Photonics Dictionary

An abundant material found in the form of quartz and agate and as one of the major constituents of sand. The silicates of sodium, calcium, and other metals can be readily fused, and on cooling do not...

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a specialized technique in biophysics and molecular biology used to study the distances and dynamic interactions between two...

Sisyphus cooling is a technique used in atomic physics to achieve ultracold temperatures of atoms or molecules by exploiting the periodic motion of particles in optical traps or lattices. The name...

A skyrmion is a topologically stable, vortex-like configuration of spins in a magnetic material. These configurations are characterized by a swirling pattern where the direction of the magnetic...

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...

Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is an optical microscopy technique that belongs to the category of quantitative phase imaging methods. It is designed to provide high-resolution,...

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...

A high-contrast transparency of the gas sought, or an array of exit slits that correlates with some features of the spectrum. No standardized formula for positioning, number or thickness has been...

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...

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,...

A cathode-ray tube combined with an electrostatic storage unit that is used to introduce, store and retrieve information translated into electric charge form.

A substrate refers to a material or surface upon which another material or process is applied or deposited. In various fields, such as electronics, biology, chemistry, and manufacturing, the term...

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)...

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an analytical technique that combines the principles of Raman spectroscopy with the enhancement provided by nanostructured metallic surfaces. Raman...

A surface-mount device (SMD) is an electronic component that is mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) rather than being inserted into holes drilled in the board (as with...

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...

The color process that is used to form positive color cine films by dye transfer or imbibition, based on the use of separate matrices that superimpose yellow, magenta and cyan dye images on the final...

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

A telescope lens is a primary optical component of a telescope system that gathers and focuses light to form an image. It is typically a curved, transparent piece of glass or other optical material...

To transform a picture or image field into a television signal for transmission.

Terahertz (THz) refers to a unit of frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum, denoting waves with frequencies between 0.1 and 10 terahertz. One terahertz is equivalent to one trillion hertz, or...

A transparent block shaped accurately to reverse curvatures of the components it is used to test. By contacting an accurately finished negative lens shape with a newly made positive, the conformity...

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are substances or compounds used to enhance the thermal conductivity between two surfaces in contact. These materials are primarily employed in electronic devices,...

An instrument that transforms heat energy into electrical energy.

Thin-film coatings are layers of material applied to the surface of an object or substrate, typically to modify its optical, electrical, or mechanical properties. These coatings are composed of thin...

The time domain is a concept used in signal processing and analysis to describe signals in terms of their behavior over time. In the time domain, signals are represented as functions of time, showing...

Topology is a branch of mathematics that focuses on the properties of space that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, crumpling, and bending, but not tearing or gluing....

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...

The process whereby a quantum mechanical system alters from one energy level to another. During this process, energy is emitted or absorbed, and it usually takes the form of photons, phonons, or...

Transition metals are elements found in the d-block of the periodic table, which includes groups 3 to 12. They are characterized by their partially filled d orbitals in the electron configuration....

A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a powerful microscopy technique that uses a beam of electrons to create high-resolution images of extremely thin samples. In a TEM, electrons are...

A restricting wavelength above or below which a specified form of radiation is totally almost absorbed by a specified medium.

The method for measuring the index profile of an optical fiber or preform by illuminating it coherently and transversely to its axis, and examining the far-field radiation pattern.

Tungsten diselenide (WSe2) is a member of the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) family, composed of tungsten (W) and selenium (Se). Similar to other TMDs, tungsten diselenide possesses a...

Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by the presence of suspended particles. These particles can include sediment, silt, clay, plankton, and other microscopic...

Twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) is a phenomenon observed in certain organic molecules containing electron-donor and electron-acceptor groups that are linked together within the same...

A form of liquid crystal widely used in displays, achieved by sandwiching a liquid crystal material between two substrates whose inside surfaces have been prepared with a special coating that aligns...

The Fourier series representation of a two-dimensional periodic field, assuming that the original image is periodic both horizontally and vertically.

The formation and display of three-dimensional images by ultrasonic energy. In one technique, the energy pulses from an ultrasonic transducer scan the object through a liquid medium and, receiving...

The optical diffraction spectra formed, or the method that produces them, when a light beam is transmitted through a longitudinal sound field.

The photographic recording that uses ultraviolet radiation to irradiate the microscope sample being examined and to form an image of the object on a photographic medium. The components of the...

Van der Waals forces refer to the attractive or repulsive forces between molecules (or parts of molecules) that arise from fluctuations in electron distribution. These forces are relatively weak...