Abbreviations/Acronyms

megabytes per second — The megabyte per second (not to be mixed up with the Mb/s -- megabits per second) is a unit of data transfer rate equivalent to one million (106) bytes per second over a given information network.

megabits per second — The megabit per second (not to be mixed up with the mbit/s – millibit per second, or Mbitps- megabit picosecond) is a unit of data transfer rate equivalent to one million (or 106) bits per second over a given information network.

molecular beam epitaxy — A well-controlled thin film technique for growing films with good crystal structure in ultra high vacuum environments at very low deposition rates. MBE is also commonly used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and solar cells.

modulation contrast microscopy; multichip module — modulation contrast microscopy is a unique illumination technique that enhances contrast in an imaging microscope by converting optical gradients into variations in light intensity. Modulation contrast microscopy is found most commonly in live cell imaging, polarization microscopy, phase contrast, and oblique illumination of stained, unstained and birefringent specimens. A multichip module is an electronic packaging system where multiple discrete electronic components (integrated circuits, semiconductor diodes, etc.) are packaged in various ways onto a single substrate.

magnetic Czochralski process — Introduction of an external magnetic field in the Czochralski melting process for crystal growth in order to influence the flow and dampen the amplitudes of the melt oscillations that occur in the process. This is accomplished when the external magnetic field generates an electric field inside the melt, which further induces an internal magnetic field in the now electrically conducting melt. The amplitudes of the now induced electric and magnetic fields can be controlled by the strength of the external magnetic field allowing control of the MCZ process.

metal-dielectric multilayer (MDM) — Periodic nanofilm structures for optical mode confinement and tunneling of resonant surface plasmons.

many-element laser; maximum excess loss (MEL) — the many element laser is a laser unit that consists of N like elements of active materials for support with the mode selection of the laser output. The mode selection properties of a many element laser have been experimentally exploited with as many as 10 like elements. Maximum excess loss is the maximum power lost within a give system (typically a fiber optic communication system) including scattering, dispersion, absorption and coupling loss.

molecular electronics for radar applications

millifarad — A unit of capacitance that is equivalent to one thousandth (10-3) of the standard unit for capacitance which is the farad.

National Council for Industrial Defense

National Science Foundation

National Technical Information Service

optical performance monitor

The Optical Society, formerly called Optical Society of America; optical spectrum analyzer

Office of Standards Code and Information

optically shaped film

optical transfer function

optical transform image modulation

point focusing and centering

piezoresponse force microscopy; pulse frequency modulation

pulse forming network

photoresponse nonuniformity

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry

Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering

small form factor

silicon imaging device; Society for Information Display

Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics

International Society for Optical Engineering

Society for Imaging Science and Technology

terrain following/terrain avoidance

tightly folded resonator

tag-based image file format

transforming lens

uniformly redundant array

USA standard character set for optical character recognition

universal transform mercator

video imaging system for detection, tracking and assessment

zero insertion force