Photonics Dictionary: F

The effect discovered by Faraday in 1845 whereby nonoptically active materials or substances become capable of rotating the polarization plane of polarized radiation (light) passed through them when...

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It consists of a periodic modulation of the refractive index along the length...

A fiber laser is a type of laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth ions such as erbium, ytterbium, or neodymium. Fiber lasers generate coherent light through...

A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It serves as the precursor from which optical fibers are drawn. The process of...

One of the two major types of optical glass, the other being crown glass. Flint glass is softer than crown glass, has a higher dispersion and usually a higher refractive index.

Optical glass that possesses a refractive index equal to or less than 1.5, and an Abbe number that ranges from 62 to about 85.

The optical form of the crystal fluorspar, calcium fluoride, that is utilized for its low optical dispersion, its low refractive index, and its transparency to infrared and ultraviolet radiation.

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric shapes, such as spheres or paraboloids. Unlike conventional mirrors, which...

Fresnel reflection refers to the reflection of light at the interface between two different media with different refractive indices. This phenomenon was named after the French engineer and physicist...

Reflection losses incurred at input and output of optical elements because of the difference in refractive index between glass and the immersion medium.