Photonics Dictionary

That branch of science involved in the study and utilization of the motion, emissions and behaviors of currents of electrical energy flowing through gases, vacuums, semiconductors and conductors, not...

The movement of particles or ions in a solution toward the electrode having the opposite sign because of the application of an electrical field.

The photographic recording of an image formed by the alteration in electrical properties of the sensitive materials and induced by the action of light.

A technique that uses the passage of an electrical current through a recording medium to produce a permanent image on that medium.

The effect produced by electrical charges or fields alone, without interaction with magnetic influence.

The use of an applied electrical field to focus a cathode-ray tube's electron beam.

The electrical distribution that serves to influence an electron beam in the same way that an optical lens affects a light beam.

Embedded vision refers to the integration of computer vision technologies into various embedded systems, devices, or machines. Computer vision involves teaching machines to interpret and understand...

Emission spectroscopy is a technique used to study the emission of electromagnetic radiation (light) by atoms, molecules, or ions when they undergo transitions from excited states to lower energy...

Epitaxial refers to the growth of a crystalline layer on a crystalline substrate in such a way that the orientation of the crystal lattice of the growing layer is related to that of the substrate. In...

Coating carried out in a sealed chamber evacuated by a mechanical pump in series with an oil diffusion pump to a pressure less than 10-4 mm of mercury, measured by a vacuum gauge. At such a low...

An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet laser that emits short pulses of light in the ultraviolet spectrum. The term excimer is derived from excited dimer, reflecting the nature of the gain medium...

A small incandescent lamp whose intense beam is focused on the optical soundtrack of a motion picture film. The soundtrack modulates the beam, which in turn is detected by a photocell that produces...

The light spectrum formed by an explosive reaction or by the electrical explosion of a metallic wire by a strong current.

A device used to transmit and receive images that have been converted to electrical signals over regular telephone lines; it includes a scanner, a transmitter, a receiver and a printer.

The reproduction of a picture or image, produced by scanning the image and converting it into electrical signals that carry the image to be reproduced. Also known as fax.

The product of Avogadro's constant and the electrical charge of an electron; thus, the electrical charge carried by 1 gmol of a substance, or approximately 9.65 x 104 C.

The Fermi liquid state refers to a specific state of matter in quantum mechanics, particularly describing the behavior of interacting fermions (particles with half-integer spin, such as electrons) at...

Ferroelectric materials are a type of dielectric materials that exhibit spontaneous electric polarization, meaning they possess a permanent electric dipole moment even in the absence of an external...

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 fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a type of gyroscope that uses the interference of light waves to detect changes in orientation or rotation. It operates based on the principle of the Sagnac effect,...

A fiber optic sensor is a device that uses optical fibers to detect and measure physical, chemical, biological, or environmental parameters. Unlike traditional electrical sensors, fiber optic sensors...

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic communications to transmit and receive data over optical fibers. It integrates both a...

A fiber-coupled photoconductive antenna (FCPA) is a type of optoelectronic device that combines a photoconductive antenna with optical fibers for the purpose of generating or detecting terahertz...

An X-Y electrically addressable series of arrays with individual electron emitters bombarding a phosphor-coated transparent plate. The phosphor is induced into luminescence, similar to traditional...

The process by which the light from the images of photographic film is encoded into electrical signals for video transmission.

A device that converts stored electrical energy into light by means of a sudden electrical discharge.

The Floquet Fermi liquid state refers to a concept in condensed matter physics that arises when a system is subjected to periodic driving or modulation, typically by an external periodic field such...

A microscope that uses a flying spot scanner, directed through the eyepiece, as a light source to determine the features of a transparent specimen. The flying spot is modulated by the varying density...

A device used to scan, with a small, intensely bright spot, portions of a picture surface and to transform the original picture into a series of electrical signals. In optical character recognition,...

One of the electrodes used to focus the electron beam of a cathode-ray tube. As the electrode's voltage is changed, its electrical field is changed, resulting in a change of the electron beam's spot...

Functional materials refer to materials that possess specific properties or functionalities that make them suitable for particular applications or purposes. These materials are designed and...

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a compound semiconductor material composed of gallium (Ga) and arsenic (As). It belongs to the III-V group of semiconductors and has a zincblende crystal structure. GaAs is...

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a compound made up of gallium (Ga) and nitrogen (N). It is a wide-bandgap semiconductor material that exhibits unique electrical and optical properties. Gallium nitride is...

The emission of radiant energy produced by the passage of an electrical current through an appropriate electrolyte in which an electrode, made of certain metals such as aluminum or tantalum, has been...

A galvanometer is an instrument used for detecting and measuring small electric currents. It typically consists of a coil of wire suspended in a magnetic field, with a pointer attached to the coil....

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...

Gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes (GaN-based LEDs) are semiconductor devices that emit light when an electric current passes through them. These LEDs are constructed using gallium nitride...

A beam of light whose electrical field amplitude distribution is Gaussian. When such a beam is circular in cross section, the amplitude is E(r) = E(0) exp [-(r/w)2], where r is the distance from beam...

Germanium crystal refers to a crystalline form of the element germanium (Ge), which is a metalloid and semiconductor commonly used in various electronic and optical applications. Germanium crystals...

A furnace, generally electrically heated, with a control system capable of following a cam by which the temperature can be made to go through a definite cycle over a period of days, or even weeks, if...

Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice pattern. It is the basic building block of other carbon-based materials...

The light flash that occurs when an electrical field is applied to a phosphor already excited by ultraviolet radiation.

That voltage required across a Pockels, Kerr or other electro-optic light modulator to retard one polarization electrical vector by one-half a wavelength relative to the other. It corresponds to a...

A halogen lamp, also known as a tungsten halogen, quartz-halogen, or quartz iodine lamp, is an incandescent lamp that uses a tungsten filament surrounded by a small amount of halogen gas, such as...

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...

An electron tube whose electrical characteristics will not be affected by gaseous ionization because of its high degree of evacuation. Also known as a hard tube.