A plasma produced by the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a material surface. Production of ionized particle with high intensity radiation. The narrow path of the intense field produces a plasma channel. The LIPC (laser-induced plasma...

A laser-induced scar on experimental bare glass surfaces usually attributable to threshold damage and indicative of isolated...

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

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

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

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

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

Optical coatings are thin layers of materials applied to optical components, such as lenses, mirrors, filters, and prisms,...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An exciton is a quasiparticle that represents the bound state of an electron and a hole in a solid-state material, typically...

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

That layer in a semiconductor injection laser or light-emitting diode that provides optical gain.

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

In a laser, the optical resonator formed by two coaxial mirrors, one totally and one partially reflective, positioned so...

Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent...

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

A saturated compound of carbon and hydrogen used as a liquid coating material for optical components in high-power laser...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in medical and scientific fields to capture...

The exact mathematical description of the interactions of matter and intense electromagnetic fields, such as those that...

Time elapsed during the radiant output change from 10 to 90 percent of maximum in a light-emitting diode or laser. Usually...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A laser pumped by solar radiation focused by mirrors.

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

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

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

A free-electron laser (FEL) is a type of laser that generates coherent, high-intensity electromagnetic radiation by using a...

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

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

An etalon is an optical device that consists of two parallel reflecting surfaces separated by a precise and known distance....

The technique of generating ultrashort -- down to subpicosecond -- pulses by pumping a dye laser with mode-locked laser...

A laser diode module is a compact device that incorporates a laser diode, optics, and often other components into a single...

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

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

Attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy (APAP) is an advanced technique in ultrafast spectroscopy that allows...

In laser welding or heat treating, the instantaneous laser beam power per unit area. This parameter is key in determining...

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

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

A laser with a gain medium consisting of an organic dye, which is carbon-based. The dye is mixed with a solvent, allowing...

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

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

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

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

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

Introduced into the laser beam from localized fluctuations in current density within the plasma itself. These fluctuations...

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

A system that uses the heat from a pulsed laser to weld metals. Because of the rapidity and localization in which the...

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape...

An infrared-transmitting optical fiber with a hollow core; it can be square, round or rectangular in cross section. Capable...

A semiconductor laser in which the naturally occurring broad linewidth has been narrowed by incorporating the laser diode...

Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and...

Laser surgery by means of a low-power laser system using a synthetic sapphire scalpel that transmits the laser light while...

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

Laser active elements typically refers to the substances or materials within a laser system that play a critical role in the...

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

1. An optical distance finder that depends on triangulation of two convergent beams on an object from disparate view points....

The plot that expresses a reaction rate vs. the reciprocal of absolute temperature. Often used to describe the thermal...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A type of laser used when a great amount of power is required. Avoiding the bulk of large numbers of optical lenses, this...

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

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

Calculates the exponential growth of the least stable spatial frequency in a laser beam, and is the numerical equivalent of...

The degradation of the facets in a laser diode due to the intensity of radiation.

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

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

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

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

A laser that relies on chemical activity instead of electrical energy to produce the pumping action necessary to form pulses...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to...

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

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

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

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

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...

Any organic substance, that when dissolved in appropriate liquid based solvents will absorb and emit electromagnetic...

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

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

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

Charged frozen pellets that are rapidly bombarded with a focused high-power laser to form a dense plasma that can be heated...

In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such...

Photonic crystals are artificial structures or materials designed to manipulate and control the flow of light in a manner...

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

An acronym of gamma ray amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It is a gamma ray laser that operates between...

In a laser, a measure of the device's ability to dissipate internally generated heat.

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

The effect that characterizes an intense laser beam that is passed through an absorbing medium, causing the absorbed energy...

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

A laser device intended for crushing urinary tract stones so they can be flushed from the body. Light is introduced via...

A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor...

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

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

A multimode laser characteristic defined as the ratio of power loss for the second mode to that of the lowest mode.

