Photonics Dictionary

Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free electrons in a metal or semiconductor at the nanoscale. Specifically,...

Plastic optical fiber (POF) is a type of optical fiber made from transparent plastic, typically polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) or polycarbonate. Unlike traditional glass optical fibers, which are made...

Pluggable optics, also known as pluggable transceivers or optical transceivers, are modular devices used in optical communication systems to transmit and receive data over optical fibers. They are...

In optics, the Pockels effect refers to the phenomenon where the refractive index of a material changes in response to an applied electric field. This effect is utilized in Pockels cells, which are...

Polarization refers to the orientation of oscillations in a transverse wave, such as light waves, radio waves, or other electromagnetic waves. In simpler terms, it describes the direction in which...

A quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a type of semiconductor laser that operates based on the principles of quantum mechanics. It is a versatile and powerful device used for emitting coherent light in...

Noise generated within an optical communications system link that has both internal (dark current) and external (background noise, or noise in signal) components.

Rare earth dopants refer to elements from the lanthanide series, also known as rare earth elements, that are intentionally introduced into the crystal lattice of a material to modify its properties....

A detector and signal demodulator used in optical communications systems to receive a signal and often to translate it into an electronic signal.

A reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) is a key component in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical communication networks. It allows for flexible and dynamic routing of...

A reflection grating is an optical component that consists of a series of closely spaced, parallel reflecting surfaces or grooves. These grooves are typically ruled or etched onto a flat substrate or...

A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance, which is a phenomenon that occurs when an external force or stimulus is applied at a specific frequency, causing the system to oscillate...

A retroreflector is an optical device or structure that reflects incident light or electromagnetic waves back to their source, regardless of the direction from which the light approaches. Unlike...

A Risley prism, also known as a Risley prism pair or Risley rotating prism, is an optical device used for controlling the direction of a laser beam or other optical beam by independently rotating two...

A Rugate filter is a type of optical filter that is designed to have a continuously varying refractive index profile throughout its thickness, rather than the discrete layers found in traditional...

Sagnac interferometry is a technique used to measure rotation or angular velocity based on the principle of interference. It relies on the Sagnac effect, named after the French physicist Georges...

A saturable absorber is a type of optical device that exhibits variable absorption properties depending on the intensity of incident light. In essence, it becomes less absorbent as the light...

Second-order nonlinear optical properties refer to a class of phenomena exhibited by certain materials in response to intense light, typically in the realm of optics and photonics. Nonlinear optical...

Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that occurs when an intense laser beam passes through a medium, causing a change in the phase of the light due to its interaction with...

A silicon photodiode is a semiconductor device that converts light into an electrical current. It is a type of photodetector specifically designed for detecting and measuring light intensity. Silicon...

A single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is a specialized type of photodetector designed to detect extremely weak optical signals, down to the level of single photons. SPADs are widely used in...

In photonics, a slot modulator refers to a type of optical modulator that operates based on the principle of modifying the optical properties of a slot waveguide. A slot modulator is an optical...

A solid-state laser is a type of laser that uses a solid gain medium (as opposed to a liquid or gas) to produce coherent light. The term "solid-state" refers to the fact that the active medium, where...

A spatial light modulator (SLM) is an optical device that modulates or manipulates the amplitude, phase, or polarization of light in two dimensions, typically in the form of an array. SLMs are...

In Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS), an incident photon (usually laser light) interacts with acoustic phonons in a medium. The energy and momentum of the incident photon are transferred to the...

Supercontinuum refers to a broad spectrum of light that spans a wide range of wavelengths, typically from the visible to the near-infrared or even mid-infrared regions of the electromagnetic...

A standard for fiber optic telecommunications interfaces, with a 1300-nm data link operating over single-mode fiber at data rates of 52, 155 and 622 Mb/s.

Topological photonics is a branch of physics and optics that explores the application of topological concepts to the behavior of light in photonic systems. Drawing inspiration from the field of...

A transducer is a device or component that converts one form of energy into another. It is commonly used in various fields, including electronics, acoustics, and instrumentation, to facilitate the...

In fiber optic communications, a light source whose beam can be modulated and sent along an optical fiber, and the electronics that support it.

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is a type of semiconductor laser diode that emits light vertically from the surface of a semiconductor wafer. VCSELs are commonly used in various...

Volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) are specialized optical elements that consist of periodic variations in refractive index throughout the volume of a transparent material, typically a photosensitive glass...

A vortex phase plate is an optical device designed to impart a phase singularity, commonly referred to as a vortex or phase vortex, onto a light beam. This singularity results in a phase profile...

A ytterbium laser is a type of solid-state laser that employs ytterbium ions (Yb³+) as the dopant in the gain medium. These lasers are known for their high efficiency, broad absorption and...