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38 terms
Photonics Dictionary: N
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optics x
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nonlinear optics
Nonlinear optics is a branch of optics that studies the optical phenomena that occur when intense light interacts with a material and induces nonlinear responses. In contrast to linear optics, where...
nano
An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as...
nanoimprint lithography
Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nanolithography technique used for fabricating nanoscale patterns on a substrate. It is a high-resolution, high-throughput process that involves the mechanical...
nanoparticle photonic resonator absorption microscopy
Nanoparticle photonic resonator absorption microscopy is a microscopy technique that combines the principles of photonic resonators and nanoparticle imaging to visualize and study biological samples...
nanophotonics
Nanophotonics is a branch of science and technology that explores the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, typically at dimensions smaller than the wavelength of light. It involves the study and...
nanoplasmonics
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...
nanopositioning
Nanopositioning refers to the precise and controlled movement or manipulation of objects or components at the nanometer scale. This technology enables the positioning of objects with extremely high...
nanostructured glass
A unique glass made up of nano-structured materials to create millimeter sized monolithic glass space-variant polarization converters which ultimately alter the way light propagates through and is...
narrowband pyrometer
An optical pyrometer that is equipped with a narrow bandpass filter to transmit a limited number of wavelengths to the sensing device.
Nd:YAG laser
Nd:YAG laser refers to a solid-state laser that utilizes neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12) as the gain medium. This type of laser emits light at a wavelength of 1064 nm in the...
near-eye display
A near-eye display (NED) is a type of display technology designed to be positioned close to the user's eyes, typically within a few centimeters. This technology is commonly used in applications such...
near-field scanning optical microscope
A scanning probe microscope that analyzes the surface of a specimen by recording the intensity of light as it is focused through a pipette and raster scanned across the specimen at a distance less...
near-field scanning
A measurement technique used to determine the spatial distribution profile of an electrical or optical quantity of interest which is provided by multiple scans within the near-field region of a...
near-infrared camera
A near-infrared (NIR) camera is an imaging device designed to capture images in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The near-infrared spectrum typically extends from about 700...
negative ghost
A ghost image that has the reverse lightness relations of the original image. This phenomenon is a common optical illusion that takes place in the human visual system, following long exposures to an...
negative lens
->
diverging lens
A diverging lens is a type of lens that causes parallel rays of light to spread out or diverge. It is thinner in the center than at the edges and is commonly referred to as a concave lens. The most...
nematic phase
A form of liquid crystal with an appearance of moving, threadlike structures, particularly visible when observed in thick specimens with polarized light. During this phase, the molecules of the...
neoprene
A type of thermoset rubber used to jacket fiber optic cables, including those used in outdoor military installations.
neutralization
In optics, the process of combining two lenses having equal and opposite powers to produce a result having no power.
nitrogen vacancy
A nitrogen vacancy (NV) refers to a specific type of defect or impurity in a crystal lattice where a nitrogen atom replaces a carbon atom adjacent to a vacancy (an empty lattice site) in the diamond...
NLO
nonlinear optics
noncoherent bundle
An assembly of optical fibers that will not transmit coherent images or information because the relationship of the fibers on either end of the assembly is random; Noncoherent fiber bundles are...
nondestructive testing
Any testing method for materials and components that does not damage or destroy the test sample. Some of the methods used are x-ray, ultrasonic, electro-optic and magnetic testing.
nonlinear crystal
A nonlinear crystal is a type of crystal that exhibits nonlinear optical properties when subjected to intense electromagnetic fields, typically from laser light. Unlike linear optical materials,...
nonlinear optical crystal
An optical crystal that possesses a strong nonlinear dielectric response function to optical radiation. A material with a strong second-order nonlinearity must not possess a center of symmetry. See...
nonlinear optical detector
A type of radiation detector designed to recognize nonlinear optical effects, such as the Raman effect, by means of a directional, nearly monochromatic light beam; e.g., a laser beam.
nonlinear optical effect
A class of optical phenomena that can be viewed only with nearly monochromatic, directional beams of light, such as those produced by a laser. Harmonic generation and the stimulated Raman effect are...
nonlinear optical materials
Nonlinear optical materials are substances that exhibit optical properties that are not linearly proportional to the intensity of incident light. In other words, these materials produce optical...
nonlinear optical phase conjugation
The coupling of laser or light beams via nonlinear optical techniques such as four-wave mixing to achieve spatial variation of the electrical field of the target beam. This technique is also referred...
nonlinear optical processing
Derivative of the half-tone screen process involving the fabrication of a binary pulse-width modulated copy of the continuous-level input using a halftone screen and spatial-filtering single...
nonlinear polarization
Nonlinear polarization refers to the phenomenon where the polarization of a material responds nonlinearly to an applied electric field. In linear systems, the polarization of a material is directly...
nonlinear scattering
Direct conversion of a photon from one wavelength to a lower energy photon of another wavelength(s) due to inelastic scattering. In an optical waveguide, nonlinear scattering is usually not important...
normalized frequency
Also referred to as the V number in fiber optics; the normalized frequency is a dimensionless quantity, denoted by the symbol V, given by: where a is waveguide core radius, l is wavelength in vacuum,...
NSOM
near-field scanning optical microscopy
nu value
->
Abbe constant
A dispersion relation defined in order to value the reciprocal amount of dispersion. It is defined as the refractivity over the difference in index values of the shortest and longest visible...
null lens
A lens used in the optical testing of an aspheric surface. It converts a spherical wavefront into one that precisely matches the surface under test. When the wavefront is reflected from that surface,...
null process
Commonly performed in spectroscopy, the optical null process is a method for radiation detection whereby physical detectors are used to rapidly interchange the intensity between a reference beam and...
numerical aperture
The sine of the vertex angle of the largest cone of meridional rays that can enter or leave an optical system or element, multiplied by the refractive index of the medium in which the vertex of the...
Photonics Dictionary
N
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