Photonics Dictionary

Multiple, interconnected circuit elements, contained on or in a common substrate, that function as a unit and not separately.

Also known as integrated exposure. A measurement of light from sources that vary rapidly with time, defined as the integral of instantaneous power and time and expressed as units per second.

An optical circuit, either monolithic or hybrid, composed of active and passive components, used for coupling between optoelectronic devices and providing signal processing functions.

A thin-film device containing miniature optical components connected via optical waveguides on a transparent dielectric substrate, whose lenses, detectors, filters, couplers and so forth perform...

A set of international standards by which a single telecommunications channel is used to transmit voice and data simultaneously.

A hollow sphere coated internally with a white diffusing material and provided with openings for incident beam, specimen and detector used for measuring the diffuse reflectance or transmittance of...

Integration time, in the context of optics, imaging systems, and sensor technology, refers to the duration over which a sensor collects and accumulates incoming light or signal. It is a crucial...

An intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera is an advanced imaging device that combines the capabilities of both an image intensifier and a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor to achieve...

Flux per unit solid angle.

An interferometer that functions by first detecting the light striking each aperture and then combining the two detector outputs. With an intensity interferometer, the primary collectors need not be...

The process in which the electron beam of a cathode-ray tube varies in intensity in accordance with the magnitude of the signals it receives.

An interband cascade laser (ICL) is a type of semiconductor laser that operates based on interband transitions between energy bands in a semiconductor material. Unlike traditional semiconductor...

A device, consisting of a diode activated by an interference pulse, that is designed to minimize the white spots on a television screen that are intensified by interference.

A photographic or electronic recording of an optical interference pattern.

An interferometer is a scientific instrument that utilizes the principle of interference to measure differences in the path length, wavelength, phase, or amplitude of coherent electromagnetic waves....

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....

Describing the standard television method of raster scanning in which the image is the product of two fields, each of which is a series of successively scanned lines separated by the equivalent of...

Interlayer attraction refers to the attractive forces between adjacent layers of atoms or molecules in a material, particularly in layered structures such as van der Waals solids, graphene, and...

A nonoptical surface, within lenses and lens mounts, that contributes largely to flare by reflecting light into the image space. As a result, such surfaces, so located, are finished with a dull...

A unit of measurement of luminous intensity based on a physical standard, a set of calibrated carbon filament lamps. The old candle unit was superseded by the new candle or candela.

The internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of interconnected physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other objects embedded with sensors, actuators, software, and network connectivity....

Measures the refractive indices axially from the fiber profile. Microscopy technique provides an interferogram with high contrast with demonstrated improvements in relation to the Pluta two-beam...

Intravital microscopy is an imaging technique used to visualize biological processes within living organisms, typically in real-time. Unlike traditional microscopy, which involves the examination of...

A photodetector composed of a photoconductive material that, when exposed to radiation, conducts without the aid of added impurities and does not have to be cooled to the level of extrinsic material....

Loss intrinsic to the fiber caused by parameter (core dimension, profile parameter) mismatches when two nonidentical fibers are joined.

The law stating that the illuminance (or irradiance) from a point source varies as the inverse square of the distance between the source and the receiver.

A laser in which the transition involved in stimulated emission of radiation takes place between two levels of an ionized gas. The gases are electrically excited in a container called a plasma tube,...

A technique for improving the structure density of thin-film coatings by bombarding the growing film with accelerated ions of oxygen and argon. The kinetic energy then dissipates in the film, causing...

Ion-beam sputtering (IBS) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used for depositing thin films onto substrates. It involves bombarding a target material with a beam of energetic ions,...

An electroradiographic process that uses ionization of air by x-rays as a basis for forming electrostatic images.

A mechanical device designed to smoothly vary the effective diameter of a lens, thereby controlling the amount of light allowed through.

The adjustable membrane located just in front of the crystalline lens within the eye. The iris gives the eye its color. See also iris diaphragm.

Radiant flux incident per unit area of a surface. Also called radiant flux density.

A thermosetting material used in the jacket of fiber optic cables.

In the context of electronics and optics, an isolator refers to a device that allows the transmission of signals in one direction while attenuating or blocking signals in the opposite direction. The...

A spectroscopic technique in which an excitation band absorbs laser energy resulting in an electronic transition. The isotopic species may then be measured using a time of flight mass spectrometer....

A prism produced by severing a Nicol prism and reconstructing the polarization angles of the two halves so that they are slightly wedged toward each other.