Photonics Dictionary

A hologram in which the image of an object, or the object itself, is located near the hologram recording plane, for optimum image reconstruction. Because the images are close to the hologram plane,...

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a method for detecting antigens or haptens in cells of a tissue section by using labeled antibodies to bind specifically to their antigens. IHC is used for disease...

An infrared camera, also known as a thermal imaging camera or IR camera, is a device that captures and visualizes the infrared radiation emitted by objects, revealing temperature variations across...

Used to detect radiation from the infrared region. The functional process includes absorption of infrared radiation, which causes a temperature change, consequently altering the physical properties...

Instantaneous field of view (iFOV) is a term commonly used in the context of remote sensing, imaging systems, and optical instruments. It refers to the specific portion of a scene that an optical...

An intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera is an advanced imaging device that combines the capabilities of both an image intensifier and a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor to achieve...

A unit of measurement of luminous intensity based on a physical standard, a set of calibrated carbon filament lamps. The old candle unit was superseded by the new candle or candela.

The internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of interconnected physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other objects embedded with sensors, actuators, software, and network connectivity....

Ion-beam sputtering (IBS) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used for depositing thin films onto substrates. It involves bombarding a target material with a beam of energetic ions,...

The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an applied...

That portion of physics concerned with motion in the abstract, such as of points or space figures, and separated from its dynamic properties.

Label-free refers to a technique or method that does not require the use of additional labels, tags, or markers to detect or identify specific components or entities. In various scientific and...

Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This technique is widely used in various scientific, industrial, and medical...

Laser annealing is a process that involves using a laser beam to heat and modify the microstructure of a material, typically a thin film or surface layer, with the objective of improving its...

Laser cooling is a technique used to reduce the temperature of a material or a collection of atoms or molecules by using laser light. It is based on the principle of selective absorption and emission...

Laser marking is a process in which a laser beam is used to mark or engrave a surface by altering its properties or appearance. This technique is widely used for labeling, identification, and...

Laser scanning is a technology used to create precise digital representations of physical objects or environments by capturing their surface geometry and appearance. It involves directing a laser...

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...

The pattern of physical or chemical changes that has taken place in a photographic emulsion, by its exposure to light, that will form a visible image when the emulsion is developed. Also known as...

In photonics, a lattice refers to a periodic arrangement of optical elements or structures, often on a microscopic or nanoscopic scale. These optical lattices can be created using various techniques...

In physics, the law of reversibility is often associated with the concept of reversibility in thermodynamics. The law asserts that any process that occurs in a closed system can, in theory, be...

Lensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and reconstructs microscopic images without the use of traditional lenses. Instead of...

The Lorentz oscillator model is a theoretical model used in physics to describe the response of a charged particle (such as an electron) to an oscillating electric field. It is particularly employed...

Luminescence is the emission of light that occurs without the involved substance undergoing a significant increase in temperature. In other words, it is the production and emission of light by a...

Luminosity refers to the total amount of energy emitted by an astronomical object, typically measured per unit time. It quantifies the intrinsic brightness of the object and is often expressed in...

A physical stop that is conjugate to the entrance pupil and is used primarily to reduce diffraction effects at longer wavelengths.

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...

A method of studying the chemical and physical properties of atoms and molecules (typically living tissue and chemical samples) by exploiting the magnetic properties of their atomic nuclei when an...

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...

A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of a magnetic field. It can detect and quantify the intensity of magnetic fields in its vicinity. Magnetometers...

A variation from standard physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating techniques, magnetron sputtering is a plasma coating process that utilizes magnetic fields to contain the plasma in front of the...

In a microscope, the physical distance between the focal points of the objective lens and the eyepiece. The standard tube length for a microscope is typically 160 mm).

A MEMS fiber optic switch is a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device designed to selectively route optical signals between multiple fiber optic channels. These switches utilize miniature...

Visual equivalence of physically (usually spectrally) different stimuli.

The term "metaverse" refers to a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and persistent virtual worlds. It is a concept derived from science...

Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement, including the development of measurement standards, techniques, and...

An optical experiment carried out conclusively in 1887 that demonstrated that the ether, a hypothetical medium postulated by physicists to explain how light could travel in a wave motion through...

Micro-optical coherence tomography (micro-OCT) is an imaging technique that is an adaptation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to achieve high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging of biological...

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It consists of a micro-sized, gas-filled spherical cavity (the "microbubble")...

Refers to micron-size complex machines that have physical dimensions suitable for the fabrication of optical switches for use in state-of-the-art communications networks.

Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the manipulation and control of very small fluid volumes, typically in the microliter (10-6 liters) to picoliter (10-12 liters) range, within...

1. The SI unit of length equal to 10-6 m. Also called micron. 2. A screw thread device used to make accurate physical linear measurements.

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...

Mode locking is a technique used in optics and laser physics to generate short pulses of light with extremely high peak powers. In mode locking, the phases of different longitudinal modes (specific...

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...