The application of reversible writing with a laser beam on particular storage materials. In one method, an amorphous film is heated and then crystallized for writing. Bubble writing involves the formation of bubbles on the film-glass interface of a...

A discharge tube filled with various gases and used as a source in spectroscopy.

A lens blank is a piece of optical material in a raw, unfinished state, typically in the form of a disk or block, from which...

A gas laser wherein the gas mixture is not exhausted into the atmosphere but is continually recycled. It is excited in the...

The holographic recording of sequences of high-speed phenomena. With a multiple beam laser, multiple holograms that depict...

A modulator is a device or component that modifies a carrier signal in order to encode information for transmission over a...

A mixture of ionized gas and metal vapor generated by impingement of the laser beam onto a material being welded or a weld...

In cosmology, a star that exhibits a rapid increase in the magnitude of light, which is followed by a slow decrease in...

A self-interference effect that generates random patterns; secondary speckle pattern (SSP) typically occurs in diffuse...

Machine learning (ML) is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on the development of algorithms and...

The state of a liquid crystal in which the molecules are arranged in layers with their long axes in the plane of each layer....

Laser lithotripsy is a medical procedure that uses laser energy to break down or fragment stones in various parts of the...

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or...

The smallest amount of photon energy to pass a detector window and be counted.

An optical filter so constructed that the density increases progressively from one end to the other, or angularly around a...

The study of flames by means of a laser emitting blue light and a spectrometer to measure the green fluorescence created by...

Optoacoustic, or photoacoustic, refers to a phenomenon and related techniques that involve the generation of acoustic waves...

A laser, usually employing helium-neon or other gases as the active medium, used for alignment in industrial applications.

A method of analysis in which a pulsed laser beam is used to heat a particle, producing a plasma, or laser spark. As the...

A single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is a specialized type of photodetector designed to detect extremely weak optical...

In optics, "mode beating" refers to an interference phenomenon that can occur in laser systems with multiple longitudinal...

A type of laser welding that produces short-duration vapor pockets without buildup of heat in the part, useful for parts...

Photoconductive antenna (PCA) is a semiconductor element that generates or detects high-frequency electromagnetic signals....

An electro-optic modulator (EOM) is a device used to modulate the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light waves using an...

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method of secure communication that utilizes principles from quantum mechanics to...

A dielectric ceramic material used in laser capillary tubes because of its high electrical resistivity and high thermal...

A polygonal mirror, also known as a multifaceted mirror or facet mirror, is a type of optical component used in various...

Holography is a technique used to capture and reconstruct three-dimensional images using the principles of interference and...

In a laser, the voltage necessary to sustain a constant operating current, somewhat less than that needed for start-up.

Also referred to as differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy; Nomarski microscopy is a unique form of microscopy...

An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet laser that emits short pulses of light in the ultraviolet spectrum. The term...

Gas laser in which the tube acts as a channel for the laser beam.

An optical instrument used to determine the distance to a target being viewed. Two similar optical systems view the target...

A monolithic laser diode incorporating multiple coupled emitters.

The term gradient-index profile refers to a specific type of refractive index distribution within an optical material. In...

A plate made of a double-refracting crystal having such a density that a phase difference of one-quarter cycle is formed...

A process for the production of optical fibers. A glass bait is rotated in a traversing flame of a reaction burner....

A gas maser that is capable of producing radiation in the far-infrared region of the spectrum.

Transparencies that represent progressive steps in the amount of transmitted radiation for administering predetermined...

A grating beamsplitter is an optical device that utilizes the principles of diffraction to split a beam of light into...

Laser drift typically refers to a phenomenon where the frequency or wavelength of a laser source gradually changes over...

Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the...

A type of ultrasensitive laser spectroscopy that can detect quantities as small as a single atom of some substances and that...

A mass spectrometer utilizing both radial electrostatic and magnetic field analyzers to improve the focusing and increase...

A class of optical phenomena that can be viewed only with nearly monochromatic, directional beams of light, such as those...

A unit of measurement of luminous intensity based on a physical standard, a set of calibrated carbon filament lamps. The old...

Nonlinear optics is a branch of optics that studies the optical phenomena that occur when intense light interacts with a...

Method for reducing laser speckle in which the object field comes from a real diffuse object or the reconstructed object...

A host crystal for chromium that emits pulsed or continuous-wave laser light, tunable from about 720 to 790 nm.

A matrix of miniature lenses, molded or formed onto a common base.

A technique used to create a series of interrelated holographic images that give an appearance of motion when projected in...

Counter propagating beams imaged along the same path in order to detect rotation. Precise rotation is measured through...

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a type of electronic image sensor used in various imaging devices, including digital...

A type of recording material, usually a photodielectric polymer, offering in situ development mechanisms because of its...

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique that enhances the Raman scattering signal of...

Neuromorphic refers to the design and development of computing systems or devices that are inspired by the structure and...

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used in biology and medicine for the quantitative analysis of the physical and...

Germanium crystal refers to a crystalline form of the element germanium (Ge), which is a metalloid and semiconductor...

Radiation used to excite an optical or laser material to a higher energy level. See optical pumping.

In rudimentary form, this technology consists of diffusion of a PN junction through a mask of silica, over which a contact...

The degree to which a laser beam is aligned parallel to the housing axis.

The deviation from the ideal case where a circular variable filter is located at a given wavelength along a radial line (or...

An emission spectrum is a graphical representation or a characteristic pattern of the wavelengths or frequencies of light...

In the dye laser, the molecule that takes out energy from the triplet state during collisions between the dye and quencher...

Remote inspection refers to the process of inspecting, evaluating, or monitoring assets, equipment, infrastructure, or...

Medical lasers are devices that produce intense beams of light with specific characteristics and properties, which are used...

The distance, on either side of the object plane focused on, through which satisfactory image definition can be obtained....

Topological photonics is a branch of physics and optics that explores the application of topological concepts to the...

Hyperchromic shift refers to an increase in the absorption of light, leading to a higher absorbance, often observed in...

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to measure and analyze the optical...

Qualitatively, the inverse of the amount of velocity produced by the application of a sinusoidal force to a system;...

Laser-powered telephone device for analog communications that employs a vibrating plastic membrane as a transmitter to...

Particle acceleration refers to the process by which charged particles, such as electrons or protons, gain kinetic energy...

1. The variation in intensity of a light beam as it travels through the atmosphere. 2. In radiation physics, a light flash...

A time-to-amplitude converter (TAC) is an electronic circuit that converts a time interval between two events into an...

A casting consisting of an optical material molded into the desired geometry for grinding, polishing or, in the case of...

Reactive evaporation refers to a process in thin-film deposition where a material is deposited onto a substrate through...

A type of surface-emitting laser diode that uses dielectric mirrors to produce surface emission. The laser cavity is...

An instrument used to measure expansion of solids, liquids and gases.

A model that predicts laser-induced damage to thin films caused by irradiation of identical, randomly distributed film...

In computer graphics, the coordinated two-dimensional or three-dimensional area of increased resolution where graphics...

An electrode used to release photoelectric emission when irradiated, making it then the irradiated negative electrode of a...

For a particular mode, the reciprocal of the rate of change of the phase constant with respect to angular frequency.

A binary semiconductor compound used as a substrate or active layer for diode lasers.

In optical fiber, bends that are larger than microbends (see microbending), being visible. Generally they are caused by...

Spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) is a technique that extends traditional Raman spectroscopy by incorporating...

A device employed to identify toxic agents lingering on the ground or in the air from up to three miles away, by using laser...

The photographic recording of data, in binary form, for storage in memory. Exposure is achieved by a cathode-ray tube or by...

The complex function, H(f), equal to the ratio of the output to input of the device as a function of frequency. The...

A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path...

In the context of materials science and semiconductor physics, doping refers to the intentional introduction of impurities...

Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (such as...

Ellipsometry is an optical technique used to characterize the properties of thin films and surfaces. It is based on the...

1. Also known as near-field diffraction. The field of radiation sent through an aperture in an absorbing screen at large...

Harmonic generation refers to a nonlinear optical process in which incoming photons interact with a material and produce new...

A Nernst glower, also known simply as a Nernst lamp or Nernst filament, is a type of incandescent lamp or radiant heater...

A crystal, glass, or quartz slicing and cutting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used in the manufacturing...

An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy due to an electric arc — a continuous, high-current discharge of...

An instrument that uses an erbium:glass laser to determine cloud height from the ground.

Term applied to laser technology to denote an area of above-average intensity often attributable to atmospheric...

The storage of data as bits in memory by holographic processes. The laser beam is divided into reference and object beams,...

In a laser, the voltage necessary to initiate electrical discharge, somewhat higher than that needed to sustain it.

A technique for measuring the concentration of any gases. Identical infrared beams are alternately chopped, one passing...

A device for converting sunlight into electrical energy, consisting of a sandwich of P-type and N-type semiconducting...

1. The near total absorption of plane-polarized light by a polarizer that has an axis perpendicular to the plane of...

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) refers to a specific range of electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum....

The condition in which there are more atomic systems in the upper of two energy levels than in the lower, so stimulated...

Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors...

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is a compact and integrated device that incorporates multiple photonic components and...

1. A geometrical arrangement of two or more light beams for use in laser shows, object detection or other applications...

1. In relation to cathode-ray tube displays, errors in the signal's amplitude, phase or both that result in small, rapid...

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free...

A microcomb, short for microresonator frequency comb, is a novel photonic device that generates a precise series of evenly...

Laser surgery refers to a medical procedure in which a laser, or focused beam of light, is used as a precision tool to cut,...

A terahertz spectrometer is a scientific instrument used to measure and analyze the properties of materials in the terahertz...

Brillouin scattering is a phenomenon in physics where an incident electromagnetic wave (usually light) interacts with...

The angular spectrum approach is a mathematical and computational technique used in the field of optics to analyze and...

The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is an optical device used for measuring the wavefront aberrations of an optical system....

Consists of a pair of radio telescopes concentrated on a single celestial object. This technique creates a single radio...

An analog signal capable of being modulated as to frequency, amplitude or phase to carry information.

A photomask, also known simply as a mask or reticle, is a key component in the photolithography process used in...

Hyperspectral imaging is an advanced imaging technique that captures and processes information from across the...

Power modulation refers to the intentional variation of power levels in a signal, often in the context of electronic...

A camera system used to form a high-precision hologram of the subject on a photographic plate. It contains a high-power...

Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement,...

A reagent is a substance or compound that is used in a chemical reaction to bring about a specific transformation or to...

An autocollimator is an optical instrument used for measuring small angular deviations with high precision. It operates on...

A waveform that can oscillate along the length of the laser cavity.

A photodetector mounted in the same package as a laser diode that is positioned to monitor the output from the rear facet of...

The angular width of a radiation beam. With respect to a conical beam of light, it is the vertex angle of the cone. The...

A feature of some imaging devices, such as digital cameras, that allows them to compensate for different lighting conditions...

Rare-earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen chemical elements found in the Earth's crust, characterized by their...

A material that produces stimulated emission during the process of amplification with a laser system.

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is a type of light-emitting diode (LED) technology that utilizes organic compounds to...

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional...

Number of pulses emitted per unit of time by a pulsed laser.

A light beam whose electric vectors are broken into two elements of unlike amplitudes that are perpendicular to each other...

Technique for the precision evaluation of coincidence of a laser beam's center with the edge of the object under study and...

The condition of the numerical aperture or beam diameter of the laser, LED, or other optical source being larger than the...

A quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a type of semiconductor laser that operates based on the principles of quantum mechanics....

A Peltier cooler, also known as a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) or thermoelectric module, is a solid-state device that uses...

The pulse-to-pulse fluctuations in power distribution among modes of a Fabry-Perot laser, which can result in...

Computer vision enables computers to interpret and make decisions based on visual data, such as images and videos. It...

The use of lasers in tailoring of such components as thin-film resistors. The process improves speed and accuracy.

A mass spectrometer used to detect ions formed by photo- and charge-exchange ionization of gases, such as those in the lunar...

A light beam whose electric vectors can be broken into two perpendicular elements that have equal amplitudes and that differ...

The ability of a camera to compensate in cases where a subject with a large amount of background light would otherwise be...

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is an advanced imaging technique that provides information about the lifetime of...

The chemical method of separating compounds dissolved in one phase (usually mobile) through its equilibration with a second...

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that measures changes in hemoglobin...

Technique for measuring the volume bulk of materials as they move along a conveyor with an accuracy of better than 1...

A form of liquid crystal with an appearance of moving, threadlike structures, particularly visible when observed in thick...

A laser that emits radiation continuously rather than in short bursts, as in a pulsed laser.

A small fiber optic endoscope used in laser surgery.

A 3D profile sensor, also known as a 3D profiling sensor or 3D depth sensor, is a technology that is used to capture and...

An optical medical instrument that uses an intense, precisely focused beam of light to stop weakened blood vessels from...

Use of a laser to solder joints by melting the solder coatings on the mating components.

A light-sensitive resistor in which resistance decreases with increase in light intensity when illuminated. The device...

A computer-generated, phase-and-amplitude, off-axis hologram made by a multi-exposure technique that uses three computer...

A semiconductor device with the property of conducting current more easily in one direction than the other. It has two...

Describing a laser in which the gas is permanently sealed within the tube.

Glass that has been treated by the case-hardening process.

In a laser, the fraction of plasma volume used by a particular transverse mode of oscillation, a determinant of the gain...

A very hard, highly transparent coating based on forms of carbon, used to protect optical components from abrasion and...

A method of reducing dark current in charge-coupled devices by holding all the clocks at negative voltage during the...

A brightness, superimposed on the image of the retina, that decreases its contrast and that often results in decreased...

A process by which the ionizing capabilities of a laser beam are used to break initiate conduction between pairs of...

