Photonics Dictionary

Optical glass refers to a type of glass specifically engineered and manufactured for use in optical components and systems, such as lenses, prisms, mirrors, and filters. Optical glass is...

Optical tweezers refer to a scientific instrument that uses the pressure of laser light to trap and manipulate microscopic objects, such as particles or biological cells, in three dimensions. This...

A variable focal length lens system that retains the object in focus as one or more lenses move as a unit along its optical axis.

Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and its manifestation as both particle and wave phenomena. It encompasses the...

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...

Optofluidics is an interdisciplinary field that combines principles from optics and fluidics to create devices and systems that integrate the manipulation of light and fluids. This field focuses on...

A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...

One eyepiece of a set having equal distances from their mounting interface to their image plane, permitting freedom to interchange eyepieces without the need to refocus.

The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a cubic arrangement of oxygen ions, forming a framework within which other...

A microscope equipped with a polarizer, an analyzer and a Bertrand lens to focus on the upper focal plane of the objective. It is used chiefly by mineralogists and crystallographers for...

Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent light. It refers to the condition where the phases of two or more waves,...

An optical medical instrument that uses an intense, precisely focused beam of light to stop weakened blood vessels from hemorrhaging. The thermal effect of the beam strengthens the weakened vessels...

A still or motion-picture camera designed to photograph through a microscope. Photomicrographic equipment usually contains a beamsplitter or other means for simultaneously viewing, orienting and...

A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric microstructures, such as microspheres or microcylinders. This phenomenon arises due...

A photon sieve is an optical device used in the field of optics and imaging. It's designed to focus and shape light, typically for applications such as imaging or microscopy. The photon sieve...

An instrument in which visible light beyond the critical angle from a metallurgical microscope is focused on a reference surface. A certain fraction of the incident light tunnels through air to the...

Piezoelectric motion systems are mechanical systems that utilize piezoelectric materials to generate controlled motion or displacement. Piezoelectric materials exhibit the piezoelectric effect, which...

A transmission or reflecting grating with a flat or plane surface requiring a lens or concave mirror to focus the spectrum.

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles, typically electrons or ions, by exploiting the motion of charged...

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free electrons in a metal or semiconductor at the nanoscale. Specifically,...

1. With respect to angular subtense, a source of light, such as a star, that is very small. In a lab, a point source may be simulated by imaging a large source onto and through a pinhole, or by...

An established point on which the observer's eye is focused.

A lens that is symmetrical and designed to work between 1:1 and about 4:1. It covers a field of about ±20° at f/8 or f/10, and may have a focal length up to about 30 in., although the usual...

1. In the eye, the opening in the iris that permits light to pass and be focused on the retina. 2. In a lens, the image of the aperture stop as seen from object and image space.

A device used in electron microscopes and particle accelerators to focus electron beams by the arrangement of four electrodes of alternating signs around the electron beam.

In gradient index optics, a gradient profile in which the index varies in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis. Radial gradient lenses can focus light even when the lens surfaces are flat,...

Also known as radiation thermometer. A pyrometer in which the radiant intensity from the source to be measured is used to calculate its temperature. The usual detector is a thermocouple, thermopile...

In the region of a Gaussian beam focus by a diffraction-limited lens, it is the axial distance from the point of minimum beam waist (Wo) to the point where the beam diameter has increased to .

The restricting opening at the rear of a lens or prism that is commonly defined as the maximum diameter of the emergent cone for the specified field of view, at infinity focus.

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a non-invasive imaging technique that allows for high-resolution, in vivo imaging of biological tissues at the cellular level. It is particularly useful in...

A solar spectrograph that uses long focus concave mirrors as its collimator and camera element.

A telescope that uses a reflecting objective to focus an image of a distant object at a focal point.

A means of high resolution study through the application of soft and hard x-rays onto a sample surface in order to obtain image information from 1-10 nm layers and surfaces. The x-ray source emission...

A sequential scanning device, utilizing a revolving lens, in which the cathode-ray tube image is transformed into a circle of fibers. The rotating lens focuses each fiber successively on a multiplier...

The circle that contains the slit, grating and primary astigmatic focus of a concave diffraction grating.

The movement of the eye as it focuses on details of a scene. Some imaging systems mimic this movement by small, rapid scanning motions of the sensor.

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials characterization, and various industrial applications. Unlike traditional optical...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the surfaces of solid specimens. SEM achieves this by...

Scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) refers to a type of image sensor technology specifically designed for scientific and industrial imaging applications. Unlike traditional...

An aberration that remains after primary color is corrected. Primary color causes the back focus of a lens to vary with wavelength; for example, blue light comes to focus closer to the lens than...

Seidel aberrations refer to a set of monochromatic aberrations in optical systems, named after the German mathematician and physicist Ludwig von Seidel. These aberrations describe deviations from...

A handheld navigational instrument used to measure the elevation angle of celestial bodies such as the sun. An image of the sun is viewed through a small telescope via two plane mirrors so that any...