A high-frequency pulse-rate laser with an output limited by the heat capacity of the laser medium. Instead of having...

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a method of achieving nuclear fusion, a process where two atomic nuclei combine to...

Area in which laser operation occurs and therefore safety requirements are met and regulations are implemented. Lasers...

The linear relationship between input and output optical fields for a given optical system or application that allows the...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A gas laser having a mixture of gases that makes it useful in the lab. The mixture of gases flows through a pressure and...

A laser using a dye solution as the active medium whose resonator is formed into a ring (or a triangle or another shape) by...

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...

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

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

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

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an analytical technique that combines the principles of Raman spectroscopy...

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

A dichroic mirror, also known as a dichroic beamsplitter or interference filter beamsplitter, is an optical device that...

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

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

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

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

Device which determines particle velocity through the measurement of scattered interference of a beam pair from a single...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A group of single emitter laser diodes, usually arranged vertically or horizontally with respect to each other. The power...

The study concerned with the stimulation of chemical activity by laser light as a result of the absorption of photons by a...

Also known as transverse mode. The configurations of energy storage, relative to the structure of a laser resonator, that...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A laser crystal, also known as an active medium or gain medium, is a solid-state material used in the construction 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 type of laser diode that operates at long pulsewidths.

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

A jet of inert gas along a laser welding beam's axis that cools, protects or cleans the work surface.

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

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

In the context of optics and lasers, a transverse mode refers to a specific spatial pattern of the electric field within the...

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

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

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

A lateral shearing interferometer is an optical device used in interferometry to measure phase differences between two beams...

Indium phosphide (InP) is a compound semiconductor material composed of indium (In) and phosphorus (P). It belongs to the...

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

See laser Doppler velocimeter; laser velocimeter.

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

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

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

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

Transparent glassy and or crystalline structured materials engineered from inorganic, non-metallic materials via various...

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

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

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

A type of laser for which a large number of the components can be fabricated in or upon a single substrate.

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 technique based on the principles of laser trapping and used to manipulate the position of small particles by gradually...

An optical barcode reader, commonly known as a barcode scanner, is a device that uses optical technology to capture and...

An electrically excited laser having carbon monoxide as the lasing material and in which lasing occurs in a partial...

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...

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A system that uses a continuous-wave laser to measure the velocity of an object by focusing the laser beam on the object,...

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

A device designed to detect microwave modulation and to mix modulated and unmodulated laser beams. It consists of a...

The use of two lasers as a master-slave pair in order to control frequency and prevent chirp. When light from the master is...

Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This...

A Ti:sapphire laser is a type of solid-state laser that utilizes a titanium-doped sapphire crystal as the gain medium. The...

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

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

The interferometric analysis of a complex object by utilizing the three-dimensional hologram. By causing a laser beam to...

The phenomenon that makes nonlinear the mathematical expression for the electrical polarization of a medium through which...

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

An efficient, readily soluble blue-green laser dye.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Triggering a laser at a predetermined time by pumping it to a level just below its threshold and then using an auxiliary...

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

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

Device consisting of a laser diode, beam-correcting optics and collimating optics in a single housing. Also called a...

A traveling wave tube (TWT) containing a photocathode and window that, receiving a laser beam, produces a modified...

A laser that has a surface-emitting semiconductor gain element coupled to an external mirror designed to complete the laser...

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

Light from a pulsed laser focused into nonsaturable absorbing fluid that generates a strongly backscattered light beam with...

Any isolated wave that propagates without dispersion of energy. Specifically to photonics, an ultrashort pulse of laser...

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

A periodic structure formed by intersecting or superimposed laser beams. These beams can trap atoms in low-potential...

Excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) refers to a medical procedure used in the treatment of coronary artery disease....

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

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

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

In a diode laser, a mode in the plane of the active layer that is perpendicular to the direction of the emitted beam.

