Photonics Dictionary: P

A quantum of electromagnetic energy of a single mode; i.e., a single wavelength, direction and polarization. As a unit of energy, each photon equals hn, h being Planck's constant and n, the frequency...

A type of laser spectroscopy used to measure short-lived isotopes by observing sudden bursts of fluorescence resulting from repetitive excitation of an atom or molecule.

Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by measuring dynamic fluctuations of light that is scattered or fluoresced by the...

A device used to evaluate the luminance of a surface by determining the number of photons emitted from a sample surface area.

The coupling of two circuits by the use of a light pipe through which photons are transmitted.

An infrared detector in which radiation passes through a doped germanium crystal, creating a voltage drop that can be measured in terms of incident intensity.

The induction of an electric field in a semiconductor by an incident laser beam. The technique has rapid response time at room temperature.

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...

Photon-rich typically refers to an environment or situation where there is an abundance of photons present. In the context of optics, photon-rich environments are those where there is a high density...

The property exhibited by a substance having electrical conductivity that decreases as the intensity of the incident visible radiant energy increases.

A type of computer in which the electronic circuits, which process data serially, are replaced by photonic circuits capable of parallel processing and thus of much greater speed and power. Where the...

A photonic crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL) refers to a type of laser diode that emits light from its surface rather than from the edges. Photonic crystals are periodic nanostructures that...

Photonic crystals are artificial structures or materials designed to manipulate and control the flow of light in a manner analogous to how semiconductors control the flow of electrons. Photonic...

A photonic engine refers to a device or system that utilizes photonics, or the science and technology of generating, controlling, and detecting photons (particles of light), to perform various...

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is a compact and integrated device that incorporates multiple photonic components and functions on a single chip, similar to the way electronic integrated circuits...

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and...

A photonic cavity, also known as an optical cavity, is a structure that confines electromagnetic radiation within a certain region or volume. It is typically composed of materials with different...

Photonics contract manufacturing refers to the outsourcing of the production of photonics-related components, devices, or systems to specialized manufacturing firms. Photonics involves the...

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is the 400- to 700-nm region (visible light) of the electromagnetic spectrum that is absorbed and used by the plant for photosynthesis. Also referred to as...

1. In a photonic interconnect, the number of detectors in a given area. Detectors spaced too closely may give rise to crosstalk. 2. In the cross section of a fiber optic bundle, the ratio of fiber...

The production of a positron-electron pair by a photon having energy greater than one mega-electron-volt, whereby some of the photon energy is converted to the rest mass of the pair.

A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is mounted to rotate about a vertical axis. A slit opening in the film plane and the...

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...

An array of lines in the infrared region of the emission spectrum of atomic hydrogen. Their wave numbers are expressed by the equation: where represents the wave number in the reciprocal centimeters,...

A prism made up of two air-spaced components. It has the ability to revert, and not invert, an image, and can be used in convergent, divergent and parallel light. May be rotated to compensate for...

A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to the entering and emerging beams. The deviation angle of 90° is...

A source of light will not cast a distinct shadow of an interfering, opaque object, but will cast a shadow having two parts: 1. the umbra, or the central, totally dark part of the shadow; and 2. the...

An optical instrument designed to displace the line of sight in a vertical direction. For submarines and other military uses the periscope is a long tube containing prisms at both ends and...

A high-speed, narrow-field lens consisting of two achromats spaced about the aperture stop. Its uses include portrait photography and motion picture projection.

A paraboloidal surface on which the image is located when there is no astigmatism.

In optics and photonics, "phase" refers to a property of electromagnetic waves, such as light, that describes the position of a wave at a given point in time within its oscillation cycle. More...

The use of a reflective device, which can be fashioned from a variety of materials including gases, solids, dyes, aerosols, semiconductor crystals and plasmas, to replicate a laser beam by reversing...

Phase contrast microscopy is an optical microscopy technique that enhances the contrast of transparent and colorless specimens, making it possible to visualize fine details and internal structures...

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,...

A microscope that has an annular stop in the lower focal plane of the condenser, and a quarter-wave retarding and absorbing ring in the upper focal plane of the objective that just fills the image of...

A phonon is a quantum of vibrational energy associated with the periodic motion of atoms or molecules in a crystalline lattice. In simpler terms, phonons are quanta of lattice vibrations in a solid...

Photobleaching is a phenomenon in which the fluorescence of a fluorophore (a fluorescent molecule or dye) is permanently reduced or eliminated upon prolonged exposure to light. This process occurs...

Photocathodes are specialized materials or surfaces that exhibit the photoelectric effect, wherein the absorption of photons leads to the emission of electrons. When photons with sufficient energy...

The term photochemical pertains to chemical processes or reactions that are initiated or influenced by the absorption of light. Photochemical reactions involve the interaction of light, often in the...

The alteration of electric conductivity produced by the absorption of varying amounts of radiation composed of photons.