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DataRay Inc. - ISO 11146-Compliant Laser Beam Profilers
beam Dictionary Terms

Bragg method of crystal analysis
A technique in which a beam of x-rays is directed against a crystal, the atoms of which, because of their lattice arrangement, reflect the ray in the same way as a series of plane surfaces. If the wavelength of the x-rays is known, the measurements...
optical memory
1. The direct storage of data as bits in memory using optical systems and properties. The memory makes use of a laser beam...
geometric phase shifting
A technique used to create an achromatic phase shift based on the principle of geometric phase. The phase shift is...
Linnik interference microscope
A Michelson-type interference microscope used to produce interference patterns of reflective specimens through the...
transmitter
In fiber optic communications, a light source whose beam can be modulated and sent along an optical fiber, and the...
rotary laser
A structured light device using a rapidly rotating laser to project a beam of light that appears to the human eye as a...
Bragg's law
The law expressing the condition under which a crystal will reflect a beam of x-rays with the greatest amount of distinction...
diffraction angle
The angle that lies between the direction of an incident light beam and any resulting diffracted beam.
power density
In laser welding or heat treating, the instantaneous laser beam power per unit area. This parameter is key in determining...
spectrophotometer
A spectrophotometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the intensity of light at various wavelengths in the...
Michelson-Morley experiment
An optical experiment carried out conclusively in 1887 that demonstrated that the ether, a hypothetical medium postulated by...
single-beam gradient trap
beam converter
A device used to alter the shape of or energy distribution within a beam of radiation.
analog stroke
An analog method of moving a cathode-ray tube beam across a display screen face, commonly used in high-performance vector...
photon correlation spectroscopy
Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by...
tracking
1. The process of following an object's movement; accomplished by focusing a radar beam on the reticle of an optical system...
ion-beam sputtering
Ion-beam sputtering (IBS) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used for depositing thin films onto substrates. It...
microprobe
An instrument that produces an intense, tightly focused beam of ions to stimulate emissions from a minute section of a...
dichroic polarizer
A polarizer that consists of dichroic polarizing material embedded in a plastic sheet, and that transmits light that is...
Young's two-slit interference
The method by which Thomas Young in 1802 disproved Newton's corpuscular theory of light by the formation of interference...
laser powder bed fusion
Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a type of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that uses a high-power...
GRIN lens
A GRIN (gradient index) lens is a type of optical lens that utilizes a gradient in refractive index across its volume rather...
magneto-optic readout device
A device using the Kerr effect to read back the signals from mechanically recorded tapes and discs. It consists of a light...
scanning acoustic microscope
Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A...
beamsplitting block
A glass block that produces stationary fringes in the region crossed by incident light beams.
electron beam
A stream of electrons emitted by a single source that move in the same direction and at the same speed.
metasurfaces
Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or...
interferometric calorimetry
Heat measurement method in which the sample is made part of the interferometer and the temperature increase is determined by...
paraboloidal mirror
A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a...
gain-guided laser
A laser diode in which the beam is confined to the region of the active layer with gain high enough to accomplish such...
stencil CRT image generation
The projection of the image beam by a cathode-ray tube through a mask, where it is deflected through the suitable character...
cathode-ray tube
A vacuum tube with an electron gun at one end and a fluorescent screen at the other. Electrons emitted from a heated...
x-ray analysis
The series of processes used to identify and evaluate crystal structure by using crystalline solids to diffract x-rays. In...
optical materials
Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the...
fluence
Fluence is a term used in various scientific and technical disciplines to describe the amount of something per unit area....
FMCW lidar
FMCW lidar stands for frequency-modulated continuous wave lidar. It is a type of lidar (light detection and ranging)...
laser tweezers
A technique based on the principles of laser trapping and used to manipulate the position of small particles by gradually...
absorption hologram
A hologram formed when the light of the illuminating beam is absorbed in correspondence with the recording exposure. In...
beam matrix
1. A geometrical arrangement of two or more light beams for use in laser shows, object detection or other applications...
optical disc
A rigid medium, generally a polycarbonate substrate coated with a reflective aluminum layer, that stores information (such...
Lummer-Gehrcke plate
A high-resolution spectroscopic device commonly used in the early 20th century as a component of double-beam...
double-beam CRT
A cathode-ray tube that either splits an electron beam from one source or uses beams from two sources to produce two beams,...
intensity modulation
The process in which the electron beam of a cathode-ray tube varies in intensity in accordance with the magnitude of the...
near-field walk
In a laser diode, lateral motion of the beam center at the facet when the drive current is changed.
thermal blooming
The effect that characterizes an intense laser beam that is passed through an absorbing medium, causing the absorbed energy...
photon jet
A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric...
differential interference contrast microscopy
Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy, also known as Nomarski interference contrast microscopy, is an optical...
advanced photon source
An accelerator at the Argonne National Laboratory, providing powerful x-ray beams for materials research applications.
lidar
Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and...
electron lens
An electric field produced to influence an electron stream much in the same manner that a lens affects a light beam.
dispersing prism
A prism or series of prisms used to disperse a beam of radiant energy of mixed wavelengths into its spectral components.
laser triangulation
A technique that uses a solid-state laser and a detector to determine an object's relative distance to the system. The laser...
radiuscope
A microscope to which a beamsplitter and illuminated reticle have been added that is used to measure contact lenses.
molecular beam epitaxy
Kikuchi lines
An array of spectral lines formed when a beam of electrons, striking a crystalline solid, is scattered. It is used in the...
beam attenuator
A device designed to decrease flux density or power per unit area of a light beam through absorption and scattering of the...
function generator
A computer hardware unit that generates required functional information on the screen by controlling CRT beam movements or...
high-speed holography
The holographic recording of sequences of high-speed phenomena. With a multiple beam laser, multiple holograms that depict...
Rayleigh range
In the region of a Gaussian beam focus by a diffraction-limited lens, it is the axial distance from the point of minimum...
lensometer
An ophthalmic instrument used to measure the magnitude and direction of the maximum and minimum powers of a spectacle lens,...
optical combiner
An optical combiner, in the context of optics and display technologies, refers to a device or component that combines...
diffractometry
The study of the diffraction of beams of a wave by matter to ascertain the structure of the matter.
lattice
In photonics, a lattice refers to a periodic arrangement of optical elements or structures, often on a microscopic or...
solid-state laser
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...
double-beam spectrophotometer
A spectrophotometer in which the beam emitted by the radiation source is split into beams that travel through the sample and...
pedestal component
Present in photocurrent burst, it is the low frequency pulse that corresponds to the light scattered from the beams in the...
fiber-based confocal luminescence microscope
A microscope in which laser light is delivered through single-mode fibers that replace the pinhole usually used in confocal...
speckle effect
In laser systems, the granular effect that is noted when observing the expanded cross section of a laser beam.
multicolor hologram
A hologram formed by reconstruction of multicolor wavefronts. The system used to produce the hologram is designed to combine...