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

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

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

Ability of a laser to resist variations in output power caused when it is slowly rotated about its optical or symmetrical...

An atmospheric nonlinear process unique to CO2 laser wavelengths, whereby CO2 absorbs 10.6-µm radiation and the CO2...

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

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

A device that is designed to modulate a beam of light, usually from a laser source, by acting upon the beam directly. The...

Spectral flow cytometry is an advanced flow cytometry technique that expands the capabilities of traditional flow cytometry...

A soft, malleable, stable rare-earth element. Holmium laser systems are used in surgical procedures involving the cutting...

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

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

A high-intensity source of incoherent white light in which a capacitor is discharged through a tube of xenon gas; often used...

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

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

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

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

A laser having a rod that is a stacked array of discs immersed in a transparent flowing coolant fluid. In this way, the...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam passes through a...

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

A process used in the design, repair and customization of integrated circuits. A low-power laser etches a silicon wafer...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS), an incident photon (usually laser light) interacts with acoustic phonons in a...

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

Gas detection measurement technique that uses a built-in capacitative microphone to calculate the amount of absorbed laser...

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

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

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

The central hole running the full length of a laser capillary tube, in which electrical discharge and laser action take...

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

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

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

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

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

(SALI) A type of spectroscopy in which neutral atoms or molecules are ionized by an excimer laser beam and then measured by...

A tool used in cutting circular holes around a center. Also, a laser cutter in which the beam moves in relation to the cut...

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

A fiber optic device that uses a HeNe laser, beamsplitter, monochromator and photomultiplier to detect trace levels of...

In coherent optical communications systems, a laser used at the receiving end to produce a steady wave that is combined with...

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

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

For a laser, the maximum exposure time that the laser design allows; 0.25 seconds for a Class 2 laser.

A device to modulate spatially a collimated coherent beam of light with input data in optical data processing. It uses a...

A laser effect used especially for laser light shows. Lumia are created by placing a distorting medium such as rippled glass...

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

An instrument that produces an intense, tightly focused beam of ions to stimulate emissions from a minute section of a...

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

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) refers to a phenomenon in wave physics, particularly in optics, where waves, such as light or...

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It...

Illumination of hologram facets with a beam that covers only a small portion of the hologram in order to optimize laser...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In a laser diode, the photocurrent produced by a photodiode that detects the emission from the rear facet of the...

Laser peening is a surface enhancement technique used to improve the mechanical properties of materials, particularly...

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

The inherent laser amplitude noise relative to the average optical power produced by the laser; the RIN decreases rapidly as...

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

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

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,...

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

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

Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser...

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

High power laser ablation device that by pulsed operation produces holes of controllable dimension on the scale of microns....

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

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

The operation of a laser diode or other component prior to its use in its intended application, as a means of testing and...

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

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

The device, usually made of glass or a similar material, that contains the resonant cavity and optics of a gas laser.

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic...

A semispherical or conical lens created directly on the core of an optical fiber to focus light from a laser into the fiber...

Extended period exposure photographs of a laser light created with various patterns within full image (laser graffiti).

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

Optical cements and adhesives are specialized materials used in the assembly and bonding of optical components in optical...

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

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

A pulsed interferometer that permits the continuous quantitative mapping of the surface deformation of an adaptive optical...

Rhodamine refers to a family of fluorescent organic dyes that are widely used in various fields, including biology,...

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

A quantum well is a structure in quantum mechanics that confines particles, such as electrons or holes, in one spatial...

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

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

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

A monolithic laser diode incorporating multiple coupled emitters.

The optically pumped, solid-state laser that uses sapphire as the host lattice and chromium as the active ion. The emission...

A discontinuous burst of laser light generated by timing or "gating'' a continuous-wave laser.

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

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

A laser diode with an output beam contained in the active layer by means of a built-in refractive index profile formed in...

That length over which energy in two separate waves remains constant. With respect to a laser, the greatest distance between...

