Photonics Dictionary

Light diffracted by a solid (usually quartz in crystal or fused form) traversed by acoustic waves. If the ultrasonic wavelength is larger than the diameter of the light beam, the diffraction orders...

A device containing two opposed quartz wedges of equal angle, one wedge being movable along its length by a micrometer screw. The wedges are cut so that their fast directions are along, and...

A device consisting of an airtight quartz tube that holds the material to be analyzed. When a high-frequency electrostatic field, generated by microwaves, is applied to the tube, it emits energy of a...

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid, or gas sample. It operates based...

Fused quartz and silica are closely related materials, both composed primarily of silicon dioxide (SiO2), but they are produced through different manufacturing processes and have distinct properties...

A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It often is used in laser machining, in which the machining of small holes with...

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nanolithography technique used for fabricating nanoscale patterns on a substrate. It is a high-resolution, high-throughput process that involves the mechanical...

A piece of glass, pyrex or quartz having one or both surfaces carefully ground and polished plano, generally flat to less than a tenth of a wavelength. Optical flats are used in surface testing to...

Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the fabrication of optical components and systems. These materials are characterized by...

A prism is a geometric optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. It is typically a solid, transparent object with at least two flat surfaces that are inclined relative to each...

Ultraviolet (UV) fiber optics refers to optical fibers that are designed and optimized for the transmission of ultraviolet light, which is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than...

A lens intended for use with wavelengths shorter than about 380 nm. It must be made of quartz, calcium fluoride, lithium fluoride or some other material transparent to ultraviolet radiation, as glass...

The study and photographing of microscope specimens in ultraviolet light; using an optical microscope containing fluorite and quartz components to efficiently image wavelengths much shorter than the...

A quarter- or half-wave retarder made from two plates of quartz, mica or polymer with their fast axes crossed; the difference in thickness between the two plates determines the retardance. Zero-order...