A graphic depiction of the loci of all points in space relative to a laser transmitter at a specific altitude.

Volumetric imaging refers to the capture, visualization, and analysis of three-dimensional (3D) information from a volume of...

An ultrafast pulsed laser is a type of laser that emits extremely short pulses of light with durations typically on the...

A device using a parametric amplifier inside a resonant optical cavity to generate a frequency-tunable coherent beam of...

An image that appears when a hologram is illuminated by a suitable light source, generally a laser beam.

Lines of equal atmospheric attenuation in a laser beam.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are remotely...

Glass containing small quantities of neodymium oxide that is used as a filter plate in color television or as a lasing...

Histology is the branch of biology and medicine that involves the study of the microscopic structure of tissues and organs...

Laser sintering is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that involves using a laser to selectively fuse...

The thick edge of a refracting prism.

Holmium lasers are a type of medical laser that utilizes holmium-doped crystals as the gain medium. The term holmium laser...

Means of determining the relative motion of a (seismic) mass or acceleration body from a stable laser operated system.

Mode hopping in the context of lasers refers to a phenomenon where a laser system abruptly switches from one longitudinal...

The layer of material in a laser diode from which the optical radiation is emitted; light producing region

The point spread function (PSF) is a fundamental concept in imaging that describes the response of an imaging system to a...

A pump-probe technique whereby a single wavelength source may be used in order to excite a given sample to determine...

A laser-pumped crystal with nonlinear optical properties inside of an optical resonator in which the output generates...

A 2-million W, 2.7-µm-wavelength hydrogen-fluoride laser used as a directed energy weapon.

The creation of a diode laser structure by liquid-phase epitaxy over a grooved substrate.

Handheld optical laser device containing a semiconductor or DPSS source. The output is corrected via internal collimating...

A closed-loop system that compensates for thermal blooming by optimizing only one parameter: the amplitude of the phase...

Epitaxial equipment refers to a set of specialized tools and systems used in the process of epitaxy, which is the growth of...

The frequency domain is a concept used in signal processing and analysis to represent signals and data in terms of their...

A form of laser output noise that is caused by thermal, mechanical, or acoustical disturbances of the cavity length. Mode...

An optically bistable device used for photonic switching, constructed of a multiple quantum well biased by an external...

An aspheric mirror is an optical mirror surface that deviates from the shape of a perfect sphere, having a non-spherical...

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment refers to a class of specialized apparatus used in the process of chemical vapor...

LiFi, short for light fidelity, is a wireless communication technology that utilizes visible light or infrared light to...

A corner reflector that provides an increase in the range of angles over which it may be used.

A type of laser pulsing with high laser power at the beginning of the pulse.

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of...

A device designed to decrease flux density or power per unit area of a light beam through absorption and scattering of the...

Single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) is a group of super-resolution microscopy techniques that surpass the...

Quantum sensing refers to a class of sensing technologies that leverage principles from quantum mechanics to enhance the...

An approach to optical character recognition based on matching the input character against a set of stored prototypes.

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical,...

Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) is a technique used in the fabrication of optical fibers. It is a specialized form...

Broadband radiation emitted by a laser that does not transmit through the optical element. It can be removed by filtering.

In a dual-ring local area network, a node that is connected both to the primary, active ring and also to a secondary ring...

Two-photon polymerization (TPP) is a technique used in additive manufacturing, specifically in the field of 3D printing. It...

A two-phase system consisting of dispersed liquid or solid particles in a gas; examples include dust, smoke and clouds.

The highest frequency at which a laser diode can be driven and still be modulated acceptably that further results in the...

To reduce the size of a lens aperture, which increases the depth of field.

Embedded vision refers to the integration of computer vision technologies into various embedded systems, devices, or...

A standard direct-readout vidicon tube linked by fiber optics to an intensifier for increased sensitivity.

The nonthermal conversion of electrical energy into light in a liquid or solid substance. The photon emission resulting from...

Fluorescence is a type of luminescence, which is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other...

A special laser glass made primarily of fluoride compounds that exhibits extremely low refractive index and allows greater...

The storage of information via optical means, primarily employing a low-power laser to inscribe data on a photosensitive...

A laser cavity, also known as an optical cavity or resonator, is a fundamental component of a laser system. It is a confined...

A camera mounted on an optical bench with an easel to hold the material to be copied. Magnification can be varied over a...

The necessary increase of a photograph's exposure time as the result of the additional absorption of light by the filter...

Tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) is a powerful technique that combines Raman spectroscopy with the enhanced spatial...

A process used to control thickness and parallelism precisely during the production of plane-parallel plates. Elements are...

A method that produces low-loss optical fibers. A glass tube rotates while reactants pass through the tube and heat is...

Rockwell hardness (Rc) refers to a method for measuring the hardness of a material, primarily metals, using an indentation...

The laser damage threshold refers to the maximum level of laser intensity that a material can withstand without experiencing...

Devices in which the lasing medium is a vapor of metal atoms or ions, sometimes mixed with another gas. Metal vapor lasers...

The determination of the relative phase shift of an image as a function of frequency. A phase change of 180° with...

A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It...

Extensive data storage in the form of bits, with the use of high-resolution photographic materials and optics, and generally...

An astronomical telescope is a type of optical instrument designed to gather and magnify light from distant celestial...

Photoresist is a light-sensitive material used in photolithography processes, particularly in the fabrication of...

A semiconductor laser that operates in the infrared and that is pumped with strong pulses of radiation from a second laser....

The material that produces stimulated emission from within a laser oscillator. Laser gain media may vary from...

A small card (10 x 15 cm) that has been treated with a photographic emulsion to record and store the microimages of...

The direct cladding used for fused silica cores to create large numerical aperture fibers and used as overcoats to...

Instrument that uses absorption spectroscopy to detect gases in planetary atmospheres. Dispersed incoming radiation is...

The correlation of radiation between the phases of monochromatic radiation emanating from two separate points.

A technique used to generate a phase shift between reference and sample light beams. The phase shift can be performed...

A molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can...

Observed phenomenon in laser pulses in which a large number of excited electrons are created and in which multiphoton...

A type of lamp that emits a high quantity of ultraviolet radiation. This may be an arc lamp encased in a bulb of a glass...

A ring dye laser that uses prisms and a saturable absorber within the laser cavity to shape and shorten the pulses...

Seidel aberrations refer to a set of monochromatic aberrations in optical systems, named after the German mathematician and...

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that belongs to the powder bed...

Topology is a branch of mathematics that focuses on the properties of space that are preserved under continuous...

A fast-action shutter inserted between one end of a laser rod and the end mirror; when inserted to prevent emission and then...

The elimination of gases from the surfaces of a vacuum system by heating the surfaces when the pumping phase is occurring.

A method used to detect internal or residual microstresses in a material by using a laser beam to locate changes in...

When a block of glass (prism, window, filter, etc.) is placed into a converging light bundle, it increases the physical...

A disc whose surface contains recorded digital data at high-packing densities arranged in concentric rings. The data,...

Microscopy is a scientific technique that involves the use of microscopes to observe and study objects that are too small to...

Also known as gatling gun laser. A system that has an array of lasers sharing a common central axis on a rotating Fabry...

A corner cube, also known as a corner reflector or retroreflector prism, is a type of optical device used to reflect light...

A cathode-ray tube that increases the brightness or size of an image or forms a visible image from invisible radiation. The...

A type of fluorescence spectroscopy in which an excimer laser, a dye laser and a frequency-doubling device are used to...

The principle stating that the displacement of spectrum lines is determined by the distance between, and relative velocity...

Denoting a phase shift of 90°.

In a sequence of laser pulse emissions, the intitial pulse that often helps initiate a reaction at the target surface,...

Gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes (GaN-based LEDs) are semiconductor devices that emit light when an electric...

A laser system consisting of a planar PN junction within a single crystal of gallium arsenide. The pair of parallel,...

Phase shift in electromagnetic signals caused by daily variations in the ionosphere, often during sunrise or sunset.

A method of lasing in which free electrons in a laser-produced plasma collide with neonlike ions to excite electrons to...

The laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by...

A Dammann grating is a type of diffractive optical element (DOE) used to create an array of equally spaced,...

A monitoring technique used to measure the oxygen saturation levels in the brains of patients, commonly in operating room...

The digitization process by which an image is manipulated to increase the amount of information perceivable by the human eye.

Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is a technique used in laser physics to amplify ultrashort laser pulses to high energies...

A type of change in the energy levels of molecules in a laser that results in lasing action. Vibronic transitions are those...

A corrective lens system that is placed near the focal plane of a Newtonian telescope to increase its effective field of...

A gas laser in which the electrodes are mounted perpendicular to the optical resonator.

Dispersion characterized by an increasing index of refraction in the medium as the frequency of the propagating light...

A diverging lens is a type of lens that causes parallel rays of light to spread out or diverge. It is thinner in the center...

A valve that serves to release air into an evacuated system.

The disordered, glassy solid state of a substance, as distinguished from the highly ordered crystalline solid state....

An imaging process, similar to specific Doppler mapping radar techniques, that utilizes a laser, an optical imaging system,...

The chromatic resolving power of a prism is invariably stated for the case in which parallel rays of light are incident on...

Phase contrast microscopy is an optical microscopy technique that enhances the contrast of transparent and colorless...

Hydrophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or do not readily interact with water. The word...

A photon-counting instrument for use in both space-borne and ground-based photometric and spectroscopic instrumentation....

In semiconductor physics and materials science, the term "III-V materials" refers to compounds composed of elements from...

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a therapeutic approach that utilizes the combination of light, a photosensitizer, and...

A scattering photometer using scattered light in the solid angle 4.51+0 19° with respect to the forward direction, and...

A linear image sensor is a type of solid-state electronic device used to capture and convert light into electrical signals....

The propagation or hindrance of waves reaching each aperture of the interferometer because of atmospheric turbulence.

Intravital microscopy is an imaging technique used to visualize biological processes within living organisms, typically in...

Also known as TEA laser. A coherent optical source with a wide wavelength range in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet...

That branch of science involved in the study and utilization of the motion, emissions and behaviors of currents of...

The area of optics that deals with the propagation of Gaussian laser beams in free space, or any general medium - i.e....

A multilayer antireflective thin-film coating, so called because its reflectance rises steeply at wavelengths above and...

One of the types of change in the energy levels of molecules or atoms in a laser that can result in lasing action. Because...

An accurate metal prism or plane parallel plate that is cemented to an optical element and remains with it during a series...

Metal used in components of the crystalline semiconductor alloys indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), indium gallium arsenide...

With respect to laser radiation, the subjection of the human eye to all or a portion of the laser beam.

An alexandrite laser is a solid-state laser that utilizes a synthetic crystal made from the rare earth element alexandrite...

A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the...

An instrument designed for laser technology that is used to extract single pulses from the laser and transmit a portion of...

Degradation factor in coherent light systems where the amplitude of the recorded signal is decreased as the number of object...

A laser having a material, such as ruby, that has an energy state structure of three levels: the ground state (1) wherein...

Magneto-optics refers to the study and manipulation of the interaction between magnetic fields and light (electromagnetic...

A vapor-phase oxidation process for fabricating graded-index optical fibers. It differs from outside vapor phase deposition...

The generic term applied to all sources of visible radiation from burning matter to ionized vapors and lasers, regardless of...

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by the presence of suspended particles. These...

An optical clock is a highly precise and advanced timekeeping device that relies on the oscillations of electromagnetic...

Abbreviated TEA CO2 laser. A gas laser that provides shorter pulses and higher peak powers than conventional CO2 lasers. The...

Collaborative Robot (Cobot): Unlike traditional autonomous robots, which usually work by themselves, a collaborative robot...

Positioning generally refers to the determination or identification of the location or placement of an object, person, or...

A laser capable of generating light pulses that last only a few femtoseconds. This can be achieved by nonlinear filtering to...

The process of sealing laser components by means of frit seals, welding or bonding rather than using epoxy.

Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a...

A laser having a lasing material that is a fluorescing organic dye. Depending on the dye used, it can produce emission in...

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that involves the use of artificial neural networks to model and solve complex...

Optical confinement of matter with high field energies intended to induce a stable nuclear fusion interaction.

A machine vision system is an integrated combination of hardware and software components designed to capture, process, and...

A mode of laser printing in which each pixel is printed four times, providing sharper lines and a continuous tone from...

An aspheric lens is a type of lens whose surface profiles deviate from the traditional spherical shape. Unlike spherical...

A technique for determining the nonlinear optical properties of a sample material by moving the sample through a focused...

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric...

A strip or annulus of glass coated with a semitransparent material such as inconel. The coating thickness, and as a result...

The base used to hold an astronomical telescope. It may be either altazimuth, with horizontal and vertical axes of rotation,...

Thin-film coating, single or multilayer, that is applied to a substrate to increase its reflectance over a specified range...

Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine that focuses on the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the eyes and visual system....

A crystalline material with a high electro-optic coefficient, capable of operating at short wavelengths, with applications...

One area of image enhancement, accomplished by spatial filtering schemes, that usually involves attenuation of phase changes...

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or...

An electron tube having two electron guns, one on each side of the storage medium, to encode the information onto the...

Gain-switching is a technique used in lasers to generate short pulses of light by modulating the gain of the laser medium....

Diffraction efficiency is a measure of how effectively a diffractive optical element (DOE) or diffraction grating directs...

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in...

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light...

The chromatography method in which the stationary phase is supported in or on an inert packing in a column, through which...

A diffraction grating is an optical component consisting of a surface with a periodic structure of equally spaced, parallel...

An accelerometer is a sensor or transducer that measures the rate of change of velocity of an object, or in simpler terms,...

The decrease in power that occurs when an optical beam or signal is transmitted through a system.

A laser whose pulses are expanded, using gratings and optical fibers, before amplification and compressed to increase beam...

