Photonics Dictionary

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser. There are several types, including the induction linear accelerator, the radio frequency linear accelerator and the superconducting...

High-precision motorized positioning device, often linked to computer control equipment.

Amplifier in which the input and output pulse heights are directly proportional.

A solid-state video detector consisting of a single row of light-sensitive semiconductor devices, used in linear-array cameras.

A device for which the output electric field is linearly proportional to the input electric field, and no new wavelengths or modulation frequencies are generated.

The transfer of energy lost by radiation to the body, relative to the loss of energy per unit of path traveled.

The measured width of the field of view at any distance.

A linear image sensor is a type of solid-state electronic device used to capture and convert light into electrical signals. Unlike area image sensors (such as CCD or CMOS sensors), which capture an...

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of optical elements is proportional to the amplitude of the incident light wave....

A term for thermoplastic optical materials; that is, those in which the polymer chains remain linear after heating and molding and which thus can be remolded again and again, unlike thermoset...

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...

Linear receive optics typically refers to the optical components and systems used in the reception (detection) of linearly polarized light signals in various applications, such as optical...

A relationship between two variables so that when plotted on a graph they yield a straight line.

It is often necessary to estimate the value of what a pixel would be between neighboring pixels. This is accomplished by interpolating (or inserting) the value of a pixel between neighboring pixels....

A method of exciting a laser by coupling it directly to another laser.

Method of disk rotation used for optical disk drives, in which the spindle motor decreases the speed of the disk's rotation as the head moves from the inner tracks to the outer, so that the radial...

A lens aberration in which the focal length varies radially outward from the center of the field. It has the effect of making a straight tangential line in the object appear curved in the image,...

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by supplying electrical energy to the electron beam through a series of transformers.

An optical crystal that possesses a strong nonlinear dielectric response function to optical radiation. A material with a strong second-order nonlinearity must not possess a center of symmetry. See...

A type of radiation detector designed to recognize nonlinear optical effects, such as the Raman effect, by means of a directional, nearly monochromatic light beam; e.g., a laser beam.

A class of optical phenomena that can be viewed only with nearly monochromatic, directional beams of light, such as those produced by a laser. Harmonic generation and the stimulated Raman effect are...

Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the intensity of incident light. In other words, these materials produce optical...

The coupling of laser or light beams via nonlinear optical techniques such as four-wave mixing to achieve spatial variation of the electrical field of the target beam. This technique is also referred...

Derivative of the half-tone screen process involving the fabrication of a binary pulse-width modulated copy of the continuous-level input using a halftone screen and spatial-filtering single...

Nonlinear optics is a branch of optics that studies the optical phenomena that occur when intense light interacts with a material and induces nonlinear responses. In contrast to linear optics, where...

Nonlinear polarization refers to the phenomenon where the polarization of a material responds nonlinearly to an applied electric field. In linear systems, the polarization of a material is directly...

Direct conversion of a photon from one wavelength to a lower energy photon of another wavelength(s) due to inelastic scattering. In an optical waveguide, nonlinear scattering is usually not important...

The phenomenon that makes nonlinear the mathematical expression for the electrical polarization of a medium through which lightwaves are passing. Characterizes high-power lasers principally;...

The first nonlinear theory in plasma physics that details the time and space evolution of plasma wave instability from a microscopic vantage point and provides an outline of the plasma in terms of...

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by channeling microwave energy into waveguide cavity assemblies.

A double meniscus system in which two achromatized meniscus lenses are arranged symmetrically on either side of the aperture stop, reducing or eliminating distortion, coma and lateral color.

In a straight line. When applied to a lens, it indicates that images of straight lines formed by the lens are not distorted.

Straight line travel. This denotes the fact that light travels in a straight line when traveling through a medium with a constant refractive index.

The scanning of a region in a given sequence of slender, straight parallel strips.

An optical system that is corrected for distortion and spherical aberration and therefore forms the image of a straight line as a straight line.

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to intense light, typically in the realm of optics and photonics. Nonlinear optical...

A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to capture images one line or row of pixels at a time, rather than a full...

Mechanical device intended for the translation (rotational and linear) using high precision control from electronically operated circuits. See linear actuator; rotary actuator.

Transformation of an image, such as a change in position or scale, that does not alter the linearity of the original image.

A support device in which a column or chamber of air permits the free travel of a mobile part. In optical mounting and positioning equipment, air bearings are of two types, linear or rotary,...

In image processing, methods of reducing image defects that result from false data. Techniques include sampling, linear intensity, filtering a high-resolution image to produce a low-resolution image,...

An axicon is a type of optical component characterized by its conical shape and its ability to transform a collimated Gaussian beam of light into a ring-shaped beam with a gradually increasing...

Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the electromagnetic wave points along the azimuthal direction (around the propagation axis)....