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PI Physik Instrumente - Revolution In Photonics Align ROSLB 3/24
polarization Dictionary Terms

Kerr cell
A cell filled with a transparent material that, when placed in a strong electrical field, exhibits double refraction. Since the two polarized elements of an incident light beam travel at different phase velocities in the medium, this device can...
optically active material
A material that can rotate the polarization of light that passes through it. An optically active material exhibits different...
Casimir force
The Casimir force is a quantum phenomenon that results in an attractive force between two closely spaced uncharged...
E-bend
In a waveguide, a change in direction of the axis without deviating from the plane of polarization.
plane of polarization
zero phase shift mirror
A mirror that supplies equal reflectance for both the S-polarization and the P-polarization of a laser for a defined angle...
stress-applying part
In polarization-preserving optical fibers, the element used to induce birefringence. The SAP is highly doped to provide a...
polarization photometer
A photometer having a pair of Nicol prisms introduced into the beam from the brighter of two sources to be compared. Turning...
law of Brewster
The law stating that when light strikes a surface at such an angle that the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular...
Matrix optics
The linear relationship between input and output optical fields for a given optical system or application that allows the...
half-wave plate
A plate of electro-optical material that serves to rotate the plane of polarization of a light beam.
beat length
A characteristic of optical fiber used to calculate the fiber's ability to maintain polarization. The beat length describes...
polarimetry
The measurement of the rotation of the plane of polarization of radiant energy, usually through the use of a polarimeter.
linear polarization
See plane-polarized light; polarization.
azimuthal polarization
Azimuthal polarization refers to a specific polarization state of light where the electric field vector of the...
ferroelectric domain
The region of a ferroelectric crystal where spontaneous polarization is uniformly directed.
electromagnon
An electromagnon is a quasiparticle excitation that combines aspects of both magnetism and electric polarization in a...
molecular motor
A molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can...
crystal optics
The study of the transmission of radiant energy through crystals, especially anisotropic crystals, and their effects on...
dextrogyrate
Able to rotate the plane of polarization of a transmitted, plane-polarized light beam clockwise as seen by a viewer looking...
isolator
In the context of electronics and optics, an isolator refers to a device that allows the transmission of signals in one...
liquid core optical fiber
Multimode straight fiber capable of transporting linearly polarized light with any incident polarization angle, and in which...
optically uniaxial crystal
A transparent crystalline substance in which the refractive index of the optic axis (extraordinary axis) is different from...
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...
elliptical polarization
anisotropy
Anisotropy refers to the property of exhibiting different values or characteristics when measured in different directions....
magneto-optic shutter
A type of high-speed photographic shutter that uses Faraday rotation to produce exposure times as fast as 1 microsecond. It...
full wave compensator
A piece of uniform birefringent material placed at a 45° angle to the plane of polarization in a polarizing microscope...
jellet prism
A prism produced by severing a Nicol prism and reconstructing the polarization angles of the two halves so that they are...
polariscope
A combination of a polarizer and an analyzer that is used to detect birefringence or rotation of the plane of polarization...
Martens wedge
A wedge-shaped piece of quartz typically found in a polarimeter to monitor and rotate the plane of polarization of plane...
linear receive optics
Linear receive optics typically refers to the optical components and systems used in the reception (detection) of linearly...
electro-optic modulator
A device that uses an applied electrical field to alter the polarization properties of light.
extinction
1. The near total absorption of plane-polarized light by a polarizer that has an axis perpendicular to the plane of...
optical filter
An optical filter is a device that selectively transmits or blocks specific wavelengths, or colors, of light. Optical...
aperture illumination
The amplitude, polarization and phase contained in the field distribution over the aperture.
optical nonlinearity
The phenomenon that makes nonlinear the mathematical expression for the electrical polarization of a medium through which...
electro-optic deflection
The effect whereby a light beam is deflected by a birefringent prism when its polarization is changed by voltage applied to...
polarization-insensitive operation
Capability requirement for optical switches for transmission lines to process arbitrarily polarized light because of the...
Fresnel reflection
Fresnel reflection refers to the reflection of light at the interface between two different media with different refractive...
Polarization Imaging
A subsurface imaging technique based upon the polarization of light reflected off an object. The polarization of reflected...
optical rotation
1. The angular displacement of the plane of polarization of light passing through a medium. 2. The azimuthal displacement of...
