Photonics Dictionary

The diffraction of a particle by a standing lightwave.

Lapping and polishing services involve specialized processes used to improve the surface finish and dimensional accuracy of components to meet specific requirements or standards. These services are...

Laser ablation is a process that involves the removal or erosion of material from a target surface using laser energy. This technique is widely used in various scientific, industrial, and medical...

The process by which laser emission is used in measuring fluid velocity and, more specifically, the detection of air and wind velocity.The laser technique measures the amount of frequency shift...

A scanning laser radar system applied to transmission and concentration analysis in three dimensions of clouds as well as aerosols and other particles within atmospheric systems.

Device which determines particle velocity through the measurement of scattered interference of a beam pair from a single source. The measured light is Doppler shifted which provides information...

A plasma produced by the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a material surface. Production of ionized particle with high intensity radiation. The narrow path of the intense field produces a...

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a type of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that uses a high-power laser to selectively fuse or melt layers of powdered material to build up a...

Laser sintering is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that involves using a laser to selectively fuse powdered materials, typically polymers or metals, layer by layer, to create...

A method of analysis in which a pulsed laser beam is used to heat a particle, producing a plasma, or laser spark. As the plasma cools, optical energy characteristic of the elements in the plasma is...

A technique for confining atoms, molecules or small particles within one or more laser beams. This can be accomplished through the use of a single focused beam or multiple intersecting beams. With a...

A technique based on the principles of laser trapping and used to manipulate the position of small particles by gradually changing the position of the laser beam or beams once the particles are...

A scattering photometer using scattered light in the solid angle 4.51+0 19° with respect to the forward direction, and an impactor with a rectangular jet. Scattered light intensities of entering...

The generic term describing the class of light particles having no strong interactions.

Linear motion is the movement of an object or particle along a straight path in a single direction. It is one of the simplest forms of motion, described by parameters such as displacement, velocity,...

Liquid marble refers to a unique form of microscale liquid encapsulation, where small droplets of liquid are coated with a fine layer of hydrophobic powder, such as silica nanoparticles or Teflon....

Liquid or fluid optics refers to the use of liquids to create or enhance optical systems. These systems leverage the unique properties of liquids, such as their ability to change shape, refractive...

The force acting upon a charged particle as it moves in a magnetic field, proportional to the particle's charge and velocity.

The Lorentz oscillator model is a theoretical model used in physics to describe the response of a charged particle (such as an electron) to an oscillating electric field. It is particularly employed...

Fiber that emits luminescent radiation excited by ultraviolet, x-ray or high-energy particles.

A fluid having three components: a carrier fluid, magnetite particles suspended by Brownian motion and a stabilizer to prevent agglomeration of these fine particles. A magnetic fluid is characterized...

An arranged series of coils, magnets or electromagnets disposed in such a way that the resulting magnetic fields generate a Lorentz force that is used to then focus or deflect beams of rapidly moving...

An electron system using the effect of a constant magnetic field on electron paths to differentiate electrons that have varying velocities for the accurate measurement of the energies and intensities...

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a precision optics polishing technique used for shaping and finishing optical surfaces to achieve extremely high levels of smoothness and accuracy. It is...

Magnetorheological (MR) materials, often referred to as MR fluids, are smart materials that undergo significant changes in their rheological behavior (flow and deformation characteristics) in the...

A magnon is a quasiparticle representing a quantized spin wave in a magnetic material. In other words, it is a collective excitation of the spins of electrons in a magnetic solid, analogous to the...

A specific method for measuring the diameter of irregular shaped particles, Martin's diameter is the measured distance between opposite sides of a particle, and is measured transverse to the particle...

A device that uses electromagnetic fields to separate electrically charged particles according to their masses. As a beam of charged particles is passed through a mass spectrograph, the result is a...

A device used to measure the masses and relative concentrations of atoms and molecules. It utilizes the Lorentz force generated by external magnetic field on a moving charged particle, in which the...

Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication, and utilization of artificial structures called metasurfaces to control and...

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle detection, imaging, spectroscopy, and night vision technology. It consists of a...

Extremely small organic and inorganic systems of molecules within a substance. In general, systems are colloidal size in spite of the large number of molecules. Photochemistry and optical...

Mie scattering, named after the German physicist Gustav Mie, refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (such as light) by spherical particles. Unlike Rayleigh scattering, which is...

In physics, momentum transfer is the amount of momentum transferred from one particle to another during particle collision or interaction. This phenomenon can be utilized in various areas of physics...

Pertaining to radiation or particle emission, whereby the emission is produced with minimal energy spread.

One surface of a nonconducting plate that is coated with many minute particles of photoemissive material that are insulated from one another.

A group of related lines that represent transitions between two spectroscopic terms, each of which may be complex. Also in physics, a multiplet is recognized as a group of related subatomic particles.

An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as...

A small object that behaves as a whole unit or entity in terms of it's transport and it's properties, as opposed to an individual molecule which on it's own is not considered a nanoparticle.....

Nanoparticle photonic resonator absorption microscopy is a microscopy technique that combines the principles of photonic resonators and nanoparticle imaging to visualize and study biological samples...

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...

The use of atoms, molecules and molecular-scale structures to enhance existing technology and develop new materials and devices. The goal of this technology is to manipulate atomic and molecular...

A negatively charged elementary particle. See electron.

Prediction based on observations of nuclear masses in the valley of stability that indicates the maximum number of electrons that will bind with a given number of protons in progressive order along...

Radiation that does not produce free electrons and ions, or electrically charged particles.

A nonradiative transition refers to a process in which an electron or an atom undergoes a change in its energy state without emitting a photon. In contrast to radiative transitions, where a photon is...

The radiation emitted from a group of charged particles that does not depend on the temperature of the source in which those particles are generated.