Photonics Dictionary

A photographic emulsion of the silver-halide type that is used to record the path of a charged traveling particle. The tracks recorded on these emulsions are typically observed under a microscope...

A material consisting of very small colorless particles imbedded in a clear glass matrix. It is available in two forms: flashed opal and pot opal. The flashed variety consists of a rather thin layer...

Optical artifacts refer to undesired or unintended effects that can occur in optical systems, such as microscopes, cameras, telescopes, and other optical instruments. These artifacts can distort or...

A term referring to an optical force field used to trap and stabilize particles acted upon by a force such as laser light.

Optical materials refer to substances or compounds specifically chosen for their optical properties and used in the fabrication of optical components and systems. These materials are characterized by...

Optical noise refers to undesirable fluctuations or disturbances in an optical signal that can affect the quality or integrity of the transmitted information. This type of noise is particularly...

Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) is an advanced technique used in ultrafast laser systems to amplify optical pulses to extremely high intensities while maintaining their short...

Optical tweezers refer to a scientific instrument that uses the pressure of laser light to trap and manipulate microscopic objects, such as particles or biological cells, in three dimensions. This...

Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and its manifestation as both particle and wave phenomena. It encompasses the...

Optofluidics is an interdisciplinary field that combines principles from optics and fluidics to create devices and systems that integrate the manipulation of light and fluids. This field focuses on...

The emission of gas or de-aeration due to thermal variations and often occurring in a vacuum. In a cleanroom, contamination from the spontaneous emission of absorbed particles.

A process for the production of optical fibers. A glass bait is rotated in a traversing flame of a reaction burner. Reactants passed through the flame react with oxygen at the high temperatures to...

Particle acceleration refers to the process by which charged particles, such as electrons or protons, gain kinetic energy and increase their velocity. This acceleration can occur in various natural...

A whole-flow-field technique providing instantaneous velocity vector measurements in a cross-section of a flow that is seeded with micron-sized particles. CCD or CMOS cameras and laser light sheets...

A pathogen is a biological agent, such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, protozoan, or parasite, that causes disease in its host organism. Pathogens have the capability to invade host tissues,...

A phage, short for bacteriophage, is a type of virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. Phages are composed of genetic material (either DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. They are...

Very small phosphor particles present on the screen of a picture tube.

Photocathodes are specialized materials or surfaces that exhibit the photoelectric effect, wherein the absorption of photons leads to the emission of electrons. When photons with sufficient energy...

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical signal. Photodetectors are widely used in various applications, ranging from...

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely used in various applications where high sensitivity, fast response times,...

Spectroscopy used to study the concentration, diffusion and Brownian motion of small particles suspended in a fluid by measuring dynamic fluctuations of light that is scattered or fluoresced by the...

Photon flux refers to the rate at which photons (particles of light) pass through a unit area per unit time. It is a measure of the intensity or brightness of light in a specific region of space or...

A photon jet is a narrow, highly collimated beam of light that is formed when light interacts with small dielectric microstructures, such as microspheres or microcylinders. This phenomenon arises due...

A photonic engine refers to a device or system that utilizes photonics, or the science and technology of generating, controlling, and detecting photons (particles of light), to perform various...

A photovoltaic cell, commonly known as a solar cell, is a semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into electrical energy through the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is...

A device used in the sputtering of thin films, in which a magnet system on the back of the cathode deflects the electrons, lengthening the ionization path. The accelerated ions transfer their...

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles, typically electrons or ions, by exploiting the motion of charged...

Plasmon ion-assisted deposition (PIAD) is a technique used in thin-film deposition processes, particularly in the production of optical coatings. This method combines two key processes: plasmon...

A polariton is a quasiparticle resulting from the strong coupling between photons (light particles) and certain types of excitations in a material, such as electronic excitations (electrons and...

Device in which contact ionization of atomic particles and thermionic electron emission are used to produce magnetically confined plasma that is greatly ionized.

A device used in electron microscopes and particle accelerators to focus electron beams by the arrangement of four electrodes of alternating signs around the electron beam.

The term quantum refers to the fundamental unit or discrete amount of a physical quantity involved in interactions at the atomic and subatomic scales. It originates from quantum theory, a branch of...

Quantum confinement refers to the phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the motion of charge carriers, such as electrons or holes, is restricted to a region of space that is smaller than their...

Quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED) is a display technology that utilizes quantum dots, which are semiconductor nanocrystals, to produce vibrant and high-quality images. QLED displays are...

Quantum dot thin films refer to thin layers or coatings composed of quantum dots deposited onto a substrate surface. Quantum dots are nanoscale semiconductor particles typically ranging from a few to...

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where two or more particles become correlated to such an extent that the state of one particle instantly influences the state of the...

The area of optics in which quantum theory is used to describe light in discrete units or "quanta" of energy known as photons. First observed by Albert Einstein's photoelectric effect, this particle...

Quantum sensing refers to a class of sensing technologies that leverage principles from quantum mechanics to enhance the precision and sensitivity of measurements. Traditional sensors operate based...

A quantum well is a structure in quantum mechanics that confines particles, such as electrons or holes, in one spatial dimension. This confinement leads to quantized energy levels, creating a...

Quantum-enhanced metrology refers to the use of quantum mechanics principles and techniques to enhance the precision and sensitivity of measurements in metrology—the science of measurement....