Photonics Dictionary

A set of algorithms used to study the structural and spatial characteristics of objects in a digitized image for applications including feature extraction and image segmentation in machine vision and...

In optics, a motion controller refers to a device or system that precisely controls the movement of optical components, such as mirrors, lenses, stages, or other elements within an optical setup. The...

A spectrometric instrument that detects radiation simultaneously in multiple channels, sorts it spectrally from the deep ultraviolet to the infrared, digitizes the information and stores it for...

Nanophotonics is a branch of science and technology that explores the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, typically at dimensions smaller than the wavelength of light. It involves the study and...

Nanoplasmonics is a branch of nanophotonics that focuses on the study and manipulation of optical phenomena at the nanoscale using plasmonic materials and structures. Plasmonics deals with the...

Neuromorphic refers to the design and development of computing systems or devices that are inspired by the structure and functioning of the human brain and nervous system. The term is derived from...

A neuromorphic vision sensor is a type of imaging device designed to mimic the structure and functioning of the human visual system. Inspired by the biological principles of the human eye and brain,...

A nitrogen vacancy (NV) refers to a specific type of defect or impurity in a crystal lattice where a nitrogen atom replaces a carbon atom adjacent to a vacancy (an empty lattice site) in the diamond...

A nonlinear crystal is a type of crystal that exhibits nonlinear optical properties when subjected to intense electromagnetic fields, typically from laser light. Unlike linear optical materials,...

Nonlinear polarization refers to the phenomenon where the polarization of a material responds nonlinearly to an applied electric field. In linear systems, the polarization of a material is directly...

On-board optics refers to optical systems integrated into devices or platforms for various purposes, such as imaging, navigation, communication, and sensing. These systems are crucial in a wide range...

An optical accumulator is a concept or device that collects and stores optical energy or data for subsequent use. This can be applied in various fields within optics and photonics: Optical data...

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology that is used to convert printed or handwritten text into machine-readable text. OCR software and systems are designed to recognize and extract...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique used in medical diagnostics and biomedical research to obtain high-resolution, cross-sectional images of biological tissues. An OCT imaging...

Optical fiber optic switches are devices used in optical fiber communication systems to selectively route optical signals from one input fiber to one or more output fibers. They play a crucial role...

The optical Fourier transform is a mathematical operation applied to optical signals that involves transforming a spatial domain representation of an image into its corresponding frequency domain...

An optical gate typically refers to a device or system that controls the transmission of light, allowing it to pass through or be blocked in a manner analogous to an electronic gate controlling the...

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or integrity of the transmitted information. This type of noise is particularly...

Optical parametric amplification (OPA) is a process in nonlinear optics where a weak signal beam is amplified by a much stronger pump beam through the nonlinear interaction in a nonlinear optical...

Phase distortion refers to a change in the phase relationships between different frequency components of a signal. In the context of signal processing, it occurs when the phase response of a system...

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...

Photogrammetry is a technique used to obtain accurate three-dimensional measurements of objects and environments through the analysis of photographs or imagery. It involves extracting information...

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is a compact and integrated device that incorporates multiple photonic components and functions on a single chip, similar to the way electronic integrated circuits...

The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and...

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a non-invasive optical technique used to detect changes in blood volume in tissues. It measures variations in light absorption caused by the pulsatile nature of blood...

A pixel, short for "picture element," is the smallest controllable element of a digital image or display. It is a fundamental unit that represents a single point in a raster image, which is a grid of...

A quantum well is a structure in quantum mechanics that confines particles, such as electrons or holes, in one spatial dimension. This confinement leads to quantized energy levels, creating a...

A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing and quantum information processing. Unlike classical bits, which can exist in one of two states (0 or 1),...

Raster scanning is a technique used in imaging and scanning systems to systematically capture and process information from a two-dimensional area or surface. It involves moving a sensor or scanning...

The term "Rydberg atom" refers to an atom in a highly excited state where one or more of its electrons are in a Rydberg orbital. A Rydberg atom is characterized by having an electron orbit that is...

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The scanning takes place inside the television tube as electrons, guided by...

A scintillation detector is a radiation detection device that utilizes scintillation crystals to detect and measure ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays, x-rays, or charged particles. It consists...

Sisyphus cooling is a technique used in atomic physics to achieve ultracold temperatures of atoms or molecules by exploiting the periodic motion of particles in optical traps or lattices. The name...

A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light in two dimensions, typically in the form of an array. SLMs are...

A transducer is a device or component that converts one form of energy into another. It is commonly used in various fields, including electronics, acoustics, and instrumentation, to facilitate the...

Vision transformer (ViT) networks are neural network architectures that apply the Transformer architecture, originally developed for natural language processing, to the task of processing visual...

A waveform is a graphical representation of the shape and magnitude of a signal over time. It typically depicts how the amplitude (strength) of the signal changes over time, with time plotted along...

The Weissenberg method, named after the German physicist Karl Weissenberg, is a technique used in x-ray crystallography for obtaining high-quality diffraction patterns from single crystals. This...

Whole slide imaging (WSI), also known as virtual slide microscopy or digital pathology, is a technology that involves the digitalization of entire glass slides containing histological or cytological...