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is a spectroscopic technique that involves using a laser to excite molecules or atoms,...

Designed for the function of optical wavefront analysis. Shack-Hartmann camera aberration sensors use a lens array to image...

The increase in current of a phototube as a result of the gas in the tube becoming ionized.

A laser with output over a wide range of wavelengths spanning the far-infrared region of the spectrum (30 to 1000 µm);...

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical...

A method of creating real three-dimensional models by using lasers driven by CAD software. In contrast to the normal...

A defect of a binocular instrument causing two images to be seen separately instead of being fused. It is caused when the...

Also called DLIP, a high-speed, high-resolution processing technique that uses high-power, pulsed laser systems to directly...

A confocal resonator, also known as a confocal cavity or confocal laser resonator, is a type of optical resonator...

A pulsed dye laser in which the excitation is provided by means of a flashlamp. Output is tunable from 335 to 850 nm, with...

A mirror that supplies equal reflectance for both the S-polarization and the P-polarization of a laser for a defined angle...

Optical switching refers to the process of controlling the routing or transmission of optical signals within a network using...

A phase screen, in the context of optics and wave optics, refers to a surface or medium that introduces a phase delay to an...

An extremely wide emission spectrum generated by the nonlinear effects created when a high peak power from a short-pulse...

Swept-source optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics, particularly in...

Uniform measure of time based on dynamics law and calculated according to planetary orbital paths; specifically, Earth's...

The term reflective is an adjective that describes the ability of a surface or material to reflect light or other forms of...

Ink used for writing on glass, and also for blackening the edges of lenses to prevent reflection. In the latter case, the...

A device that provides simple and reliable laser power and energy measurement. Essentially a heat flux sensor producing an...

A narrow channel created by cleaving a crystal made of alternating layers of gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide,...

A narrow linewidth optically transmissive or reflective component intended for use with a highly monochromatic or single...

A weapon launched from a ground-based platform and controlled by a two-way fiber optic data link. The fiber is payed out...

A compact, folded version of a Dove prism, made of high-index glass with a silvered base and used for image rotation.

A pulsed laser that emits a recurring pulsed output. Frequency of the pulses emitted is known as pulsed recurrence frequency...

The lowest excitation power level at which a laser's output is mainly the result of stimulated emission rather than...

A custom optic refers to an optical component that is designed, manufactured, and tailored to meet specific requirements or...

An instrument usually consisting of a very long interferometer, 3 to 800 m, and a laser light source for the study and...

An optical compensator similar to the Babinet compensator, but which produces a phase-change consistent throughout its...

The smallest linear diameter to which a laser or other beam of radiant energy is capable of being focused, depending on the...

A nonlinear label-free imaging technique commonly used during surgical procedures for the visualization of collagen fibers...

In optics and photonics, "phase" refers to a property of electromagnetic waves, such as light, that describes the position...

A substance that increases a material's sensitivity to electromagnetic irradiation. In photodynamic therapy, a drug used to...

An artificial star used to aid in adaptive optics imaging of the sky. The guide star is provided from a telescope system on...

A ground-based navigation beacon that emits pulsed signals which are picked up by aircraft making an instrument (blind)...

A type of radiation detector designed to recognize nonlinear optical effects, such as the Raman effect, by means of a...

A scanning laser radar system applied to transmission and concentration analysis in three dimensions of clouds as well as...

Holographic tomography is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and tomography to provide three-dimensional...

A device used to measure the pressure of gases and vapors, without regard to atmospheric pressure.

The distortion in an ophthalmic lens resulting from the refraction of light rays entering the periphery of the lens surface....

One of the first lasers to find practical application. Generally, the pumping mechanism is an electric discharge, although...

A flowmeter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a fluid passing through a particular point in a system....

A family of lenses commonly used in scan systems for reading or printing documents. The lens must be designed such that the...

In laser systems, the granular effect that is noted when observing the expanded cross section of a laser beam.

A solid-state laser consisting of active atoms or ions of a transition metal, rare-earth metal or actinide, imbedded in a...

A spheric lens, also known as a spherical lens, is a type of optical lens with at least one surface that is part of a...

A measurement in optical thin-film coating processes whereby the gases remaining in the vacuum chamber after coating are...

The area of optics in which the wave nature of a particle is exploited to carry out very accurate interferometry and other...

A femtosecond laser is a type of laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of femtoseconds,...

An optically pumped solid-state laser in which the active medium is a neodymium ion in a glass rod host. Abbreviated...

Device that operates by interaction of incident radiation with semiconductor based material in order to produce an...

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...

An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a...

FMCW lidar stands for frequency-modulated continuous wave lidar. It is a type of lidar (light detection and ranging)...

A type of matched filter that responds only to the phase of incoming light; the output has a much greater intensity than...

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It...

Sharp and narrow absorption lines found in the spectra of stars. They result from the absorption of a part of a star's...

Formulaic compensation to correct laser ranging data for the effects of horizontal refractivity gradients; it requires the...

Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity, based on the notion that electrons with opposite momentum and spin...

In physics, the law of reversibility is often associated with the concept of reversibility in thermodynamics. The law...

A linear positioning stage, also known as a linear stage or translation stage, is a precision mechanical device used to...

Q-switched operation, or q-switching, is a technique used in lasers to produce short and intense pulses of light. The term...

1. In optics, the bending of rays away from each other. 2. In lasers, the spreading of a laser beam with increased distance...

A photoemissive cell having an inert gas added to its envelope. Subsequent ionization of the gas increases the responsivity...

Plasma's ability to stop the transmission of laser light.

The phenomenon that can render an optical resonator the equivalent of a semiconductor flip-flop. A bistable device will...

Literally the opposite of resonance, antiresonance occurs when any variation in excitation frequency results in an increased...

A frequency comb is a precise and regular series of equally spaced spectral lines, or frequencies, that are generated with...

A nondestructive test, also referred to as LASAT, that uses a high-energy laser pulse that is targeted on an adhesively...

Imaging radar that increases the sweep of its along-track (or azimuth) capacity by measuring not only the time delay of the...

The Weissenberg method, named after the German physicist Karl Weissenberg, is a technique used in x-ray crystallography for...

That part of the science involved in the study of the theory and interpretation of spectra that uses the unique...

Separation of incident laser pulses by several seconds so holographic plates can be changed and sandwiched between the...

A high-frequency approach to the propagation of light in graded-index fibers in which the modal field is represented in...

Heat measurement method in which the sample is made part of the interferometer and the temperature increase is determined by...

Remote sensing is a method of data collection and observation where information about objects, areas, or phenomena on...

A pair of stars (double star) that can be seen separately with a telescope, generally by setting a filar micrometer for the...

In aerial photography, the ratio derived from a stereoscopic pair of photographs that represents the air-base length divided...

Acronym for profile resolution obtained by excitation. In its simplest form, probe involves the overlap of two...

The difference in electrokinetic potential between the stationary liquid connected to a solid phase surface and the mobile...

A Laurent polarimeter is an instrument used in optics for measuring the rotation of plane-polarized light caused by...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics and biomedical research to obtain...

A semiconductor laser diode that emits light perpendicular to the active region. The output radiation is taken through the...

A statistical analysis of facts obtained when the intensity of x-ray diffraction is calculated at different angles. In this...

Automated optical inspection (AOI) is a technology used in manufacturing processes, particularly in electronics, to...

A light source that is capable of producing radiation with waves vibrating in phase. The laser is an example of a coherent...

A spectrum formed by radiation whose energy values of the property being measured cluster about at least one discrete value,...

An approach to character recognition based on the structure of the character to be identified (number of straight lines,...

Also known as OCT-A, optical coherence tomography angiography is an imaging technique that uses light waves to measure...

A flexible fiber cable with a small diameter that transports light from the excitation laser to the target. Used in Raman...

A light therapy that utilizes nonionizing light sources, including lasers, LEDs, and broadband light, in the visible and...

Raman spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry and physics to study vibrational, rotational, and other...

Linear receive optics typically refers to the optical components and systems used in the reception (detection) of linearly...

A spectroscopic technique in which an excitation band absorbs laser energy resulting in an electronic transition. The...

A nanotube, also known as a nanotubule or simply a tube-like structure, is a nanoscale cylindrical structure composed of...

Substances that exhibit the characteristics of both acids and bases and are capable of both P- and N-type conductivity.

Although low in sensitivity (approximately 10-7 m for helium-neon lasers), this holographic technique permits quantitative...

The entrance slit, also known simply as the slit, is an essential component in optical instruments such as spectrometers and...

Laser marking is a process in which a laser beam is used to mark or engrave a surface by altering its properties or...

In avalanche photodiodes, the point at which an increase in the reverse bias voltage causes the current gain to approach...

A single-particle scattering technique in which an incident laser beam is tightly focused by means of lenses to yield a...

A resonator often used for mode control in Fresnel number laser cavities that is highly vulnerable to extremely weak...

For each mode in an optical waveguide, the term used to describe the process by which an electromagnetic signal is distorted...

Plastic optics refers to optical components or systems that are made from transparent plastic materials, as opposed to...

Laser light show effects equipment including optics and mechanical devices that reflect, position or distort the laser beam,...

An interference pattern that is recorded on a high-resolution plate, the two interfering beams formed by a coherent beam...

Spatial resolution refers to the level of detail or granularity in an image or a spatial dataset. It is a measure of the...

A filter designed to decrease the luminosity of the sky without decreasing that of the landscape in the foreground. A filter...

The process whereby the number of atoms or atomic systems in a set of energy levels is changed by the absorption of light...

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodiode is a type of photodetector that consists of metal electrodes on a semiconductor...

Machine vision lighting refers to the use of specific lighting techniques and equipment in the field of machine vision,...

A fusion system conductor capable of carrying current in opposite directions in alternating time phases.

Nanoparticle photonic resonator absorption microscopy is a microscopy technique that combines the principles of photonic...

A microscope used either to detect selective absorption of various wavelengths by the specimen or to achieve increased...

Attosecond photonics sources refer to devices or systems that generate extremely short pulses of light on the order of...

The study of the optical properties of living tissue. Increased understanding of the behavior of light in this varied,...

Refers to the variety of techniques that use the interference pattern produced by laser light diffusely reflected by an...

A hologram in which diffraction is produced by the silver image, resulting in a dimmer image than in a phase hologram, where...

An expression of the tolerance of decentration of a laser diode from the optical axis: the region around the axis in the...

Radiation similar in origin to spontaneous emission but determined by the presence of other radiation having the same...

Means of correcting laser postweld shift. The correction procedure is applied to optoelectronic systems such as laser diode...

A device similar to distributed feedback lasers in construction and operation, but in which the period grating that produces...

A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is a type of gyroscope that uses laser light to detect and measure changes in orientation. It...

A mirror used to manipulate the beam in a laser system.

Horizontal concentrations that comprise the dominant factor in atmospheric gradient correction. The range bias near due...

A rigid medium, generally a polycarbonate substrate coated with a reflective aluminum layer, that stores information (such...

A laser pumped by solar radiation focused by mirrors.

In filter terminology, that wavelength where the filter transmission increases beyond 5 percent.

Optical phase distortion refers to a phenomenon where the phase of an optical wavefront is altered as it propagates through...

A compound lens consisting of two negative lenses of flint glass. A double-convex lens of crown glass is cemented between...

Diamond turning refers to a precision machining process used to produce complex optical components, particularly lenses and...

Term for service offered by a vendor who leases a particular wavelength to a customer through DWDM technology. Lambda...

A photovoltaic cell usually sensitive to infrared radiation. It may have a copper base and a film of cuprous oxide. When it...

An instrument consisting essentially of a tube 160 mm long, with an objective lens at the distant end and an eyepiece at the...

Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is a technique used in photon counting applications, particularly in the...

A laser fitted with up to eight optical fibers that transmit the energy to different workstations in turn.

Interferometric measurement of the interference pattern recorded when a complex object is illuminated by two laser pulses...

The unchanging nature of spectral reflectance as vegetational density increases to the point where additional increases in...

A robotic process commonly employed by automakers that enables high-speed and flexible production throughput by using...

Holographic recording whereby the object is illuminated by two pulses, separated by a time interval, from a Q-switched laser...

A method of designing lasers whereby the laser rod is cut into elliptical discs and cooled by running water over the disc...

A component used to modify light rays by diffraction; the HOE is produced by recording the interference pattern of two laser...

The dip or gap in the profile of a laser beam's line width when it is both homogeneously and inhomogeneously broadened. When...

An instrument incorporating an infrared detector assembly, used to analyze carbon dioxide gases and in medical applications...

A standard for fiber optic data transmission systems being developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and...

Gram-negative bacteria are a group of bacteria that possess a cell envelope composed of a thin layer of peptidoglycan...

A system designed with a laser as a light source and a means for producing sound waves extending beyond 100 MHz to deflect...

Method for studying absorption coefficients of low-loss materials, in which a sample is allowed to come to thermal...

Output noise in a laser beam resulting from acoustic disturbances of mirror separation or orientation. Such disturbances may...

A surgical device used to deliver laser light. Specifically,contact tips are made with artificially grown sapphire which is...

The use of a reflective device, which can be fashioned from a variety of materials including gases, solids, dyes, aerosols,...

1. The angle between two vectors that represent two simple periodic quantities that vary sinusoidally and that have the same...

A gelatinous fluid that can be used as a porous thin-film coating for optical components, including laser beam collimators,...

A Risley prism, also known as a Risley prism pair or Risley rotating prism, is an optical device used for controlling the...

Rayleigh scattering is a phenomenon that occurs when light waves interact with particles or molecules that are much smaller...

Luminescence is the emission of light that occurs without the involved substance undergoing a significant increase in...

A well controlled thin films technique for growing films with good crystal structure in ultra high vacuum environments at...

