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695 terms
Photonics Dictionary
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e-beam x
optical wireless
->
free-space optics
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...
optoelectronic shutter
->
electro-optic shutter
A device used to control or block a light beam by means of the Kerr electro-optical effect.
orthicon
A television camera tube in which a low-velocity electron beam scans a photoactive mosaic that has been created by an optical image. Once scanned by the electron beam, the electrical storage capacity...
oscillator
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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 region or space where light undergoes multiple reflections, leading to the...
oscilloscope
A system in which a supplied signal causes the deflection of the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube, thus forming a visible trace on the phosphor screen of the tube and providing for examination of...
outer beam scale
The approximate dimension of the refractive-index correlation length in a given medium.
output coupler
The partially reflective mirror at the end of the laser cavity that is the source of the beam. It controls the coupling percentage for high output power and maintains correct mode structure in the...
overfill
The condition of the numerical aperture or beam diameter of the laser, LED, or other optical source being larger than the optical fiber core or other driven source. Also called overfilled launch...
overhead projector
A projector used to project transparencies. A horizontal 8 x 10-in. stage for writing or laying down preformed transparencies is provided with either an elliptical mirror or a plastic Fresnel lens...
overillumination
A hologram facet illumination technique in which the illuminating beam is twice the size of the hologram facet so that full hologram resolution capability can be realized and scanning dead time is...
overscanning
In a cathode-ray tube, the deflection of the beam of the tube over an angle that surpasses the angle that subtends the suitable area of the screen.
parabolic mirror
->
paraboloidal mirror
A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...
paraboloidal mirror
A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...
paraboloidal reflector
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paraboloidal mirror
A concave mirror that has the form of a paraboloid of revolution. The paraboloidal mirror may have only a portion of a paraboloidal surface through which the axis does not pass, and is known as an...
parallel beam
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collimated radiation
Radiation in which every ray from any given object point can be considered to be parallel to every other. This is never completely the case: The light from a star is really diverging, and all...
parametric oscillator
A device using a parametric amplifier inside a resonant optical cavity to generate a frequency-tunable coherent beam of light from an intense laser beam of fixed frequency. This device is tuned by...
PBC
polarization beam combiner
pedestal component
Present in photocurrent burst, it is the low frequency pulse that corresponds to the light scattered from the beams in the absence of heterodyne mixing.
pellicle mirror
A thin, stretched plastic membrane cemented to a rigid supporting ring. It may be coated to act as a beamsplitter, for example, in a color camera; it is so thin that no perceptible image doubling...
pencil beam
In astronomy, the main lobe of an antenna pattern that has a small angular extent in two mutually perpendicular directions. Invisible in space, it would resemble a searchlight beam.
penta prism
A five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45° to each other, and two refracting faces perpendicular to the entering and emerging beams. The deviation angle of 90° is...
permanent magnetic focusing
The focusing of an electron beam by a magnetic field that permanently retains the majority of its magnetic properties.
phase conjugation
The use of a reflective device, which can be fashioned from a variety of materials including gases, solids, dyes, aerosols, semiconductor crystals and plasmas, to replicate a laser beam by reversing...
phase mask
In optics and photolithography, a phase mask refers to a device that modifies the phase of light waves passing through it. The phase mask is used to control the spatial distribution of the light's...
phase matching
Phase matching is a crucial concept in the field of optics, particularly in nonlinear optics and the generation of coherent light. It refers to the condition where the phases of two or more waves,...
phase shifting
A technique used to generate a phase shift between reference and sample light beams. The phase shift can be performed through the use of a mirror that is moved along the optic axis by a piezoelectric...
phosphor
A chemical substance that exhibits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet radiation, x-rays or an electron beam. The amount of visible light is proportional to the amount of excitation energy. If...
photoacoustic calorimetry
Periodic interruptions of a light beam incident on an absorbing medium that produce heat, expansion and acoustic wave generation. Since the amplitude of this wave is proportional to the absorbed...
photocathodes
Photocathodes are specialized materials or surfaces that exhibit the photoelectric effect, wherein the absorption of photons leads to the emission of electrons. When photons with sufficient energy...
photochemical hole burning
A method of producing disks for erasable optical data storage. Information is recorded by a laser beam that generates pits on the surface of the disk while it is being cryogenically cooled. Erasure...
photocoagulator
An optical medical instrument that uses an intense, precisely focused beam of light to stop weakened blood vessels from hemorrhaging. The thermal effect of the beam strengthens the weakened vessels...
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 photocell. Slow counting rates can be recorded by a mechanical counter, but...
photomask
A photomask, also known simply as a mask or reticle, is a key component in the photolithography process used in semiconductor manufacturing and other areas of microfabrication. It is a high-precision...
photometric sphere
->
integrating sphere
A hollow sphere coated internally with a white diffusing material and provided with openings for incident beam, specimen and detector used for measuring the diffuse reflectance or transmittance of...
photomicrographic camera
A still or motion-picture camera designed to photograph through a microscope. Photomicrographic equipment usually contains a beamsplitter or other means for simultaneously viewing, orienting and...
photon correlation spectroscopy
Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by measuring dynamic fluctuations of light that is scattered or fluoresced by the...
photon drag effect
The induction of an electric field in a semiconductor by an incident laser beam. The technique has rapid response time at room temperature.
photon jet
A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric microstructures, such as microspheres or microcylinders. This phenomenon arises due...
photosensitive recording
The recording achieved when a surface, illuminated by a signal-controlled light beam, emits electrons or reacts in some manner.
photostore
The photographic recording of data, in binary form, for storage in memory. Exposure is achieved by a cathode-ray tube or by modulating a continuous-wave laser beam with a Kerr cell, both relative to...
phototelegraphy
A document-transmitting process that uses a cylinder that rotates the document to be scanned and detected by a photoelectric cell. The cell transforms the light into electrical energy that may be...
plane-polarized light
A light beam whose electric vectors all vibrate in a single fixed plane.
plano
A plano in optics describes a lens, mirror, or other optical component that has one flat (plane) surface. The term is typically used in combination with another term that describes the curvature of...
plasma accelerator
A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles, typically electrons or ions, by exploiting the motion of charged...
plasma noise
Introduced into the laser beam from localized fluctuations in current density within the plasma itself. These fluctuations represent macroscopic changes of gain in the laser.
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 electrons.
plume
A mixture of ionized gas and metal vapor generated by impingement of the laser beam onto a material being welded or a weld joint. The plume causes absorption and/or scattering of the incident laser...
Poisson shot noise
A stationary noise that occurs for visible light photodetection when a steady light source, such as a heterodyne reference beam or high background light, dominates the signal.
polarization photometer
A photometer having a pair of Nicol prisms introduced into the beam from the brighter of two sources to be compared. Turning one of these polarizers reduces the beam to equality with the beam of the...
polarization-preserving fiber
Single-mode fiber that preserves the plane of polarization of the light launched into it as the beam propagates through its length. Also called polarization-maintaining fiber. The polarization is...
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Photonics Dictionary
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