Luneburg lens
A dielectric sphere with an index of refraction that varies with distance from the sphere center. A parallel beam of rays is...
laser
A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and...
pellicle mirror
A thin, stretched plastic membrane cemented to a rigid supporting ring. It may be coated to act as a beamsplitter, for...
medical lasers
Medical lasers are devices that produce intense beams of light with specific characteristics and properties, which are used...
plasma-cathode electron gun
An electron beam gun in which plasma that is generated within a low-voltage hollow-cathode discharge serves as the source of...
x-plates
Two flat parallel electrodes that are vertically mounted alongside each other in a cathode-ray tube and produce horizontal...
angle of deflection
The angle through which a beam is deflected.
laser diode array
A group of single emitter laser diodes, usually arranged vertically or horizontally with respect to each other. The power...
spatial mode
Also known as transverse mode. The configurations of energy storage, relative to the structure of a laser resonator, that...
focusing coil
A coil used to focus an electron beam by the generation of a magnetic field parallel to the beam.
Wollaston prism
A polarizing prism consisting of two calcite prisms cemented such that they deviate the two emerging beams (which are...
photoacoustic calorimetry
Periodic interruptions of a light beam incident on an absorbing medium that produce heat, expansion and acoustic wave...
surface analysis by laser ionization
(SALI) A type of spectroscopy in which neutral atoms or molecules are ionized by an excimer laser beam and then measured by...
light pattern
In optics, a pattern, such as the Buchmann-Meyer pattern, that may be viewed when the record surface is illuminated by a...
transmission electron microscope
A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a powerful microscopy technique that uses a beam of electrons to create...
flow cytometry
Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used in biology and medicine for the quantitative analysis of the physical and...
microscopy
Microscopy is a scientific technique that involves the use of microscopes to observe and study objects that are too small to...
temporal coherence
A characteristic of laser output, calculated by dividing the speed of light by the linewidth of the laser beam. The temporal...
multiple-beam laser
A laser having a Q-switching method that allows separate parallel volumes of the lasing material to act independently of...
diode-pumped solid-state laser
A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into...
laser output
The laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by...
focused laser scattering
A single-particle scattering technique in which an incident laser beam is tightly focused by means of lenses to yield a...
conjugate holographic image
Also known as real holographic image. The indistinct, highly distorted image produced on the side of the hologram closest to...
color holography
The recording of three or more separate holograms having a different color on a medium, so that illumination with a tricolor...
precision aperture
An accurately produced hole of any size and shape that is used as a masking device in an optical system. Pinhole apertures...
horizontal blanking interval
In television, the period during which the electron beam is cut off while the raster returns from the right-hand side of the...
Dammann grating
A Dammann grating is a type of diffractive optical element (DOE) used to create an array of equally spaced,...
induction linear accelerator
A device used to accelerate the electrons in a free-electron laser by supplying electrical energy to the electron beam...
photostore
The photographic recording of data, in binary form, for storage in memory. Exposure is achieved by a cathode-ray tube or by...
plane-polarized light
A light beam whose electric vectors all vibrate in a single fixed plane.
optical bistability
The phenomenon that can render an optical resonator the equivalent of a semiconductor flip-flop. A bistable device will...
double-pulsed holography
Holographic recording whereby the object is illuminated by two pulses, separated by a time interval, from a Q-switched laser...
optoelectronic shutter
A device used to control or block a light beam by means of the Kerr electro-optical effect, and other electro-optic devices...
deformable mirror device
A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor...
ultrasonic camera
A device that uses a piezoelectric crystal to convert ultrasonic sound waves, transmitted through a subject, into a voltage...
optical assembly
An optical assembly refers to a collection of optical components that are carefully arranged and aligned to perform a...
reconstruction diffraction efficiency
Holographic quantity expressed as the ratio of the reconstructed first-order image to that of the incident reconstructing...
Billet's split lens
An experimental lens used to produce interference fringes. A positive lens is cut into halves along its center, and the...
magnetic rotation spectroscopy
Technique in which the polarization rotation of light, and its relationship to the magnetic field strength can be analyzed...
processed hologram
A superposition of many zone plates, each reconstructing a real and virtual point image at the appropriate locations upon...
optical grating reflectance evaluator
A device for measuring diffraction grating efficiency at any angle of incidence, consisting of a reflectometer wherein the...
electrodynamics
The study of the generation of electromagnetic power by radiation from high-energy beams.
attenuator
An electronic transducer, either fixed or adjustable, that reduces the amplitude of a wave without causing significant...
coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering
A technique whereby two laser beams, one at an excitation wavelength and the second at a wavelength that produces Stokes...
hole burning
The dip or gap in the profile of a laser beam's line width when it is both homogeneously and inhomogeneously broadened. When...
Z-scan
A technique for determining the nonlinear optical properties of a sample material by moving the sample through a focused...
directed energy
Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often...
ionization spectrometer
Also known as the Bragg spectrometer. A system used for the x-ray analysis of crystal structure. In the instrument, a...
Malus's law
A law that uses the square of the cosine between the plane of polarization of a beam of plane-polarized light and the plane...
motion controller
In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such...
laser ablation
Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This...
Nichols radiometer
An instrument devised by Nichols and Hull for use in the measurement of radiation pressure. The device has two small...
diffractive optics
Optical elements that use diffraction to control wavefronts. Diffractive optical elements include diffraction gratings,...
fringes of superposition
The multiple beam form of Brewster's fringes formed when the two plane-parallel plates have high-reflecting surfaces.
optical beam steering
Directing an optical beam in varying directions by varying reflection, refraction, focusing and diffraction methods.
thin film
A thin layer of a substance deposited on an insulating base in a vacuum by a microelectronic process. Thin films are most...
laser peening
Laser peening is a surface enhancement technique used to improve the mechanical properties of materials, particularly...
Koehler illumination
A two-stage illuminating system for a microscope in which the source is imaged in the aperture of the substage condenser by...
parallel beam
fiber photometry
An optical recording technique that uses light source(s), a beamsplitting cube, light detector(s) and an optical fiber...
acoustical holography
The optical reconstruction of image information contained in a sound field. First the diffraction pattern, formed by an...
interferometer
An instrument that employs the interference of lightwaves to measure the accuracy of optical surfaces; it can measure a...
flux
Time rate of flow of energy; the radiant or luminous power in a beam.
beamwidth
The angular width of a radiation beam. With respect to a conical beam of light, it is the vertex angle of the cone. The...
laser ceilometer
A device used for measuring the height of clouds from a position on the ground. Measurement technique uses a vertically...
scanning electron microscopy
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an advanced imaging technique used in microscopy to obtain high-resolution,...
beam profiling
Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It...
circle of least confusion
Best point of focus for an image in a beam of light at the smallest cross section of the beam.
autocollimator
An autocollimator is an optical instrument used for measuring small angular deviations with high precision. It operates on...
photomicrographic camera
A still or motion-picture camera designed to photograph through a microscope. Photomicrographic equipment usually contains a...
beamsplitter
A beamsplitter is an optical device for dividing a beam into two or more separate beams. A simple beamsplitter may be a very...
powder camera
A camera system that uses a fine powder to diffract x-rays from the specimen. A beam of monochromatic x-rays passes through...
light modulator
A device that is designed to modulate a beam of light, usually from a laser source, by acting upon the beam directly. The...
autocollimating spectrograph
A spectrograph in which the refracted beam returns almost along the path traveled by the incident beam, and is brought to a...