A CCD device for sensing longer wavelengths, such as NIR and IR, that has a deeper depletion region than would be necessary...

The amplitude, polarization and phase contained in the field distribution over the aperture.

Biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their physiological or behavioral characteristics....

An aberration of a lens system caused by an increase in lens focal length as the field angle increases. The amount of...

Visible laser radiation, often optically expanded and collimated, used to induced temporary blindness from within a walking...

A type of interferometer in which two coils of optical fiber are arranged so that light from a single source travels...

A microscope that has an annular stop in the lower focal plane of the condenser, and a quarter-wave retarding and absorbing...

A GaAlAs laser is a type of semiconductor laser diode that emits light in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic...

An antireflection coating (AR coating) is a thin film or coating applied to optical surfaces, such as lenses or windows, to...

Hyperspectral resolution refers to the level of detail or granularity in the spectral information captured by a...

A fiber optic sensor is a device that uses optical fibers to detect and measure physical, chemical, biological, or...

A fluorescent screen refers to a phosphorescent or fluorescent-coated surface that emits visible light when exposed to other...

See inside vapor-phase oxidation; outside vapor-phase oxidation.

A device that determines the lens shape in the cutting or edging phase of fabrication. It also is used to denote the...

A system of mirrors that can be used to direct light from a single laser source into any one of a number of separate optical...

Chemical vapor deposition is a process of applying dopants to a glass bait by flame reactions of gaseous compounds. See also...

Gamma ray radiation released when matter and antimatter, such as electron and positron, unite and eliminate each other,...

The elimination of magnetic moments and decrease in magnetic susceptibility with a decrease in temperature due to the equal...

The apparent luminosity or glow that immediately envelops the cathode in a gas-discharge tube operating at low pressures....

Off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirrors are specialized optical components used in various optical systems, particularly...

The diffraction pattern of a source such as a light-emitting diode, injection laser diode or the output end of an optical...

An instrument used for video or computer data storage in which a laser optical head is used to write digital information...

Prediction based on observations of nuclear masses in the valley of stability that indicates the maximum number of electrons...

A laser device used to establish a location or target usually for detection by an impact source e.g. missiles and guided...

Sparkling granular pattern that is observed when an object diffusely reflects coincident laser light. Speckle appears as an...

A laser whose output is limited to a single wavelength.

A technique that uses a solid-state laser and a detector to determine an object's relative distance to the system. The laser...

An array of refractive microlenses that are round, square and hexagonal and as small as 15 µm. They are used for...

A system of optical components designed to increase the diameter of a radiation beam. Usually an afocal system.

Fused quartz and silica are closely related materials, both composed primarily of silicon dioxide (SiO2), but they are...

A coarse diffraction grating that is used to form a scale of intensities to determine the relative magnitudes of stars. The...

Literally, neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet. A cylindrical rod of yttrium-aluminum-garnet doped with neodymium that is the...

An instrument that employs the interference of lightwaves to measure the accuracy of optical surfaces; it can measure a...

An instrument that measures the angle at which a prism can couple laser light into an optical waveguide; used to determine...

A galvanometric scanner, also known as a galvanometer scanner or galvo scanner, is a type of optical scanning device used to...

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to...

Scalar diffraction theory is a simplified approach used to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly...

A near-infrared (NIR) camera is an imaging device designed to capture images in the near-infrared region of the...

An optical correlator incorporating a binary phase-only spatial light modulator made from an iron garnet magneto-optic solid...

Machine vision, also known as computer vision or computer sight, refers to the technology that enables machines, typically...

An optical crystal that possesses a strong nonlinear dielectric response function to optical radiation. A material with a...

The process of binding or attaching larger metal sheets by laser welding. The effect is generated by higher power densities...

Category inclusive of all radiation that is incited electronically, except laser radiation, as a function of the application...

An optical table, also known as an optical bench or an optical breadboard, is a specialized platform used in optics...

A sudden, brief increase in current or voltage in a circuit that can damage sensitive components and instruments. Preventive...

Production of a repeated image of a transmitted beam through a diffractive optical element such as a holographic card or...

A sapphire window refers to a transparent optical component made from sapphire crystal. Sapphire is a single-crystal form of...

Design and engineering consulting services refer to professional services provided by specialized firms or individuals to...

Solid-state laser geometry in which the standard rod is replaced by a slab of laser material. Often called...

Cold atoms refer to atoms that have been cooled to extremely low temperatures, typically in the microkelvin (µK) to...

Optical tweezers refer to a scientific instrument that uses the pressure of laser light to trap and manipulate microscopic...

The cause of some forms of laser injury in which tissue absorbs incident laser light and experiences a damaging rise in...

The term half bandwidth (HBW) generally refers to the width of a spectral band or frequency range at half of its maximum...

The decrease of a component's efficiency, or a reduction in a material's light sensitivity, as the result of accumulated...

Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) is a semiconductor alloy composed of gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), and phosphorus (P). It...

Breakdown of a gas produced by the attenuation of an intense pulse of focused laser light.

A method of measuring complex sequential photosynthetic reactions by varying the pulse time and wavelength of light...

1. The range of frequencies or wavelengths over which radiations are absorbed or emitted in a transition between a specific...

Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal...

A subsurface imaging technique based upon the polarization of light reflected off an object. The polarization of reflected...

In photonics, a lattice refers to a periodic arrangement of optical elements or structures, often on a microscopic or...

A method of exciting a laser by coupling it directly to another laser.

Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry to obtain IR spectra of samples....

The use of thin flexible glass or plastic fibers as wave guides — or "light pipes" — to channel light from one...

A metabolite is any small molecule that is a product of metabolism, the chemical processes that occur within living...

Multi-axis alignment refers to the process of aligning or adjusting components or systems in multiple spatial dimensions or...

Distortion caused by variations in the rate of change of phase shift with frequency over the signal's necessary bandwidth.

A 2D profile sensor is a type of sensor used in various industrial and technological applications to measure and capture...

Broadband dielectric mirrors, also known as broadband mirrors, are optical coatings designed to efficiently reflect or...

A metalens, short for "metasurface lens," is a type of optical lens that uses nanostructured materials to manipulate light...

The central wavelength range of a transmitter based on the worst-case scenarios of temperature, manufacturing and other...

Epitaxial deposition is a process used in semiconductor manufacturing and materials science to grow a thin crystalline...

Infrared optics refer to optical components and systems designed to manipulate and control infrared (IR) light, which lies...

A dye laser cell configuration in which the dye flows in the direction of the axis of the laser, yielding symmetrical energy...

A parallel plate of glass in such a position that the refracted and reflected rays of incident parallel light are mutually...

A range of wavelengths within which radiation transmitted through the atmosphere suffers relatively little absorption by...

Ion-beam sputtering (IBS) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used for depositing thin films onto substrates. It...

A process of forming ions within a given molecular species by incident laser light. The molecular species may remain intact,...

An optical resonator in which feedback is accomplished by two parallel planes. In diode lasers, the planes are obtained by...

A wide-field camera based on the classic Schmidt optical system used to photograph Earth-orbiting satellites.

A liquid crystal display using the material in its supertwisted nematic phase; the birefringence of the liquid crystal...

A type of laser spectroscopy used to measure short-lived isotopes by observing sudden bursts of fluorescence resulting from...

A colorimeter is a device used to measure and quantify the color characteristics of an object or a light source. It provides...

A television system that uses a slow rate of horizontal scanning to increase its reproduction and transmittance accuracy of...

Broadening of a laser's spectral linewidth when the resonance frequencies of the atoms (or molecules) of the medium are not...

When light is transmitted through matter, part of the light is scattered in random directions. A small part of the scattered...

Nanophotonics is a branch of science and technology that explores the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, typically at...

Resonance can be defined in various contexts, including physics, chemistry, and music. Here are definitions for resonance in...

gas laser using ionized argon as the active medium and applying electronic excitation in order to produce the laser light

A chemical detection technique used to measure molecules that have a magnetic dipole moment. The analysis is directed to...

Time-lapse optical coherence tomography (OCT) refers to a medical imaging technique that captures a series of sequential OCT...

A material used in photodynamic therapy that is retained selectively by tumor tissue when injected into the body; it then...

1. A solid figure whose base is a circle and whose sides taper upward evenly to a point or apex. Light rays diverging from...

Laser cavity bounded by a plane mirror and a concave spherical mirror with the plane mirror located at the center of...

Carrier injection refers to the process of introducing charge carriers (either electrons or holes) into a semiconductor...

A diode laser is a type of laser that uses a semiconductor diode as the active medium to generate coherent light....

A structured light device using a rapidly rotating laser to project a beam of light that appears to the human eye as a...

A technique used to create an achromatic phase shift based on the principle of geometric phase. The phase shift is...

A connection, typically made up of one or more cables, between a laser head and a separate power supply. Flexible pipes or...

Minimum object distance, often abbreviated as MOD, refers to the closest distance at which a camera lens or optical system...

The point at which decreasing current supplied to a laser results in the extinguishing of the laser discharge.

A device used in a free-electron laser to convert the electron-beam's energy into microwave laser radiation by creating a...

A contact tip made of artificial sapphire (AlO2) that allows surgeons to use laser power to cut and coagulate tissue...

The liquid used in microscopy to fill the space between the high-power objective lens and the microscope slide in order to...

A laser or laser system positioned within an enclosure to prevent dangerous optical radiation from leaving the enclosure.

An APD detector, or avalanche photodiode detector, is a type of photodetector used to detect light or optical signals by...

Fresnel reflection refers to the reflection of light at the interface between two different media with different refractive...

A device in which slab geometry internally compensates for thermal-optic distortion; the solid host material -- glass or...

An interferometric technique for the generation of precision gratings that allows for sequential exposure of small segments...

In compact disc and CD-ROM technology, the portion of the drive that projects the laser light onto the surface of the media...

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a precision optics polishing technique used for shaping and finishing optical surfaces...

Imaging materials that generally consist of a polyester base, a transparent electrically conductive layer and an organic...

A phototube that functions within a vacuum and thus eliminates the effects of gaseous ionization on its electrical...

A swept-source laser, also known as a wavelength-swept laser, is a type of laser that rapidly and continuously changes its...

In the region of a Gaussian beam focus by a diffraction-limited lens, it is the axial distance from the point of minimum...

The principle that states that optical instrumentation cannot increase the radiance of a source; the radiance of an image...

The ongoing expansion of the universe based on observations of the recession of distant galaxies from each other as...

A piezoelectric translator that moves up and down a spindle like a caterpillar. It clamps itself at one end, expands, clamps...

The material lost during a laser cutting or machining operation.

A pulsed laser having molecular nitrogen as laser material and a wavelength output of 337 nm in the ultraviolet region. It...

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are ordinary cells that are genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like...

A group of energy levels to which ions in the ground state are initially excited when pumping radiation is applied to a...

A device that prevents electrons from a saturated pixel in a CCD imaging device from spilling into an adjacent pixel. The...

Left- and right-hand circularly polarized beams that are produced at different velocities by passing plane-polarized light...

A reflection hologram using multiple color lasers that integrates various graphical techniques to allow the display of...

Sapphire refers to a crystalline form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is used in various optical and photonic applications...

Micro-LED (micro-light-emitting diode) refers to a technology that involves the use of very small light-emitting diodes to...

A photonic crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL) refers to a type of laser diode that emits light from its surface rather...

Dispersion that occurs when the medium's index of refraction decreases as the frequency of the propagating light increases....

Superresolution refers to the enhancement or improvement of the spatial resolution beyond the conventional limits imposed by...

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser. There are several types, including the induction linear...

A gas, such as oxygen, that improves the speed and efficiency of a laser cutter or welder when applied to the work surface,...

Lens which, by altering the phase, efficiently images through a holographic process.

Founded by professor Albert Munsell. In the field of colorimetry, the Munsell color system is a color space that identifies...

A common form of high-precision, ceramic-based actuator capable of moving and measuring at the nanometer level.

The darkening of the laser facet of a semiconductor laser diode. It can be prevented by placing the component in a...

An acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is a device that utilizes the interaction between sound waves and light waves to modulate...

A shift in the direction of the red in the spectral lines of light which, defined by the relativity theory, will have...

An event-based image sensor, also known as a dynamic vision sensor (DVS), is a type of digital imaging device designed to...

A laser resonator in which a mode oscillating between the mirrors will converge upon the laser's longitudinal axis.

In laser damage testing, the exposure of many sites of a sample to different intensities of laser irradiation to discover...

The process of subjecting glass to temperature cycling to produce physico-chemical reactions that alter its properties....

A stroboscopelike apparatus that uses a copper vapor laser to illuminate an object for very short time periods (about 30 ns).

A gas laser equipped with Brewster windows and concave mirrors (having unlike reflective properties) at each end of the tube...

Virtual histology refers to the use of digital technology and computational methods to simulate or recreate histological...

Optical fiber channel characterization scheme based on three assumptions; the discrete mode spectrum can be replaced by a...

Photon flow created by imaging of light into a detector array; IPD is the electrical signal used by the image processor in a...

In hybrid or monolithic integrated circuits, the laser ablation of a portion of resistor material to achieve the design...

A low-power telescope placed at the eyepiece of an optical system to increase overall magnification. Most often used to...

A fiber optic cable assembly refers to a complete unit consisting of optical fibers, connectors, protective jackets, and...

A color filter that is designed to gradually increase or decrease its absorption with wavelength.

In gradient index optics, a gradient profile in which the index varies in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis....

Attenuation refers to the gradual loss or reduction of intensity, force, or magnitude of a particular property as it...

Chalcogenide refers to a class of compounds containing elements from group 16 of the periodic table, which includes sulfur...

A laser skin-resurfacing method that creates microscopic thermal wounds referred to as microscopic treatment zones (MTZs),...

A GRIN (gradient index) lens is a type of optical lens that utilizes a gradient in refractive index across its volume rather...

