Type

Browse by Letter

Meadowlark Optics - Wave Plates 6/24 MR 2024

ProPhotonix Ltd. (US) - High Performance Laser Modules 9/24 HP

726 terms

Photonics Dictionary

Clear All Filters x avi x
pump laser

A pump laser is a type of laser used to provide the necessary energy to the gain medium of another laser or laser system, initiating the process of stimulated emission and producing laser light. The...

Q-switch

A device used to rapidly change the Q of an optical resonator. It is used in the optical resonator of a laser to prevent lasing action until a high level of inversion (optical gain and energy...

q-switched operation

Q-switched operation, or q-switching, is a technique used in lasers to produce short and intense pulses of light. The term "Q" in q-switching stands for "quality factor," which is a measure of the...

Q-switched pulse

A laser output that occurs when the cavity resonator Q is first kept very low, using rotating mirrors or saturable absorbers, so that the population inversion achieved is greater than usual. A high...

Q-switching

Q-switching, short for "quenching-switching," is a technique used in lasers to generate short, high-energy pulses of light. The term "Q" refers to the quality factor of the laser cavity, which...

quantum

The term quantum refers to the fundamental unit or discrete amount of a physical quantity involved in interactions at the atomic and subatomic scales. It originates from quantum theory, a branch of...

quantum dots

A quantum dot is a nanoscale semiconductor structure, typically composed of materials like cadmium selenide or indium arsenide, that exhibits unique quantum mechanical properties. These properties...

quantum sensing

Quantum sensing refers to a class of sensing technologies that leverage principles from quantum mechanics to enhance the precision and sensitivity of measurements. Traditional sensors operate based...

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...

quantum-ehanced metrology

Quantum-enhanced metrology refers to the use of quantum mechanics principles and techniques to enhance the precision and sensitivity of measurements in metrology—the science of measurement....

quarter-wave plate

A plate made of a double-refracting crystal having such a density that a phase difference of one-quarter cycle is formed between the ordinary and extraordinary elements of light passing through.

quartz light source

A lamp with a quartz envelope that transmits radiation generally rich in the ultraviolet.

quartz plate

A crystalline-quartz plate designed according to specifications but having its two major faces parallel.

quartz spectrograph

A spectrograph used to detect radiation in the range of the ultraviolet in the electromagnetic spectrum. It is made up of quartz because that material, unlike regular glass, is not opaque to the...

quasi-optical

Having properties resembling those of light- waves; e.g., the propagation of waves in the television spectrum.

quasiparticle

A quasiparticle is an emergent phenomenon that occurs in many-body systems, particularly in condensed matter physics, where the collective behavior of a large number of interacting particles can be...

quick-flashing light -> stroboscope

A device that produces brief flashes of light for observing the behavior of an object during a short interval. One of the most effective means for accomplishing this is a gaseous tube energized by...

racemic

Inactive optically, but having the capacity for resolution into forms of opposed optical activity. The term is derived from racemic acid, an optically inactive, tartaric acid.

radio-frequency linear accelerator

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by channeling microwave energy into waveguide cavity assemblies.

radioautograph

The photographic image of a thin specimen having a radioactive isotope that, formed through contact between the specimen and a photographic plate, displays the distribution of the radioactive...

Raman laser -> Raman scattering

Raman scattering, also known as the Raman effect or Raman spectroscopy, is a phenomenon in which light undergoes inelastic scattering when interacting with matter, such as molecules, crystals, or...

Raman scattering -> Raman scattering

Raman scattering, also known as the Raman effect or Raman spectroscopy, is a phenomenon in which light undergoes inelastic scattering when interacting with matter, such as molecules, crystals, or...

