Photonics Dictionary

A crystal often used for windows and refracting components in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared. Characteristically, this form has excellent transmission from 0.14 to 6.0 µm.

Lithium triborate (LiB3O5), commonly abbreviated as LBO, is a nonlinear optical crystal widely used in various applications involving frequency conversion of laser light. It is valued for its...

Lithography is a key process used in microfabrication and semiconductor manufacturing to create intricate patterns on the surface of substrates, typically silicon wafers. It involves the transfer of...

A mirror employed with a very high incidence angle to form a pair of coherent light sources by reflection, and therefore forming interference bands.

Data communications network in a clearly defined geographical location, and extending no more than a few miles in length. It generally takes in an office building or group of buildings, a campus or...

In coherent optical communications systems, a laser used at the receiving end to produce a steady wave that is combined with the incoming laser signal before detection, generating a composite wave...

One class of nonlinear space-invariant transformation processes used for processing convolved and multiplied signals.

The partial differential equations for the spatial and time dependence of electric and magnetic fields inside a semiconductor. They are the analog of Maxwell's equations, which apply to the electric...

A long-pass filter is an optical filter that allows longer wavelengths of light to pass through while blocking or attenuating shorter wavelengths. These filters are designed to transmit light with a...

The method that, by measuring the absorption along an atmospheric path at wavelengths ranging from two to a continuum, can determine pollution concentrations of gases.

Long-wave infrared (LWIR) refers to a specific range of the infrared spectrum. Infrared radiation is divided into three main categories based on wavelength: near-infrared (NIR), mid-wave infrared...

In fiber optic communications systems, generally one that operates between 1000 and 1700 nm.

Pockels cell or dynamic optical retarder in which the electrical field is applied in a direction parallel to that of light passing through it.

A form of mirage where objects near or just below the horizon appear in enlarged or distorted form because of atmospheric refraction. The glow in the sky caused by the presence of light below the...

The total optical power loss in a system. The loss budget is often stated in terms of the transmitted power and the power required at the receiver to express the maximum acceptable amount of loss.

Low Earth orbit (LEO) refers to a region in space that is relatively close to Earth's surface, typically characterized by altitudes ranging from approximately 180 to 2,000 kilometers (112 to 1,242...

An interference microscope that uses a light beam originating from a low-coherence light source. The sample is placed in one interferometer arm, and the other arm provides a reference beam. The...

Instrumentation designed to permit the perception, recording or measurement of scenes under conditions of low incident illumination.

Optical fiber that transmits a greater percentage of input light than does high-loss step-index fiber. Low-loss fiber requires higher purity materials and a more sophisticated drawing process and...

The analysis of structural and molecular dynamics caused by low temperature.

The luminance portion of a composite video signal, i.e., the portion of the signal that corresponds to the brightness of the image apart from any color value, giving a monochrome, or gray scale,...

A lumen is a unit of measurement used to quantify the amount of luminous flux, which is the perceived power of light. In other words, the lumen measures the total amount of visible light emitted by a...

A laser effect used especially for laser light shows. Lumia are created by placing a distorting medium such as rippled glass in the path of the laser beam.

A complete unit containing a light source, globe, reflector, housing, socket and other necessary components for lighting.

Luminous flux emitted from a surface per unit solid angle per unit of area, projected onto a plane normal to the direction of propagation. Also known as brightness and luminous sterance.

Ratio of the luminance of a specimen to that of a perfect reflecting or transmitting diffuser identically illuminated.

A type of photometer calibrated in luminance units (candles per square unit, or lamberts). In photography an exposure meter contains a luminance meter to record the average luminance of a scene.

An objective measure of an object's brightness that is derived from the ratio of the luminance of its lightest section to that of its darkest section.

Luminescence is the emission of light that occurs without the involved substance undergoing a significant increase in temperature. In other words, it is the production and emission of light by a...

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

A collector for photovoltaic power generation that consists of a thin plate that strongly absorbs sunlight striking its faces and luminesces efficiently. A large fraction of the luminescence is...

Luminosity refers to the total amount of energy emitted by an astronomical object, typically measured per unit time. It quantifies the intrinsic brightness of the object and is often expressed in...

Plot of spectral luminous efficiency vs. wavelength.

Pertaining to electromagnetic radiation as perceived by the eye; that is, with the contributions as wavelengths in the visible region weighted according to V(λ), which symbolizes the spectral...

Quotient of total luminous flux divided by total radiant flux; lumens per watt. (For a source, quotient of total luminous flux divided by lamp power input.)

Ratio of radiant flux weighted according to V(l), the spectral luminous efficiency, to the corresponding radiant flux.

Luminous flux emitted per unit area of a source, expressed as lumens per area.

A measure of the time-integrated amount of flux. It has units of lumen-seconds and might be used to describe such things as the radiant energy that the eye would receive from a photographic flash.

The total luminous flux given out per unit area; i.e., the sum of the luminous emittance and any radiation that is reflected from and/or transmitted through the surface: expressed as lumens per area.

Descriptive of the radiant power of visible light modified by the eye response. It is the measure of the flow of visible light energy past any given point in space in a given time period, and is...

Luminous flux emitted by a source in a given range of directions; the unit of measure is the lumen/steradian, now known as the candela.

A mixture of phosphor with a trace of a radioactive element that emits faint light continually. It is used on watch dials and as a marker inside dark rooms to show the location of switches.

SI unit of luminous incidence or illuminance, equal to 1 lumen per square meter.

An illuminometer designed to measure illumination in terms of luxes.