A memory system composed of a stack of holographic plates, a mode-locked laser and a rapid detector array. Ultrashort laser...

A means of achieving higher peak powers and more efficient harmonic generation by narrowing the pulse width and thus...

A nonlinear crystal used to modulate a polarized beam of light by means of the Pockels effect. A Pockels cell is used as a...

The introduction of a filter into an imaging system to implement a phase contrast for an intensity mapping of a pure phase...

Fine lines, wires or threads used in the focal plane of many optical instruments to point out and locate particular objects...

A technique proposed for studying the atomic structure of crystals by measuring the interference pattern generated when the...

The lifetime of a laser pulse, generally defined as the time interval between the halfpower points on the leading and...

A microscope objective designed to be used without liquid between the cover glass and the objective, or, in the case of...

Interruption in the normal flow of a plasma or fluid characterized by sharp rises in velocity, temperature and pressure. As...

A noncrystalline, inorganic mixture of various metallic oxides fused by heating with glassifiers such as silica, or boric or...

The minimum energy required to induce atomic and molecular separation or displacement due to incident intense laser...

A technique used in holography that involves the mixing of lasers of different wavelengths to produce a beam of shorter...

Laser annealing is a process that involves using a laser beam to heat and modify the microstructure of a material, typically...

A process and method by which manipulation and orientation of a given number of directed laser beams decreases the motion of...

A blue diode laser is a type of semiconductor laser that emits light in the blue wavelength range of the electromagnetic...

A method of measuring flow velocity by seeding the flow with neutrally buoyant particles and using a pulsed laser to...

Also known as amplification. 1. The increase in a signal that is transmitted from one point to another through an amplifier....

A medical technology that uses lasers or other light sources in combination with photosensitizing drugs to treat cancerous...

An infrared light source is a device that emits light in the infrared spectrum, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of...

Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In...

A method of measuring negatively charged phase ions using a color-center or lead-salt diode laser.

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) refers to a technology that converts heat energy into electricity using the principles of...

A laser dye whose absorption coefficient drops at high levels of incident radiation. The phenomenon is often called...

A photoconductor that demonstrates increased conductivity during its exposure to infrared radiation.

A laser output that occurs when the cavity resonator Q is first kept very low, using rotating mirrors or saturable...

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level....

An EMCCD (electron-multiplying charge-coupled device) camera is a type of scientific camera specifically designed for...

An observed effect of the ability of certain atomic particles to pass through a barrier that they cannot pass over because...

A technique that combines two or more imaging processes in order to minimize the disadvantages within each of the...

Any form of laser; e.g., a dye laser, having an output that can be adjusted over a wide range of wavelengths. Normally the...

The quality of asymmetrical intensity distribution in a laser beam, as opposed to a circular distribution.

Phrase applied to any noise of extraterrestrial origin, named for the engineer who discovered the phenomenon.

A contraction for "texture element." A base unit used in computer graphics that defines the surface of three-dimensional...

An instrument designed to measure the index of refraction of a gas by the interference patterns formed by two beams, one of...

The coupling of laser or light beams via nonlinear optical techniques such as four-wave mixing to achieve spatial variation...

Pushbroom scanning is a technique used in remote sensing and imaging systems, particularly in satellite and aerial sensors,...

In the context of optical materials, the term "impurity level" refers to the presence of foreign atoms or molecules within...

The diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasonic energy to probe the body and, with the help of laser beams, a reflecting...

Unlike the thermocouple or bolometer, the pyroelectric infrared detector is a current source with an output proportional to...

An optical fiber that can be used to amplify an optical input. Erbium rare earth ions are added to the fiber core material...

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the...

Irregularities and disturbances in the atmosphere that are of particular interest because they induce random temporal and...

A device used for measuring the height of clouds from a position on the ground. Measurement technique uses a vertically...

Methodology for specifying color based on the CIE sources, observers, and coordinate system.

In a solid-state laser, the material (Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, ruby) in which lasing action takes place.

Photonics contract manufacturing refers to the outsourcing of the production of photonics-related components, devices, or...

A waveguide that has a core with a lower refractive index than the refractive index of the cladding. This structure can...

With respect to a traveling plane wave at a known frequency, the space rate of decrease of phase of a field component in the...

The variation of the electronically detected signal with respect to the scaled version of the classical optical signal...

A microscope in which laser light is delivered through single-mode fibers that replace the pinhole usually used in confocal...

An acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Predecessor to the laser, the maser or...

Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain...

Array used in coded-aperture imaging experiments with two-beam CO2 lasers that provide an artifact-free process, faithful...

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) refers to a proposed method of generating electricity by harnessing the energy released from...

Combining adjacent pixels into one larger pixel, resulting in increased sensitivity and lower resolution, or, in image...

The lowest frequency at which the magnitude of the fiber transfer function decreases to a specified fraction of the zero...

For a particular mode in a waveguide, the ratio of the angular frequency to constant phase.

Lasers based on neodymium-doped yttrium or gadolinium vanadate crystals. These include yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4),...

A wide-angle lens is a type of camera lens that has a shorter focal length than a standard or normal lens, allowing it to...

Brightfield refers to a type of microscopy and imaging technique in which the specimen is illuminated with a white light...

Rare earth dopants refer to elements from the lanthanide series, also known as rare earth elements, that are intentionally...

A thermal radiation detector consisting of a small cell with a blackened plastic front face that bulges slightly when heat...

Two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) is a nonlinear optical method that allows imaging of biological cells and living...

The present radiation level within a laser or electromagnetic radiation operating area.

Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication,...

A laser that produces emission in two or more transverse or longitudinal modes.

In biology, particularly genetics and evolutionary biology, the phenotype refers to the observable characteristics or traits...

A test similar to the Knoop hardness test, but used for fractured material. The indenter is a square-based pyramid-shaped...

An interferometric method for describing the surface shape of large coated or uncoated optical flats. The procedure uses a...

Quantum confinement refers to the phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the motion of charge carriers, such as electrons or...

An instrument that determines, or allows a bombardier to determine, the point in the plane's line of flight at which a bomb...

A naturally occurring pigment in tissue that may selectively absorb certain wavelengths and can be used to aid in targeting...

A helium-neon (HeNe) laser is a type of gas laser that emits visible red light at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. It operates...

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged...

A series of capacitors and inductors connected to the flashlamp in a pumped Nd:YAG laser system in order to regulate the...

The process of adjusting input pixel by pixel at the filter plane to adapt to nondeal phase behavior in an optical...

Supercontinuum refers to a broad spectrum of light that spans a wide range of wavelengths, typically from the visible to the...

Equipment used for chemical analysis by investigation of the spectra formed and observed in chemical activity. Of particular...

A method for obtaining the optical absorption spectra of solids, semisolids, liquids and gases. PAS is inherently...

A broadband continuum resonator that confines a wide range of wavelengths. From the optical confinement a single wavelength...

An optical data storage device that permits the user to store data (write) and play it back (read), but not to erase or...

Any system of time measurement that is based on atomic resonances. The transition times between the hyperfine levels of...

Die bonding is a critical process in semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics assembly, where a semiconductor die or...

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a widely used molecular biology technique used to amplify a specific segment of DNA...

A phototube having increased response due to the addition of a quantity of gas.

A laser having a Q-switching method that allows separate parallel volumes of the lasing material to act independently of...

The simplest method of transmission on a local area network. The entire bandwidth of the cable is used to transmit a single...

That property of a material that determines its ability to release electrons when absorbing photons.

The spectral transmission window in silica-based fibers between 830 and 850 nm.

A photonic cavity, also known as an optical cavity, is a structure that confines electromagnetic radiation within a certain...

The use of a small ultrastable master oscillator (a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser) to achieve single-frequency operation of a...

The process by which laser emission is used in measuring fluid velocity and, more specifically, the detection of air and...

A laser that distributes its output power among two, three or four optical fibers simultaneously.

A method of studying the chemical and physical properties of atoms and molecules (typically living tissue and chemical...

Technique in which the polarization rotation of light, and its relationship to the magnetic field strength can be analyzed...

In an optical system, the gradual reduction of image illuminance as the off-axis angle increases, resulting from limitations...

Instruments used for measuring angles and occasionally lengths on the ground. The principal surveying instruments are the...

The purest gas source of antimony, which is used in the manufacture of compound semiconductors for IR sensors and...

The use of a microscope in photographing objects. A device for photomicrography includes a light source, microscope and...

A method of taking radiographs at a distance from the object being photographed to decrease distortion.

A color center laser whose output is coupled to an external control laser cavity and then fed back to the main laser cavity...

See laser Doppler velocimeter; laser velocimeter.

A crystalline semiconductor alloy used as the light confinement layer in both single- and double-heterostructure diode...

A film of material that exhibits varying conductivity based upon its absorption of varying amounts of photon radiation.

A laser in which the transition involved in stimulated emission of radiation takes place between two levels of an ionized...

A term referring to an optical force field used to trap and stabilize particles acted upon by a force such as laser light.

A YAG crystal refers to a solid-state crystal made of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), which is a synthetic crystalline...

Ultraviolet (UV) fiber optics refers to optical fibers that are designed and optimized for the transmission of ultraviolet...

Method of disk rotation used for optical disk drives, in which the spindle motor decreases the speed of the disk's rotation...

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is...

A graph used in photography to portray the increase of a film's density as its time of exposure increases.

Conceptual formulas that characterize both the transmittance functions of lenses and propagation in the Fresnel zone.

A shutter having one or more roller blinds of material with a variable slit that moves across the back of the camera when...

Piezoelectric motion systems are mechanical systems that utilize piezoelectric materials to generate controlled motion or...

An experimental research technique by which absorbed or unabsorbed radiation is analyzed in order to characterize and...

An LED, or light emitting diode, is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs...

An aptamer is a short, single-stranded DNA or RNA molecule that can bind to a specific target molecule with high affinity...

Nanopositioning refers to the precise and controlled movement or manipulation of objects or components at the nanometer...

A form of liquid crystal in which flow does not take place in the usual manner. When examined with polarized light, the...

The property exhibited by a substance having electrical conductivity that decreases as the intensity of the incident visible...

A laser diode in which the beam is confined to the region of the active layer with gain high enough to accomplish such...

A type of multiple-pass amplifier in which no optical leakage is allowed until a finite number of passes has occurred; at...

Van der Waals forces refer to the attractive or repulsive forces between molecules (or parts of molecules) that arise from...

A pollution-measuring device used to detect the presence of nitric oxide regardless of other gases present. It utilizes the...

Double-clad fiber (DCF) is a specialized optical fiber that features two concentric cladding layers surrounding a core. The...

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a laboratory technique used to detect and measure the presence of specific...

Frequently used in astronomical measurement, it is based on the diurnal rotation of a star relative to the fixed stellar...

An accurately produced hole of any size and shape that is used as a masking device in an optical system. Pinhole apertures...

A laser crystal, also known as an active medium or gain medium, is a solid-state material used in the construction of...

Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter...

A vacuum pump in which pressure is reduced by condensing gases on surfaces cryogenically cooled to about 20 K (liquid...

A measure of the transmittance through an optical medium. Optical density equals the log to the base 10 of the reciprocal of...

A neuromorphic vision sensor is a type of imaging device designed to mimic the structure and functioning of the human visual...

A polariton is a quasiparticle resulting from the strong coupling between photons (light particles) and certain types of...

In vivo is a Latin term that translates to "within the living." In scientific contexts, particularly in biology and...

In digital data transmission, the representation of a bit by change in amplitude of the outgoing signal. Amplitude shift...

The absorption of a material by a medium or system that has formerly been released from absorption by that same medium or...

An instrument used to detect radioactive materials: alpha particles or helium nuclei; beta particles or free electrons; and...

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a type of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that uses a high-power...

Electronic circuit capable of distinguishing the pulses emitted by separate counters in a given time phase and determining...

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of...

Class of organic dyes that emit coherent radiation over a wide spectral range.

A mid-infrared camera is a type of imaging device designed to capture images in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range,...

A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that forms at temperatures close to absolute zero. It is named after...

A measurement technique used for the rapid quantitative evaluation of surface quality based on the detection and analysis of...

When uncontrolled laser energy leaks from a laser cavity prematurely, it causes serious damage to optical components and...

Laws that predict the maximum power output as a function of tube diameter for a hydrogen cyanide laser of a given discharge...

A device, also called a fluorescence lifetime instrument, that measures decay curves of fluorescing samples. It generally...

An efficient, readily soluble blue-green laser dye.

The use of variations in the power supplied to a laser to change the shape of the output pulse. The technique is used in...

A magnon is a quasiparticle representing a quantized spin wave in a magnetic material. In other words, it is a collective...

A type of additive color photography using a lenticular structure impressed on a film base and a camera lens with a filter...

Piezoresistance is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where the electrical resistance of a material changes in...

1. With respect to angular subtense, a source of light, such as a star, that is very small. In a lab, a point source may be...

The induction of an electric field in a semiconductor by an incident laser beam. The technique has rapid response time at...

In a lens, the square of the radius of its aperture divided by the product of the focal length and the wavelength. It...

A technique for depositing a material coating on metal, ceramic, semiconductor or polymer substrates. The interaction of...

A continuous-wave dye laser that uses a circulation pump and nozzle to provide an optically flat stream of dye across the...

The creation of free electrons within a solid by the absorption of a sufficient amount of photons. The effect produces an...

A scintillation crystal, also known simply as a scintillator, is a material that emits light when it interacts with ionizing...

Decibels referenced to one milliwatt; often used to specify power ratings for semiconductor diode lasers.

Diffuse light emitted by the atmosphere due to the excitation of particles of atmospheric gas. These excited particles...

A laser radar application in which a sequence of direct measurements of target position is fed into a tracking filter to...

A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of...