Raman scattering

Raman scattering, also known as the Raman effect or Raman spectroscopy, is a phenomenon in which light undergoes inelastic scattering when interacting with matter, such as molecules, crystals, or...

rare earth dopants

Rare earth dopants refer to elements from the lanthanide series, also known as rare earth elements, that are intentionally introduced into the crystal lattice of a material to modify its properties....

rare gas halide laser -> excimer laser

An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet laser that emits short pulses of light in the ultraviolet spectrum. The term excimer is derived from excited dimer, reflecting the nature of the gain medium...

ray tracing

Ray tracing is a rendering technique used in computer graphics to simulate the way light interacts with objects in a scene. It involves tracing the path of rays of light as they travel through a...

Rayleigh line

That element of a spectrum line in scattered radiation having a frequency equal to that of the corresponding incident radiation, due to ordinary or Rayleigh scattering.

reflected ray

The light ray leaving a reflecting surface, indicating the path of light after reflection.

reflecting galvanometer

A galvanometer having a small mirror that is mounted on a moving element and that reflects a light beam onto a scale.

reflecting microscope

A microscope that uses a reflecting objective; often used with ultraviolet or infrared radiation.

reflecting objective

An image-forming system that uses mirrors rather than lenses. Such objectives are frequently used for astronomical telescopes and in ultraviolet microscopes.

reflecting prism

A prism having several plane polished surfaces, some to transmit light, some to reflect light, and some to serve both functions in succession. It acts generally as a group of plane mirrors held in a...

refraction

The bending of oblique incident rays as they pass from a medium having one refractive index into a medium with a different refractive index.

refractive index liquids

A closely spaced series of well-known chemicals having a refractive index lying between 1.33 for water and 1.95 for a solution of phosphorus in carbon disulfide. They are used to identify powdered...

regenerative amplifier

A type of multiple-pass amplifier in which no optical leakage is allowed until a finite number of passes has occurred; at this time the entire cavity output is released as one pulse.

resistor

A device having electrical resistance and used in an electric current for purposes of protection, operation or control of current.

resonance absorption (light)

The re-emission of absorbed energy, having the same wavelength as the incident energy, in an arbitrary direction from a particle because of an energy level transition within the material.

resonator

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or stimulus is applied at a specific frequency, causing the system to oscillate...

retardation plate -> wave plate

An optical element having two principal axes, slow and fast, that resolve an incident polarized beam into two mutually perpendicular polarized beams. The emerging beam recombines to form a particular...

retroreflection

Retroreflection is a phenomenon in optics where light is reflected back toward its source, typically in a direction nearly parallel to the direction from which it originated. This occurs due to the...

rhodamine

Rhodamine refers to a family of fluorescent organic dyes that are widely used in various fields, including biology, chemistry, medicine, and materials science. These dyes are known for their bright...

riez photodiode

A photodiode having a conducting grid that covers the surface of the photodiode junction and intercepts and wastes some of the light. In this way, efficient optical- and microwave-frequency design...

ring-laser gyroscope

A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is a type of gyroscope that uses laser light to detect and measure changes in orientation. It operates based on the Sagnac effect, which is a fundamental principle of...

ringdown testing

A test method for determining high-reflectivity levels by monitoring cavity decay within a resonant cavity formed by two mirrors under test.

Ritchey-Chretien telescope

A form of Cassegrain telescope having a concave hyperbolic primary and a convex hyperbolic secondary. This form permits the simultaneous correction of spherical aberration and coma.

robotic arms

Robotic arms, also known as robot arms or manipulator arms, are mechanical devices designed to mimic and perform the functions of human arms. They consist of multiple articulated segments, joints,...

Rugate filters

A Rugate filter is a type of optical filter that is designed to have a continuously varying refractive index profile throughout its thickness, rather than the discrete layers found in traditional...

Rydberg atom

The term "Rydberg atom" refers to an atom in a highly excited state where one or more of its electrons are in a Rydberg orbital. A Rydberg atom is characterized by having an electron orbit that is...

saccharimeter

A special-purpose polarimeter having a scale calibrated directly in the concentration of sugar in the test solution.

Sagnac interferometer

Sagnac interferometry is a technique used to measure rotation or angular velocity based on the principle of interference. It relies on the Sagnac effect, named after the French physicist Georges...

Photonics Dictionary

Need Help?