Photonics Dictionary: F

An optical resonator in which feedback is accomplished by two parallel planes. In diode lasers, the planes are obtained by cleaving, polishing, etching, etc.

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set parallel to one another by spacers so that lightwaves may bounce back and forth...

A device in which slab geometry internally compensates for thermal-optic distortion; the solid host material -- glass or Nd:YAG -- is in the form of a rectangular slab with plane parallel faces. The...

Describes incident radiation propagating parallel to an externally applied magnetic field in magneto-optical experimentation.

In microscopy, the measured distance between theoretical parallel lines that are drawn tangent to the particle profile and perpendicular to the ocular scale.

A plate made up of thousands of glass fibers arranged parallel to one another, i.e., in a coherent bundle, and fused together so that it is hermetically tight. It transfers an image from one plane to...

The focal length of a lens is the distance between the lens's optical center (or principal point) and the image sensor or film when the lens is focused at infinity. In simple terms, it is the...

That point on the optical axis of a lens, to which an incident bundle of parallel light rays will converge.

A coil used to focus an electron beam by the generation of a magnetic field parallel to the beam.

A hologram formed by the recording of a plane object situated in the focal plane of a lens so that each object gives rise to a parallel beam of light incident on the plate. A collimated reference...

The multiple beam form of Brewster's fringes formed when the two plane-parallel plates have high-reflecting surfaces.