Photonics Dictionary

Remote inspection refers to the process of inspecting, evaluating, or monitoring assets, equipment, infrastructure, or systems from a distance, typically using remote sensing technologies and...

The retina is a light-sensitive tissue layer located at the back of the eye, opposite the lens. It plays a crucial role in the process of vision by converting light into neural signals that are sent...

A reflecting prism that is rhomboidal in shape. It has two parallel transmitting faces, and two parallel reflecting faces; the latter are oblique to the former (usually but not necessarily at...

A type of 45-90-45° prism used to bend a beam of light through a right angle with the surfaces forming the 90° angle acting as transmitting faces.

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 polarizing prism assembly made up of two cemented calcite halves. The prism transmits the ordinary ray without deviation, while the extraordinary ray is deviated to accomplish the polarization.

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...

Sapphire optical fiber is a type of optical fiber made from single-crystal sapphire, which is a form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is highly transparent in the infrared region of the electromagnetic...

Sapphire refers to a crystalline form of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that is used in various optical and photonic applications due to its exceptional optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Sapphire...

A double-plate device used to transmit polarized light and form interference fringes of the light, thus indicating its presence. It consists of two calcite plates of equal thickness, cut parallel to...

1. A polariscope consisting of a Savart plate and a tourmaline plate analyzer, and used to produce parallel color fringes by transmitting polarized light. 2. A polariscope composed of an analyzing...

Also called scanning laser acoustic microscope. A device that uses high-frequency ultrasound waves to penetrate surfaces. A scanning laser beam is used as a detector, which transmits information...

The large, usually flat surface onto which an image is projected for viewing. May be reflecting or transmitting (rear projection).

A disc, having opaque and transparent sectors or sectors with unlike reflectances, that is rotated at a specific rate to form a continuous response to the average energy transmitted or reflected by...

An optically bistable device used for photonic switching, constructed of a multiple quantum well biased by an external voltage, which creates an external field that shifts the wavelength of the onset...

An aperture consisting of a semitransparent central region whose amplitude transmittance only is varied, and the relative phase difference between the central and annular region is fixed as p -...

A polarizing beamsplitting prism similar in design to the Rochon prism. However, the Senarmont transmits the extraordinary ray without deviation and deviates the ordinary ray due to the orientation...

Three filters used in making a color print of a color negative, red, green and blue-violet, respectively. Each filter transmits about one-third of the visible spectrum onto the print.

A sheet of plastic material containing microscopic crystals of herapathite or some other similar substance that transmits light polarized in one direction, but absorbs light polarized in a...

Short wavelength infrared (SWIR) refers to the portion of the infrared spectrum that encompasses wavelengths roughly between 1,000 and 3,000 nanometers (nm). In the electromagnetic spectrum, infrared...

A television system that uses a slow rate of horizontal scanning to increase its reproduction and transmittance accuracy of printed matter, photographs and illustrations.

The spatial distribution of incident and collected flux contained in the analysis of reflectance, transmittance or densities.

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...

Average wavelength usually determined for light-transmitting devices by taking a weighted average for each wavelength of the spectral energy distribution of incident light, transmittance of the...

A wavelength region of relatively high transmittance, surrounded by regions of low transmittance.

An instrument in which an image of the sun is scanned by the entrance slit of a monochromator, the exit slit simultaneously scanning a photographic plate for analysis of the solar spectral lines. If...

A spectrophotometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the intensity of light at various wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically in the visible and ultraviolet regions. It is...

The detection and measurement of spectral reflectance, spectral transmittance or relative spectral emittance, relative to wavelength.

Spectroscopy is a technique used in the study of interactions between matter and electromagnetic radiation. It involves measuring and analyzing how different materials absorb, emit, or scatter light,...

See regular transmittance; the term specular is not properly applied to transmission.

The observed time dependence of the transmittance of a step of radiation through a given medium.

The use of a specialized optical microscope designed to provide a more three-dimensional view of a sample. Stereomicroscopy usually uses reflected light and provides enhanced depth perception via the...

A viewer that uses the transmittance of polarized light through glass or a similar medium to examine strained regions. See polariscope.

In polarization-preserving optical fibers, the element used to induce birefringence. The SAP is highly doped to provide a different coefficient of expansion from the rest of the fiber material; when...

Superluminal transmission refers to the hypothetical process of transmitting information faster than the speed of light, which is commonly denoted as superluminal or faster-than-light (FTL)...

A synapse is a specialized junction between two neurons (nerve cells) or between a neuron and a target cell (such as a muscle or gland cell). It is the fundamental functional unit of communication in...

A mode of transmission whereby the sending and receiving stations operate continuously at a fixed relationship of phase and frequency, generating signals to control the timing of the data that are to...

Imaging radar that increases the sweep of its along-track (or azimuth) capacity by measuring not only the time delay of the echoes returning from the microwave pulse transmitted by its antenna (or...

The equivalent f number of a fictitious lens that has a circular opening and 100 percent transmittance, which would give the same central illumination as the lens being considered: where...

1. The term used to describe any of the many instruments used to remotely record physical dimensions, such as strain, temperature or pressure, and transmit this data to a receiving station. 2. A...

The science of sensing and measuring information at some remote location and transmitting the data to a convenient location for reading or recording.

The combination of the audio and visual signals that are transmitted and received at the same time, correlating the scene and sound in a television picture.

An electronic device used to encode video and audio signals of a television camera into radio waves that are broadcast to remote receivers. The video and audio components are transmitted...

The process of attaching a device to the end of a fiber cable to enable the beam to be transmitted farther, to pass to another device and to avoid reflection.

The elongation of a transmitted data pulse through a fiber optic due to the chromatic dispersion of the fiber material.

A laser fitted with up to eight optical fibers that transmit the energy to different workstations in turn.