GigE, short for gigabit Ethernet, refers to a standard for high-speed Ethernet communication, capable of transmitting data...

Polymers are large molecules composed of repeating structural units called monomers. These monomers are chemically bonded...

Defines the minimum operational standards for a self-sustaining fusion reactor as equivalence between energy released per...

In optics, the Pockels effect refers to the phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an...

An adhesive whose viscosity decreases as the temperature is increased to a limit. Canada balsam, resin and pitch are...

The distance between the base and the vertex before the edging of a prism.

For a pulsed laser, the product of the energy per pulse (joule) and the pulse frequency (hertz); expressed in watts.

Laser-mediated gene transfer refers to a technique in molecular biology and genetic engineering that utilizes lasers to...

Light from a pulsed laser focused into nonsaturable absorbing fluid that generates a strongly backscattered light beam with...

Glass tinted with mixed oxides of neodymium and praseodymium that, unlike most solid materials, have absorption bands that...

A method of producing disks for erasable optical data storage. Information is recorded by a laser beam that generates pits...

A periodic structure formed by intersecting or superimposed laser beams. These beams can trap atoms in low-potential...

That layer in a semiconductor injection laser or light-emitting diode that provides optical gain.

A circuit that uses feedback to synchronize the phase of a voltage-controlled oscillator with the phase of an incoming or...

A group of single emitter laser diodes, usually arranged vertically or horizontally with respect to each other. The power...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that builds three-dimensional objects...

Wavelengths between 400 and 1400 nm (VIS to NIR) are focused onto the retina by the cornea. Because the retina is sensitive...

The energy analysis of electrons released in a secondary step following initial excitation or ionization.

A method of growing single crystals in which atoms and molecules from gaseous organic compounds interact and form a layer on...

A traveling wave tube (TWT) containing a photocathode and window that, receiving a laser beam, produces a modified...

The effect that characterizes an intense laser beam that is passed through an absorbing medium, causing the absorbed energy...

Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent...

Charged frozen pellets that are rapidly bombarded with a focused high-power laser to form a dense plasma that can be heated...

In a heterodyne optical receiver, the frequency that is the difference between that of an incoming laser signal and that of...

STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence...

Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This...

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of...

Optical coatings are thin layers of materials applied to optical components, such as lenses, mirrors, filters, and prisms,...

A process by which high-quality fiber optics are made. See axial vapor-phase deposition.

A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in...

A surface heat-treating process that produces a highly stressed surface. In case-hardening of glass, a plate of glass is...

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...

A natural or mechanical system adversely affected by the influence of laser radiation. During laser damage the common effect...

Calculates the exponential growth of the least stable spatial frequency in a laser beam, and is the numerical equivalent of...

An infrared-transmitting optical fiber with a hollow core; it can be square, round or rectangular in cross section. Capable...

A device that serves to emit light of the same wavelength as the input light, only with an increase in intensity. It may be...

Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) is a superresolution microscopy technique that enables imaging of...

A laser device intended for crushing urinary tract stones so they can be flushed from the body. Light is introduced via...

An instrument designed to calculate the amplitude and phase of the different harmonic elements of a radiation wave utilizing...

A quantum well is a structure in quantum mechanics that confines particles, such as electrons or holes, in one spatial...

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of...

In a laser diode, lateral motion of the beam center at the facet when the drive current is changed.

An infrared detector is a device that is used to detect and measure infrared radiation, which lies beyond the visible...

The use of phase conjugation or other methods to increase the power density of a laser beam under adverse atmospheric...

Photonic crystals are artificial structures or materials designed to manipulate and control the flow of light in a manner...

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a specialized technique in biophysics and molecular...

Filoviruses are a family of viruses that are responsible for severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fevers in humans and...

A visible laser beam generated coaxially with an infrared or other invisible laser beam to aid in its positioning.

Triggering a laser at a predetermined time by pumping it to a level just below its threshold and then using an auxiliary...

MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer...

A form of high-power microscope objective where the space between the object and the first element is filled with an oil...

An edge-emitting light-emitting diode is a type of LED structure where light emission occurs primarily along the edge of the...

A set of mirrors mounted on solenoids to move them into and out of the path of a laser beam, making it possible for multiple...

Base area of a laser unit.

Reflectance spectroscopy is a technique used to analyze the reflective properties of materials across various wavelengths of...

Laser active elements typically refers to the substances or materials within a laser system that play a critical role in the...

A device that varies the amplitude and phase of a light beam; e.g., from a laser or by sound waves. Also known as a Bragg...

A laser-induced scar on experimental bare glass surfaces usually attributable to threshold damage and indicative of isolated...

1. One of the plane-reflecting surfaces on a multisurfaced polygon. 2. The cleaved end mirror of a laser diode's active...

A laser diode with an output beam contained in the active layer by means of a built-in refractive index profile formed in...

Fluence is a term used in various scientific and technical disciplines to describe the amount of something per unit area....

A tank with a boiling solvent at the bottom and a ring of cold piping higher up that condenses the liquid and returns it to...

In a liquid crystal system, the director refers to the local symmetry axis around which the long range order of the liquid...

A phase reflection scanner that eliminates the need for a complex translation device while maintaining a high-energy-density...

A system that uses the heat from a pulsed laser to weld metals. Because of the rapidity and localization in which the...

An imaging technique used in radiology that is based on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to produce...

In Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS), an incident photon (usually laser light) interacts with acoustic phonons in a...

The study and utilization of interference phenomena, based on the wave properties of light.

A type of receiver that uses a local oscillator at a frequency deliberately offset from that of the incoming signal. It is...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in medical and scientific fields to capture...

A moving group of fluid-suspended biological species directed through separate channels by which the population is isolated....

In optics and photolithography, a phase mask refers to a device that modifies the phase of light waves passing through it....

In an optical system, noise created by mode-dependent optical losses and variations in the distribution of radiant power...

The product of the actual base or baseline of a rangefinder or heightfinder, and the power or magnification of the...

A laser using a dye solution as the active medium whose resonator is formed into a ring (or a triangle or another shape) by...

An infrared detector mounted directly on the cold finger of the Dewar cooler rather than at the interface of Dewar and...

A semispherical or conical lens created directly on the core of an optical fiber to focus light from a laser into the fiber...

Contains elements which produce lasing., e.g. gain medium, oscillator mirrors as well as housing.

The term "Rydberg atom" refers to an atom in a highly excited state where one or more of its electrons are in a Rydberg...

The nondestructive analysis and recording of industrial components based on the absorption of relatively low-energy neutrons...

A laser using a dye solution as its active medium. Its output is a short pulse of broad spectral content and its achievable...

A laser having a rare-earth chelate within a plastic host as the lasing material. The chelate laser is easily pumped and has...

An optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) is a specialized instrument used in optical fiber communications to characterize...

A photoreceptor material used in solar cells and in drums for laser printers and high-speed copiers because of its high...

A specific form of phase shifting interferometry - commonly referred to as multiple wavelength phase shifting interferometry...

Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam passes through a...

That state determining that two waves of like frequency will travel through their maximum and minimum values of the same...

Oleophobic is a term used to describe substances or materials that repel or resist oils. The word oleophobic comes from the...

A holographic camera, also known as a holographic imaging system or holographic recorder, is a specialized device used to...

In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such...

Simulation of radiative transfer in which each photon is generated by a source and its path through the medium is...

The use of a krypton laser system for the measurement of small molecules aligned by an electric field, by analyzing the...

Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by...

In semiconductor physics, the term bandgap refers to the energy range in a material where no electronic states are allowed....

The temperature at which the solid phase of a material is in equilibrium with the liquid phase, or when the material changes...

The linear relationship between input and output optical fields for a given optical system or application that allows the...

An atmospheric nonlinear process unique to CO2 laser wavelengths, whereby CO2 absorbs 10.6-µm radiation and the CO2...

An image converter that produces a visible image based on the infrared emittance of the object. The infrared energy is...

A rangefinder similar to a pair of binoculars with a long base, a dot or other wander mark provided in each eyepiece field,...

Multispectral imaging is a technique that involves capturing and analyzing images at multiple discrete spectral bands within...

In present usage, especially for spectroscopic identification, an arc between electrodes that serves as a radiation source....

A mirror mount is a mechanical device used to secure and precisely position mirrors in optical systems. Mirrors are...

A laser oscillator in which two mirrors are separated by an amplifying medium with an inverted population, making a...

The maximum number of users who are using a given communication channel. Typically, the number of users at any given time is...

A digital imaging method whereby the first gray level in the ordered sequence and the position of the first lengths of all...

A device that consists of two types of mode converters, one of which must be magnetic. It is nonreciprocal because the...

Autofluorescence refers to the natural emission of fluorescence exhibited by certain biological structures or molecules when...

Certain color centers in the alkali halides have been optically pumped to produce efficient tunable pulsed and...

The difference in base up or down prism power at corresponding points located on the two lenses of a pair of spectacles.

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a method for detecting antigens or haptens in cells of a tissue section by using labeled...

A hyperspectral imaging camera is a sophisticated imaging device capable of capturing and processing data across a wide...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It...

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a compound made up of gallium (Ga) and nitrogen (N). It is a wide-bandgap semiconductor material...

A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor...

A type of tubing used to protect optical fiber cables, consisting of a wire spiral of aluminum, galvanized steel or...

In optics, the term denoting the lack of a fixed phase relationship between two waves. If two incoherent waves are...

A device that produces brief flashes of light for observing the behavior of an object during a short interval. One of the...

In optics, degreasers or ultrasonic arrangements used for removing pitch, cement or polishing material from lenses during...

A detector sensitive only to signals close to or at a particular frequency that is the same as the frequency of a control...

The extreme case of self-absorption.

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The...

Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves...

Integrated photonics is a field of study and technology that involves the integration of optical components, such as lasers,...

A process used in the design, repair and customization of integrated circuits. A low-power laser etches a silicon wafer...

Photobleaching is a phenomenon in which the fluorescence of a fluorophore (a fluorescent molecule or dye) is permanently...

A method of coding information in a communications system where the shift in the phase of an electromagnetic wave represents...

A thin layer of a substance deposited on an insulating base in a vacuum by a microelectronic process. Thin films are most...

Optical source intended to reduce bleeding as well as to abet wound or vessel healing through cauterization, used in eye...

A coating made up of particular birefringent materials having polarizing properties. It may be used, in some cases, to...

Ability of a laser to resist variations in output power caused when it is slowly rotated about its optical or symmetrical...

A specific type of storage in which the material to be written on is heated above its transition temperature and switched in...

Increase in the diameter of an initially collimated beam, as measured in milliradians (mrad) at specified points; i.e.,...

A spectrograph having glass as its refracting component and used in cases where speed and high dispersion are not required....

The process of perforating a silicon or ceramic substrate with a series of tiny holes along which it will break. Nd:YAG or...

Descriptive of an optical fiber having a core refractive index that decreases almost parabolically and radially outward...

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are substances or compounds used to enhance the thermal conductivity between two surfaces...

The measurement of the spectrum bands formed by a spectroscopic sample, based on the differences between the sample and the...

A gas laser in which the energy-state transitions between vibrational and rotational states of CO2 molecules give emission...

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer when detector noise prevails, which exceeds...

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser...

An emitter based on stimulated emission with amplification but insufficient feedback for oscillation to build up.

A machining process that uses a laser to cut three-dimensional molds or models.

A holographic grating is a type of diffraction grating that is produced using holographic recording techniques. It consists...

Indium phosphide (InP) is a compound semiconductor material composed of indium (In) and phosphorus (P). It belongs to the...

An erasable data recording and storage medium that uses a laser to heat the crystalline surface of the disc to a certain...

In interlaced television scanning, an effect in which the lines of one field fail to fall exactly within the lines of the...

An optical element that measures the phase difference between two components of elliptically polarized light to correct for...

Parallel scanning refers to a method of acquiring data or images simultaneously from multiple sources or in parallel, rather...

The maintenance of a fixed-phase relationship across the full diameter of a cross section of a laser beam.

A term for the ring-shaped stop in a phase contrast microscope. The phase annulus limits the amount of light that reaches...

Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser...

A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to...

A device used to rapidly change the Q of an optical resonator. It is used in the optical resonator of a laser to prevent...

The determination of distance based upon the known size of an object and the size of its image at the image plane of an...

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) refers to a phenomenon in wave physics, particularly in optics, where waves, such as light or...

A light filter that equally decreases the intensity of all wavelengths of light without altering the relative spectral...

That length over which energy in two separate waves remains constant. With respect to a laser, the greatest distance between...

A discontinuous burst of laser light generated by timing or "gating'' a continuous-wave laser.

A plasma produced by the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a material surface. Production of ionized particle with...

Mode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds,...

Used for high-resolution surface study with subnanometer resolution. XRIM uses interfacial phase contrast with application...

A wave whose surfaces of constant phase are infinite parallel planes normal to the direction of propagation.

A method used in integrated optics; formed by growing an epitaxial layer of active material, removing it from its base and...

1. The value on either the leading or the trailing edge of a laser pulse at which the power is one-half of its maximum...

An infrared lens is an optical component specifically designed and optimized for transmitting, focusing, or manipulating...

An optical grating, in the context of optics and physics, refers to a device with a periodic structure of closely spaced,...

A gyroscope is a mechanical device consisting of a spinning disk or wheel mounted on a spinning axis in such a way that its...

In laser welding or heat treating, the instantaneous laser beam power per unit area. This parameter is key in determining...

The study of highly ionized gases. Many phenomena not exhibited by uncharged gases are associated with plasma physics.

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic...

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a method of achieving nuclear fusion, a process where two atomic nuclei combine to...

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or...

A laser rangefinder is a device that uses laser technology to measure the distance between the device and a target. It...

A laser that generates a succession of pulses at a high enough repetition rate to appear continuous. The pump source is...

