Photonics Dictionary

The term "embedded laser" typically refers to a laser device that is integrated or embedded into a larger system or structure. In this context, "embedded" implies that the laser is an integral part...

Embedded vision refers to the integration of computer vision technologies into various embedded systems, devices, or machines. Computer vision involves teaching machines to interpret and understand...

An absorbing wedge is an optical device used to control the intensity of light passing through it by absorbing a portion of the light. It is typically used in experiments and optical systems where...

An AI system-on-chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit that integrates hardware components optimized for performing AI computations efficiently. These components typically include: AI accelerators:...

A fiber optic end plate constructed by drawing a bundle of parallel fibers embedded in glass and cutting it into thin slices. These slices are assembled in a plane and heated to produce a...

A polarizer that consists of dichroic polarizing material embedded in a plastic sheet, and that transmits light that is almost completely plane polarized with an intensity that is half that of the...

Edge AI, also known as edge artificial intelligence, refers to the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and models directly on edge devices, such as smartphones, sensors, IoT...

A fiber laser is a type of laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth ions such as erbium, ytterbium, or neodymium. Fiber lasers generate coherent light through...

The internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of interconnected physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other objects embedded with sensors, actuators, software, and network connectivity....

1. The process of wearing down the surface of a softer material by rubbing it under pressure against the surface of a harder material that has been formed in the shape opposite to that desired on the...

A lock-in amplifier is a specialized electronic instrument used to extract and measure small signals embedded in noise or interference. It is particularly useful in fields such as spectroscopy,...

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It consists of a micro-sized, gas-filled spherical cavity (the "microbubble")...

A mixed-signal oscilloscope (MSO) is a type of electronic test instrument that combines the capabilities of both a traditional oscilloscope and a logic analyzer. It is designed to capture and display...

An optical barcode reader, commonly known as a barcode scanner, is a device that uses optical technology to capture and interpret data encoded in barcode symbols. Barcodes are typically printed on...

An optogenetic technique that embeds genetically-engineered proteins to the heart to aid in terminating arrhythmias. After the proteins are embedded in the heart, it can be defibrillated by pulses of...

A system in which the electrical signal embedded within an audio input signal is converted to a modulated light pattern and recorded on film.

The quarter video graphics array (QVGA) is a display resolution standard used in video graphics, particularly in LCD displays, digital cameras, mobile phones, and other portable electronic devices....

Retroreflection is a phenomenon in optics where light is reflected back toward its source, typically in a direction nearly parallel to the direction from which it originated. This occurs due to the...

Structural surfaces that incorporate an embedded sensor network capable of detecting flaws within the structure.

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...

A system-on-chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit (IC) that incorporates all necessary components of a computer or electronic system onto a single chip. This typically includes a microprocessor or...

The video graphics array (VGA) is a display resolution standard introduced by IBM in 1987 for displaying graphics on computer monitors. It quickly became the de facto standard for personal computers...

Vision transformer (ViT) networks are neural network architectures that apply the Transformer architecture, originally developed for natural language processing, to the task of processing visual...