Photonics Dictionary: S

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...

1. A device used to trace out an object and build up an image. One of the most common of these types is video scanning. The scanning takes place inside the television tube as electrons, guided by...

A scientific CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) camera is a type of digital camera specifically designed for scientific imaging applications. It employs CMOS sensor technology, which...

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology that belongs to the powder bed fusion category. SLM is primarily used for metal additive manufacturing, where...

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 crystal, glass, or quartz slicing and cutting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used in the manufacturing process to precisely cut and slice materials such as crystals, glass, and quartz...

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...

The name of the mixture of liquid and grinding or polishing compounds used in processing optical materials.

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 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 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...

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...