Poisson shot noise
A stationary noise that occurs for visible light photodetection when a steady light source, such as a heterodyne reference...
holographic memory
The storage of data as bits in memory by holographic processes. The laser beam is divided into reference and object beams,...
epitaxial deposition
Epitaxial deposition is a process used in semiconductor manufacturing and materials science to grow a thin crystalline...
optical coherence tomography imaging system
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics and biomedical research to obtain...
inertial fusion energy
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) refers to a proposed method of generating electricity by harnessing the energy released from...
holographic optical element
A component used to modify light rays by diffraction; the HOE is produced by recording the interference pattern of two laser...
ionic focusing
Also known as gas focusing. The introduction of an inert gas into a cathode-ray tube for the concentration of the electron...
etendue
A product of the area of a light beam (normal to its direction of propagation) and the solid angle that the beam includes;...
Fizeau interferometer
A type of interferometer noted for producing narrow multiple-beam interference fringes. As a result, when compared with the...
beam divergence
Increase in the diameter of an initially collimated beam, as measured in milliradians (mrad) at specified points; i.e.,...
beam deflection tube
An electron-beam tube in which the current to an output electrode is regulated by the transverse motion of the tube's...
convergent beam sensing mode
A type of photoelectric proximity mode sensing incorporating a lens system to focus the light from the emitter in a small,...
ground glass
A plate of glass in which a face has been frosted by grinding or etching. It diffuses light by scattering in directions...
convergence
1. In optics, the bending of light rays toward each other, as by a convex or positive lens. 2. Turning in the eyes to view a...
light dispersion
The process whereby white light is separated into its component wavelengths. Light beams of different wavelengths are...
scattering
Change of the spatial distribution of a beam of radiation when it interacts with a surface or a heterogeneous medium, in...
disc laser
A laser having a rod that is a stacked array of discs immersed in a transparent flowing coolant fluid. In this way, the...
absorbing wedge
A doped or absorbing transparent medium cut or molded into a wedge in order to measure the real and imaginary components of...
Murty interferometer
A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path...
rangefinder
1. An optical distance finder that depends on triangulation of two convergent beams on an object from disparate view points....
stored beam hologram
A term referring to the pre-exposed hologram of the subject used in holographic interferometry.
Matrix optics
The linear relationship between input and output optical fields for a given optical system or application that allows the...
focusing anode
One of the electrodes used to focus the electron beam of a cathode-ray tube. As the electrode's voltage is changed, its...
calcite interference microscope
A microscope that allows examination of a small crystal and conveniently provides linearly polarized object and reference...
free-space optics
Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the...
additive manufacturing
Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional...
ideal polarization rotator
A theoretical instrument conceived of as a box that receives a beam of radiation of any arbitrary polarization angle and...
kinescope
A cathode-ray tube that serves as a picture tube in a television receiver. The signal representing the picture intensity is...
atmospheric turbulence
Irregularities and disturbances in the atmosphere that are of particular interest because they induce random temporal and...
quasi-Fourier transform
The transform defining that, if a reference beam is a divergent spherical wavefront, then the reconstructed image will be...
Gaussian optics
1. That branch of optics that illustrates the theory in which q is substituted for sin q in Snell's law. Effective results...
beam spread
blanking
The process by which the raster beam in a video tube is cut off during the retracing and sync periods.
dark beam
A precision-engineered microminiature light source that is safe for darkroom use, yet emits a beam of light bright enough to...
acousto-optic deflection
The angular change of an incident beam due to vibrational induced refractive index changes within a crystal.
beam shaper
A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or...
Mylar
E.I. duPont's trade name for a polyester film. The most practical beamsplitter for use beyond the 15-µm wavelength...
lensless Fourier transform hologram
A hologram formed without lenses and with the object and reference points sharing the same plane. In the initial recording,...
termination
The process of attaching a device to the end of a fiber cable to enable the beam to be transmitted farther, to pass to...
beam optics
meta-optics
Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication,...
object beam
In holography, the wave of light that illuminates the object to be recorded, which diffracts it to the recording medium,...
mirror mount
A mirror mount is a mechanical device used to secure and precisely position mirrors in optical systems. Mirrors are...
waveguide laser
Gas laser in which the tube acts as a channel for the laser beam.
modulated zone plate
A zone plate produced by a computer and having a binary structure that can be etched into a chromium or quartz layer. It...
intrabeam viewing
With respect to laser radiation, the subjection of the human eye to all or a portion of the laser beam.
electron-gun system
An electron-gun system is an assembly used to generate and control a focused beam of electrons. Electron guns find...
pencil beam
In astronomy, the main lobe of an antenna pattern that has a small angular extent in two mutually perpendicular directions....
Secondary Speckle Pattern
A self-interference effect that generates random patterns; secondary speckle pattern (SSP) typically occurs in diffuse...
skiatron
A system employing a dark trace tube in which the opacity of the screen is varied as a function of the power of the beam.
oscilloscope
A system in which a supplied signal causes the deflection of the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube, thus forming a visible...
beam divider
lateral mode
In a diode laser, a mode in the plane of the active layer that is perpendicular to the direction of the emitted beam.
interference microscope
A special form of microscope that utilizes interference for observing and measuring the phase and optical thickness in...
aiming beam
A visible laser beam generated coaxially with an infrared or other invisible laser beam to aid in its positioning.
lenticular screen
A rear or front projection screen composed of minute optical surfaces that introduce a spread to the light beam that...
beam profiler
A device that measures the spatial distribution of energy perpendicular to the propagation path of a radiant beam. An energy...
phase conjugation
The use of a reflective device, which can be fashioned from a variety of materials including gases, solids, dyes, aerosols,...
lumia
A laser effect used especially for laser light shows. Lumia are created by placing a distorting medium such as rippled glass...
holography
Holography is a technique used to capture and reconstruct three-dimensional images using the principles of interference and...
two-photon polymerization
Two-photon polymerization (TPP) is a technique used in additive manufacturing, specifically in the field of 3D printing. It...
electron storage ring
An advanced magnetic device used in x-ray lithography to beam x-rays onto the surface of silicon wafers used for...
optical lattice
A periodic structure formed by intersecting or superimposed laser beams. These beams can trap atoms in low-potential...
small-angle x-ray scattering
The investigation of microstructures by an instrument that generates a narrow, highly collimated beam of x-rays.
laser-induced fluorescence
Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is a spectroscopic technique that involves using a laser to excite molecules or atoms,...
oculometer
An electro-optical infrared tracker consisting of a beamsplitter, an illuminating source, an image dissector tube and an...
photochemical hole burning
A method of producing disks for erasable optical data storage. Information is recorded by a laser beam that generates pits...
Williams refractometer
A refractometer that has a greater resolving power than a standard refractometer, and that uses a pentagonal prism to split...
Nd:YAG laser
Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain...
coherent optical adaptive technique
The use of phase conjugation or other methods to increase the power density of a laser beam under adverse atmospheric...
right-angle prism
A type of 45-90-45° prism used to bend a beam of light through a right angle with the surfaces forming the 90° angle...
vertical-deflection electrodes
Two electrodes that shift the electron beam vertically on a cathode-ray tube screen using electrostatic deflection.
epitaxy
A well controlled thin films technique for growing films with good crystal structure in ultra high vacuum environments at...
