Photonics Dictionary: L

A defect in the cleaved end face of an optical fiber, in the form of a sharp protrusion at the edge of the fiber.

A small half-shade analyzer placed in the eyepiece of a polarimeter to determine the character of the polarized light emitted by the instrument. It consists of a Nicol prism situated so that it...

A self-healing, index-matching, nonporous coating for optical components that can eliminate production difficulties and deficiencies associated with solid-film contamination and postdeposition...

Multimode straight fiber capable of transporting linearly polarized light with any incident polarization angle, and in which no form of internal stress can develop that could lead to birefringence.

Liquid 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...

An alphanumeric display formed by a layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched between two sheets of glass; a transparent conductive coating on the glass is etched to form the character segments. An...

A wireless stereo imaging device used in conjunction with a monitor to produce a virtual interactive environment. Liquid crystal shutters in the eyewear are synchronized with the monitor at 120...

A 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...

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) is a display technology that combines liquid crystal materials with silicon-based semiconductor technology to create high-resolution, high-quality images. LCoS...

A solution or combination of solutions that serves as a filter.

An immersion liquid used to treat polarizing filters to eliminate the effects of surface variations and to minimize the optical path difference between that part of the spectrum that passes through...

A laser that uses a substance in the liquid state, such as an organic dye, as the active lasing medium.

An optical fiber with a hollow core filled with a liquid material that has a higher refractive index than the solid surrounding it.

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a fine layer of hydrophobic powder, such as silica nanoparticles or Teflon....

A mirror composed of liquid, taking advantage of the parabolic shape of a spinning liquid and the fact that the mirror's focal length can be adjusted by altering the velocity at which the liquid's...

The acoustical holographic process in which the hologram consists of slight elevations in a liquid surface, in the areas of the antinodes of the interference pattern. Light diffracted from this...

Liquid or fluid optics refers to the use of liquids to create or enhance optical systems. These systems leverage the unique properties of liquids, such as their ability to change shape, refractive...

The pattern, formed by a character generation cathode-ray tube system, in which the characters are made up of wave shapes synthesized by a series of sine and cosine terms.

A crystal often used for windows and refracting components in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared. Characteristically, this form has excellent transmission from 0.14 to 6.0 µm.

A crystalline ferroelectric material used primarily as a substrate and an active medium for thin-film optical modulators and switches. It possesses very high electro-optic and piezoelectric...

Lithium triborate (LiB3O5), commonly abbreviated as LBO, is a nonlinear optical crystal widely used in various applications involving frequency conversion of laser light. It is valued for its...

Lithography is a key process used in microfabrication and semiconductor manufacturing to create intricate patterns on the surface of substrates, typically silicon wafers. It involves the transfer of...

A 30-60-90° spectrograph prism that is coated on the surface opposite the 60° angle with a reflecting film.

A spectrograph using a prism that has an internally reflecting surface and that serves as a constant deviation prism.

A mirror employed with a very high incidence angle to form a pair of coherent light sources by reflection, and therefore forming interference bands.

Data communications network in a clearly defined geographical location, and extending no more than a few miles in length. It generally takes in an office building or group of buildings, a campus or...

A device used to evaluate the quality of fiber optic splices made in the field by injecting light into the cladding of the fiber and measuring the output at the other end of the splice.

In coherent optical communications systems, a laser used at the receiving end to produce a steady wave that is combined with the incoming laser signal before detection, generating a composite wave...

A 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,...

A device designed to convert linear change in the light state at input to log data at output.

One class of nonlinear space-invariant transformation processes used for processing convolved and multiplied signals.