HIWIN Corp. - Linear Motor Stages LB 6/24

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Lumencor Inc. - SOLA Light Engine MR 5/24

Meadowlark Optics - Wave Plates 6/24 MR 2024

31 terms

Photonics Dictionary: M

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magnetic rotation spectrum

The absorption spectrum of an element influenced by a magnetic field in the same direction as the transmitted light, which is then exposed to the Faraday effect.

magnetorheological finishing

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a precision optics polishing technique used for shaping and finishing optical surfaces to achieve extremely high levels of smoothness and accuracy. It is...

magnifying power

The ability of an optical system to make an object appear larger. An optical element or optical system causing an object to appear twice as high and twice as wide is said to have a magnification of...

magnon

A magnon is a quasiparticle representing a quantized spin wave in a magnetic material. In other words, it is a collective excitation of the spins of electrons in a magnetic solid, analogous to the...

Malus's law

A law that uses the square of the cosine between the plane of polarization of a beam of plane-polarized light and the plane of polarization of a polarizing element to calculate the intensity of the...

Martens wedge

A wedge-shaped piece of quartz typically found in a polarimeter to monitor and rotate the plane of polarization of plane polarized light. A Martens wedge can also be used in combination with other...

mask spectrometer

Instrument that uses absorption spectroscopy to detect gases in planetary atmospheres. Dispersed incoming radiation is transmitted to one or more sampling elements, or masks, before reaching the...

mass spectrometry

An instrumental technique that utilizes the mass-to-charge ratio of charged particles as recorded from a mass spectrometer in order to determine the mass of a particle as well as the chemical makeup,...

Matrix optics

The linear relationship between input and output optical fields for a given optical system or application that allows the use of a matrix and matrix algebra to define an optical system, or series of...

matrix-controlled display

A display that is formed in an X-Y manner; i.e., two inputs allow control of X2 elements.

MEL

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.

member

In a lens system, a group of elements considered as an entity; either a front or rear member depending on whether it is before or after the aperture stop.

MEMS fiber optic switch

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...

meso form

A form of an element that cannot demonstrate optical activity as a result of dextrogyrate and levogyrate effects that are balanced contrary to each other in a structure. In essence, meso form...

metal component

An accurate metal prism or plane parallel plate that is cemented to an optical element and remains with it during a series of grinding or polishing processes. The metal element contains threaded...

metamaterial

Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties not found in naturally occurring substances. These materials are designed to manipulate electromagnetic waves in ways that are not...

metamerism

In colorimetry, the phenomenon in which spectrally different radiations produce the same color sensation for a given observer. In chemistry, the chemical property of two elements or molecules sharing...

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...

micro-optics

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level. These components are miniaturized optical elements that manipulate light at a...

microcircuit manufacturing

The formation of transistors, diodes, capacitors, resistors and other electronic elements directly on a flake of silicon by etching and selective absorption of doping elements. A circuit diagram...

Mills cross (telescope)

The Mills Cross telescope is a two dimensional radio telescope in which the two antenna arrays are positioned perpendicular to each other to form the shape of a cross. Each antenna consists of...

minimum angle of deviation

The smallest angle through which light is bent by an optical element or system. In a prism, the angle of deviation is a minimum if the incident and exiting rays form equal angles with the prism...

mode locking

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...

monochromatic illuminator -> monochromator

A monochromator is an optical instrument used to isolate and select a narrow range of wavelengths from a broader spectrum of light. The term monochromator is derived from "monochromatic," meaning...

monochromator

A monochromator is an optical instrument used to isolate and select a narrow range of wavelengths from a broader spectrum of light. The term monochromator is derived from "monochromatic," meaning...

morphological processing

A set of algorithms used to study the structural and spatial characteristics of objects in a digitized image for applications including feature extraction and image segmentation in machine vision and...

motion controller

In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such as mirrors, lenses, stages, or other elements within an optical setup. The...

multifocal lens

A lens with internally adjustable elements to produce a range of focal lengths. Unlike a true zoom lens, a multifocal lens must be refocused each time the focal length is changed. See variable-focus...

multiple instruction/multiple data

A computer architecture used in parallel processing whereby all the processing elements are operating under their own local control rather than under the direction of a central control unit.

multiplex advantage -> Felgett advantage

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer when detector noise prevails, which exceeds the SNR of a scanning spectrometer in the same time by a factor proportional...

Murty interferometer

A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path difference to create interference between split optical wavefronts. The...

Photonics DictionaryM

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