Photonics Dictionary

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid, or gas sample. It operates based...

1. The combination of the effects of two or more stimuli in any given sense to form a single sensation. With respect to vision, the perception of continuous illumination formed by the rapid...

Term synonymous with refractive index liquid, but related more to tank or chamber immersion of crystals, fibers, lenses, photoelastic models, etc.

A type of refractometer designed to measure the refractive indices of liquids. A section of the instrument is immersed into the sample being measured.

A material, often a liquid or cement, whose refractive index is nearly equal to the fiber's core index, used to reduce Fresnel reflection from a fiber end face.

An infrared detector is a device that is used to detect and measure infrared radiation, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of light. These detectors are utilized in various applications,...

Laser active elements typically refers to the substances or materials within a laser system that play a critical role in the amplification of light through the process of stimulated emission. These...

A laser cavity, also known as an optical cavity or resonator, is a fundamental component of a laser system. It is a confined region or space where light undergoes multiple reflections, leading to the...

Laser surgery refers to a medical procedure in which a laser, or focused beam of light, is used as a precision tool to cut, vaporize, coagulate, or otherwise modify tissues for therapeutic or...

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and focused beams of light through the process of optical amplification based...

A self-healing, index-matching, nonporous coating for optical components that can eliminate production difficulties and deficiencies associated with solid-film contamination and postdeposition...

Multimode straight fiber capable of transporting linearly polarized light with any incident polarization angle, and in which no form of internal stress can develop that could lead to birefringence.

Liquid crystals are a state of matter that exhibits properties intermediate between those of conventional liquids and solid crystals. In a liquid crystal, the molecules are ordered like those in a...

An alphanumeric display formed by a layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched between two sheets of glass; a transparent conductive coating on the glass is etched to form the character segments. An...

A wireless stereo imaging device used in conjunction with a monitor to produce a virtual interactive environment. Liquid crystal shutters in the eyewear are synchronized with the monitor at 120...

A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the intensity, phase, or polarization of light passing through it using liquid...

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) is a display technology that combines liquid crystal materials with silicon-based semiconductor technology to create high-resolution, high-quality images. LCoS...

A solution or combination of solutions that serves as a filter.

An immersion liquid used to treat polarizing filters to eliminate the effects of surface variations and to minimize the optical path difference between that part of the spectrum that passes through...

A laser that uses a substance in the liquid state, such as an organic dye, as the active lasing medium.

An optical fiber with a hollow core filled with a liquid material that has a higher refractive index than the solid surrounding it.

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a fine layer of hydrophobic powder, such as silica nanoparticles or Teflon....

A mirror composed of liquid, taking advantage of the parabolic shape of a spinning liquid and the fact that the mirror's focal length can be adjusted by altering the velocity at which the liquid's...

The acoustical holographic process in which the hologram consists of slight elevations in a liquid surface, in the areas of the antinodes of the interference pattern. Light diffracted from this...

A subtractive colorimeter that expresses a liquid's or object's color as a combination of three colors. These colors are developed through viewing the specimen object through three series of slides,...

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a precision optics polishing technique used for shaping and finishing optical surfaces to achieve extremely high levels of smoothness and accuracy. It is...

The temperature at which the solid phase of a material is in equilibrium with the liquid phase, or when the material changes from a solid to a liquid.

An excited energy state of an atom or atomic system that has a longer lifetime than the ordinary excited state and typically a shorter lifetime than the ground state of that system. Metastable states...

A method of heat removal in which liquid passes through small channels with high packing densities.

A microdisplay is a miniature electronic display technology that is designed to project visual information onto a small screen. Unlike traditional displays, microdisplays are typically very compact...

The liquid used in microscopy to fill the space between the high-power objective lens and the microscope slide in order to increase the numerical aperture (NA) or collecting power in object space of...

Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (such as light) by spherical particles. Unlike Rayleigh scattering, which is...

A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path difference to create interference between split optical wavefronts. The...

State typically studied in liquid crystals in which the dielectric coefficient parallel to the director is less than the dielectric coefficient perpendicular to the director.

A form of liquid crystal with an appearance of moving, threadlike structures, particularly visible when observed in thick specimens with polarized light. During this phase, the molecules of the...

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 switching refers to the process of controlling the routing or transmission of optical signals within a network using various techniques to selectively switch or redirect optical paths. This...

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light and its interactions with different materials. The term "optoelectronics" is...