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Photonics Dictionary

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linear receive optics
Linear receive optics typically refers to the optical components and systems used in the reception (detection) of linearly polarized light signals in various applications, such as optical...
liquid crystal
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...
liquid crystal light valve
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
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...
lithium niobate
A crystalline ferroelectric material used primarily as a substrate and an active medium for thin-film optical modulators and switches. It possesses very high electro-optic and piezoelectric...
lock-in amplifier
A lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or interference. It is particularly useful in fields such as spectroscopy,...
longitudinal field modulator
Pockels cell or dynamic optical retarder in which the electrical field is applied in a direction parallel to that of light passing through it.
low Earth orbit
Low Earth orbit (LEO) refers to a region in space that is relatively close to Earth's surface, typically characterized by altitudes ranging from approximately 180 to 2,000 kilometers (112 to 1,242...
Mach-Zehnder interferometer
A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of light. It is named after the physicists Ludwig Mach and Ludwig Zehnder, who...
machine vision system
A machine vision system is an integrated combination of hardware and software components designed to capture, process, and analyze images to perform automated inspection, measurement, and quality...
magneto-optics
Magneto-optics refers to the study and manipulation of the interaction between magnetic fields and light (electromagnetic radiation). This field of physics explores how the properties of light, such...
MCM
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.
metasurfaces
Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or meta-elements, arranged in a specific pattern to manipulate the propagation of...
microbend-modulated sensor
A type of fiber optic sensor that detects changes in pressure, vibration, sound level or acceleration by monitoring the ejection of light from the fiber core to the cladding caused by microbending...
microchannel spatial light modulator
A device to modulate spatially a collimated coherent beam of light with input data in optical data processing. It uses a photocathode mounted on a microchannel plate, which amplifies an electron...
microwave phototube
A device designed to detect microwave modulation and to mix modulated and unmodulated laser beams. It consists of a photosensitive cathode and a microwave-electron-tube structure that amplifies,...
MIROS
modulation-inducing retrodirective optical system
mode-locked lasers
Mode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds, femtoseconds, or even attoseconds. This method synchronizes the phases of...
modem
Modulator/demodulator. An electronic device that modulates and demodulates signals transmitted over communications lines.
modem
modulator-demodulator
modulated grating hologram
A computer-generated, phase-and-amplitude, off-axis hologram made by a multi-exposure technique that uses three computer generated transmission masks. Each mask controls one fixed-phase component of...
modulated transmission ellipsometry
A method used to detect internal or residual microstresses in a material by using a laser beam to locate changes in polarization caused by the stress.
modulated zone plate
A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It often is used in laser machining, in which the machining of small holes with...
modulation
In general, changes in one oscillation signal caused by another, such as amplitude or frequency modulation in radio which can be done mechanically or intrinsically with another signal. In optics the...
modulation bandwidth
The highest frequency at which a laser diode can be driven and still be modulated acceptably that further results in the maximum rate of change (modulation) in output frequency that can be obtained...
modulation frequency
Rate at which optical radiation or a signal is varied through the use of a mechanical or electronic chopper. Also called chopping frequency.
modulation spectroscopy
A method of spectral analysis in which some property of the sample is varied and the corresponding change is measured. The change is induced by a repetitive perturbation such as an electric field,...
modulation transfer function analysis/measurement equipment
MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer function (MTF) of optical systems. The MTF is a quantitative measure of the...
modulation transfer function
Also called sine wave response and contrast transfer function. The modulation transfer function is the ratio of the modulation in the image to the modulation in the object as a function of frequency...
modulator
A modulator is a device or component that modifies a carrier signal in order to encode information for transmission over a communication channel. The process of modulating involves varying one or...
modulator crystal
A nonlinear crystal used to modulate a polarized beam of light by means of the Pockels effect. A Pockels cell is used as a voltage-controlled waveplate by means of applying a known voltage across the...
moiré deflectometry
An optical interference technique widely utilized as a method of nondestructive testing when determining the ray deflection and the modulation transfer function (MTF) of an optical system associated...
molecular motor
A molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can convert light energy into mechanical motion at the molecular level. These...
monolithic lenslet module
An array of refractive microlenses that are round, square and hexagonal and as small as 15 µm. They are used for Hartmann testing, laser diode collimation and other applications that require...
MSLM
microchannel spatial light modulator
MTE
modulated transmission ellipsometry
MTF
modulation transfer function; median time to failure
MTF curve -> modulation transfer function
Also called sine wave response and contrast transfer function. The modulation transfer function is the ratio of the modulation in the image to the modulation in the object as a function of frequency...
noise equivalent power
At a given modulation frequency, wavelength, and for a given effective noise bandwidth, the radiant power that produces a signal-to-noise ratio of 1 at the output of a given detector.
nonlinear optical materials
Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the intensity of incident light. In other words, these materials produce optical...
nonlinear optical processing
Derivative of the half-tone screen process involving the fabrication of a binary pulse-width modulated copy of the continuous-level input using a halftone screen and spatial-filtering single...
nonlinear optics
Nonlinear optics is a branch of optics that studies the optical phenomena that occur when intense light interacts with a material and induces nonlinear responses. In contrast to linear optics, where...
nonlinear polarization
Nonlinear polarization refers to the phenomenon where the polarization of a material responds nonlinearly to an applied electric field. In linear systems, the polarization of a material is directly...
nonmonotonic cell
Used in halftone screens to change the fundamental sampled spatial frequency of the halftoned picture, as well as varying the width of the pulse-modulated dots or gratings.
OADM
optical add-drop module
OALM
optical address light modulator
OMD
optical modulation depth
optical constructor
A system of modular mechanical components for building precision optical systems. The basic equipment includes a variety of modules for mounting, supporting and accurately positioning lenses and...
optical correlator
A device incorporating a spatial light modulator and a reference filter; used for matching an input optical waveform or signal with stored data in a photonic computer. This technique is done using...
optical design software
Optical design software refers to specialized computer programs used by optical engineers, physicists, and designers to simulate, model, analyze, and optimize the performance of optical systems and...

Photonics Dictionary


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