Photonics Dictionary

Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and its manifestation as both particle and wave phenomena. It encompasses the...

The area of optics that deals with the interaction of light with a given material. The optical properties of material are generally described by the absorption, transmission, reflection, and...

Discipline within optical physics that addresses sound vibration, phonon effects and their influencing behavior within optical elements and systems.

Technology that corrects the shape of reflective optics; primarily applied in large telescope systems, in order to compensate for slowly varying changes in temperature, wind and mechanical stress.

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of atmospheric distortions. The Earth's atmosphere can cause light passing through it...

The analysis of the properties of radiation, such as light, when acted upon by variations in the atmosphere. Blue and red skies, along with ice halos, glories, coronas and rainbows can all be...

The area of optics in which the wave nature of a particle is exploited to carry out very accurate interferometry and other optical techniques with atoms instead of photons. In this process, particles...

Optical elements, often created by micromachining, lithography or vacuum deposition, that rely on diffraction of the collected energy as opposed to the more common refracting or reflecting optics....

Specially designed optics for the observation and photographing of hydrogen in a bubble chamber.

Optical elements that have been coated with one or more layers of dielectric, or metallic material. These coatings serve to reduce or increase reflection from the surface, and to protect the surfaces...

The study of the transmission of radiant energy through crystals, especially anisotropic crystals, and their effects on polarization.

Optical elements that use diffraction to control wavefronts. Diffractive optical elements include diffraction gratings, surface-relief diffractive lenses, holographic optical elements and...

1. The branch of physics that deals with the use of electrical energy to create or manipulate light waves, generally by changing the refractive index of a light-propagating material; 2....

The control of free electron movement through the use of electrical or magnetic fields, and use of this electron movement in research investigation of electronic diffraction phenomena, directly...

The use of thin flexible glass or plastic fibers as wave guides — or "light pipes" — to channel light from one location to another. Fiber optics is based off of the principle of total...

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the transmission of data using modulated beams of light through free space (air or a...

Freeform optics refers to the design and fabrication of optical surfaces that do not follow traditional symmetric shapes, such as spheres or aspheres. Unlike standard optical components with...

The area of optics that deals with the propagation of Gaussian laser beams in free space, or any general medium - i.e. lenses- under the paraxial (small divergence angle) approximations. Gaussian...

1. That branch of optics that illustrates the theory in which q is substituted for sin q in Snell's law. Effective results are achieved if the aperture and field angle are made very small. The...

A field of physics that deals with light as if it truly were composed of rays diverging in various directions from the source and abruptly bent by refraction or turned by reflection into paths...

The area of optics in which the propagation of light is described by geometrical lines (or rays) governed by Fermat's Principle. Geometrical optics is useful as long as the objects in which the light...

Any form of lens, optical system (camera, telescope, microscope, etc.), or opto-electronics utilized for the purpose of producing an image of a given object.

A thin-film device containing miniature optical components connected via optical waveguides on a transparent dielectric substrate, whose lenses, detectors, filters, couplers and so forth perform...

A small defocused Galilean telescope mounted in a hole in a door. Viewed from inside through the positive lens, a wide-angle view of the outside is seen; viewed from outside through the negative...

Laser optics refers to a broad category of optical components and systems designed for manipulating and controlling laser light. Laser optics play a crucial role in shaping the characteristics of...

Linear optics refers to the study and manipulation of light in a linear and deterministic manner, where the response of optical elements is proportional to the amplitude of the incident light wave....

Linear receive optics typically refers to the optical components and systems used in the reception (detection) of linearly polarized light signals in various applications, such as optical...

Magneto-optics refers to the study and manipulation of the interaction between magnetic fields and light (electromagnetic radiation). This field of physics explores how the properties of light, such...

Optical components exceeding 24 in. in diameter. The components are usually glass, acrylic or polystyrene and are used for virtual image systems in simulators and collimators.

The linear relationship between input and output optical fields for a given optical system or application that allows the use of a matrix and matrix algebra to define an optical system, or series of...

Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication, and utilization of artificial structures called metasurfaces to control and...

Micro-optics refers to the design, fabrication, and application of optical components and systems at a microscale level. These components are miniaturized optical elements that manipulate light at a...

Nonlinear optics is a branch of optics that studies the optical phenomena that occur when intense light interacts with a material and induces nonlinear responses. In contrast to linear optics, where...

The branch of science that treats light as a wave phenomenon wherein light propagation is studied by wavefronts rather than rays, as in geometric optics.

The study of visual perception by the sense of sight.

The integration of plastic materials into optical applications. When the materials are refined into lenses, prisms and mirrors, they serve the purpose of glass optics at a lower cost and a...

The area of optics in which quantum theory is used to describe light in discrete units or "quanta" of energy known as photons. First observed by Albert Einstein's photoelectric effect, this particle...

Optical components, usually reflectors, produced using proprietary techniques that transfer the precision of a master to a number of elements.

An optical system that records inhomogeneities within a medium by detecting the energy refracted by that portion of the medium in which the inhomogeneity occurs. The image appears in the form of a...

Optical elements arranged with no spaces between, so that the light travels only through glass, not air.

The study of the optical properties of living tissue. Increased understanding of the behavior of light in this varied, turbid medium, especially its scattering and absorption characteristics, is...

Ultraviolet (UV) fiber optics refers to optical fibers that are designed and optimized for the transmission of ultraviolet light, which is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than...

Also referred to as physical optics - the area of optics in which the wave nature of light is essential when defining its propagation. To exploit the wave phenomena of light, one must interact light...

The study of the physics of x-rays, where the x-rays exhibit properties similar to those of lightwaves. Also called Roentgen optics.