Photonics Dictionary

A charge-injection device (CID) refers to a class of devices that manipulate and detect electrical charge within a semiconductor material. Charge-coupled devices are a specific implementation of this...

A laser that relies on chemical activity instead of electrical energy to produce the pumping action necessary to form pulses of light.

Chemical sensing refers to the detection and measurement of specific chemical compounds or substances in various environments or samples. It involves the use of sensors or analytical techniques to...

Chip-on-board (COB) lights refer to a type of LED lighting technology where multiple LED chips are directly mounted onto a substrate, typically a printed circuit board (PCB), without the need for...

A CMOS camera refers to an imaging device that employs a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to capture digital images. CMOS cameras have become ubiquitous due to their low...

A CMOS image sensor, short for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, is a type of semiconductor device used to capture visual information and convert it into electrical signals for...

An electrical problem that occurs when voltage is not the same with respect to ground at every node of a system, causing current to circulate between nodes.

A cryogenically cooled long-wave infrared (LWIR) camera is a specialized thermal imaging device designed to detect infrared radiation in the long-wave infrared spectrum, typically ranging from 8 to...

A bandpass filter with piezoelectric crystal components for the passage or impedance of electrical signals of various frequencies.

In a gas, an electrical discharge that has no luminance.

A data acquisition (DAQ) system is a combination of hardware and software used to collect, process, and analyze data from physical phenomena or processes. data acquisition system suppliers...

The region at the PN junction in a semiconductor radiation detector where the potential energies of the two materials create an energy barrier, which results in an electrical field that depletes the...

Design and engineering consulting services refer to professional services provided by specialized firms or individuals to assist clients in various aspects of product development, system design, or...

1. A device designed to convert the energy of incident radiation into another form for the determination of the presence of the radiation. The device may function by electrical, photographic or...

A detector array refers to a collection of individual detector elements arranged in a two-dimensional grid or matrix format. Each element within the array is capable of detecting electromagnetic...

Die bonding is a critical process in semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics assembly, where a semiconductor die or chip is attached and electrically connected to a substrate or a package....

Exhibiting the characteristic of materials that are electrical insulators or in which an electric field can be sustained with a minimum dispersion of power. They exhibit nonlinear properties, such as...

A crystal that is characterized by its relatively poor electrical conductance.

A digital camera is a device that captures and records still images or video in digital format. Unlike traditional film cameras, which use photographic film to capture and store images, digital...

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is an international standard for medical imaging created by both the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the American...

Digital signal processing (DSP) refers to the manipulation and analysis of signals, which are representations of physical quantities that vary over time or space. In the context of DSP, these signals...

A diode laser is a type of laser that uses a semiconductor diode as the active medium to generate coherent light. Semiconductor diodes are electronic devices that conduct electricity primarily in one...

In a fiber optic transmission system, the conversion of received optical pulses directly to an electrical signal.

An impurity in a material that is capable of inducing electrical conduction in that material by transferring an electron to the conduction band.

In the context of materials science and semiconductor physics, doping refers to the intentional introduction of impurities into a semiconductor material in order to alter its electrical properties....

The minimum electrical current input needed to initiate lasing.

In electrical equipment, power variations that are temporary (as opposed to the permanent, cumulative effects of drift).

An electrically excited laser having carbon monoxide as the lasing material and in which lasing occurs in a partial inversion between adjacent, vibrational fields. Vibrational energy is cycled...

Any lamp whose emission of radiant energy is dependent upon the passage of an electrical current through the emissive medium.

A device that detects radiation by utilizing the influence of light in forming an electrical signal. It may be a phototube; a photoconductive, photovoltaic or photojunction cell; a phototransistor;...

The change in the refractive index of a material under the influence of an electrical field.

An electro-optic modulator (EOM) is a device used to modulate the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light waves using an external electrical signal. Electro-optic modulation is a fundamental...

A transistor designed to respond to either light or electrical signals.

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 study of the reversible conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy. Electroplating is an electrochemical process.

An electrochemical process of metal fabrication using an electrolyte, an anode to supply the metal, and a control of the electrical current and of the deposit of metal on the matrix of a reflector.

A technology that uses electrically activated holograms stored within specially developed crystals to route information in the form of lightwave signals from one optical fiber to another within and...

The nonthermal conversion of electrical energy into light in a liquid or solid substance. The photon emission resulting from electron-hole recombination in a PN junction is one example. This is the...

The utilization of the light produced when electrical energy is directly converted into light within devices used for visual readout displays or as complex logic-circuit elements. With EL lighting,...

A panel of photoconductive and electroluminescent layers used as either a positive or negative image intensifier, depending on amplitude and phase of its two power supply voltages. The...

Radiation emitted from vibrating charged particles. A combination of oscillating electrical and magnetic fields that propagates through otherwise empty space with the velocity of light. This constant...

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 method by which photographic film is scanned by an electron beam. One technique uses the uniform light of a television screen, focused by a lens onto the processed film, as a means of creating a...