Photonics Dictionary

A phase reflection scanner that eliminates the need for a complex translation device while maintaining a high-energy-density level during laser materials processing. These devices direct and focus...

A type of laser welding of thin materials using a defocused or low-power carbon dioxide laser beam. The energy is absorbed by the material through conduction and melts the material to produce an edge...

A confocal resonator, also known as a confocal cavity or confocal laser resonator, is a type of optical resonator configuration used in laser systems. The term confocal in this context refers to the...

Continuous wave (CW) refers to a type of signal or transmission where the signal is constant and does not vary with time. In various contexts, the term is used to describe continuous, uninterrupted...

A cylindrical lens is an optical component that has different curvatures along its two orthogonal axes, resulting in a shape resembling a cylinder. Unlike spherical lenses, which have the same...

A Dammann grating is a type of diffractive optical element (DOE) used to create an array of equally spaced, uniform-intensity spots or beams. It is named after its inventor, Dr. Herbert Dammann. The...

A spatial light modulator consisting of a metallized polymer film stretched over an array of metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Each mirror element in the film can be...

A dichroic mirror, also known as a dichroic beamsplitter or interference filter beamsplitter, is an optical device that selectively reflects or transmits light based on its wavelength. Dichroic...

A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a type of laser system that uses semiconductor diode lasers to pump energy into a solid gain medium, resulting in the generation of coherent light. This...

Directed energy refers to a type of energy that is emitted and transferred in a controlled direction. The term is often associated with military and technological applications where energy, typically...

A laser having a rod that is a stacked array of discs immersed in a transparent flowing coolant fluid. In this way, the cooling rate is increased, the temperature gradients are basically parallel to...

1. In optics, the bending of rays away from each other. 2. In lasers, the spreading of a laser beam with increased distance from the exit aperture. Also called beam spread. 3. In a binocular...

Holographic recording whereby the object is illuminated by two pulses, separated by a time interval, from a Q-switched laser source. Each pulse is divided into reference and object beams, and...

Dual-axis laser is a laser device or system capable of emitting laser beams along two orthogonal axes (typically X and Y axes) concurrently. This allows for precise control and manipulation of the...

Technique for the precision evaluation of coincidence of a laser beam's center with the edge of the object under study and exact location of that edge by means of a double electronic differentiation...

An edge-emitting light-emitting diode is a type of LED structure where light emission occurs primarily along the edge of the semiconductor chip rather than from the surface. Edge-emitting LEDs are...

An electro-optic deflector is a device that can change the direction of light beams using an electric field. It operates based on the electro-optic effect, which involves the modulation of the...

The quality of asymmetrical intensity distribution in a laser beam, as opposed to a circular distribution.

An erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is a type of laser that uses an optical fiber doped with erbium ions (Er³+) as the gain medium. These lasers are widely used in telecommunications, medical...

An f-theta lens, also known as an f-theta scan lens or simply an f-theta lens system, is a specialized optical component used in laser scanning systems, particularly in laser marking, engraving, and...

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set parallel to one another by spacers so that lightwaves may bounce back and forth...

A device in which slab geometry internally compensates for thermal-optic distortion; the solid host material -- glass or Nd:YAG -- is in the form of a rectangular slab with plane parallel faces. The...

A FAC lens, or fast axis collimation lens, is an optical component used in laser diode systems to collimate the fast axis of laser emission. Laser diodes emit light in two main axes: the fast axis,...

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It consists of a periodic modulation of the refractive index along the length...

A fiber laser is a type of laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth ions such as erbium, ytterbium, or neodymium. Fiber lasers generate coherent light through...

A microscope in which laser light is delivered through single-mode fibers that replace the pinhole usually used in confocal microscopy. When the Gaussian mode is imaged from the fiber output onto the...

An expression of the tolerance of decentration of a laser diode from the optical axis: the region around the axis in the focal plane of the collimator in which the facet can be located and still...

A Fizeau interferometer is an interferometric device that uses the principle of interference to measure the surface flatness and quality of optical components. It consists of a light source,...

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used in biology and medicine for the quantitative analysis of the physical and chemical characteristics of cells and particles suspended in a fluid. The method...

Fluence is a term used in various scientific and technical disciplines to describe the amount of something per unit area. The specific meaning of fluence can vary depending on the context in which it...

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is a powerful analytical technique used to study the dynamics and interactions of fluorescently labeled molecules in solution at the single-molecule level....

A fiber optic device that uses a HeNe laser, beamsplitter, monochromator and photomultiplier to detect trace levels of chemicals and viruses in samples inside or outside the body.

A special laser glass made primarily of fluoride compounds that exhibits extremely low refractive index and allows greater levels of energy to be generated as the laser beam passes through the...

FMCW lidar stands for frequency-modulated continuous wave lidar. It is a type of lidar (light detection and ranging) technology used for remote sensing, distance measurement, and 3D mapping. FMCW...

A single-particle scattering technique in which an incident laser beam is tightly focused by means of lenses to yield a focal spot in the scattering material with a diameter on the order of the...

A free-electron laser (FEL) is a type of laser that generates coherent, high-intensity electromagnetic radiation by using a beam of accelerated electrons as the lasing medium. Unlike traditional...

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...

Freeform mirrors refer to reflective optical components that deviate from traditional symmetric or rotationally symmetric shapes, such as spheres or paraboloids. Unlike conventional mirrors, which...

A technique used in holography that involves the mixing of lasers of different wavelengths to produce a beam of shorter wavelength.

A laser diode in which the beam is confined to the region of the active layer with gain high enough to accomplish such confinement without a built-in refractive index profile. That region generally...

Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) is a semiconductor alloy composed of gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), and phosphorus (P). It is commonly used in the fabrication of optoelectronic devices, particularly...

A galvanometric scanner, also known as a galvanometer scanner or galvo scanner, is a type of optical scanning device used to rapidly and precisely direct a laser beam or other light source to...

The area of optics that deals with the propagation of Gaussian laser beams in free space, or any general medium - i.e. lenses- under the paraxial (small divergence angle) approximations. Gaussian...