Photonics Dictionary

A self-healing, index-matching, nonporous coating for optical components that can eliminate production difficulties and deficiencies associated with solid-film contamination and postdeposition...

Multimode straight fiber capable of transporting linearly polarized light with any incident polarization angle, and in which no form of internal stress can develop that could lead to birefringence.

Liquid crystals are a state of matter that exhibits properties intermediate between those of conventional liquids and solid crystals. In a liquid crystal, the molecules are ordered like those in a...

An alphanumeric display formed by a layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched between two sheets of glass; a transparent conductive coating on the glass is etched to form the character segments. An...

A wireless stereo imaging device used in conjunction with a monitor to produce a virtual interactive environment. Liquid crystal shutters in the eyewear are synchronized with the monitor at 120...

A liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), also known as a spatial light modulator (SLM), is an optical device that modulates the intensity, phase, or polarization of light passing through it using liquid...

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) is a display technology that combines liquid crystal materials with silicon-based semiconductor technology to create high-resolution, high-quality images. LCoS...

A solution or combination of solutions that serves as a filter.

An immersion liquid used to treat polarizing filters to eliminate the effects of surface variations and to minimize the optical path difference between that part of the spectrum that passes through...

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

An optical fiber with a hollow core filled with a liquid material that has a higher refractive index than the solid surrounding it.

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a fine layer of hydrophobic powder, such as silica nanoparticles or Teflon....

A mirror composed of liquid, taking advantage of the parabolic shape of a spinning liquid and the fact that the mirror's focal length can be adjusted by altering the velocity at which the liquid's...

The acoustical holographic process in which the hologram consists of slight elevations in a liquid surface, in the areas of the antinodes of the interference pattern. Light diffracted from this...

Liquid or fluid optics refers to the use of liquids to create or enhance optical systems. These systems leverage the unique properties of liquids, such as their ability to change shape, refractive...

An active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) is a type of flat-panel display technology that utilizes an array of thin-film transistors (TFTs) to control the individual pixels on the screen. This...

An acid used to etch the surfaces of particular materials. For glass, hydrofluoric acid is used either as a liquid or a vapor. Metals are etched by means of suitable acids or other liquids, often to...

The Fermi liquid state refers to a specific state of matter in quantum mechanics, particularly describing the behavior of interacting fermions (particles with half-integer spin, such as electrons) at...

The Floquet Fermi liquid state refers to a concept in condensed matter physics that arises when a system is subjected to periodic driving or modulation, typically by an external periodic field such...

Term synonymous with refractive index liquid, but related more to tank or chamber immersion of crystals, fibers, lenses, photoelastic models, etc.

An LCD that has pixels with no internal drive transistors.

A closely spaced series of well-known chemicals having a refractive index lying between 1.33 for water and 1.95 for a solution of phosphorus in carbon disulfide. They are used to identify powdered...

An Abbe refractometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the refractive index of liquids and solids. Named after the German physicist Ernst Abbe, this device operates on the principle of...

The ablation threshold refers to the minimum amount of energy, such as laser energy or intense radiation, required to remove material from a surface through ablation. Ablation itself is the process...

Absorption is the process by which a material takes in energy from electromagnetic radiation (such as light, heat, or sound) and converts it to other forms of energy, typically internal energy (such...

An absorption band is a range of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies in the electromagnetic spectrum within which a substance absorbs radiation. It appears as a dark band in a spectrum where the...

Optic surface cleaning liquid that may be applied to glass, crystal, dielectric and metal surfaces; however, may not be applied to plastic and polymer materials.

An acoustic surface wave, often abbreviated as ASW, is a type of mechanical wave that travels along the surface of a material, such as a solid or a liquid, rather than propagating through its volume....

An active medium is a material or substance used in various optical devices and systems, where it plays a critical role in amplifying light or producing laser beams through the process of stimulated...

An active-matrix display is a type of flat-panel display technology where each pixel is actively controlled by one or more thin-film transistors (TFTs). This technology is commonly used in liquid...

Optical addressability refers to the capability to control or manipulate individual elements that emit or modulate light (such as pixels in a display or light sources in an optical network) using...

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

A type of fiber optic sensor that detects alteration in position, distance, pressure, liquid level or temperature by transmitting light across a gap to a reflector; a change in the light returned to...

Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy is a technique used in analytical chemistry to obtain IR spectra of samples. It is particularly useful for analyzing solid and liquid samples without...

Brillouin scattering is a phenomenon in physics where an incident electromagnetic wave (usually light) interacts with acoustic phonons (quantized lattice vibrations) in a material, resulting in the...

A large tank filled with liquid hydrogen, with a flat window at one end and complex optical devices for observing and photographing the rows of fine bubbles formed when a high-energy particle...

The photographic recording of gas bubbles produced when particles traverse liquid hydrogen in a bubble chamber.

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

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

The monochromatic transparency effect produced by the immersion of a finely powdered substance (e.g., glass or quartz) into a liquid with a similar refractive index.

A transparent powdered solid immersed in a liquid or plastic of similar refractive index but widely different dispersion; used to isolate narrow spectral regions.

Coagulation refers to the process of transforming a liquid, particularly blood or a solution containing dispersed particles, into a solid or semi-solid state. This term is most commonly associated...

A colloid is a mixture in which one substance of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. The particles in a colloid are larger than those in a...

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) is a holographic image produced using computational methods and algorithms, rather than traditional optical techniques. CGHs are generated entirely in digital form...

A liquid, usually of a specific refractive index and dispersion, serving as an interface between two solids to form a complete light transmission system.