Photonics Dictionary

Discipline within optical physics that addresses sound vibration, phonon effects and their influencing behavior within optical elements and systems.

The angular change of an incident beam due to vibrational induced refractive index changes within a crystal.

A system designed with a laser as a light source and a means for producing sound waves extending beyond 100 MHz to deflect light efficiently.

Light diffracted by a solid (usually quartz in crystal or fused form) traversed by acoustic waves. If the ultrasonic wavelength is larger than the diameter of the light beam, the diffraction orders...

The altering of lightwaves by acoustic waves in a solid medium.

A device that varies the amplitude and phase of a light beam; e.g., from a laser or by sound waves. Also known as a Bragg cell.

An acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is a device that utilizes the interaction between sound waves and light waves to modulate or control the intensity, frequency, phase, or direction of laser beams. It...

A bulk crystalline optic which permits the propagation of light through a volume of index altered material. The variation in refractive index along the material volume is due to a piezoelectric...

A hyperspectral imaging camera is a sophisticated imaging device capable of capturing and processing data across a wide range of wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum, typically from...

A device that is designed to modulate a beam of light, usually from a laser source, by acting upon the beam directly. The three general types of devices operate in an acousto-optic, electro-optic or...

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through or be blocked in a manner analogous to an electronic gate controlling the...

A crystal-based device that combines and adjusts the intensities of multiple wavelengths of laser light in order to obtain the desired output wavelength.

Also known as RAMP microscopy, random access multiphoton microscopy is a microscopic technique that uses multiple acousto-optic modulators to enable faster and addressable scanning of 3D cellular...

That characteristic which makes a weapon system less visible to radar, optical, acousto-optic, infrared and other military sensors.

Characteristic of an acousto-optic modulator, defined by the overlap integral of the incident light and sound field profiles; similar to a convolution operator.