Photonics Dictionary

The scattering of x-rays by the regularly spaced atoms in a crystal. The angle at which the reflection occurs is known as the Bragg angle.

The law expressing the condition under which a crystal will reflect a beam of x-rays with the greatest amount of distinction or resolution and, at the same time, denoting the angle at which the...

One of the constants h, k, f or I, used to demonstrate any set of parallel planes in a crystal of the hexagonal system.

Crystal growth method that resembles static freeze, but that induces growth by removing the ampoule from the furnace so that the freezing-point temperature gradient is unchanged during the growth...

Brillouin scattering is a phenomenon in physics where an incident electromagnetic wave (usually light) interacts with acoustic phonons (quantized lattice vibrations) in a material, resulting in the...

A doubly refracting mineral used to produce polarizing prisms. It is uniaxial negative and in the trigonal division of the hexagonal system of crystals. Its indices are e = 1.486, w = 1.658; its...

A microscope that allows examination of a small crystal and conveniently provides linearly polarized object and reference beams so that, by suitable orientation of an anisotropic crystal, the optical...

White, tetragonal crystals used in the production of luminous coatings.

Colorless crystals used in photoelectric cells and for photosensitive material in cathodes.

Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur (S), selenium (Se), and tellurium (Te). These elements are known as...

The state of a liquid crystal in which the molecules are arranged in layers with their long axes in the plane of each layer. The alignment in each layer is parallel and the alignment in adjacent...

Naturally occurring planes in crystalline substances that provide easy points for separation.

A color center, in the context of materials science and condensed matter physics, refers to a specific type of crystallographic defect in a crystalline structure that introduces color to the...

A technique used to store wavefront information on thin polarization information-recordable materials by controlling the polarization angle of a small illuminating spotlight in each sampling cell on...

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than traditional optical techniques. CGHs are generated entirely in digital form...

The dispersion of a light ray striking the surface of a biaxial crystal, in which the resulting rays are reflected in a conical manner.

An optical instrument, generally a polarizing microscope, that is used to determine the interference figures and optical axis of a sample crystal. Also called a hodoscope.

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape resembling a cylinder. Unlike spherical lenses, which have the same...

Popular process for silicon and polycrystalline production that consists of an alteration of the original state of a substance; thus, single-crystal materials can be used to form a polycrystal.

Any of the constants that relate the tendency of the director to remain parallel to restoring torques throughout the media. The three constants of importance in liquid crystal displays are: splay --...

The process by which a vitreous or amorphous substance forms a crystal structure at a specified temperature.

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce high-quality optical surfaces and components with extremely tight tolerances. It...

Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and mirrors, from materials such as metals, plastics, and crystalline materials...

A polarizer that consists of dichroic polarizing material embedded in a plastic sheet, and that transmits light that is almost completely plane polarized with an intensity that is half that of the...

Dichroism refers to the property of certain materials to exhibit different colors or absorbance of light depending on the direction of light propagation or polarization. The term is commonly used in...

A device used to investigate the dichroism of crystals.

A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into a solid gain medium, resulting in the generation of coherent light. This...

In a liquid crystal system, the director refers to the local symmetry axis around which the long range order of the liquid crystal is aligned. In the case of the nematic phase, the molecular long...

The region of distorted atom configuration formed between the displaced and normal areas in a crystal when part of the crystal is displaced tangentially.

A primitive crystal possessing two plane surfaces that form a dihedral angle bisected by another plane surface.

In the context of materials science and semiconductor physics, doping refers to the intentional introduction of impurities into a semiconductor material in order to alter its electrical properties....

The separation of unpolarized light into two plane-polarized elements by a doubly refracting crystal. When a crystal, such as calcite, is placed between the eye and a pinhole in a card, two bright...

An optical correlator incorporating a binary phase-only spatial light modulator made from an iron garnet magneto-optic solid crystal and used in target recognition systems.

The theoretical explanation and analysis of the interactions between electron waves and crystals used in studying electron diffraction.

The organic inclusion in quartz crystal that forms delicate films and microspheres and that shows a maximum absorption at 450 nm.

The effect whereby a light beam is deflected by a birefringent prism when its polarization is changed by voltage applied to an electro-optical crystal through which the beam passes. The deflection of...

A technology that uses electrically activated holograms stored within specially developed crystals to route information in the form of lightwave signals from one optical fiber to another within and...

An electromagnon is a quasiparticle excitation that combines aspects of both magnetism and electric polarization in a crystal lattice. Specifically, it refers to a collective excitation of spins and...

In photography, the layer of light-sensitive material (usually a suspension of silver halide crystals) that coats the film or plate.

Epitaxial refers to the growth of a crystalline layer on a crystalline substrate in such a way that the orientation of the crystal lattice of the growing layer is related to that of the substrate. In...

Epitaxial deposition is a process used in semiconductor manufacturing and materials science to grow a thin crystalline layer, known as an epitaxial layer, on a substrate. The term epitaxial refers to...

Epitaxial equipment refers to a set of specialized tools and systems used in the process of epitaxy, which is the growth of crystalline layers on a substrate material. Epitaxial growth is a critical...

A well controlled thin films technique for growing films with good crystal structure in ultra high vacuum environments at very low deposition rates. Epitaxy methods are well known for the growing of...