Stokes parameters
The parameters, relative to polarized light and the Poincaré sphere, that are usually represented as: I, the intensity of...
venetian-blind effect
Short-distance scattering of light in holography caused by random index inhomogeneities and the developing index that...
elliptically polarized light
A light beam whose electric vectors are broken into two elements of unlike amplitudes that are perpendicular to each other...
laser surgery
Laser surgery refers to a medical procedure in which a laser, or focused beam of light, is used as a precision tool to cut,...
conduction welding
A type of laser welding of thin materials using a defocused or low-power carbon dioxide laser beam. The energy is absorbed...
Fizeau fringes
Fizeau fringes are interference fringes observed in an interferometer, specifically in a Fizeau interferometer. The Fizeau...
computer-generated holographic scanner
A phase reflection scanner that eliminates the need for a complex translation device while maintaining a high-energy-density...
flying spot microscope
A microscope that uses a flying spot scanner, directed through the eyepiece, as a light source to determine the features of...
signal period
Also referred to as the width of the dark pulse. This is the time interval between the instant the particle approaches the...
in-line holography
The formation of a hologram by single reference-beam interferences with waves that are diffracted or scattered from a small...
fiber-coupled LED
A fiber-coupled LED (light-emitting diode) refers to an LED device that is optically coupled to an optical fiber for the...
Mills cross (telescope)
The Mills Cross telescope is a two dimensional radio telescope in which the two antenna arrays are positioned perpendicular...
phase mask
In optics and photolithography, a phase mask refers to a device that modifies the phase of light waves passing through it....
Fabry-Perot method
A means of determining a prism's index of refraction by placing the prism so that its emergent face is perpendicular to the...
cantilever
A projecting beam or other structure supported only at one end.
allogyric birefringence
Left- and right-hand circularly polarized beams that are produced at different velocities by passing plane-polarized light...
FTIR spectrometer
FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of...
penta prism
A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to...
x-ray image spectrography
Irradiation of a cylindrical crystal with an x-ray beam resulting in Bragg diffraction that produces a slightly enlarged...
atmospheric attenuation
The reduction in luminance of a light beam due to absorption and scattering as it passes through the atmosphere.
optical lever
A device used to detect and measure small amounts of rotation. The rotating object contains a reflecting surface from which...
optical tweezers
Optical tweezers refer to a scientific instrument that uses the pressure of laser light to trap and manipulate microscopic...
beam position
In computer graphics, the point on the display screen where the electron beam is located before the display instruction is...
electron diffraction camera
A special evacuated camera equipped with means for holding a specimen and bombarding it with a sharply focused beam of...
static beam alignment
The degree to which a laser beam is aligned parallel to the housing axis.
fluorophosphate glass
A special laser glass made primarily of fluoride compounds that exhibits extremely low refractive index and allows greater...
fiber laser
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...
limiting angular subtense (amin)
The apparent visual angle that divides intrabeam viewing from extended-source viewing.
optical component
One or more optical elements – typically cemented together - in an optical system that are treated as a single group;...
chirped-pulse amplification laser
A laser whose pulses are expanded, using gratings and optical fibers, before amplification and compressed to increase beam...
laser pen
Device consisting of a laser diode, beam-correcting optics and collimating optics in a single housing. Also called a...
frequency doubling
A nonlinear optical process in which the frequency of an optical beam is doubled coherently.
Jamin refractometer
An instrument designed to measure the index of refraction of a gas by the interference patterns formed by two beams, one of...
low-coherence interference microscope
An interference microscope that uses a light beam originating from a low-coherence light source. The sample is placed in one...
Weissenberg method
The Weissenberg method, named after the German physicist Karl Weissenberg, is a technique used in x-ray crystallography for...
modulated transmission ellipsometry
A method used to detect internal or residual microstresses in a material by using a laser beam to locate changes in...
acousto-optic modulator
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...
transverse mode
In the context of optics and lasers, a transverse mode refers to a specific spatial pattern of the electric field within the...
metallic coating
A thin layer of metal deposited on the surface of a substrate. The film may serve as a reflector, beamsplitter, neutral...
major lobe
With respect to a beam, the radiation lobe having the direction of maximum radiation.
lensless microscopy
Lensless microscopy, also known as computational or holographic microscopy, is an imaging technique that captures and...
covered groove
A technique used in integrated optics where a groove is cut on a substrate surface and covered by a thin film to facilitate...
beam
1. A bundle of light rays that may be parallel, converging or diverging. 2. A concentrated, unidirectional stream of...
backscatter
Backscatter refers to the phenomenon in which radiation or waves are scattered backward, opposite to the direction of the...
Wehnelt cylinder
Also known as cathode-ray tube grid or shield. A cylindrically shaped electrode that, containing the cathode of a...
computer-generated hologram
A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than...
Raman shifter
A device that changes the frequency of light by inducing the Raman effect on a beam passing through it.
optical pumping
The process whereby the number of atoms or atomic systems in a set of energy levels is changed by the absorption of light...
remote active spectrometer
A device employed to identify toxic agents lingering on the ground or in the air from up to three miles away, by using laser...
coded disc
A reticle carrying patterns of various forms that can be rotated in an optical beam to cause variations in the intensity of...
wave splitting
Any type of interference produced by a beamsplitter.
conjugate autofocus system
A system that determines whether an image is in or out of focus by means of a source of illumination at the conjugate focal...
Gaussian beam
A beam of light whose electrical field amplitude distribution is Gaussian. When such a beam is circular in cross section,...
laser pattern generation
Production of a repeated image of a transmitted beam through a diffractive optical element such as a holographic card or...
pulsar
An astronomical body that emits radiation concentrated by a strong magnetic field into two beams that rotate, giving a...
superresolution
Superresolution refers to the enhancement or improvement of the spatial resolution beyond the conventional limits imposed by...
hololens
A series of permanent holograms in dichromated gelatin formed by opening total page-composer apertures and setting a point...
cycloidal mass spectrometer
A small mass spectrometer, with a limited mass range, equipped with an analyzer to generate a cycloidal-path beam of the...
diffraction scattering
Elastic scattering that occurs when inelastic processes eliminate particles from the beam.
overscanning
In a cathode-ray tube, the deflection of the beam of the tube over an angle that surpasses the angle that subtends the...
adiabatic laser colorimetry
Method for studying absorption coefficients of low-loss materials, in which a sample is allowed to come to thermal...
lateral shearing interferometer
A lateral shearing interferometer is an optical device used in interferometry to measure phase differences between two beams...
image orthicon
A camera tube widely used in television broadcasting. It consists of three sections within a single vacuum envelope. 1. A...
minimum spot size
The smallest linear diameter to which a laser or other beam of radiant energy is capable of being focused, depending on the...
Fourier transform hologram
A hologram formed by the recording of a plane object situated in the focal plane of a lens so that each object gives rise to...
uniformly redundant array
Array used in coded-aperture imaging experiments with two-beam CO2 lasers that provide an artifact-free process, faithful...
stimulated thermal scattering
Light from a pulsed laser focused into nonsaturable absorbing fluid that generates a strongly backscattered light beam with...
