Type

Browse by Letter

Zurich Instruments AG - Lock-In Amplifiers 4/24 MR

54 terms

Photonics Dictionary

Clear All Filters x aluminum x
discontinuously reinforced aluminum

A composite derived from aluminum alloy powder and silicon carbide, used as an optical substrate in air- and spacecraft applications. It is as light as aluminum but exhibits greater strength and...

gallium aluminum arsenide

A crystalline semiconductor alloy used as the light confinement layer in both single- and double-heterostructure diode lasers.

Er:YAG laser

An Er:YAG laser is a type of solid-state laser that uses a crystal made of erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:Y3Al5O12) as the gain medium. The erbium (Er) ions are introduced into the crystal...

GaAlAs laser

A GaAlAs laser is a type of semiconductor laser diode that emits light in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is composed of layers of gallium, aluminum, and arsenic, hence...

Nd:YAG laser

Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain medium. This type of laser emits light at a wavelength of 1064 nm in the...

YAG crystal

A YAG crystal refers to a solid-state crystal made of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), which is a synthetic crystalline material. YAG crystals are known for their exceptional optical properties,...

aluminized cathode-ray tube

A cathode-ray tube having a screen that is coated on the back with a thin film of aluminum, which serves to intensify the propagation of light.

aluminizing

The process of applying a film of aluminum to a surface, usually by evaporation in a vacuum.

armor

A protective jacket added to an optical fiber to facilitate use in harsh environments. Armor usually consists of steel or aluminum and is placed between the fiber and its outer jacket.

astronomical mirror

An astronomical mirror, also known as a telescope mirror or primary mirror, is a key component of a reflecting telescope. It serves as the primary optical element responsible for gathering and...

crystal laser -> solid-state laser

A solid-state laser is a type of laser that uses a solid gain medium (as opposed to a liquid or gas) to produce coherent light. The term "solid-state" refers to the fact that the active medium, where...

diode-pumped solid-state laser

A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into a solid gain medium, resulting in the generation of coherent light. This...

DRA

discontinuously reinforced aluminum

Fabry-Perot mirror

A highly reflective mirror that is usually flat on one surface and curved on the other, and that has silver, gold or aluminum deposited on glass, providing about 99 percent reflection.

far-infrared grating

A grating with very coarse rulings to match the long wavelengths in the far-infrared region. In the most efficient ruling method, grooves are cut in plane, solid aluminum alloy blanks.

fluorozirconate

A highly stable heavy-metal fluoride glass made from the fluorides of zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum and sodium.

free-abrasive machining

The process whereby a rotating wheel carries grains of an abrasive, suspended in a vehicle, across the surface of the optical glass to be ground. The workpieces are forced downward by pneumatic...

GADS-CAG

gadolinium scandium aluminum garnet

galvanoluminescence

The emission of radiant energy produced by the passage of an electrical current through an appropriate electrolyte in which an electrode, made of certain metals such as aluminum or tantalum, has been...

germanium crystal

Germanium crystal refers to a crystalline form of the element germanium (Ge), which is a metalloid and semiconductor commonly used in various electronic and optical applications. Germanium crystals...

grinding tool

A tool of cast iron or another suitable medium used with a slurry of silicon carbide, aluminum oxide or emery for grinding optical surfaces.

holmium laser

Holmium lasers are a type of medical laser that utilizes holmium-doped crystals as the gain medium. The term holmium laser is often associated with a specific type of laser used in urology for...

honeycomb table

An optical test table made up of two outer layers or "skins'' bonded to either side of a honeycomblike core, usually of aluminum or steel. It results in equal quality with greatly reduced weight...

III-V material

In semiconductor physics and materials science, the term "III-V materials" refers to compounds composed of elements from group III and group V of the periodic table. More specifically, these...

infrared light-emitting diode

An infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED) is a semiconductor device that emits infrared light when an electric current passes through it. Similar to standard LEDs that emit visible light, IR LEDs are...

infrared reflector

An optical component coated to reflect infrared radiation. Gold, silver and aluminum are typical coating materials.

laser crystal

A laser crystal, also known as an active medium or gain medium, is a solid-state material used in the construction of lasers. The primary function of the laser crystal is to amplify light by...

laser peening

Laser peening is a surface enhancement technique used to improve the mechanical properties of materials, particularly metals. It involves the use of high-energy laser pulses to generate shockwaves on...

laser powder bed fusion

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a type of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that uses a high-power laser to selectively fuse or melt layers of powdered material to build up a...

mirror

A smooth, highly polished surface, for reflecting light, that may be plane or curved if wanting to focus and or magnify the image formed by the mirror. The actual reflecting surface is usually a thin...

mirror blank

A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly curved piece of glass or other substrate that serves as the starting point for...

mirror substrate -> mirror blank

monocoil sheathing

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...

monoscope cathode-ray tube

A character generation CRT that functions on the principle of secondary emission. The target holds a set of aluminum characters, select characters being scanned by the electron beam. The secondary...

Nd:YAG -> neodymium:YAG

Literally, neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet. A cylindrical rod of yttrium-aluminum-garnet doped with neodymium that is the active medium of the Nd:YAG laser, a highly serviceable solid-state device...

neodymium:YAG

optical disc

A rigid medium, generally a polycarbonate substrate coated with a reflective aluminum layer, that stores information (such as audio, video or data) as digital bits in the form of variations in the...

optical materials

Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the fabrication of optical components and systems. These materials are characterized by...

optical table

An optical table, also known as an optical bench or an optical breadboard, is a specialized platform used in optics laboratories for mounting and aligning optical components. These tables provide a...

quantum wire

A narrow channel created by cleaving a crystal made of alternating layers of gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide, and adding additional layers on the cleaved end face, at right angles to...

Rockwell hardness

Rockwell hardness (Rc) refers to a method for measuring the hardness of a material, primarily metals, using an indentation test. It is named after the Rockwell scale, which was developed by Stanley...

sapphire -> sapphire

Sapphire refers to a crystalline form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is used in various optical and photonic applications due to its exceptional optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Sapphire...

sapphire crystal

Sapphire crystal refers to a transparent, single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) known as corundum. It is one of the hardest known materials, second only to diamond on the Mohs scale of...

sapphire optical fiber

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is highly transparent in the infrared region of the electromagnetic...

sapphire window

A sapphire window refers to a transparent optical component made from sapphire crystal. Sapphire is a single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is highly prized for its exceptional optical...

sapphire

scintillation crystal

A scintillation crystal, also known simply as a scintillator, is a material that emits light when it interacts with ionizing radiation such as gamma rays, x-rays, or charged particles. The emitted...

selective laser melting

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that belongs to the powder bed fusion category. SLM is primarily used for metal additive manufacturing, where...

solid-state laser

SPIN

Acronym for self-aligned polysilicon interconnect N-channel. A metal-gate process that uses aluminum for the metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) gate electrode as well as for signal and power supply...

Photonics Dictionary