Photonics Dictionary

A laser system consisting of a planar PN junction within a single crystal of gallium arsenide. The pair of parallel, semireflective end faces produces a Fabry-Perot resonant cavity, whereas the other...

An interferometer similar in construction to a Fabry-Perot interferometer but having a rear mirror with high reflectivity, allowing light to escape only at the partially reflective front mirror.

A helium-neon (HeNe) laser is a type of gas laser that emits visible red light at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. It operates based on the principle of stimulated emission of photons from excited helium...

A superthin, highly reflective mirror.

A holographic camera, also known as a holographic imaging system or holographic recorder, is a specialized device used to capture 3D holographic images of objects or scenes. Unlike conventional...

Interferometric modulator display (IMOD) is a type of display technology used in electronic devices, known for its energy efficiency and ability to produce high-quality reflective color displays....

In a CD-ROM disc, the reflective area between nonreflective pits representing a binary-language "off'' as opposed to the "on'' signals of the land-to-pit and pit-to-land transitions.

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...

The laser damage threshold refers to the maximum level of laser intensity that a material can withstand without experiencing damage. It is a critical parameter in laser applications and is...

A narrow linewidth optically transmissive or reflective component intended for use with a highly monochromatic or single mode source.

Contains the light or beam path within a laser device. The oscillator uses reflective optical components that are oriented to obtain multiple confined reflections.

A laser, which stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," is a device that produces coherent and focused beams of light through the process of optical amplification based...

A lens blank is a piece of optical material in a raw, unfinished state, typically in the form of a disk or block, from which lenses are eventually fabricated. Lens blanks are made from various...

A Michelson-type interference microscope used to produce interference patterns of reflective specimens through the interference between light reflected by the specimen and that reflected by a...

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) is a display technology that combines liquid crystal materials with silicon-based semiconductor technology to create high-resolution, high-quality images. LCoS...

A machine vision lens is a specialized optical lens designed for use in machine vision systems, which are used for automated inspection, measurement, and quality control in industrial applications....

Machine vision lighting refers to the use of specific lighting techniques and equipment in the field of machine vision, which is a technology that enables machines to capture and interpret visual...

A MEMS fiber optic switch is a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device designed to selectively route optical signals between multiple fiber optic channels. These switches utilize miniature...

A mirror blank refers to the initial piece of material from which a mirror is made. It is typically a flat or slightly curved piece of glass or other substrate that serves as the starting point for...

One or more thin-film layers of optical material deposited on a mirror blank/substrate in order to enhance the way that substrate reflects light. For example of optical materials/optical coatings...

A defect in infrared systems that appears as a dark circular area on a displayed image, caused by radiation reflecting into a detector. It can be reduced by low-reflective coatings or by altering the...

An imaging system designed to highlight small deviations in a planar reflective object such as a mirror. The system can be used to detect minute flaws or to image faint marks that are made in the...

Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain medium. This type of laser emits light at a wavelength of 1064 nm in the...

Sometimes referred to as the surface normal or 'surface norm'; the normal is an axis that forms right angles with a surface that light is incident upon or with other lines. The normal is used to...

Off-axis paraboloid and ellipsoid mirrors are specialized optical components used in various optical systems, particularly in applications requiring precise focusing, collimation, or imaging of...

Also referred to as the opposition surge, the opposition effect is a photometric phenomenon in which a rough retroreflective surface appears brighter when illuminated from directly behind the...

A light absorbing material applied to ground optical surfaces during the process of making that surface non reflective. Such material should have a refractive index as high as that of the underlying...

The use of retroreflective projection technology (RPT) to project a background image onto a masked object, such as a vehicle or overcoat, thereby making the masked object appear invisible....

Optical coatings are thin layers of materials applied to optical components, such as lenses, mirrors, filters, and prisms, to modify their reflective and transmissive properties. These coatings are...

A rigid medium, generally a polycarbonate substrate coated with a reflective aluminum layer, that stores information (such as audio, video or data) as digital bits in the form of variations in the...

Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the fabrication of optical components and systems. These materials are characterized by...

Optical memory is a type of data storage technology that uses light to read and write information. It typically involves the use of lasers to encode data onto an optical medium, such as a disc, and...

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...

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...

A pentaprism is a five-sided glass prism used in optical devices, particularly in SLR cameras, to deviate the path of light by 90 degrees and ensure that the image seen through the viewfinder is...

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...

A polygonal mirror, also known as a multifaceted mirror or facet mirror, is a type of optical component used in various laser systems, optical scanners, and imaging devices. It consists of a flat or...

Ray tracing is a rendering technique used in computer graphics to simulate the way light interacts with objects in a scene. It involves tracing the path of rays of light as they travel through a...

A lamp used in projection that is made with a reflector built into the bulb, normally by coating a portion of its interior with a reflective material to ensure the reflector's optimum position in...

Retroreflection is a phenomenon in optics where light is reflected back toward its source, typically in a direction nearly parallel to the direction from which it originated. This occurs due to the...

A retroreflector is an optical device or structure that reflects incident light or electromagnetic waves back to their source, regardless of the direction from which the light approaches. Unlike...

A roughening laser is a laser-based surface modification technique aimed at altering the surface texture of a material to achieve specific properties such as enhanced adhesion, light diffusion, or...