Photonics Dictionary

The term "embedded laser" typically refers to a laser device that is integrated or embedded into a larger system or structure. In this context, "embedded" implies that the laser is an integral part...

A laser or laser system positioned within an enclosure to prevent dangerous optical radiation from leaving the enclosure.

A laser that distributes its output power among two, three or four optical fibers simultaneously.

An Er:YAG laser is a type of solid-state laser that uses a crystal made of erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:Y3Al5O12) as the gain medium. The erbium (Er) ions are introduced into the crystal...

An erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is a type of laser that uses an optical fiber doped with erbium ions (Er³?) as the gain medium. These lasers are widely used in telecommunications, medical...

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...

Excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) refers to a medical procedure used in the treatment of coronary artery disease. This technique involves the use of an excimer laser to perform angioplasty, a...

Wavelengths between 400 and 1400 nm (VIS to NIR) are focused onto the retina by the cornea. Because the retina is sensitive to light, these wavelengths can be damaging even at low energies. It is the...

A laser oscillator in which two mirrors are separated by an amplifying medium with an inverted population, making a Fabry-Perot cavity. Standard diode lasers are Fabry-Perot lasers.

A device in which slab geometry internally compensates for thermal-optic distortion; the solid host material -- glass or Nd:YAG -- is in the form of a rectangular slab with plane parallel faces. The...

A laser with output over a wide range of wavelengths spanning the far-infrared region of the spectrum (30 to 1000 µm); typically, it consists of a metal or dielectric waveguide one to two...

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...

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 pulsed dye laser in which the excitation is provided by means of a flashlamp. Output is tunable from 335 to 850 nm, with peak power up to 7000 kW.

A single-particle scattering technique in which an incident laser beam is tightly focused by means of lenses to yield a focal spot in the scattering material with a diameter on the order of the...

A solid-state laser consisting of active atoms or ions of a transition metal, rare-earth metal or actinide, imbedded in a crystal or glass material, often garnet. Excitation and transfer to different...

A free-electron laser (FEL) is a type of laser that generates coherent, high-intensity electromagnetic radiation by using a beam of accelerated electrons as the lasing medium. Unlike traditional...

A GaAlAs laser is a type of semiconductor laser diode that emits light in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is composed of layers of gallium, aluminum, and arsenic, hence...

A laser diode in which the beam is confined to the region of the active layer with gain high enough to accomplish such confinement without a built-in refractive index profile. That region generally...

A laser system consisting of a planar PN junction within a single crystal of gallium arsenide. The pair of parallel, semireflective end faces produces a Fabry-Perot resonant cavity, whereas the other...

GaN (gallium nitride) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers refer to a specific type of semiconductor laser based on Gallium Nitride materials and designed with a distributed feedback structure. These...

One of the first lasers to find practical application. Generally, the pumping mechanism is an electric discharge, although some high-power forms employ chemical reaction or gas compression and...

A gas laser wherein the gas mixture is not exhausted into the atmosphere but is continually recycled. It is excited in the active region, cooled and re-excited. The GTL requires no constant gas...

An optically pumped solid-state laser in which the active medium is a neodymium ion in a glass rod host. Abbreviated Nd:glass.

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...

Holmium lasers are a type of medical laser that utilizes holmium-doped crystals as the gain medium. The term holmium laser is often associated with a specific type of laser used in urology for...

A gas laser having a mixture of gases that makes it useful in the lab. The mixture of gases flows through a pressure and gas-flow-rate-regulated, sealed vessel with such a gain that only the...

A semiconductor platelet laser that emits a coherent image by means of plane optical pumping over the platelet surface, and that uses laser threshold characteristics to produce a pronounced threshold...

A laser diode with an output beam contained in the active layer by means of a built-in refractive index profile formed in that layer or in the adjacent cladding layers or both.

A type of laser for which a large number of the components can be fabricated in or upon a single substrate.

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 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 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 continuous-wave dye laser that uses a circulation pump and nozzle to provide an optically flat stream of dye across the laser's optical axis.

A semiconductor laser in which the naturally occurring broad linewidth has been narrowed by incorporating the laser diode into a large resonant external cavity.

A laser that uses a substance in the liquid state, such as an organic dye, as the active lasing medium.

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...

Process of analysis in which the analyte substance is distributed in a matrix before laser desorption. This method avoids the mass limitations associated with laser desorption and possibly enhances...

Medical lasers are devices that produce intense beams of light with specific characteristics and properties, which are used for various medical applications. These lasers emit light in the form of...

Devices in which the lasing medium is a vapor of metal atoms or ions, sometimes mixed with another gas. Metal vapor lasers use a variety of metal types to generate a variety of laser lines for...

Mode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds, femtoseconds, or even attoseconds. This method synchronizes the phases of...

A multiline laser system refers to a type of laser that is capable of emitting multiple discrete wavelengths or spectral lines simultaneously. Unlike single-line lasers, which produce radiation at a...

A laser that produces emission in two or more transverse or longitudinal modes.

Also known as gatling gun laser. A system that has an array of lasers sharing a common central axis on a rotating Fabry plate to achieve increased laser firing rates by sequential Q-switching.

A laser having a Q-switching method that allows separate parallel volumes of the lasing material to act independently of each other and produce several separate beams. It is useful in high-speed...

Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain medium. This type of laser emits light at a wavelength of 1064 nm in the...