Laurent polarimeter
A Laurent polarimeter is an instrument used in optics for measuring the rotation of plane-polarized light caused by...
modulated transmission ellipsometry
A method used to detect internal or residual microstresses in a material by using a laser beam to locate changes in...
spatial light modulator
A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of...
depolarizer
A device that obliterates the polarization of a polarized beam by reflecting the beam in all directions at right angles to...
ferroelectric film
Film in which electric polarization is reversible when influenced by an electric field.
laser output
The laser output refers to the generated and emitted light produced by a laser system. This output is characterized by...
ideal polarization rotator
A theoretical instrument conceived of as a box that receives a beam of radiation of any arbitrary polarization angle and...
optically isotropic crystal
A transparent crystalline substance that displays the same optical properties (i.e. refractive index) in all directions such...
birefringence
Birefringence is an optical property of certain materials that causes them to exhibit different refractive indices for light...
isogyric curves
With respect to the effect of crystals on lightwaves, the family of curves having constant direction of polarization.
geometric phase shifting
A technique used to create an achromatic phase shift based on the principle of geometric phase. The phase shift is...
polarization
Polarization refers to the orientation of oscillations in a transverse wave, such as light waves, radio waves, or other...
quantum key distribution
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method of secure communication that utilizes principles from quantum mechanics to...
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...
circular dichroism
Circular dichroism (CD) is a spectroscopic technique used to study the structural characteristics of chiral (asymmetric)...
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...
scalar diffraction theory
Scalar diffraction theory is a simplified approach used to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly...
Verdet constant
A factor of an equation of the Faraday effect, which is the rotation of the plane of light polarization by transparent...
dichroism
Dichroism refers to the property of certain materials to exhibit different colors or absorbance of light depending on the...
H-plane bend
With respect to waveguides, the continuous change in the direction of the axis of the wavelength, during which the axis is...
photon
A quantum of electromagnetic energy of a single mode; i.e., a single wavelength, direction and polarization. As a unit of...
ferroelectricity
The phenomenon whereby certain crystals exhibit spontaneous electric polarization. It is analogous with ferromagnetism.
Rochon prism
A polarizing prism assembly made up of two cemented calcite halves. The prism transmits the ordinary ray without deviation,...
dispersion filter
A complex filter that uses polarization and interference to transmit light that is nearly monochromatic.
magnetic rotation spectroscopy
Technique in which the polarization rotation of light, and its relationship to the magnetic field strength can be analyzed...
polarimeter
A polariscope with a half-shade device and an angular scale generally attached to the analyzer. It is used to measure the...
dielectric
Exhibiting the characteristic of materials that are electrical insulators or in which an electric field can be sustained...
half-wave voltage
That voltage required across a Pockels, Kerr or other electro-optic light modulator to retard one polarization electrical...
levorotary
Characterizes a substance whose plane of polarization is rotated counterclockwise as the observer looks through the material...
Nomarski microscopy
Also referred to as differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy; Nomarski microscopy is a unique form of microscopy...
Rayleigh scattering
Rayleigh scattering is a phenomenon that occurs when light waves interact with particles or molecules that are much smaller...
polarization dependent loss
In passive optical components, loss that varies as the polarization state of the propagating wave changes. Expressed as the...
magneto-optics
Magneto-optics refers to the study and manipulation of the interaction between magnetic fields and light (electromagnetic...
dipole polarization
Electric polarization characterized by homogeneous polar dielectrics and ascribed to the position of the permanent molecular...
ordinary ray
The ray that has an isotropic speed and maintains a uniform polarization in all propagation directions when traveling in a...
quantum entanglement
Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where two or more particles become correlated to such an extent...
bi-quartz
A double block formed by placing two adjoining, equally thick sections of quartz, one being dextrorotary, the other...
optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter...
Monte Carlo simulation
Simulation of radiative transfer in which each photon is generated by a source and its path through the medium is...
polarization direction
nanostructured glass
A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization...
polarization-preserving fiber
Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its...
meta-optics
Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication,...
Faraday rotation
The effect discovered by Faraday in 1845 whereby nonoptically active materials or substances become capable of rotating the...
optically biaxial crystal
One of a class of crystalline substances belonging to triclinic, monoclinic and orthorhombic systems that have two optic...
gegenschein-zodiacal light photometer
A photometer used to measure sky brightness and polarization associated with zodiacal light, background starlight, F-region...
computer polarization holography
A technique used to store wavefront information on thin polarization information-recordable materials by controlling the...
Poincaré sphere
A reference sphere used to represent all possible states of polarization. All linear polarizations will lie on the equator...
optical noise
Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or...

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