Photonics Dictionary: F

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 fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in orientation or rotation. It operates based on the principle of the Sagnac effect,...

A fiber optic sensor is a device that uses optical fibers to detect and measure physical, chemical, biological, or environmental parameters. Unlike traditional electrical sensors, fiber optic sensors...

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...

A grating used as a reflectance filter, particularly in the far-infrared. Small plane gratings, blazed for the wavelength of the unwanted radiation, are produced for this purpose.

Small clefts or fissures that penetrate the glass surface in the form of short-hooked crescents. Fire cracks result from a sudden excessive change in temperature.

In various fields such as fluid dynamics, microfluidics, and biotechnology, a flow channel refers to a defined pathway through which a fluid (liquid or gas) flows. The channel can be of various...

Flow chemistry, also known as continuous-flow chemistry, is a chemical manufacturing process where reactions take place in a continuous stream of fluids (liquids or gases) rather than in batch...

A device used to scan, with a small, intensely bright spot, portions of a picture surface and to transform the original picture into a series of electrical signals. In optical character recognition,...

The Foucault test is performed by moving a knife edge laterally into the image of a small point source. The eye, or a camera, is placed immediately behind the knife edge, and the exit pupil of the...

A laser skin-resurfacing method that creates microscopic thermal wounds referred to as microscopic treatment zones (MTZs), which are surrounded by uninjured tissue. The MTZs are usually arranged in a...

1. Also known as near-field diffraction. The field of radiation sent through an aperture in an absorbing screen at large distances as compared with the wavelength and the dimensions of the aperture,...

In a lens, the square of the radius of its aperture divided by the product of the focal length and the wavelength. It measures the importance of diffraction in the image formed by the lens. A small...

The length of the small space within which the atmosphere exhibits coherence, particularly in relation to an observer on Earth viewing celestial objects. The turbulence of the Earth's atmosphere...

Fusion ignition refers to the point in a controlled nuclear fusion reaction where the energy released by the fusion reactions becomes self-sustaining, leading to a continuous release of energy...