STED microscopy
STED microscopy, or stimulated emission depletion microscopy, is a superresolution imaging technique in fluorescence...
grating beamsplitter
A grating beamsplitter is an optical device that utilizes the principles of diffraction to split a beam of light into...
contour analysis
A method in optical character recognition in which a mobile light beam scans the outlines of characters for subsequent...
combiner
A semitransparent mirror in an optical system that combines two or more output beams into a single coaxial beam.
b integral
Calculates the exponential growth of the least stable spatial frequency in a laser beam, and is the numerical equivalent of...
heat-transmitting filter
A filter that allows heat radiation from an incident beam to pass without absorption or reflection.
trepanner
A tool used in cutting circular holes around a center. Also, a laser cutter in which the beam moves in relation to the cut...
camera tube target
The storage surface of an electron beam tube that is scanned by an electron beam to generate an output-signal current...
residual absorption and scattering
Loss mechanisms that degrade the performance of all thin-film optical devices by removing radiant flux out of the specular...
beam table
Laser light show effects equipment including optics and mechanical devices that reflect, position or distort the laser beam,...
diffraction fanning
The formation of a fan of light or energy rays in a beam as the beam passes through an extremely narrow aperture.
isosorbs
Lines of equal atmospheric attenuation in a laser beam.
scanning electron microscope
A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a powerful imaging instrument used in scientific research, materials...
electro-optic deflection
The effect whereby a light beam is deflected by a birefringent prism when its polarization is changed by voltage applied to...
masks for evaporation/deposition
In the context of thin film deposition processes such as evaporation or sputtering, masks are used to selectively deposit...
phase matching
Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent...
quadrupole lens
A device used in electron microscopes and particle accelerators to focus electron beams by the arrangement of four...
photon drag effect
The induction of an electric field in a semiconductor by an incident laser beam. The technique has rapid response time at...
Fabry-Perot interferometer
A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set...
stacked hologram
The superimposing of holographic pages in a thick, erasable storage material by changing the reference and object beams....
acousto-optic modulators and deflectors
An acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is a device that utilizes the interaction between sound waves and light waves to modulate...
photocoagulator
An optical medical instrument that uses an intense, precisely focused beam of light to stop weakened blood vessels from...
split-beam laser interferometer
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,...
differential absorption lidar
A lidar (light detection and ranging) technique used in pollution monitoring. Two light beams are emitted simultaneously,...
null process
Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors...
degree of coherence
A quantitative measurement of the coherence of a light source; equal to the visibility (V) of the fringes of a two-beam...
frequency summing
A technique used in holography that involves the mixing of lasers of different wavelengths to produce a beam of shorter...
off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirror
Off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirrors are specialized optical components used in various optical systems, particularly...
lamellar grating
A grating with ridges of rectangular cross section, generally equal in width to the space between. This type of grating may...
beam-addressable technology
The application of reversible writing with a laser beam on particular storage materials. In one method, an amorphous film is...
laser cooling
A process and method by which manipulation and orientation of a given number of directed laser beams decreases the motion of...
image isocon
A television camera tube that preceded the development of the vidicon tube and incorporated a method to separate reflected...
dichroic coating
A dichroic coating, also known as a dichroic filter or dichroic mirror, is an optical coating designed to selectively...
Rayleigh interferometer
A device that is used to determine the index of refraction of a gas or liquid through the interference patterns formed by...
underillumination
Illumination of hologram facets with a beam that covers only a small portion of the hologram in order to optimize laser...
outer beam scale
The approximate dimension of the refractive-index correlation length in a given medium.
fiber Bragg grating
A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It...
focusing corner cube
A retroreflector that can focus a beam of light, with one planar reflective surface, one spherical and a third that is...
nonlinear optical phase conjugation
The coupling of laser or light beams via nonlinear optical techniques such as four-wave mixing to achieve spatial variation...
beam shuttle
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...
electron-beam gun
1. A device generally used in a cathode-ray or camera tube to emit a stream of electrons moving at uniform velocity in a...
electron-beam recording
The recording of the information contained in a modulated electron beam onto photographic or silicon resin-coated materials....
bidirectional reflectance distribution function
Unified notation for specification of reflectance in terms of both incident- and reflected-beam geometry; i.e., the ratio of...
beam candlepower
With relation to the equivalent beam candlepower of a searchlight, the candlepower of a bare source that would produce the...
edge sensing, second derivative
Technique for the precision evaluation of coincidence of a laser beam's center with the edge of the object under study and...
laser rangefinder
A laser rangefinder is a device that uses laser technology to measure the distance between the device and a target. It...
Hartmann test
A test for spherical aberration, coma or astigmatism in which incident rays from a point source are isolated by small holes...
deflection focusing
The progressive defocusing of a cathode-ray tube display image that occurs when the deflected electron beam impinges on the...
cadmium sulfide
An inorganic compound, yellow to orange in color, that fluoresces strongly enough when bombarded by a high-current-density...
mass spectrograph
A device that uses electromagnetic fields to separate electrically charged particles according to their masses. As a beam of...
equivalency width
Calculation of the amount of energy extracted from a light beam regardless of its wide range resolution.
spatial light interference microscopy
Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is an optical microscopy technique that belongs to the category of quantitative...
laser optics
Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser...
lens testing equipment
Lens testing equipment refers to a range of specialized tools and instruments used to evaluate the optical performance,...
traveling wave phototube
A traveling wave tube (TWT) containing a photocathode and window that, receiving a laser beam, produces a modified...
chip-on-board lights
Chip-on-board (COB) lights refer to a type of LED lighting technology where multiple LED chips are directly mounted onto a...
polarization-preserving fiber
Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its...
Newton's rings
The series of rings or bands formed when light beams reflected from two polished, adjacent surfaces, placed together with a...
photosensitive recording
The recording achieved when a surface, illuminated by a signal-controlled light beam, emits electrons or reacts in some...
transmission loss
The decrease in power that occurs when an optical beam or signal is transmitted through a system.
electron-beam film scanning
The method by which photographic film is scanned by an electron beam. One technique uses the uniform light of a television...
integrating sphere
A hollow sphere coated internally with a white diffusing material and provided with openings for incident beam, specimen and...
freeform mirrors
Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric...
laser spark spectroscopy
A method of analysis in which a pulsed laser beam is used to heat a particle, producing a plasma, or laser spark. As the...
Kerr cell
A cell filled with a transparent material that, when placed in a strong electrical field, exhibits double refraction. Since...
ultrasonic cross grating
A two- or three-dimensional space grating formed when ultrasonic beams with varied paths of propagation intersect.
ultrasonic stroboscope
A light-interference device whose excitation is determined by the modulation of a light beam by an ultrasonic field.
ring-laser gyroscope
A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is a type of gyroscope that uses laser light to detect and measure changes in orientation. It...
electric quadrupole lens
A device that uses four electrodes set in an alternating positive-negative polarity series to focus the beams of charged...
free-electron laser
A free-electron laser (FEL) is a type of laser that generates coherent, high-intensity electromagnetic radiation by using a...
scanning electron micrograph
The picture formed by the scanning beam of electrons in a scanning electron microscope.
effective beam
In photoelectric sensing, the portion of the transmitted beam that actually functions in the system; the diameter of the...
microlithography
A technique for producing micron-size structures on surfaces by using short-wavelength light or electron beams.
undulator magnet
A device used in a free-electron laser to convert the electron-beam's energy into microwave laser radiation by creating a...
