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5,268 terms
Photonics Dictionary
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Faraday dark space
The nonluminous area that divides the negative glow from the positive column in a Crookes tube under conditions of moderate pressure.
Faraday effect
The Faraday effect, named after the English scientist Michael Faraday, is a phenomenon in physics where the polarization plane of light is rotated when the light passes through a transparent medium...
farbe
->
color center
A color center, in the context of materials science and condensed matter physics, refers to a specific type of crystallographic defect in a crystalline structure that introduces color to the...
Farnsworth-Munsell test
->
color perception test equipment
Equipment for testing an observer's color vision. Some tests require the identification or ordering of colored samples. The commercially available examples include: the Ishihara plates, on which...
fast axis
In a birefringent material, the index of refraction varies with the direction of vibration of a lightwave. That direction having a low refractive index is the fast axis; at right angles to it is the...
fast axis collimation lens
A FAC lens, or fast axis collimation lens, is an optical component used in laser diode systems to collimate the fast axis of laser emission. Laser diodes emit light in two main axes: the fast axis,...
fast Fourier transform
->
Fourier transform
Any of the various methods of decomposing a signal into a set of coefficients of orthogonal waveforms (trigonometric functions).
fata morgana
A type of mirage that creates a distorted vertical image of relatively flat objects so that they appear as mountains, cliffs, columns or castles. The nonexistent mountainous region in the Arctic...
fatigue
The decrease of a component's efficiency, or a reduction in a material's light sensitivity, as the result of accumulated exposures to radiant energy.
fax
->
facsimile
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.
FC connector
The fiber optic connector standard for Nippon Telephone & Telegraph (NTT) installations, developed with Nippon Electric Co. (NEC).
FCC
Federal Communications Commission
FCS
fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
FDDN
fiber data distribution network
FDHM
full duration half maximum
FDM
frequency division multiplex
feature extraction
In image processing and machine vision, the process in which an initial measurement pattern or some subsequence of measurement patterns is transformed to a new pattern feature. In image pattern...
FEC
forward error correction
feedback amplifier
An amplifying device that returns a portion of its output to its input as a means of modifying the device's performance.
feedback compensation
The placement of a device or an additional circuit into a feedback control system to improve its response in relation to a specific characteristic of the system.
feedback control system
A system designed to control the output quantity of a device by returning a portion of its output signal to its input. This results in the manipulation of the input quantity so that the desired...
Felgett advantage
The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer when detector noise prevails, which exceeds the SNR of a scanning spectrometer in the same time by a factor proportional...
femtosecond laser
A femtosecond laser is a type of laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of femtoseconds, where one femtosecond is equal to 10-15 seconds. These lasers are capable of...
Fermat's principle
The principle that a light ray extending from one point to another will, after any number of reflections and refractions, follow the path requiring the least transit time. This is also known as the...
Fermi liquid state
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...
Fermi-Dirac function
The mathematical expression of the probability of any given state of energy being occupied when a semiconductor is in thermal equilibrium.
ferroelectric crystal
A crystal capable of being polarized in the reverse direction when an electric field is applied.
ferroelectric domain
The region of a ferroelectric crystal where spontaneous polarization is uniformly directed.
ferroelectric film
Film in which electric polarization is reversible when influenced by an electric field.
ferroelectric materials
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...
ferroelectricity
The phenomenon whereby certain crystals exhibit spontaneous electric polarization. It is analogous with ferromagnetism.
Ferry-Porter law
The law stating that the critical fusion frequency is approximately proportional to the logarithm of the luminance and the area.
fery prism
A prism with curved faces that collimates, reflects and refracts incident light. Often used in the production of spectrographs.
FIB
focused ion beam
fiber
->
optical fiber
Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light signals over long distances with minimal loss of signal quality. It serves as a...
fiber bandwidth
The lowest frequency at which the magnitude of the fiber transfer function decreases to a specified fraction of the zero frequency value. Often, the specified value is one-half the optical power at...
fiber Bragg grating
A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It consists of a periodic modulation of the refractive index along the length...
fiber distributed data interface
A standard for fiber optic data transmission systems being developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and associated working groups that will make fiber optic components from...
fiber fuse
A phenomenon in which high optical power, encountering an imperfection in an optical fiber, destroys the fiber's core and causes damage to back-propagate down the fiber. It is caused by classic...
fiber fusion
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fusion splice
A splice accomplished by the application of localized heat sufficient to fuse or melt the ends of two lengths of optical fiber, forming a continuous single fiber.
fiber joints
Fiber joints, also known as fiber optic splices, refer to the connection points where two optical fibers are permanently joined together to form a continuous optical transmission path. These joints...
fiber laser
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...
fiber optic attentuators
A fiber optic attenuator is a passive optical component designed to attenuate or decrease the intensity of an optical signal traveling through a fiber optic link. It achieves this by introducing a...
fiber optic cable assembly
A fiber optic cable assembly refers to a complete unit consisting of optical fibers, connectors, protective jackets, and other components that are assembled together to facilitate the transmission of...
fiber optic connector
->
connector
Hardware installed on fiber cable ends to provide cable attachment to a transmitter, receiver or other cable. Usually a device that can be connected and disconnected repeatedly.
fiber optic gyroscope
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,...
fiber optic illuminators
->
fiber optics
The use of thin flexible glass or plastic fibers as wave guides — or "light pipes" — to channel light from one location to another. Fiber optics is based off of the principle of total...
fiber optic imaging bundle
A fiber optic imaging bundle is a specialized optical device composed of multiple optical fibers bundled together. Each fiber optic strand within the bundle acts as a conduit for transmitting light....
fiber optic preform
A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It serves as the precursor from which optical fibers are drawn. The process of...
fiber optic ribbon
A coherent optical fiber bundle in which the configuration is flat rather than round, giving an output in a line.
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Photonics Dictionary
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