intermediate scales, falling between microscopic and macroscopic...

Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication, and utilization of artificial structures called metasurfaces to control and...

A metalens, short for "metasurface lens," is a type of optical lens that uses nanostructured materials to manipulate light at a subwavelength scale. Unlike traditional lenses made of glass or other...

Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or meta-elements, arranged in a specific pattern to manipulate the propagation of...

Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement, including the development of measurement standards, techniques, and...

Micro-optical coherence tomography (micro-OCT) is an imaging technique that is an adaptation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to achieve high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging of biological...

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...

Micro-robotics refers to the field of robotics that involves the design, development, and application of miniature robotic systems, often at the microscale. These robots, commonly referred to as...

The formation of transistors, diodes, capacitors, resistors and other electronic elements directly on a flake of silicon by etching and selective absorption of doping elements. A circuit diagram...

Two essential pieces of equipment used in connection with the microfilming process: a camera capable of producing, on film, large-scale reductions of almost any matter, printed, painted or...

Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the manipulation and control of very small fluid volumes, typically in the microliter (10-6 liters) to picoliter (10-12 liters) range, within...

A hologram having an image scale that is orders of magnitude smaller than microfiche images.

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each individual lens in the array is referred to as a microlens. These...

A photograph reduced to the microscopic scale and stored on a microfilm as seen with microfiches for the purpose of storing and archiving information.

The technology of manipulating light on a micro scale. In optical communications, this is usually accomplished using two or more materials with significantly different indicies of refraction. In most...

Microscopy is a scientific technique that involves the use of microscopes to observe and study objects that are too small to be seen with the naked eye. Microscopes are instruments that magnify and...

A mirror mount is a mechanical device used to secure and precisely position mirrors in optical systems. Mirrors are essential components in optical setups for reflecting light or redirecting laser...

Material hardness scale that is used to characterize the scratch resistance of various materials. This surface hardness evaluation is determined by scratching the surface to be tested with 10...

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 molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can convert light energy into mechanical motion at the molecular level. These...

In physics, momentum transfer is the amount of momentum transferred from one particle to another during particle collision or interaction. This phenomenon can be utilized in various areas of physics...

A set of algorithms used to study the structural and spatial characteristics of objects in a digitized image for applications including feature extraction and image segmentation in machine vision and...

Numerical scale of chroma devised by A.H. Munsell and exhibited in the Munsell Book of Color.

Numerical scale of hue devised by A.H. Munsell and exhibited in the Munsell Book of Color.