dynamic beam correction
The superimposition of a pilot object on each hologram. The fixed relative position of the scanning and pilot beam during...
extinction
1. The near total absorption of plane-polarized light by a polarizer that has an axis perpendicular to the plane of...
camera tube
The electron beam tube of a television camera that converts an optical image into a pattern of electrostatic charges and...
acoustical hologram
The recorded interference pattern formed by the interference of two sound beams.
magnetic lens
An arranged series of coils, magnets or electromagnets disposed in such a way that the resulting magnetic fields generate a...
speckle pattern
A power intensity pattern produced by the mutual interference of partially coherent beams that are subject to minute...
electron-beam lithography system
An electron-beam lithography (EBL) system is a sophisticated nanofabrication tool used in the semiconductor industry and...
microphonic noise
Output noise in a laser beam resulting from acoustic disturbances of mirror separation or orientation. Such disturbances may...
laser trapping
A technique for confining atoms, molecules or small particles within one or more laser beams. This can be accomplished...
infrared optic
Infrared optics refer to optical components and systems designed to manipulate and control infrared (IR) light, which lies...
cylindrical lens
A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape...
reconstructed image
An image that appears when a hologram is illuminated by a suitable light source, generally a laser beam.
photomask
A photomask, also known simply as a mask or reticle, is a key component in the photolithography process used in...
wavelength selective mirror
A beamsplitting mirror that reflects as a function of wavelength.
coaxial gas
A jet of inert gas along a laser welding beam's axis that cools, protects or cleans the work surface.
laser cavity
A laser cavity, also known as an optical cavity or resonator, is a fundamental component of a laser system. It is a confined...
field of collimator
An expression of the tolerance of decentration of a laser diode from the optical axis: the region around the axis in the...
scanning beam
A light, radar or electron beam used to scan according to a particular method.
selective laser melting
Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that belongs to the powder bed...
chief ray
The ray that passes through the center of the aperture stop in an optical system. It often is called the principal ray of an...
Cotton-Mouton effect
The ability of particular pure liquids to doubly refract when influenced by a magnetic field with a direction that is...
microchannel spatial light modulator
A device to modulate spatially a collimated coherent beam of light with input data in optical data processing. It uses a...
spatial filter
1. Generally, an emulsion mask having a clean annular region in an otherwise opaque region. It is designed to eliminate...
beam waist
That point in a Gaussian beam where the wavefront has a curvature of zero and the beam diameter is a minimum.
polygonal mirror
A polygonal mirror, also known as a multifaceted mirror or facet mirror, is a type of optical component used in various...
ultrasonic light modulator
An instrument with a fluid that modulates a light beam traversing it because of the effect of ultrasonic waves passing...
footprint
1. The sector of the Earth's surface registered upon a remote sensing device in a satellite. 2. The amount of space occupied...
half-wave plate
A plate of electro-optical material that serves to rotate the plane of polarization of a light beam.
circularly polarized light
A light beam whose electric vectors can be broken into two perpendicular elements that have equal amplitudes and that differ...
unblanking
The initiation of the beam in a cathode-ray tube.
sun-tracking concentrator
Controlled beam technology that introduces beams of sunlight through holes in a roof that are relayed throughout the...
spatial light modulator
A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of...
autostigmatic microscope
A microscope to which a beamsplitter and illuminated reticle have been added to measure the radius of curvature of a...
mutual coherent function
A function that quantifies the performance degradation of coherent communications systems, imaging systems and all systems...
electron mirror
An electron instrument used to reflect an electron beam totally.
galvanometric scanner
A galvanometric scanner, also known as a galvanometer scanner or galvo scanner, is a type of optical scanning device used to...
gallium arsenide phosphide
Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) is a semiconductor alloy composed of gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), and phosphorus (P). It...
Hubner rhomb
A glass rhomb that is used in photometry to compare two illuminated surfaces. This is accomplished by the rhomb's angles,...
Gaussian profile
An intensity distribution (intensity as a function of radial distance from the beam center) which is given by the Gaussian...
light valve
With respect to display systems, a device that uses an independent light source and a control-layer medium, the active...
engram
A hologram produced by a pair of radiation beams, each carrying information.
light filter
A homogeneous optical medium or coating that transmits only in particular regions of the spectrum. It is used to change or...
sonoradiography
The diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasonic energy to probe the body and, with the help of laser beams, a reflecting...
drift curve
A technique used in astronomy that requires a radio telescope to be directed at a point in the sky west of the object under...
electron microscope
A device utilizing an electron beam for the observation and recording of submicroscopic samples with the aid of photographic...
cascade tube
An instrument consisting of a high-voltage vacuum tube used to form hard x-rays or high-speed ion beams. By partitioning the...
optical coherence tomography
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in medical and scientific fields to capture...
attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy
Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry to obtain IR spectra of samples....
output coupler
The partially reflective mirror at the end of the laser cavity that is the source of the beam. It controls the coupling...
interference color
Color resulting from the interference between two light beams.
infrared light source
An infrared light source is a device that emits light in the infrared spectrum, which lies beyond the visible spectrum of...
exciter lamp
A small incandescent lamp whose intense beam is focused on the optical soundtrack of a motion picture film. The soundtrack...
polarizing beamsplitter
hologram
An interference pattern that is recorded on a high-resolution plate, the two interfering beams formed by a coherent beam...
coherent communications
A fiber optic communications system that works on the principles of homodyning or heterodyning. The transmitting laser...
linewidth
1. The range of frequencies or wavelengths over which radiations are absorbed or emitted in a transition between a specific...
spatial intensity perturbation
A beam instability, induced by index of refraction inhomogeneities and component damage of dirt and dust particles, that...
deflection yoke
A metal coil or coils wrapped around the outside of the neck of a cathode-ray tube. Current passing through the coils...
mode hopping
Mode hopping in the context of lasers refers to a phenomenon where a laser system abruptly switches from one longitudinal...
scatterplate
A flat plate having its surface formed into a random pattern by abrasives. Radiation wavelengths that are longer than the...
high-gain screen
A screen with a reflected or transmitted light beam that is confined to a much smaller bundle than was received by the...
sol-gel
A gelatinous fluid that can be used as a porous thin-film coating for optical components, including laser beam collimators,...
electron power tube
An electron-beam tube with power-handling capability that is essentially based on controlled electron beams. Its control and...
shadow mask tube
A type of color-generating cathode-ray tube that uses a shadow mask, a thin perforated electrode, located close to the...
cathode-ray tube pattern
The luminous trace formed on the cathode-ray tube screen by the motion of the electron beam.
continuous wave
Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In...
holographic tomography
Holographic tomography is an advanced imaging technique that combines holography and tomography to provide three-dimensional...
phosphor
A chemical substance that exhibits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet radiation, x-rays or an electron beam. The...
liquid crystal light valve
A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the...
radially variable reflectivity optic
A reflecting optic whose reflectivity is a function of the radial distance from the optic axis; can be used to convert a...
photoelectric counter
A device used to count objects that pass a given point by allowing each object to obstruct a beam of light falling on a...
electron micrograph
The photographic recording of images produced by the electrons from an electron microscope. The electron beam carries the...
holographic grating
A holographic grating is a type of diffraction grating that is produced using holographic recording techniques. It consists...
