Photonics Dictionary

A superthin, highly reflective mirror.

An amplifying device with a wide tuning range in which an electron gun sends a beam of electrons into a slow-wave structure. The electron beam and the electromagnetic wave move in opposite directions...

The range of frequencies over which a particular instrument is designed to function within specified limits. See also fiber bandwidth.

The term half bandwidth (HBW) generally refers to the width of a spectral band or frequency range at half of its maximum amplitude. It is commonly used in the context of signal processing, optics,...

Meta-optics, also known as metasurface optics or flat optics, is a branch of optics that involves the design, fabrication, and utilization of artificial structures called metasurfaces to control and...

A metalens, short for "metasurface lens," is a type of optical lens that uses nanostructured materials to manipulate light at a subwavelength scale. Unlike traditional lenses made of glass or other...

Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties not found in naturally occurring substances. These materials are designed to manipulate electromagnetic waves in ways that are not...

Metaphotonics is an emerging field at the intersection of photonics, metamaterials, and nanotechnology. It involves the design, fabrication, and study of metamaterial-based optical structures and...

Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength-scale artificial structures, often referred to as meta-atoms or meta-elements, arranged in a specific pattern to manipulate the propagation of...

Nanoplasmonics is a branch of nanophotonics that focuses on the study and manipulation of optical phenomena at the nanoscale using plasmonic materials and structures. Plasmonics deals with the...

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...

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,...

An advanced technique that allows the detection of one molecule within a crystal or a cell through optical excitation. Single-molecule spectroscopy (SMS) can image at subwavelength scales, down to a...

A spaser (surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a nanoscale device that generates coherent optical radiation at nanometer-scale dimensions. It is analogous to a laser...

Twyman-Green interferometry is a technique used in optics to measure the flatness or surface profile of optical components with high precision. It is based on the principles of interference of light...