Photonics Dictionary

Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity, based on the notion that electrons with opposite momentum and spin are paired as a result of forces arising from lattice vibrations. The theory...

A device, either visual or electronic, that emits signals to identify set positions for use in the navigation of aircraft and ships along flight paths and channels, or as a warning against entering a...

1. A bundle of light rays that may be parallel, converging or diverging. 2. A concentrated, unidirectional stream of particles. 3. A concentrated, unidirectional flow of electromagnetic waves.

A device designed to decrease flux density or power per unit area of a light beam through absorption and scattering of the beam.

A mirror used to manipulate the beam in a laser system.

With relation to the equivalent beam candlepower of a searchlight, the candlepower of a bare source that would produce the same illumination at the respective point if located the same distance away.

A device used to alter the shape of or energy distribution within a beam of radiation.

An electron-beam tube in which the current to an output electrode is regulated by the transverse motion of the tube's electron beam.

1. Calculated distance between two exactly opposed points on a beam at a chosen fraction of peak power (typically 1/e2). 2. The diameter of a circular aperture that will pass a specified percentage...

Increase in the diameter of an initially collimated beam, as measured in milliradians (mrad) at specified points; i.e., where irradiance is a given fraction (often 1/e2) of peak irradiance.

A system of optical components designed to increase the diameter of a radiation beam. Usually an afocal system.

1. A geometrical arrangement of two or more light beams for use in laser shows, object detection or other applications requiring arrayed multiple beams. 2. A mathematical 2 X 2 or 3 X 3 matrix for...

In computer graphics, the point on the display screen where the electron beam is located before the display instruction is executed. On directed beam display points, vectors and other graphic...

A device (e.g., prisms, lenses, tubes) used to align a beam in a system.

A device that measures the spatial distribution of energy perpendicular to the propagation path of a radiant beam. An energy or power meter is typically used to monitor the amount of light passing...

Beam profiling is a technique used to characterize and analyze the spatial intensity distribution of a laser beam. It involves measuring and visualizing how the optical power or intensity is...

A beam shaper is an optical device or system designed to modify the spatial profile or intensity distribution of a laser or light beam. The goal is to transform the incoming beam into a desired shape...

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 workstations to alternate using the single laser source.

Laser light show effects equipment including optics and mechanical devices that reflect, position or distort the laser beam, but not including the laser itself.

That point in a Gaussian beam where the wavefront has a curvature of zero and the beam diameter is a minimum.

The application of reversible writing with a laser beam on particular storage materials. In one method, an amorphous film is heated and then crystallized for writing. Bubble writing involves the...

A beamsplitter is an optical device used to divide a beam of light into two or more separate beams, typically by reflecting a portion of the incident light while transmitting the remainder....

A glass block that produces stationary fringes in the region crossed by incident light beams.

The angular width of a radiation beam. With respect to a conical beam of light, it is the vertex angle of the cone. The beamwidth is a measure of the rate of divergence or convergence of a light...

The signal formed when two signals, such as light waves, of different frequencies are present simultaneously in a nonlinear device. The frequency of the beat is equal to the difference in frequency...

A characteristic of optical fiber used to calculate the fiber's ability to maintain polarization. The beat length describes the length required for the polarization to rotate 360 degrees. For a given...

A defect on or in an optical element that does not appreciably impair the function of the surface.

Device used to measure the numerical aperture of a microscope, composed of a 14-mm-thick glass block with numerical aperture gradations carved onto its lower surface.

A band of light that appears along the outer edge of a transparent material under microscopic investigation and that moves toward higher refractive indices as the microscope's focus is raised, and...

Activity of a radionuclide having one spontaneous nuclear transition per second.

The intensification of a latent image, because of exposure to light to which the emulsion is otherwise insensitive.

Transmittance of a stable solution is an exponential function of the concentration of the absorbing solute.

Combination of Beer's and Lambert's (absorption) laws.

In optics, a collapsible structure situated between the lens and film of a camera to allow variation of the distance between them while preventing surrounding light from exposing the film.

A device used to compare the luminous intensities of two sources by locating a point between the two light sources where the produced flux densities are equal. The luminous intensities of the two...

The loss of optical power in an optical fiber because radiation escapes through its bends. The radiation loss caused by fiber bending is proportional to the bend radius.

The radius of curvature that an optical fiber can bend without breaking.

1. That action occurring when light passes through an optical interface at other than normal incidence, i.e., refraction. 2. The curving of a path of light that passes close by a massive object, due...

Mathematical definition for the changes that occur between potential and kinetic energy. These formulas express wave motion.

A small convergent lens, located between the objective and eyepiece of a microscope, that focuses an image of the upper focal plane of the objective in the focal plane of the eyepiece. It is commonly...

A dielectric ceramic material used in laser capillary tubes because of its high electrical resistivity and high thermal conductivity (half that of copper).

Two formulas used in diffractometer analysis, the first giving the individual diffraction patterns of each aperture, the second representing the constant of the degree of an incoherent circular...

The use of a short-duration electron beam to record high-speed events that occur in microscopic objects made of materials that emit visible fluorescence during electron bombardment. The method is...

The high-speed electrons and positrons emitted by radioactive materials.