Photonics Dictionary

The process of linking optical fiber end to end.

A weapon launched from a ground-based platform and controlled by a two-way fiber optic data link. The fiber is payed out from a bobbin in the back of the missile.

A wide-field multiobject spectroscopy system used in astronomy, in which a bundle of low-loss optical fibers positioned on the target images is rearranged at its other end into a linear array along...

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the transmission of data using modulated beams of light through free space (air or a...

High-modulus elastic fibers that exhibit the following differences from conventional elastic fibers: Increasing temperature decreases recovery force (the fibers are enthalpic vs. conventionally...

A standard direct-readout vidicon tube linked by fiber optics to an intensifier for increased sensitivity.

A thermosetting material used in the jacket of fiber optic cables.

A measurement technique used to determine the spatial distribution profile of an electrical or optical quantity of interest which is provided by multiple scans within the near-field region of a...

A standard for fiber optic telecommunications interfaces, with a 1300-nm data link operating over single-mode fiber at data rates of 52, 155 and 622 Mb/s.