Process of analysis in which the analyte substance is distributed in a matrix before laser desorption. This method avoids...

The use of a surgical laser instead of sutures or staples to close a wound or rejoin severed blood vessels.

Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A...

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

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

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

A process of isolation of various atom vapor ions by means of tuning a laser source. For example, laser enrichment is...

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

Describing a laser that emits simultaneously at more than one wavelength.

A holographic grating is a type of diffraction grating that is produced using holographic recording techniques. It consists...

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

A machining process that uses a laser to cut three-dimensional molds or models.

A laser in which stimulated emission is triggered by the absorption by electrons of light from an auxiliary source such as a...

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

The maximum level of laser radiation that a person may be exposed to without adverse biological effects.

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

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

A phase reflection scanner that eliminates the need for a complex translation device while maintaining a high-energy-density...

A multiline laser system refers to a type of laser that is capable of emitting multiple discrete wavelengths or spectral...

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

An array of active optical devices (modulators, laser diodes and/or detectors), each of whose electrical inputs or outputs...

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

1. The reduction in the developable density of a photographic emulsion that has been extremely overexposed. 2. In a laser...

1. The process by which an atom acquires energy sufficient to raise it to a quantum state higher than its ground state. 2....

Lines of equal atmospheric attenuation in a laser beam.

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

Technique using functional optical microscope with the addition of a coherent source collinear with the image path. The...

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

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

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

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...

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

A device used to rapidly change the Q of an optical resonator. It is used in the optical resonator of a laser to prevent...

Coherent source used for analysis of excited state species.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contains the light or beam path within a laser device. The oscillator uses reflective optical components that are oriented...

Mode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds,...

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

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

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

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

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

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a compound made up of gallium (Ga) and nitrogen (N). It is a wide-bandgap semiconductor material...

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

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

A laser oscillator in which two mirrors are separated by an amplifying medium with an inverted population, making a...

A laser whose output is limited to a single wavelength.

Zone of laser operation in which the direct, reflected or scattered light exceeds the laser's MPE and (by ANSI standards)...

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

A pulse having extremely short duration, about 10-13 to 10-10 s, that is produced by mode locking of wide-bandwidth lasers,...

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

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

The maintenance of a fixed-phase relationship across the full diameter of a cross section of a laser beam.

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

Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often...

A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into...

Wavelengths between 400 and 1400 nm (VIS to NIR) are focused onto the retina by the cornea. Because the retina is sensitive...

In a pumped laser system, the ratio of output energy to pump energy.

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

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

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

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

The term "embedded laser" typically refers to a laser device that is integrated or embedded into a larger system or...

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

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

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

The use of a krypton laser system for the measurement of small molecules aligned by an electric field, by analyzing the...

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

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

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

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

Laser-mediated gene transfer refers to a technique in molecular biology and genetic engineering that utilizes lasers to...

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

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

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...

In a laser, the series resistance necessary for a stable electrical discharge.

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

Fusion ignition refers to the point in a controlled nuclear fusion reaction where the energy released by the fusion...

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

3D Laser Triangulation - A technology that allows sensors to probe the surroundings. Laser triangulation systems have an...

An edge-emitting light-emitting diode is a type of LED structure where light emission occurs primarily along the edge of the...

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

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

The process of perforating a silicon or ceramic substrate with a series of tiny holes along which it will break. Nd:YAG or...

A source of energy that produces needed excitation for population inversion in laser operation. The excitation source that...

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

A small fiber optic endoscope used in laser surgery.

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a specialized technique in biophysics and molecular...

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

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

A gas laser in which the energy-state transitions between vibrational and rotational states of CO2 molecules give emission...

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

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

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

The inhibition or elimination of one process by another process. The stimulated emission of a laser oscillator can be...

Usually consists of a set of filters that attenuate specific wavelengths but transmit as much visible radiation as possible.

Diamond turning, also known as diamond machining or diamond cutting, is a precision machining process used to produce...

