Photonics Dictionary

Light diffracted by a solid (usually quartz in crystal or fused form) traversed by acoustic waves. If the ultrasonic wavelength is larger than the diameter of the light beam, the diffraction orders...

An aspheric mirror is an optical mirror surface that deviates from the shape of a perfect sphere, having a non-spherical surface profile. Unlike traditional spherical mirrors, which have a curved...

An astronomical telescope is a type of optical instrument designed to gather and magnify light from distant celestial objects for observation and analysis. It typically consists of two main optical...

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or light beam. The goal is to transform the incoming beam into a desired shape...

A blur circle refers to the out-of-focus region in an image captured by an optical system. When an object in a scene is not in perfect focus, its image is spread out into a circular shape on the...

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...

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 digital camera is a device that captures and records still images or video in digital format. Unlike traditional film cameras, which use photographic film to capture and store images, digital...

A dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) refers to a type of optical fiber designed to minimize the effects of chromatic dispersion, which is the phenomenon where different wavelengths of light travel at...

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) refers to a specific range of electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. EUV radiation has wavelengths between 10 and 124 nanometers, which...

A fiber optic cable assembly refers to a complete unit consisting of optical fibers, connectors, protective jackets, and other components that are assembled together to facilitate the transmission of...

A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in orientation or rotation. It operates based on the principle of the Sagnac effect,...

A fiber optic sensor is a device that uses optical fibers to detect and measure physical, chemical, biological, or environmental parameters. Unlike traditional electrical sensors, fiber optic sensors...

A GaAlAs laser is a type of semiconductor laser diode that emits light in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is composed of layers of gallium, aluminum, and arsenic, hence...

The area of optics that deals with the propagation of Gaussian laser beams in free space, or any general medium - i.e. lenses- under the paraxial (small divergence angle) approximations. Gaussian...

1. That branch of optics that illustrates the theory in which q is substituted for sin q in Snell's law. Effective results are achieved if the aperture and field angle are made very small. The...

A GRIN (gradient index) lens is a type of optical lens that utilizes a gradient in refractive index across its volume rather than having a uniform refractive index like conventional lenses. This...

A hyperspectral imaging camera is a sophisticated imaging device capable of capturing and processing data across a wide range of wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum, typically from...

In the context of optical materials, the term "impurity level" refers to the presence of foreign atoms or molecules within the material that deviate from its regular or intrinsic composition. These...

Instantaneous field of view (iFOV) is a term commonly used in the context of remote sensing, imaging systems, and optical instruments. It refers to the specific portion of a scene that an optical...

A small defocused Galilean telescope mounted in a hole in a door. Viewed from inside through the positive lens, a wide-angle view of the outside is seen; viewed from outside through the negative...

A 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...

A small optical polishing machine intended for polishing the surface of a metal specimen before etching for examination under a microscope. Although shaping and polishing machines for this purpose...

Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties not found in naturally occurring substances. These materials are designed to manipulate electromagnetic waves in ways that are not...

Metasurfaces 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...

A micro-ring resonator is a compact optical device that utilizes the resonant behavior of light within a small ring-shaped waveguide structure to selectively enhance or filter certain wavelengths of...

A microcomb, short for microresonator frequency comb, is a novel photonic device that generates a precise series of evenly spaced optical frequencies, akin to the teeth of a comb, across a broad...

A microdisplay is a miniature electronic display technology that is designed to project visual information onto a small screen. Unlike traditional displays, microdisplays are typically very compact...

Extremely small organic and inorganic systems of molecules within a substance. In general, systems are colloidal size in spite of the large number of molecules. Photochemistry and optical...

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each individual lens in the array is referred to as a microlens. These...

Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (such as light) by spherical particles. Unlike Rayleigh scattering, which is...

The smallest angle through which light is bent by an optical element or system. In a prism, the angle of deviation is a minimum if the incident and exiting rays form equal angles with the prism...

Minimum object distance, often abbreviated as MOD, refers to the closest distance at which a camera lens or optical system is capable of producing a sharp and focused image. In photography, this term...

The smallest linear diameter to which a laser or other beam of radiant energy is capable of being focused, depending on the quality of the focusing optics, aperture and focal length, beam irradiance...

In optics, "mode beating" refers to an interference phenomenon that can occur in laser systems with multiple longitudinal modes. Longitudinal modes are specific electromagnetic field patterns that...

A molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can convert light energy into mechanical motion at the molecular level. These...

An array of refractive microlenses that are round, square and hexagonal and as small as 15 µm. They are used for Hartmann testing, laser diode collimation and other applications that require...

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor material. Unlike the more common PIN photodiodes, which have a P-type and...

Nanophotonics is a branch of science and technology that explores the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, typically at dimensions smaller than the wavelength of light. It involves the study and...

Optical tweezers refer to a scientific instrument that uses the pressure of laser light to trap and manipulate microscopic objects, such as particles or biological cells, in three dimensions. This...

The term perovskite refers to a specific crystal structure commonly found in various materials. Perovskite structures have a cubic arrangement of oxygen ions, forming a framework within which other...

A phase-modulated sensor is a type of sensor that uses modulation of the phase of a signal to measure changes in a physical quantity. In such sensors, variations in the phase of the signal are...

A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric microstructures, such as microspheres or microcylinders. This phenomenon arises due...

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free electrons in a metal or semiconductor at the nanoscale. Specifically,...