Photonics Dictionary

Left- and right-hand circularly polarized beams that are produced at different velocities by passing plane-polarized light through an optical substance. When recombined, they exhibit different phases...

A device that obliterates the polarization of a polarized beam by reflecting the beam in all directions at right angles to its axis.

The ratio of the power of a plane-polarized beam that is transmitted through a polarizer placed in its path with its polarizing axis parallel to the beam's plane, as compared with the transmitted...

A technique used to create an achromatic phase shift based on the principle of geometric phase. The phase shift is experienced by a light beam as a result of a cyclic change in its state of...

Technique 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...

A 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...

A transmission interference microscope that produces interference patterns of a sample by using birefringent plates that split a polarized beam of light into ordinary and extraordinary rays, then...

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...