Photonics Dictionary

Optical elements arranged with no spaces between, so that the light travels only through glass, not air.

In fiber optics, the condition in which each fiber of a bundle carries a separate channel.

A wave that is guided by the interface between two different media or by a refractive index gradient in the medium. The field components of the wave may exist (in principle) throughout space, even to...

There are three types of telecentric lenses: -Image-space telecentric lenses are those in which the aperture stop is located at the front focus, resulting in the chief rays being parallel to the...

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is typically a curved, transparent piece of glass or other optical material...

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical, electrical, or mechanical properties. These coatings are composed of thin...

The size of the field of view in the object space of an optical system as differentiated from that in the image space (apparent field).

In optics, the term vacuum typically refers to a space devoid of matter, including air and other gases. However, in practical terms, achieving a perfect vacuum, where there is absolutely no matter...

An image that is formed when rays emerging from an optical system are diverging from the optical axis. The virtual image is formed where the bundle of diverging rays appear to intersect each other...

Volumetric imaging refers to the capture, visualization, and analysis of three-dimensional (3D) information from a volume of space. Unlike traditional two-dimensional (2D) imaging, which provides...

A vortex phase plate is an optical device designed to impart a phase singularity, commonly referred to as a vortex or phase vortex, onto a light beam. This singularity results in a phase profile...