Photonics Dictionary

Quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED) is a display technology that utilizes quantum dots, which are semiconductor nanocrystals, to produce vibrant and high-quality images. QLED displays are...

Silicon carbide (SiC) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are semiconductor devices that emit light when an electric current is applied to them. These LEDs are made using silicon carbide as the...

An emitter based on stimulated emission with amplification but insufficient feedback for oscillation to build up.

A vacuum chamber is a sealed enclosure from which air and other gases are removed to create a low-pressure environment, typically close to or at a complete vacuum. These chambers are often...

A 2D profile sensor is a type of sensor used in various industrial and technological applications to measure and capture detailed information about the shape, contour, or profile of an object in two...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that builds three-dimensional objects layer by layer from a digital model. This technology allows the creation of...

Component that is externally controlled via electronic or photon signal.

An OLED display that has an integrated electronic backplane as its substrate. Active-matrix OLED displays use at least two thin-film transistors (TFTs) to control the on-current at each OLED cell or...

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of atmospheric distortions. The Earth's atmosphere can cause light passing through it...

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional objects by adding material layer by layer. This is in contrast to...

In image processing, the result of a sampling frequency that is too slow to preserve the spatial frequencies of the image. When detail has a frequency greater than half the sampling frequency, it...

An assembly of fibers in which the coordinates of each fiber are the same at the two ends of the bundle. Also called coherent bundle.

Displacement in a direction perpendicular to that of the intended displacement, as in a translation stage with simple flexures that experiences vertical displacement during horizontal motion; it is...

The ratio of aperture area over receiving area for a specific lens. Also called geometric concentration.

Area scan, in the context of imaging and cameras, refers to a method of capturing an entire two-dimensional image in a single snapshot or exposure. Unlike line scan, which captures images one line at...

The area of optics in which the wave nature of a particle is exploited to carry out very accurate interferometry and other optical techniques with atoms instead of photons. In this process, particles...

An atomic clock is a highly precise timekeeping device that uses the vibrations or oscillations of atoms as a reference for measuring time. The most common type of atomic clock uses the vibrations of...

An atomic force microscope (AFM) is a high-resolution imaging and measurement instrument used in nanotechnology, materials science, and biology. It is a type of scanning probe microscope that...

Attosecond photonics sources refer to devices or systems that generate extremely short pulses of light on the order of attoseconds (1 attosecond = 10-18 seconds). These ultrafast light pulses are in...

Attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy (APAP) is an advanced technique in ultrafast spectroscopy that allows scientists to study the dynamics of electronic processes occurring on extremely...

The radiation-free transition that takes place within an ion, in which inner-shell vacancies in neutral atoms are filled by outer-shell electrons, thereby transferring energy to other electrons,...

A spectrograph in which the refracted beam returns almost along the path traveled by the incident beam, and is brought to a focus by the lens that collimates the incident beam.

A signal-averaging device that improves signal-to-noise ratio by comparing a sampled signal with a time-delayed form of itself.

Automated optical inspection (AOI) is a technology used in manufacturing processes, particularly in electronics, to automatically inspect and detect defects or anomalies in products. AOI systems use...

A method of designing lasers whereby the laser rod is cut into elliptical discs and cooled by running water over the disc surfaces. The cooling circuit decreases the radial temperature gradients in...

The propagation constant evaluated along the axis of a waveguide, that is, in the direction of transmission. Also called axial propagation wave number.

Azadioxatriangulenium is a type of organic compound with a unique triangular molecular structure. It is often abbreviated as ADOTA. This compound belongs to the class of polycyclic aromatic...

A Babinet compensator that contains the controlled motion of one prism with respect to the other. This idea was introduced by Jamin.

An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure. The electron beam and the electromagnetic wave move in opposite directions...

A light-harvesting protein found in the purple membrane of a micro-organism called Halobacterium halobium. The protein undergoes a photocycle that involves several binary photochemical reactions that...

A filter that suppresses a given range of frequencies, transmitting only those above and below that band. Also called bandstop filter.

In semiconductor physics, the term bandgap refers to the energy range in a material where no electronic states are allowed. It represents the energy difference between the valence band, which is the...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It involves measuring and visualizing how the optical power or intensity is...

Biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their physiological or behavioral characteristics. These unique attributes are used to verify or identify individuals, often in...

Also called proximity focus image intensifier. A compact image intensifier that utilizes a microchannel plate intensification stage. This is an in-line device that does not invert the image.

A matrix-controlled display that has information storage at the display surface, and requires that an element be addressed only once to assure that it is on or off.

1. A plane that forms one side of the groove ruled on a diffraction grating. 2. To form the individual grooves of a grating with flat smooth faces, inclined to the surface by an angle known as the...

A bolometer that serves to record. The photographic record formed by the bolometer may be called bolograph or bologram.

A device for the internal inspection of hard-to-get-at mechanical parts, such as rifle barrels, sewer pipes, oil wells, or gas mains. The long narrow tube used contains a telescope system with as...

A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that forms at temperatures close to absolute zero. It is named after Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein, who independently predicted the...

An instrument for detecting and analyzing repetitive signals. Using a fixed time delay or "gate," the input signal is sampled numerous times and averaged to increase the ratio of the...