Photonics Dictionary

An active-cavity radiometer is a highly sensitive instrument used to measure radiant energy (power per unit area), often in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The key features of an active-cavity...

A measure of the dispersive properties of a glass. The relative dispersion is defined as: where C, D, and F refer to the material's index of refraction at the three chief Fraunhofer lines in the...

A Fresnel lens is a type of optical lens that consists of a series of concentric grooves or steps carved into a flat, thin piece of transparent material, typically plastic or glass. This design...

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a compound semiconductor material composed of gallium (Ga) and arsenic (As). It belongs to the III-V group of semiconductors and has a zincblende crystal structure. GaAs is...

In semiconductor physics and materials science, the term "III-V materials" refers to compounds composed of elements from group III and group V of the periodic table. More specifically, these...

Indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) is a semiconductor compound composed of indium (In), gallium (Ga), and arsenic (As). It belongs to the III-V group of semiconductors and is commonly used in...

Luminosity refers to the total amount of energy emitted by an astronomical object, typically measured per unit time. It quantifies the intrinsic brightness of the object and is often expressed in...

An optical accumulator is a concept or device that collects and stores optical energy or data for subsequent use. This can be applied in various fields within optics and photonics: Optical data...

A photovoltaic cell, commonly known as a solar cell, is a semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into electrical energy through the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is...

Photovoltaic (PV) refers to a technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity using semiconductors. The term "photovoltaic" is derived from the words "photo," meaning light, and...

A roughening laser is a laser-based surface modification technique aimed at altering the surface texture of a material to achieve specific properties such as enhanced adhesion, light diffusion, or...

A Schottky diode is a type of semiconductor diode characterized by its low forward voltage drop and fast switching speed. It is formed by the junction of a metal and an n-type semiconductor, creating...

Teloscopy, while not a commonly used term, could be understood in the context of principles related to telescopes and their applications in observation and measurement. If we interpret teloscopy as...

A solar cell that is lightweight and flexible because of its construction by vacuum deposition of a semiconductor material (e.g., gallium arsenide or cadmium sulfide) onto a thin metal or plastic...