269 terms
Photonics Dictionary
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incoherentIn optics, the term denoting the lack of a fixed phase relationship between two waves. If two incoherent waves are superimposed, interference effects cannot last longer than the individual coherent...
integramA reflection hologram using multiple color lasers that integrates various graphical techniques to allow the display of three-dimensional images of live objects in motion, as well as outdoor scenes,...
interference microscopeA special form of microscope that utilizes interference for observing and measuring the phase and optical thickness in completely transparent objects and specimen. The object is placed in one beam...
Ioffee barA fusion system conductor capable of carrying current in opposite directions in alternating time phases.
IVPOinside vapor-phase oxidation
jitter1. In relation to cathode-ray tube displays, errors in the signal's amplitude, phase or both that result in small, rapid aberrations in size or position of the image. 2. Errors of synchronization...
Kell factorIn an interlaced scanning electro-optical system such as television, the system resolution will be less than the number of active scan lines because of the random phase nature of the object being...
Kerr cellA cell filled with a transparent material that, when placed in a strong electrical field, exhibits double refraction. Since the two polarized elements of an incident light beam travel at different...
Kerr effectThe Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an applied...
kinoformLens which, by altering the phase, efficiently images through a holographic process.
label-freeLabel-free refers to a technique or method that does not require the use of additional labels, tags, or markers to detect or identify specific components or entities. In various scientific and...
laser outputThe laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by several key properties that distinguish lasers from other light sources. These...
laserA laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and focused beams of light through the process of optical amplification based...
lateral shearing interferometerA lateral shearing interferometer is an optical device used in interferometry to measure phase differences between two beams of light. Interferometry is a technique that combines and analyzes...
Laurent polarimeterA Laurent polarimeter is an instrument used in optics for measuring the rotation of plane-polarized light caused by optically active substances. Optical rotation, also known as optical activity, is a...
lensless microscopyLensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and reconstructs microscopic images without the use of traditional lenses. Instead of...
liquid crystalLiquid crystals are a state of matter that exhibits properties intermediate between those of conventional liquids and solid crystals. In a liquid crystal, the molecules are ordered like those in a...
liquid crystal light valveA liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the intensity, phase, or polarization of light passing through it using liquid...
lock-in amplifierA lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or interference. It is particularly useful in fields such as spectroscopy,...
LPEliquid phase epitaxy
LTPSlateral transitional phase shift
Mach-Zehnder interferometerA Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of light. It is named after the physicists Ludwig Mach and Ludwig Zehnder, who...
magnetic rotation spectroscopyTechnique in which the polarization rotation of light, and its relationship to the magnetic field strength can be analyzed and related to various experimental parameters when passed through a...
magnonA magnon is a quasiparticle representing a quantized spin wave in a magnetic material. In other words, it is a collective excitation of the spins of electrons in a magnetic solid, analogous to the...
MCMmodulation contrast microscopy; multichip module — modulation contrast microscopy is a unique illumination technique that enhances contrast in an imaging microscope by converting optical gradients into variations in light intensity. Modulation contrast microscopy is found most commonly in live cell imaging, polarization microscopy, phase contrast, and oblique illumination of stained, unstained and birefringent specimens. A multichip module is an electronic packaging system where multiple discrete electronic components (integrated circuits, semiconductor diodes, etc.) are packaged in various ways onto a single substrate.
melting pointThe temperature at which the solid phase of a material is in equilibrium with the liquid phase, or when the material changes from a solid to a liquid.
meta-opticsMeta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication, and utilization of artificial structures called metasurfaces to control and...
metalensA metalens, short for "metasurface lens," is a type of optical lens that uses nanostructured materials to manipulate light at a subwavelength scale. Unlike traditional lenses made of glass or other...
metasurfacesMetasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or meta-elements, arranged in a specific pattern to manipulate the propagation of...
microinterferometer -> interference microscopeA special form of microscope that utilizes interference for observing and measuring the phase and optical thickness in completely transparent objects and specimen. The object is placed in one beam...
modal noiseIn an optical system, noise created by mode-dependent optical losses and variations in the distribution of radiant power among the modes or relative phases of the modes. Also known as speckle noise.
mode-locked lasersMode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds, femtoseconds, or even attoseconds. This method synchronizes the phases of...
modulated grating hologramA computer-generated, phase-and-amplitude, off-axis hologram made by a multi-exposure technique that uses three computer generated transmission masks. Each mask controls one fixed-phase component of...
modulatorA modulator is a device or component that modifies a carrier signal in order to encode information for transmission over a communication channel. The process of modulating involves varying one or...
modulator crystalA nonlinear crystal used to modulate a polarized beam of light by means of the Pockels effect. A Pockels cell is used as a voltage-controlled waveplate by means of applying a known voltage across the...
molecular beam epitaxy -> epitaxyA 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...
MOVPEmetallorganic vapor phase epitaxy
MPSKmultiple phase shift keying
multiple wavelength interferometryA specific form of phase shifting interferometry - commonly referred to as multiple wavelength phase shifting interferometry - this form of interferometry utilizes two short wavelengths to synthesize...
NCPMnoncritical phase matching
near-field diffraction -> Fresnel diffraction1. Also known as near-field diffraction. The field of radiation sent through an aperture in an absorbing screen at large distances as compared with the wavelength and the dimensions of the aperture,...
near-field holographyA lithography method that allows the transfer of fine-pitch gratings from a phase mask into photoresist. The exposure takes place with the light coming under an oblique angle to the mask. The...
Nomarski microscopyAlso referred to as differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy; Nomarski microscopy is a unique form of microscopy especially suited for the evaluation of surface quality and defects as well...
noncoherent radiationRadiation having waves that are out of phase in space and/or time.
nonlinear optical crystalAn optical crystal that possesses a strong nonlinear dielectric response function to optical radiation. A material with a strong second-order nonlinearity must not possess a center of symmetry. See...
nonlinear optical materialsNonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the intensity of incident light. In other words, these materials produce optical...
nonlinear opticsNonlinear optics is a branch of optics that studies the optical phenomena that occur when intense light interacts with a material and induces nonlinear responses. In contrast to linear optics, where...
nonlinear polarizationNonlinear polarization refers to the phenomenon where the polarization of a material responds nonlinearly to an applied electric field. In linear systems, the polarization of a material is directly...
OMVPEorganometallic vapor phase epitaxy
OPCoptical phase conjugation
Photonics Dictionary