Photonics Dictionary: L

Transmittance of a solution, or internal transmittance of a transparent solid, is an exponential function of the thickness of the layer.

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...

An experimental research technique by which absorbed or unabsorbed radiation is analyzed in order to characterize and determine material properties, concentration as well as behavior under the...

A process of forming ions within a given molecular species by incident laser light. The molecular species may remain intact, without fragmentation, during soft desorption whereas molecular samples...

Optical confinement of matter with high field energies intended to induce a stable nuclear fusion interaction.

A process of isolation of various atom vapor ions by means of tuning a laser source. For example, laser enrichment is applied to isolate uranium; enrichment is utilized in chemical vapor applications...

Production of a repeated image of a transmitted beam through a diffractive optical element such as a holographic card or component disk. Creating moving or stationary optical designs via a system of...

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a type of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that uses a high-power laser to selectively fuse or melt layers of powdered material to build up a...

A nondestructive test, also referred to as LASAT, that uses a high-energy laser pulse that is targeted on an adhesively bonded part, resulting in the formation of plasma on its surface and,...

A technique that uses a solid-state laser and a detector to determine an object's relative distance to the system. The laser beam is projected onto the target and then reflected onto a detector...

The variation of the electronically detected signal with respect to the scaled version of the classical optical signal incident on the photomultiplier tube.

A short term for latent image intensification, a process much like hypersensitizing in photography, but used after exposure and before development of the negative.

The perception of visual stimuli at the left and right outer boundaries of the visual field.

The law stating that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, the incident ray, reflected ray and normal to the surface, all being located in the same plane.

Defines the minimum operational standards for a self-sustaining fusion reactor as equivalence between energy released per volume unit and kinetic energy per unit volume.

The circle of confusion is a defocused or aberrated image of a point. Focus is generally set where the diameter of this circle is minimized or least.

The ratio of the intensities of a light bundle before and after passing through the lens.

A method of image dissection whereby a lens transfers images onto a lenticular plate that in turn illustrates the images as structures of narrow parallel lines.

The ability of the human eye to adjust itself to an alteration in the intensity of light.

Light diffusion refers to the process by which light is scattered or spread out in various directions as it interacts with a medium or material. Unlike direct transmission through a transparent...

The process whereby white light is separated into its component wavelengths. Light beams of different wavelengths are separated from each other by undergoing a different angular deviation. Prisms and...

Technique for measuring the volume bulk of materials as they move along a conveyor with an accuracy of better than 1 percent. Based on the use of high-resolution arrays of solid-state detectors, the...

The angle subtended by two points or lines that are just far enough apart to be distinguished as separate. The ability of an optical device to resolve two points or lines is called resolving power...

The intensity distribution seen when scanning the image of a line, in the direction perpendicular to that line.

See plane-polarized light; polarization.

A linear positioning stage, also known as a linear stage or translation stage, is a precision mechanical device used to accurately move and position objects along a linear axis. These stages are...

Subsurface linear arrangement of elements of rock that is not mappable; lineation is a one-dimensional characteristic.

A device used to evaluate the quality of fiber optic splices made in the field by injecting light into the cladding of the fiber and measuring the output at the other end of the splice.

One class of nonlinear space-invariant transformation processes used for processing convolved and multiplied signals.

The partial differential equations for the spatial and time dependence of electric and magnetic fields inside a semiconductor. They are the analog of Maxwell's equations, which apply to the electric...

The method that, by measuring the absorption along an atmospheric path at wavelengths ranging from two to a continuum, can determine pollution concentrations of gases.

Instrumentation designed to permit the perception, recording or measurement of scenes under conditions of low incident illumination.

The hydrogen-derived, ultraviolet radiation running from 1216 to 512 A, discovered by Theodore Lyman in 1914.

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...

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...

Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape and...

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a miniaturized device that integrates various laboratory functions and capabilities onto a single, compact chip. Also known as microfluidic devices, lab-on-a-chip systems are...

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...

A diagram that shows actual component signals and the basic wiring configuration of a relay logic circuit.

A term applied to an electric charge image in a camera tube that remains for a period of a few frames after its initial formation.