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

A characteristic of laser output, calculated by dividing the speed of light by the linewidth of the laser beam. The temporal...

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

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set...

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

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by supplying electrical energy to the electron beam...

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

A laser that generates a succession of pulses at a high enough repetition rate to appear continuous. The pump source is...

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 effect discovered by Faraday in 1845 whereby nonoptically active materials or substances become capable of rotating the...

Point at which a laser's material gain is equal to, or greater than, the circuit losses.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mod Method of obtaining precise temporal mode characteristics.

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

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

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

A technique for confining atoms, molecules or small particles within one or more laser beams. This can be accomplished...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

Also known as an optical diode, an optical isolator is a device that utilizes the Faraday effect to suppress or redirect...

A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser...

A whole-flow-field technique providing instantaneous velocity vector measurements in a cross-section of a flow that is...

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

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

For a pulsed laser, the product of the energy per pulse (joule) and the pulse frequency (hertz); expressed in watts.

The radiation emitted in semiconductors when electrons in the conduction band recombine with holes in the valence band. If...

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

A type of erasable data storage device that uses a medium deposited on the disc in two layers, each dyed to absorb a...

In a laser diode, lateral motion of the beam center at the facet when the drive current is changed.

The laser pumping that exhibits an advantage over longitudinal pumping in that the threshold pump power density can be...

The action of a biological system responding to a single or multiple coherent particles of light produced from a laser...

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

Sapphire crystal refers to a transparent, single-crystal form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) known as corundum. It is one of the...

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

An electro-optic deflector is a device that can change the direction of light beams using an electric field. It operates...

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

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

In optics, the Pockels effect refers to the phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an...

A crystal-based device that combines and adjusts the intensities of multiple wavelengths of laser light in order to obtain...

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

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

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

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The...

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

A function that quantifies the performance degradation of coherent communications systems, imaging systems and all systems...

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

A laser using a dye solution as its active medium. Its output is a short pulse of broad spectral content and its achievable...

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

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

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

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

A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by channeling microwave energy into waveguide cavity...

A laser that emits energy in a series of short bursts or pulses and that remains inactive between each burst or pulse. The...

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

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

In the context of electronics and optics, an isolator refers to a device that allows the transmission of signals in one...

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

Fluence is a term used in various scientific and technical disciplines to describe the amount of something per unit area....

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

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

A surgical procedure for correcting vision by reshaping the outer surface of the cornea through the use of a laser system.

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

The application of reversible writing with a laser beam on particular storage materials. In one method, an amorphous film is...

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

An interferometer that uses a laser as its light source. The purely monochromatic nature of the laser results in improved...

High harmonic generation (HHG) refers to a nonlinear optical process in which intense laser light interacts with a gaseous...

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

A laser that sends data from the source to the distribution node.

Contains elements which produce lasing., e.g. gain medium, oscillator mirrors as well as housing.

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

An Er:YAG laser is a type of solid-state laser that uses a crystal made of erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet...

The use of phase conjugation or other methods to increase the power density of a laser beam under adverse atmospheric...

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

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

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

A natural or mechanical system adversely affected by the influence of laser radiation. During laser damage the common effect...

Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the...

Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Base area of a laser unit.

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

A photoreceptor material used in solar cells and in drums for laser printers and high-speed copiers because of its high...

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

The partially reflective mirror at the end of the laser cavity that is the source of the beam. It controls the coupling...

An instrument used to test lenses by utilizing the optical transfer function. It consists of a HeNe laser, a beamsplitter...

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

Certain color centers in the alkali halides have been optically pumped to produce efficient tunable pulsed and...

The compression and intensification of a laser pulse of a specific width into a smaller pulse width. A spherical cavity, in...

GaN (gallium nitride) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers refer to a specific type of semiconductor laser based on Gallium...

In a pulsed laser, the pulse energy in joules times the repetition rate in hertz.