The angular difference in the direction of an object as seen from two points of observation. The angle subtended at the...

Gas detection measurement technique that uses a built-in capacitative microphone to calculate the amount of absorbed laser...

A waveguide is a physical structure or device that is designed to confine and guide electromagnetic waves, such as radio...

Also known as transverse mode. The configurations of energy storage, relative to the structure of a laser resonator, that...

With respect to photography, the process used to increase the effective speed of an emulsion between manufacture and...

A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each...

Optical elements that have been coated with one or more layers of dielectric, or metallic material. These coatings serve to...

Technique using functional optical microscope with the addition of a coherent source collinear with the image path. The...

The plot that expresses a reaction rate vs. the reciprocal of absolute temperature. Often used to describe the thermal...

The degradation of the facets in a laser diode due to the intensity of radiation.

1. A framelike structure that serves to restrict the viewing area of the screen when placed before a television picture...

A method for remote measurement of the temperature of moving surfaces in harsh environments by using a laser to stimulate...

An instrument used to test lenses by utilizing the optical transfer function. It consists of a HeNe laser, a beamsplitter...

Point at which a laser's material gain is equal to, or greater than, the circuit losses.

The interferometric analysis of a complex object by utilizing the three-dimensional hologram. By causing a laser beam to...

The decrease in effect in developable density on a photographic plate formed by a second exposure to radiation having a...

A laser effect used especially for laser light shows. Lumia are created by placing a distorting medium such as rippled glass...

A retroreflector is an optical device or structure that reflects incident light or electromagnetic waves back to their...

Localized redness of skin due to congestion of capillaries; a common result of overexposure to laser radiation.

Germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) refers to a specific range of UV radiation that has disinfectant properties capable of killing...

The change in position of the image of a sine wave object from its ideal position. Usually measured in degrees with...

Dewetting is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where a thin film or coating spontaneously undergoes a process of...

Electron released in photoelectric activity.

The gradual decrease over time in output signal with constant input light level.

A condition during laser operation when laser output can no longer be increased by additional electric current.

1. The decrease of the absorption (or gain) coefficient of a medium near some transition frequency when the power of the...

A length that denotes the size of the unit cell in a crystal lattice. With respect to the cubic crystal, this is the length...

A soft, malleable, stable rare-earth element. Holmium laser systems are used in surgical procedures involving the cutting...

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through...

A phenomenon that causes the details in an image to appear at a spatial frequency higher than that at which the contrast...

Illumination of hologram facets with a beam that covers only a small portion of the hologram in order to optimize laser...

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that integrates digital information, typically in the form of computer-generated...

Short wavelength infrared (SWIR) refers to the portion of the infrared spectrum that encompasses wavelengths roughly between...

High power laser ablation device that by pulsed operation produces holes of controllable dimension on the scale of microns....

A saturated compound of carbon and hydrogen used as a liquid coating material for optical components in high-power laser...

In an interlaced scanning electro-optical system such as television, the system resolution will be less than the number of...

The occurrence of very large rotations in transparent materials at weak magnetic fields as predicted in the classical...

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a non-invasive optical technique used to detect changes in blood volume in tissues. It...

A phase-modulated sensor is a type of sensor that uses modulation of the phase of a signal to measure changes in a physical...

Optical fiber optic switches are devices used in optical fiber communication systems to selectively route optical signals...

A photocathode having a P-type semiconductor with a work function less than its bandgap. The photocathode can release a...

An electromagnetic device used to separate isotopes of elements based on their respective masses.

In an optical fiber or waveguide communications system, an optoelectronic device or module that receives an optical signal,...

High-modulus elastic fibers that exhibit the following differences from conventional elastic fibers: Increasing temperature...

A monochromator is an optical instrument used to isolate and select a narrow range of wavelengths from a broader spectrum of...

The action of a biological system responding to a single or multiple coherent particles of light produced from a laser...

Sapphire crystal refers to a transparent, single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) known as corundum. It is one of the...

Microscopy technique to convert the phase structure of the wave transmitted or reflected by the specimen into a...

In interferometry, the result of superimposing two wavefronts of identical shape, yielding a uniform intensity interference...

Photovoltaic (PV) refers to a technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity using semiconductors. The term...

A current-source thermal detector used to detect and study the pulses obtained from particular lasers.

A glow discharge lamp consisting of a cold cathode and a mixture of inert gases. The intensity of illumination varies with...

A type of laser used when a great amount of power is required. Avoiding the bulk of large numbers of optical lenses, this...

Any material of a macromolecular nature that can stretch at room temperature to more than twice its length and return to...

An electron-beam tube with power-handling capability that is essentially based on controlled electron beams. Its control and...

Process of analysis in which the analyte substance is distributed in a matrix before laser desorption. This method avoids...

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by supplying electrical energy to the electron beam...

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an analytical technique that combines the principles of Raman spectroscopy...

In the context of electronics and optics, an isolator refers to a device that allows the transmission of signals in one...

A process of isolation of various atom vapor ions by means of tuning a laser source. For example, laser enrichment is...

A laser that emits energy in a series of short bursts or pulses and that remains inactive between each burst or pulse. The...

Discharge that results when a doped semiconductor crystal with a PN junction is charged with a low-voltage direct current....

Operates with light collectively emitted by the recombination of free electrons and ions in the plasma state.

An instrument for detecting and analyzing repetitive signals. Using a fixed time delay or "gate," the input signal...

The degree of angular shift in the phase of incoming polarized light.

An aperture consisting of a semitransparent central region whose amplitude transmittance only is varied, and the relative...

A portion of computer memory that is used for temporary storage of frequently accessed data. Substantially increases...

A lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or...

The absorption of a photon raising an electron across the forbidden gap from valence to conduction band of the semiconductor...

A system that uses a continuous-wave laser to measure the velocity of an object by focusing the laser beam on the object,...

A crystal-based device that combines and adjusts the intensities of multiple wavelengths of laser light in order to obtain...

Time elapsed during the radiant output change from 10 to 90 percent of maximum in a light-emitting diode or laser. Usually...

A semiconductor platelet laser that emits a coherent image by means of plane optical pumping over the platelet surface, and...

Process for growth of solar cells that results in rectangular shapes consisting of many interconnected cells in a series or...

Extended period exposure photographs of a laser light created with various patterns within full image (laser graffiti).

A gas laser having a mixture of gases that makes it useful in the lab. The mixture of gases flows through a pressure and...

The central hole running the full length of a laser capillary tube, in which electrical discharge and laser action take...

A Ti:sapphire laser is a type of solid-state laser that utilizes a titanium-doped sapphire crystal as the gain medium. The...

An instrument that produces an intense, tightly focused beam of ions to stimulate emissions from a minute section of a...

A pixel-based computer graphics system that simulates the tools of an artist.

A special form of microscope that utilizes interference for observing and measuring the phase and optical thickness in...

Spectral flow cytometry is an advanced flow cytometry technique that expands the capabilities of traditional flow cytometry...

An electron tube whose electrical characteristics will not be affected by gaseous ionization because of its high degree of...

The broadening of a laser's line width in a way that affects every atom (or molecule), and thus the whole system, in the...

A small xenon-filled tube with metal electrodes fused into the ends. The gas flashes brilliantly when a condenser is...

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set...

Decrease in cosmic ray activity that is observed approximately 24 hours after a solar flare, attributed to a shielding...

A technique whereby two laser beams, one at an excitation wavelength and the second at a wavelength that produces Stokes...

A distributed feedback laser (DFB laser) is a type of semiconductor laser diode designed to emit coherent, narrow-bandwidth...

Lensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and...

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is a molecular biology technique used to rapidly amplify specific DNA or RNA...

Backscatter refers to the phenomenon in which radiation or waves are scattered backward, opposite to the direction of the...

A maser that relies on the fact that electrons in orbital motion in high-magnetic fields will emit energy at the cyclotron...

The logarithmic method of determining emulsion speeds developed by the German standards organization, Deutscher...

A fluid used to decrease the temperature rise produced by friction or other causes.

A type of glass containing barium oxide, which is added to increase the refractive index while maintaining a relatively low...

(SALI) A type of spectroscopy in which neutral atoms or molecules are ionized by an excimer laser beam and then measured by...

The removal of material from an optical system to decrease the weight and sometimes the bulk of the system. See coring;...

Retroreflection is a phenomenon in optics where light is reflected back toward its source, typically in a direction nearly...

A whole-flow-field technique providing instantaneous velocity vector measurements in a cross-section of a flow that is...

A multimode laser characteristic defined as the ratio of power loss for the second mode to that of the lowest mode.

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle...

A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly...

A type of laser diode that operates at long pulsewidths.

An electrically excited laser having carbon monoxide as the lasing material and in which lasing occurs in a partial...

A source of energy that produces needed excitation for population inversion in laser operation. The excitation source that...

The operation of a laser diode or other component prior to its use in its intended application, as a means of testing and...

A type of erasable data storage device that uses a medium deposited on the disc in two layers, each dyed to absorb a...

Metabolic imaging refers to the visualization and quantification of metabolic processes within living organisms, tissues, or...

A lateral shearing interferometer is an optical device used in interferometry to measure phase differences between two beams...

Coherent source used for analysis of excited state species.

A plotted relation between Log E (logarithm to base 10 of exposure in metercandle seconds) and density (logarithm to base 10...

An antigen is any substance that is capable of triggering an immune response in an organism. Antigens are typically proteins...

A refrigeration method based on the Peltier effect. When an electric current passes through a thermocouple of two dissimilar...

Refers to a notation system using a base of 3 and the numerical characters 0, 1 and 2.

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide...

1. Generally, an emulsion mask having a clean annular region in an otherwise opaque region. It is designed to eliminate...

Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and digital image processing...

The internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of interconnected physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other objects...

The distance between pupil centers in a two-pupil system, measured perpendicularly to the optic axis.

Liquid crystals are a state of matter that exhibits properties intermediate between those of conventional liquids and solid...

An absorption peak refers to a sharp increase or spike in the absorption of electromagnetic radiation at a particular...

Optical cements and adhesives are specialized materials used in the assembly and bonding of optical components in optical...

In coherent optical communications systems, a laser used at the receiving end to produce a steady wave that is combined with...

Contains the light or beam path within a laser device. The oscillator uses reflective optical components that are oriented...

Mod Method of obtaining precise temporal mode characteristics.

A device designed to detect microwave modulation and to mix modulated and unmodulated laser beams. It consists of a...

Plasma-enriched deposition or planar magnetic sputtering that offers increased deposition rates in optical thin-film...

Carbonization is a process in which organic materials are heated in the absence of air, leading to the decomposition of the...

An optical combiner, in the context of optics and display technologies, refers to a device or component that combines...

A solid-state laser using yttrium aluminum garnet as the matrix material, doped with neodymium (Nd:YAG).

A device that is designed to modulate a beam of light, usually from a laser source, by acting upon the beam directly. The...

The phenomenon that makes nonlinear the mathematical expression for the electrical polarization of a medium through which...

The phase change of one of the two split beams of an interference microscope.

An acronym of gamma ray amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It is a gamma ray laser that operates between...

Laser peening is a surface enhancement technique used to improve the mechanical properties of materials, particularly...

The use of computer analysis in the calculation of diffraction patterns for information on the design of optical systems. In...

An exciton is a quasiparticle that represents the bound state of an electron and a hole in a solid-state material, typically...

A type of receiver utilizing a local oscillator phase-locked to the incoming signal.

A panel of photoconductive and electroluminescent layers used as either a positive or negative image intensifier, depending...

A form of liquid crystal in which the 90° twist of the twisted nematic phase has been increased to 180° or more,...

Phase distortion refers to a change in the phase relationships between different frequency components of a signal. In the...

Abbreviated PAI. An imaging modality with a hybrid technique based on the acoustic detection of optical absorption from...

The inhibition or elimination of one process by another process. The stimulated emission of a laser oscillator can be...

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely...

Attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy (APAP) is an advanced technique in ultrafast spectroscopy that allows...

Histochemical staining is a laboratory technique used in biology and medicine to visualize specific chemical components...

1. The characteristic of how light propagates through a waveguide that can be designated by a radiation pattern in a plane...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, single-stranded RNA molecules, typically consisting of about 19 to 24 nucleotides,...

Zone of laser operation in which the direct, reflected or scattered light exceeds the laser's MPE and (by ANSI standards)...

The transmittance of a point on a photographic negative equal to the log to the base 10 of the reciprocal of the...

A coherent fiber bundle (CFB), also known as a coherent fiber optic bundle, is an assembly of multiple optical fibers...

A type of glass that includes phosphorus pentoxide and that, unlike silica-based glass, is resistant to hydrofluoric acid.

A jet of inert gas along a laser welding beam's axis that cools, protects or cleans the work surface.

A laser having a rod that is a stacked array of discs immersed in a transparent flowing coolant fluid. In this way, the...

A neutral density filter that, when placed in front of the iris of a lens, increases the f-stop range.

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than...

This type of miniaturized system, referred to as CMOS qPCR, combines microfluidic technology with an ultralow-light CMOS...

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape...

An analytical technique used to determine, identify and localize impending malfunctions. It is based upon quantitative and...

The decrease in the energy of a photoelectric emission as a result of the simultaneous incidence of radiation having lower...

In astronomy, the relative brightness of a celestial body. Originally a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 represented the brightest...

A phase-shift interferometer used to detect the relative angular speeds or positions of two concentric rotors.

The induced birefringence in isotropic gases that results when the gases are placed in strong fields.

Laser texturing is a manufacturing process that involves using a laser beam to selectively modify the surface of a material,...

Mathematical compensation for the nonhydrogenic behavior of recombination radiation levels of gases, based on the quantum...

The technique of generating ultrashort -- down to subpicosecond -- pulses by pumping a dye laser with mode-locked laser...