Lenard tube
An electron-beam tube designed so that the beam can be carried through a portion of the wall of an evacuated enclosure.
laser active elements
Laser active elements typically refers to the substances or materials within a laser system that play a critical role in the...
fiber optic gyroscope
A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in...
visual storage tube
An electron tube that stores and visually displays information by means of a cathode-ray-beam-scanning and charge-storage...
laser-triggered switching
A process by which the ionizing capabilities of a laser beam are used to break initiate conduction between pairs of...
laser oscillator
Contains the light or beam path within a laser device. The oscillator uses reflective optical components that are oriented...
self-phase modulation
Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam passes through a...
microwave phototube
A device designed to detect microwave modulation and to mix modulated and unmodulated laser beams. It consists of a...
target
1. The anode or anticathode of an x-ray tube that emits x-rays when bombarded by electrons. 2. The screen in a television...
optical testing instrument
An optical testing instrument is a device or system used to evaluate and measure the performance, quality, and...
acousto-optic tunable filter
A bulk crystalline optic which permits the propagation of light through a volume of index altered material. The variation in...
color scanner
An instrument that uses a beam of light to scan a color transparency, and three differently filtered photosensors to record...
Debye-Sears ultrasonic cell
A device used in ultrasonic imaging to measure the velocity and attenuation of compressional waves in a transparent liquid...
dichroic mirror
A dichroic mirror, also known as a dichroic beamsplitter or interference filter beamsplitter, is an optical device that...
overhead projector
A projector used to project transparencies. A horizontal 8 x 10-in. stage for writing or laying down preformed...
reference beam
In holography, the beam of light that is directed from the beamsplitter to the recording medium, where it interferes with...
nonlinear optical detector
A type of radiation detector designed to recognize nonlinear optical effects, such as the Raman effect, by means of a...
interphako interference microscopy
Measures the refractive indices axially from the fiber profile. Microscopy technique provides an interferogram with high...
plasma accelerator
A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged...
laser gyroscope
Counter propagating beams imaged along the same path in order to detect rotation. Precise rotation is measured through...
dextrogyrate
Able to rotate the plane of polarization of a transmitted, plane-polarized light beam clockwise as seen by a viewer looking...
laser Doppler velocimeter
Device which determines particle velocity through the measurement of scattered interference of a beam pair from a single...
magneto-optic storage
A specific type of storage in which the material to be written on is heated above its transition temperature and switched in...
acousto-optic diffraction
Light diffracted by a solid (usually quartz in crystal or fused form) traversed by acoustic waves. If the ultrasonic...
extinction ratio
The ratio of the power of a plane-polarized beam that is transmitted through a polarizer placed in its path with its...
mass spectrometer
A device used to measure the masses and relative concentrations of atoms and molecules. It utilizes the Lorentz force...
electro-optic shutter
A device used to control or block a light beam by means of the Kerr electro-optical effect.
electron probe microanalysis
An analytical technique used to determine the nature of extremely small samples by forming the x-ray spectrum of the samples...
micro-optics
Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level....
laser diode module
A laser diode module is a compact device that incorporates a laser diode, optics, and often other components into a single...
phase shifting
A technique used to generate a phase shift between reference and sample light beams. The phase shift can be performed...
scanning line
1. The continuous thin strip marked by the scanning beam. Generally, during return of the scan, the line is blanked out. 2....
flyback
The time it takes a cathode-ray tube's electron beam to return to its starting point after completing one line, one field or...
orthicon
A television camera tube in which a low-velocity electron beam scans a photoactive mosaic that has been created by an...
vertical retrace
With respect to television, the returning direction of the electron beam during the vertical blanking period.
spectral order (diffraction grating)
When, for example, a beam of monochromatic light passes through a diffraction grating, the emergent rays that have remained...
depolarizer
A device that obliterates the polarization of a polarized beam by reflecting the beam in all directions at right angles to...
optical autocorrelator
An instrument used to test lenses by utilizing the optical transfer function. It consists of a HeNe laser, a beamsplitter...
divergence
1. In optics, the bending of rays away from each other. 2. In lasers, the spreading of a laser beam with increased distance...
laser annealing
Laser annealing is a process that involves using a laser beam to heat and modify the microstructure of a material, typically...
common optoelectronics laser detection system
A laser warning and countermeasure system containing a sensor that indicates the direction of a laser beam, and analytical...
laser crystal
A laser crystal, also known as an active medium or gain medium, is a solid-state material used in the construction of...
spatial coherence
The maintenance of a fixed-phase relationship across the full diameter of a cross section of a laser beam.
micro ion milling
Process developed for the production of high-resolution patterns in electro- and magneto-optics. These high-generation...
dark-field condenser
A condenser that forms a hollow cone-shaped beam of light with its focal point in the plane of the specimen. If it is used...
scintillation
1. The variation in intensity of a light beam as it travels through the atmosphere. 2. In radiation physics, a light flash...
modulator crystal
A nonlinear crystal used to modulate a polarized beam of light by means of the Pockels effect. A Pockels cell is used as a...
confocal resonator
A confocal resonator, also known as a confocal cavity or confocal laser resonator, is a type of optical resonator...
synchrotron
A synchrotron is a type of particle accelerator that uses magnetic fields to steer charged particles, typically electrons or...
permanent magnetic focusing
The focusing of an electron beam by a magnetic field that permanently retains the majority of its magnetic properties.
deflection circuit
The circuit that regulates an electron beam's deflection in a cathode-ray tube.
laser velocimeter
A system that uses a continuous-wave laser to measure the velocity of an object by focusing the laser beam on the object,...
iconoscope
A camera tube that employs a high-velocity electron beam to scan a photoemissive mosaic and to store electrical charge...
gas filter correlation
A technique for measuring the concentration of any gases. Identical infrared beams are alternately chopped, one passing...
Porro prism
A 45-90-45° reflecting prism whose surfaces form the 90° angle reflecting the light beam through a total angle of 180°. The...
aperture distortion
A loss of resolution or detail in a television signal caused by the size of the electron scanning beam.
Raman effect
When light is transmitted through matter, part of the light is scattered in random directions. A small part of the scattered...
fluoro-immunosensor
A fiber optic device that uses a HeNe laser, beamsplitter, monochromator and photomultiplier to detect trace levels of...
metallographic microscope
A specially designed microscope for observing the etched surface of a polished metal specimen. The specimen is often laid...
reflecting galvanometer
A galvanometer having a small mirror that is mounted on a moving element and that reflects a light beam onto a scale.
fluorescent screen
A fluorescent screen refers to a phosphorescent or fluorescent-coated surface that emits visible light when exposed to other...
Fourier transform spectrometer
An instrument using a Michelson interferometer, a beamsplitter, two plane mirrors and a detector to give Fourier analysis of...
antiguide
A waveguide that has a core with a lower refractive index than the refractive index of the cladding. This structure can...
polarization photometer
A photometer having a pair of Nicol prisms introduced into the beam from the brighter of two sources to be compared. Turning...
optical chopper
A mechanical or electrical-electromagnetic device for periodically interrupting or blocking abeam of light for a brief known...
videodisc
A disc whose surface contains recorded digital data at high-packing densities arranged in concentric rings. The data,...
wave plate
An optical element having two principal axes, slow and fast, that resolve an incident polarized beam into two mutually...
edge-emitting LED
An edge-emitting light-emitting diode is a type of LED structure where light emission occurs primarily along the edge of the...
beam expander
A system of optical components designed to increase the diameter of a radiation beam. Usually an afocal system.
overillumination
A hologram facet illumination technique in which the illuminating beam is twice the size of the hologram facet so that full...
face-pumped laser
A device in which slab geometry internally compensates for thermal-optic distortion; the solid host material -- glass or...
vertical blanking
With respect to a television system, a pulse transmitted at the end of each field to break off the cathode-ray beam as it...
