Photonics Dictionary

Mode hopping in the context of lasers refers to a phenomenon where a laser system abruptly switches from one longitudinal mode to another. In a laser, different longitudinal modes represent distinct...

Modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) is a technique used in the fabrication of optical fibers. It is a specialized form of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) that is employed to produce...

A molecular motor refers to a nano-sized device composed of organic molecules or other small-scale components that can convert light energy into mechanical motion at the molecular level. These...

A coating made up of many layers of material having alternating high and low refractive index. In this way, it is possible to produce coatings with a great variety of properties. These may be...

A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization converters which ultimately alter the way light propagates through and is...

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...

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive analytical technique that uses the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum to study the absorption of light by molecules in a sample....

A light filter that equally decreases the intensity of all wavelengths of light without altering the relative spectral distribution of the energy.

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,...

Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors are used to rapidly interchange the intensity between a reference beam and...

An opaque projector is a device used for enlarging and projecting images from opaque objects such as printed pages, photographs, or three-dimensional objects onto a screen or surface. Unlike a...

Optical artifacts refer to undesired or unintended effects that can occur in optical systems, such as microscopes, cameras, telescopes, and other optical instruments. These artifacts can distort or...

Also known as OCT-A, optical coherence tomography angiography is an imaging technique that uses light waves to measure changes in the reflectance characteristics, enabling the the quantitative...

Optical design and engineering services involve the development, customization, and optimization of optical systems and components to meet specific performance requirements and application needs....

Optical perturbation refers to any disturbance or alteration in the characteristics of light as it propagates through or interacts with a medium. This perturbation can include changes in the...

Optical phase distortion refers to a phenomenon where the phase of an optical wavefront is altered as it propagates through a medium. This distortion can result from variations in the refractive...

Optical strain sensors are devices that utilize optical principles to measure the deformation or strain experienced by a material under mechanical stress. These sensors convert changes in strain into...

A technique for detecting and measuring atmospheric pollution, in which an oscillating mirror directs half the incoming light to a transducer that controls amplitude and frequency, and the resulting...

Optoelectronics is a branch of electronics that focuses on the study and application of devices and systems that use light and its interactions with different materials. The term "optoelectronics" is...

A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue, typically neurons, which have been genetically modified to respond to light....

Passive optical components are devices or elements used in optical systems that do not require external power or active control to perform their function. These components manipulate light signals...

Pathogenesis refers to the process by which a disease develops and progresses within an organism. It encompasses the sequence of events and mechanisms that lead to the onset, progression, and...

A pentamirror is an optical component found in SLR cameras, composed of multiple flat mirrors arranged in a pentagonal configuration. Its primary function is to redirect light from the camera lens to...

A phage, short for bacteriophage, is a type of virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. Phages are composed of genetic material (either DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. They are...

Phase contrast microscopy is an optical microscopy technique that enhances the contrast of transparent and colorless specimens, making it possible to visualize fine details and internal structures...

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...

A phase-modulated sensor is a type of sensor that uses modulation of the phase of a signal to measure changes in a physical quantity. In such sensors, variations in the phase of the signal are...

Photobleaching is a phenomenon in which the fluorescence of a fluorophore (a fluorescent molecule or dye) is permanently reduced or eliminated upon prolonged exposure to light. This process occurs...

The alteration of electric conductivity produced by the absorption of varying amounts of radiation composed of photons.

Photoelastic equipment and supplies refer to instruments and materials used in photoelasticity, a technique used to analyze stress distribution and behavior in materials. photoelastic equipment...

A system mounted a few inches above a moving plane that consists of a light source, lenses and one or more phototubes. In this position, the scanner actuates the control equipment when the quantity...

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely used in various applications where high sensitivity, fast response times,...

Noise created by patterns imaged on a CCD surface. Pixel sensitivity is altered by responsivity during illumination.

A photovoltaic cell, commonly known as a solar cell, is a semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into electrical energy through the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is...

Piezoresistance is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where the electrical resistance of a material changes in response to applied mechanical stress or strain. This change in resistance...

A Pockels cell, also known as an electro-optic modulator, is an optical device used to control the polarization of light by applying an electric field. It is named after the physicist Friedrich Carl...

Basically, a hydrogen atom with two alterations, positronium is the lightest atom in the universe and has an extremely light positron in its nucleus that replaces hydrogen's proton so that its atomic...

A device used in electron microscopes and particle accelerators to focus electron beams by the arrangement of four electrodes of alternating signs around the electron beam.

A narrow channel created by cleaving a crystal made of alternating layers of gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide, and adding additional layers on the cleaved end face, at right angles to...

The quarter video graphics array (QVGA) is a display resolution standard used in video graphics, particularly in LCD displays, digital cameras, mobile phones, and other portable electronic devices....

An alteration in magnification from the center of the field to any point in the field, measured in a radial direction from the center of the field. Some radial distortion is inherent in most optical...

An electronic device that minimizes short-term drift effects and random measurement error inherent in alternate ellipsometric measurement of two signals.

Reactive evaporation refers to a process in thin-film deposition where a material is deposited onto a substrate through evaporation, and chemical reactions take place during or after the evaporation...

Reflectance spectroscopy is a technique used to analyze the reflective properties of materials across various wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. By measuring the reflectance of light from a...

A light ray that has had its direction altered because of its traversing an air-to-glass interface at some angle. In an optical waveguide, a ray that is refracted from the core into the cladding.

Rhodamine refers to a family of fluorescent organic dyes that are widely used in various fields, including biology, chemistry, medicine, and materials science. These dyes are known for their bright...