An instrument that divides a single laser beam in two and uses one half as a sensing beam and the other as a reference beam,...

GaN (gallium nitride) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers refer to a specific type of semiconductor laser based on Gallium...

The process of aligning the crystallites in a piezoelectric material by placing a large DC field across the element at an...

A technique based on the principles of laser trapping and used to manipulate the position of small particles by gradually...

Radiation in which the phase relationship between any two points in the radiation field has a constant difference, or is...

A technique for confining atoms, molecules or small particles within one or more laser beams. This can be accomplished...

In the context of optics and lasers, a transverse mode refers to a specific spatial pattern of the electric field within the...

A handheld, light-sensitive device that is used with a display console to directly change, measure or erase the visual...

A high-intensity source of incoherent white light in which a capacitor is discharged through a tube of xenon gas; often used...

A factor, F, indicating the increase in shot noise in an avalanche photodiode as compared with the ideal multiplier, which...

Medical diagnostic (x-ray) imaging using laser printers to produce high-resolution digital hard copy instead of film exposed...

An optical testing instrument is a device or system used to evaluate and measure the performance, quality, and...

A specific gas-filled tube designed to illustrate the luminous effects of discharges through rarefied gases.

The method that, by measuring the absorption along an atmospheric path at wavelengths ranging from two to a continuum, can...

The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where...

A surgical procedure for correcting vision by reshaping the outer surface of the cornea through the use of a laser system.

Area in which laser operation occurs and therefore safety requirements are met and regulations are implemented. Lasers...

With respect to the crystal, the decrease in energy that follows the process whereby the ions, separated from each other by...

An instrument for measuring the brightness (luminance) of a scene. It may be a spot meter, covering an area of a degree or...

In a dual-ring local area network, a node that is connected only to the primary, active ring and not to the secondary ring...

Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the...

The color process that is used to form positive color cine films by dye transfer or imbibition, based on the use of separate...

A probe card is a testing device used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to evaluate and test the electrical...

Long-wave infrared (LWIR) refers to a specific range of the infrared spectrum. Infrared radiation is divided into three main...

A high-frequency pulse-rate laser with an output limited by the heat capacity of the laser medium. Instead of having...

A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into...

A pulsed interferometer that permits the continuous quantitative mapping of the surface deformation of an adaptive optical...

A fiber optic device that uses a HeNe laser, beamsplitter, monochromator and photomultiplier to detect trace levels of...

An imaging device originally created to image whole mouse brain volumes at microscopic resolution. The main component of the...

A pulse having extremely short duration, about 10-13 to 10-10 s, that is produced by mode locking of wide-bandwidth lasers,...

The compression and intensification of a laser pulse of a specific width into a smaller pulse width. A spherical cavity, in...

Transparent glassy and or crystalline structured materials engineered from inorganic, non-metallic materials via various...

The inherent laser amplitude noise relative to the average optical power produced by the laser; the RIN decreases rapidly as...

Terahertz (THz) refers to a unit of frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum, denoting waves with frequencies between 0.1...

Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the...

The function that characterizes the quality of an optical system by denoting the modulation and spatial phase shift of the...

In a laser, the series resistance necessary for a stable electrical discharge.

A hologram that is formed on a recording medium by changing the phase of the illuminating wave in correspondence with the...

A mode of transmission whereby the sending and receiving stations operate continuously at a fixed relationship of phase and...

Usually consists of a set of filters that attenuate specific wavelengths but transmit as much visible radiation as possible.

A lumen is a unit of measurement used to quantify the amount of luminous flux, which is the perceived power of light. In...

An interferometer that uses a laser as its light source. The purely monochromatic nature of the laser results in improved...

Radiation having waves that are out of phase in space and/or time.

The relative path difference (or phase shift) traveled between two rays that pass through different mediums from the same...

A halogen lamp, also known as a tungsten halogen, quartz-halogen, or quartz iodine lamp, is an incandescent lamp that uses a...

Device consisting of a laser diode, beam-correcting optics and collimating optics in a single housing. Also called a...

A laser diode module is a compact device that incorporates a laser diode, optics, and often other components into a single...

Describing a laser that emits simultaneously at more than one wavelength.

A laser in which stimulated emission is triggered by the absorption by electrons of light from an auxiliary source such as a...

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite characterized by its standardized size and modular design. CubeSats are...

In a pulsed laser, the pulse energy in joules times the repetition rate in hertz.

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a nonlinear optical process that occurs when two photons with the same frequency combine...

Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often...

Introduced into the laser beam from localized fluctuations in current density within the plasma itself. These fluctuations...

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by channeling microwave energy into waveguide cavity...

A type of laser welding of thin materials using a defocused or low-power carbon dioxide laser beam. The energy is absorbed...

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

An endoscope is a medical device used for visualizing and examining the interior of hollow organs, body cavities, or...

A transistor that uses an electro-luminescent source, a transparent base and a photoelectric collector.

A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization...

In image processing, the assigning of certain portions (or pixels) of an image a constant value of either 0 (black) or 1...

In a pumped laser system, the ratio of output energy to pump energy.

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It...

The study concerned with the stimulation of chemical activity by laser light as a result of the absorption of photons by a...

A dichroic mirror, also known as a dichroic beamsplitter or interference filter beamsplitter, is an optical device that...

In a laser, a measure of the device's ability to dissipate internally generated heat.

A function that quantifies the performance degradation of coherent communications systems, imaging systems and all systems...

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce...

Relative to the Cotton-Mouton effect, the magnetic birefringence constant that, when multiplied by pathlength and the square...

A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a miniaturized device that integrates various laboratory functions and capabilities onto a single,...

Optical design and engineering services involve the development, customization, and optimization of optical systems and...

A type of computer in which the electronic circuits, which process data serially, are replaced by photonic circuits capable...

For a laser, the maximum exposure time that the laser design allows; 0.25 seconds for a Class 2 laser.

A calcium indicator is a molecule that is sensitive to changes in calcium ion (Ca2+) concentrations in biological systems....

Any organic substance, that when dissolved in appropriate liquid based solvents will absorb and emit electromagnetic...

Any isolated wave that propagates without dispersion of energy. Specifically to photonics, an ultrashort pulse of laser...

Pixel binning, also known as pixel merging or pixel combining, is a technique used in digital imaging and camera technology....

Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A...

Fusion ignition refers to the point in a controlled nuclear fusion reaction where the energy released by the fusion...

MWIR stands for mid-wave infrared, referring to a specific range of wavelengths within the infrared spectrum. Infrared...

Flow chemistry, also known as continuous-flow chemistry, is a chemical manufacturing process where reactions take place in a...

A laser that has a surface-emitting semiconductor gain element coupled to an external mirror designed to complete the laser...

Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or...

A semiconductor laser in which the naturally occurring broad linewidth has been narrowed by incorporating the laser diode...

A device that uses nematic liquid crystals sandwiched between fused silica substrates to change the phase of polarized...

1. The process by which an atom acquires energy sufficient to raise it to a quantum state higher than its ground state. 2....

A type of quarter-wave retarder in the form of a glass rhomb; light entering the retarder undergoes two total internal...

The use of two lasers as a master-slave pair in order to control frequency and prevent chirp. When light from the master is...

A negative lens used to increase the effective focal length of a telescope objective.

An etalon is an optical device that consists of two parallel reflecting surfaces separated by a precise and known distance....

Radiation in which every ray from any given object point can be considered to be parallel to every other. This is never...

An array of active optical devices (modulators, laser diodes and/or detectors), each of whose electrical inputs or outputs...

Laser surgery by means of a low-power laser system using a synthetic sapphire scalpel that transmits the laser light while...

A device to modulate spatially a collimated coherent beam of light with input data in optical data processing. It uses a...

Calorimetry is a branch of science that involves the measurement of heat flow in physical or chemical processes. It...

A biomarker, short for biological marker, refers to a measurable and quantifiable indicator of a biological condition,...

The laser pumping that exhibits an advantage over longitudinal pumping in that the threshold pump power density can be...

An optical barcode reader, commonly known as a barcode scanner, is a device that uses optical technology to capture and...

Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is an optical microscopy technique that belongs to the category of quantitative...

In a diode laser, a mode in the plane of the active layer that is perpendicular to the direction of the emitted beam.

Also referred to as physical optics - the area of optics in which the wave nature of light is essential when defining its...

A camera system that uses a fine powder to diffract x-rays from the specimen. A beam of monochromatic x-rays passes through...

High harmonic generation (HHG) refers to a nonlinear optical process in which intense laser light interacts with a gaseous...

The device, usually made of glass or a similar material, that contains the resonant cavity and optics of a gas laser.

1. An optical distance finder that depends on triangulation of two convergent beams on an object from disparate view points....

A microdisplay is a miniature electronic display technology that is designed to project visual information onto a small...

The partially reflective mirror at the end of the laser cavity that is the source of the beam. It controls the coupling...

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) is a medical treatment approach that combines elements of phototherapy and immunotherapy to target...

A particular type of phototube having increased sensitivity as a result of the glow initiated by light incident to the...

A cell filled with a transparent material that, when placed in a strong electrical field, exhibits double refraction. Since...

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) is a display technology that combines liquid crystal materials with silicon-based...

The decrease in the refractive index at the center of a fiber's core, caused by certain fabrication techniques. Also called...

Device which determines particle velocity through the measurement of scattered interference of a beam pair from a single...

1. The direct storage of data as bits in memory using optical systems and properties. The memory makes use of a laser beam...

A type of laser for which a large number of the components can be fabricated in or upon a single substrate.

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a non-invasive imaging technique that allows for high-resolution, in vivo imaging...

A laser that sends data from the source to the distribution node.

The effect discovered by Faraday in 1845 whereby nonoptically active materials or substances become capable of rotating the...

Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and...

A substrate refers to a material or surface upon which another material or process is applied or deposited. In various...

A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It...

A free-electron laser (FEL) is a type of laser that generates coherent, high-intensity electromagnetic radiation by using a...

An infrared light-emitting diode (IR LED) is a semiconductor device that emits infrared light when an electric current...

A characteristic of laser output, calculated by dividing the speed of light by the linewidth of the laser beam. The temporal...

A convention that defines specific dimensions of an optical system, such as the image distance or radius of curvature of a...

1. The reduction in the developable density of a photographic emulsion that has been extremely overexposed. 2. In a laser...

The conductivity increase exhibited by some nonmetallic materials, resulting from the free carriers generated when photon...

The term "embedded laser" typically refers to a laser device that is integrated or embedded into a larger system or...

A method of polishing an aspheric surface by mechanically distorting the optic while polishing the surface to a perfect...

3D Laser Triangulation - A technology that allows sensors to probe the surroundings. Laser triangulation systems have an...

A tool used in cutting circular holes around a center. Also, a laser cutter in which the beam moves in relation to the cut...

Phototheranostics, a portmanteau of "photo" (light), "therapy," and "diagnostics," refers to an emerging field that combines...

A laser with a gain medium consisting of an organic dye, which is carbon-based. The dye is mixed with a solvent, allowing...

In a laser diode, the photocurrent produced by a photodiode that detects the emission from the rear facet of the...

The maximum level of laser radiation that a person may be exposed to without adverse biological effects.

A type of copying camera in which the object is placed on a horizontal easel and photographed by a horizontal camera above...

A solid-state laser is a type of laser that uses a solid gain medium (as opposed to a liquid or gas) to produce coherent...

A technique for observing the decay of light emissions from sources following their pulsed excitations, based on recording...

RGB stands for red, green, blue, which are the primary colors of light used in additive color mixing. The RGB color model is...

The radiation emitted in semiconductors when electrons in the conduction band recombine with holes in the valence band. If...

Excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) refers to a medical procedure used in the treatment of coronary artery disease....

A pathogen is a biological agent, such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, protozoan, or parasite, that causes disease in its...

An Er:YAG laser is a type of solid-state laser that uses a crystal made of erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet...

A vacuum chamber is a sealed enclosure from which air and other gases are removed to create a low-pressure environment,...

The use of a surgical laser instead of sutures or staples to close a wound or rejoin severed blood vessels.

That property of a substance that determines that there will be a decrease in conductivity when exposed to light radiation.

A type of phase-shift keying using a one-bit delay line.

Eye blink or head movement in response to bright light. Aversion responses such as blinking are sufficient protection from...

The optically pumped, solid-state laser that uses sapphire as the host lattice and chromium as the active ion. The emission...

A camera equipped with angular scales in altitude and azimuth. The scale readings are imprinted on the film when an exposure...

A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical...

A laser that relies on chemical activity instead of electrical energy to produce the pumping action necessary to form pulses...

A type of transversely excited laser with a uniform arc-free discharge of large cross-sectional area that can be scaled to...

An atomic clock is a highly precise timekeeping device that uses the vibrations or oscillations of atoms as a reference for...

Label-free refers to a technique or method that does not require the use of additional labels, tags, or markers to detect or...

Also known as an optical diode, an optical isolator is a device that utilizes the Faraday effect to suppress or redirect...

In a laser, the optical resonator formed by two coaxial mirrors, one totally and one partially reflective, positioned so...

A photosensitive device used to optically scan and read character data (numbers, letters etc.) and input this data into a...

The exact mathematical description of the interactions of matter and intense electromagnetic fields, such as those that...

A lithography method that allows the transfer of fine-pitch gratings from a phase mask into photoresist. The exposure takes...

A form of liquid crystal widely used in displays, achieved by sandwiching a liquid crystal material between two substrates...

A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue,...

In laser pumping, parasitic absorption that occurs at certain wavelengths, decreasing pump efficiency and gain.

A photodiode detector is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It operates based on the...

Characteristic of an absorber in the IR region, whereby absorption increases as a direct function of the intensity of the...

In the context of thin film deposition processes such as evaporation or sputtering, masks are used to selectively deposit...