Laue pattern
The photographic record of the diffracted beams formed when heterogeneous x-rays emerging from a pinhole or slit impinge...
beam diameter
1. Calculated distance between two exactly opposed points on a beam at a chosen fraction of peak power (typically 1/e2). 2....
beam noise
thermal lensing
Distortion of an optical component as a result of heat, which can influence the divergence and the mode quality of a beam...
light throughput efficiency
The fraction of incident light power in an optical modulator that is available to the output beam.
nonlinear optical effect
A class of optical phenomena that can be viewed only with nearly monochromatic, directional beams of light, such as those...
monoscope cathode-ray tube
A character generation CRT that functions on the principle of secondary emission. The target holds a set of aluminum...
alexandrite lasers
An alexandrite laser is a solid-state laser that utilizes a synthetic crystal made from the rare earth element alexandrite...
Smith-Baker microscope
A transmission interference microscope that produces interference patterns of a sample by using birefringent plates that...
electron-beam evaporation
A method of thin-film deposition in which electrons boiled off a heated cathode are used to melt the coating material. If a...
static beam shaping
A technique for creating optimal performance in a system by producing a specific beam irradiance distribution, usually...
transverse field modulator
A Pockels cell in which electrical current is applied in a direction orthogonally to that of the light beam.
neutral density wedge
A strip or annulus of glass coated with a semitransparent material such as inconel. The coating thickness, and as a result...
electrostatic deflection
The deflection of an electron beam by the action of an electrostatic field that has a component perpendicular to the...
adaptive optics
Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of...
microlens array
A microlens array is a grid-like structure composed of numerous small lenses, typically arranged in a regular pattern. Each...
electron scanning
The deflection of a beam of electrons, at regular intervals, across a cathode-ray tube screen, according to a definite...
interference
1. The additive process whereby the amplitudes of two or more overlapping waves are systematically attenuated and...
laser damage threshold
The laser damage threshold refers to the maximum level of laser intensity that a material can withstand without experiencing...
prism
A prism is a geometric optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. It is typically a solid, transparent...
holographic interferometry
The interferometric analysis of a complex object by utilizing the three-dimensional hologram. By causing a laser beam to...
stroke pattern
The pattern formed by a character generation cathode-ray tube system, in which the characters are composed of a sequence of...
keyhole welding
The process of binding or attaching larger metal sheets by laser welding. The effect is generated by higher power densities...
backward-wave oscillator
An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure....
principal ray
The ray of an oblique pencil beam that passes through the center of the pupils. It is the effective axis of the oblique...
collimation
1. The process of aligning the optical axes of optical systems to the reference mechanical axes or surfaces of an...
pulse amplification
The compression and intensification of a laser pulse of a specific width into a smaller pulse width. A spherical cavity, in...
entrance slit
The entrance slit, also known simply as the slit, is an essential component in optical instruments such as spectrometers and...
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin...
beta fluorography
The use of a short-duration electron beam to record high-speed events that occur in microscopic objects made of materials...
Foucault prism
A polarizing prism formed from calcite that is like the Nicol prism but has the two parts divided by a thin air-film and cut...
Tyndall effect
The effect by which sufficiently small particles will scatter blue light at right angles to the incident beam. This...
mixing
Combining light beams, usually of unlike frequencies, to form a single beam with a frequency that is equal to the frequency...
inertial confinement fusion
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a method of achieving nuclear fusion, a process where two atomic nuclei combine to...
Risley prism
A Risley prism, also known as a Risley prism pair or Risley rotating prism, is an optical device used for controlling the...
ultrasonic light diffraction
The optical diffraction spectra formed, or the method that produces them, when a light beam is transmitted through a...
electron-beam drilling
The use of a tightly focused beam of electrons to drill minute holes in substances. The drilling is accomplished by the...
linear receive optics
Linear receive optics typically refers to the optical components and systems used in the reception (detection) of linearly...
optical manufacturing tools and machinery
Optical manufacturing tools and machinery encompass a wide range of equipment, instruments, and systems used in the...
retardation
The phase change of one of the two split beams of an interference microscope.
parametric oscillator
A device using a parametric amplifier inside a resonant optical cavity to generate a frequency-tunable coherent beam of...
electrostatic lens
The electrical distribution that serves to influence an electron beam in the same way that an optical lens affects a light...
index-guided laser
A laser diode with an output beam contained in the active layer by means of a built-in refractive index profile formed in...
electrostatic focus
The use of an applied electrical field to focus a cathode-ray tube's electron beam.
ammonia pellets
Charged frozen pellets that are rapidly bombarded with a focused high-power laser to form a dense plasma that can be heated...
phototelegraphy
A document-transmitting process that uses a cylinder that rotates the document to be scanned and detected by a photoelectric...
remote laser welding
A robotic process commonly employed by automakers that enables high-speed and flexible production throughput by using...
laser marking
Laser marking is a process in which a laser beam is used to mark or engrave a surface by altering its properties or...
Senarmont prism
A polarizing beamsplitting prism similar in design to the Rochon prism. However, the Senarmont transmits the extraordinary...
Gaussian beam optics
The area of optics that deals with the propagation of Gaussian laser beams in free space, or any general medium - i.e....
plasma noise
Introduced into the laser beam from localized fluctuations in current density within the plasma itself. These fluctuations...
beam bender
A mirror used to manipulate the beam in a laser system.
spectral luminous efficacy
Ratio of the luminous flux in a beam of radiation to the spectral radiant flux in the same beam at a given wavelength.
overfill
The condition of the numerical aperture or beam diameter of the laser, LED, or other optical source being larger than the...
x-ray tube target
Also known as an anticathode. An electrode or electrode section that is focused upon by an electron beam and that emits...
laser texturing
Laser texturing is a manufacturing process that involves using a laser beam to selectively modify the surface of a material,...
ellipticity
The quality of asymmetrical intensity distribution in a laser beam, as opposed to a circular distribution.
fluorescence photography
The photographic recording of a subject that exhibits luminescence only for an extremely short time (10-8 s) after the...
chromophore
A naturally occurring pigment in tissue that may selectively absorb certain wavelengths and can be used to aid in targeting...
holographic camera
A holographic camera, also known as a holographic imaging system or holographic recorder, is a specialized device used to...
beam positioner
A device (e.g., prisms, lenses, tubes) used to align a beam in a system.
electron microradiography
The photographic recording, and later enlarging, of very thin specimens, using an electron beam to form the image.
variable-speed scanning
A scanning technique in which the optical density of the film being scanned controls the speed of deflection of the scanning...
plume
A mixture of ionized gas and metal vapor generated by impingement of the laser beam onto a material being welded or a weld...
Mach-Zehnder interferometer
A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of...

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