Photonics Dictionary

A blank area (caused by insufficient inking of the paper) that falls within the range of an intended character stroke in an optical character-recognition system.

The induced birefringence in isotropic gases that results when the gases are placed in strong fields.

A nondestructive testing method for very large scale integration circuits, using a scanning electron microscope to monitor changes in the electronic state of the chip as it is fed test voltages while...

A device that converts alternating voltage to direct voltage, while at the same time increasing its amplitude.

An electric cell having two electrodes of unlike metals immersed in a solution that chemically affects one or both of them, thus producing an electromotive force.

Volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) are specialized optical elements that consist of periodic variations in refractive index throughout the volume of a transparent material, typically a photosensitive glass...

A three-dimensional hologram.

Volumetric imaging refers to the capture, visualization, and analysis of three-dimensional (3D) information from a volume of space. Unlike traditional two-dimensional (2D) imaging, which provides...

A vortex phase plate is an optical device designed to impart a phase singularity, commonly referred to as a vortex or phase vortex, onto a light beam. This singularity results in a phase profile...

An element within a three-dimensional data set image.

A system used for gratings that consists of a concave mirror, a grating and a plate holder mounted normal to the grating to reduce astigmatism and spherical aberration. The mounting yields a...

In the context of electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, a wafer refers to a thin, flat disk or substrate made of a semiconducting material, usually crystalline silicon. Wafers serve as the...

An image intensifier tube in which the photocathode and the output of the microchannel plate are proximity-focused on the microchannel plate input and output phosphor screen, respectively.

A standard of luminous intensity evaluated as the luminous intensity of 1 cm2 of a blackbody at the melting point of platinum.

A solution containing colloidal silica particles.

The power that gives rise to the production of energy at the rate of 1 joule per second.

1. An undulation or vibration; a form of movement by which all radiant energy of the electromagnetic spectrum is estimated to travel. 2. A type of surface defect, usually due to improper polishing.

In quantum mechanics, a wave function (often denoted by the Greek letter Ψ, psi) is a mathematical description that represents the quantum state of a particle or a system of particles. It...

The frequency of a wave divided by its velocity of propagation; the reciprocal of the wavelength.

Also referred to as physical optics - the area of optics in which the wave nature of light is essential when defining its propagation. To exploit the wave phenomena of light, one must interact light...

An optical element having two principal axes, slow and fast, that resolve an incident polarized beam into two mutually perpendicular polarized beams. The emerging beam recombines to form a particular...