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

A type of transversely excited laser with a uniform arc-free discharge of large cross-sectional area that can be scaled to...

A laser having a rare-earth chelate within a plastic host as the lasing material. The chelate laser is easily pumped and has...

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

1. Generally, an emulsion mask having a clean annular region in an otherwise opaque region. It is designed to eliminate...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the...

In laser pumping, parasitic absorption that occurs at certain wavelengths, decreasing pump efficiency and gain.

1. The direct storage of data as bits in memory using optical systems and properties. The memory makes use of a laser beam...

A mirror mount is a mechanical device used to secure and precisely position mirrors in optical systems. Mirrors are...

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

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

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

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

An erasable data recording and storage medium that uses a laser to heat the crystalline surface of the disc to a certain...

A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical...

Retroreflection is a phenomenon in optics where light is reflected back toward its source, typically in a direction nearly...

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

A type of laser welding of thin materials using a defocused or low-power carbon dioxide laser beam. The energy is absorbed...

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

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of...

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

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

1. The characteristic of how light propagates through a waveguide that can be designated by a radiation pattern in a plane...

1. A framelike structure that serves to restrict the viewing area of the screen when placed before a television picture...

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

A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It...

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

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

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

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

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or...

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

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

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

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

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

A method for remote measurement of the temperature of moving surfaces in harsh environments by using a laser to stimulate...

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

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

A moving group of fluid-suspended biological species directed through separate channels by which the population is isolated....

A distributed feedback laser (DFB laser) is a type of semiconductor laser diode designed to emit coherent, narrow-bandwidth...

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

An atomic clock is a highly precise timekeeping device that uses the vibrations or oscillations of atoms as a reference for...

The material lost during a laser cutting or machining operation.

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

STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence...

Eye blink or head movement in response to bright light. Aversion responses such as blinking are sufficient protection from...

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

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

A laser rangefinder is a device that uses laser technology to measure the distance between the device and a target. It...

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 semiconductor platelet laser that emits a coherent image by means of plane optical pumping over the platelet surface, and...

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

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide...

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 visible laser beam generated coaxially with an infrared or other invisible laser beam to aid in its positioning.

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

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

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

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

Integrated photonics is a field of study and technology that involves the integration of optical components, such as lasers,...

A solid-state laser using yttrium aluminum garnet as the matrix material, doped with neodymium (Nd:YAG).

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

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

A condition during laser operation when laser output can no longer be increased by additional electric current.

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

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

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

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

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

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...

Optical source intended to reduce bleeding as well as to abet wound or vessel healing through cauterization, used in eye...

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

A method of producing disks for erasable optical data storage. Information is recorded by a laser beam that generates pits...

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

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

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

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

A technique whereby two laser beams, one at an excitation wavelength and the second at a wavelength that produces Stokes...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A current-source thermal detector used to detect and study the pulses obtained from particular lasers.

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

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

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

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

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

Operates with light collectively emitted by the recombination of free electrons and ions in the plasma state.

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

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

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

A type of computer in which the electronic circuits, which process data serially, are replaced by photonic circuits capable...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A holographic camera, also known as a holographic imaging system or holographic recorder, is a specialized device used to...

A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization...

Laser texturing is a manufacturing process that involves using a laser beam to selectively modify the surface of a material,...

A retroreflector is an optical device or structure that reflects incident light or electromagnetic waves back to their...

A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly...

In the context of thin film deposition processes such as evaporation or sputtering, masks are used to selectively deposit...

In a heterodyne optical receiver, the frequency that is the difference between that of an incoming laser signal and that of...

Localized redness of skin due to congestion of capillaries; a common result of overexposure to laser radiation.

The Kerr effect, named after the physicist John Kerr who first observed it in 1875, is a nonlinear optical phenomenon where...

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

1. One of the plane-reflecting surfaces on a multisurfaced polygon. 2. The cleaved end mirror of a laser diode's active...