Photonics Dictionary

An ammonia maser is a device that amplifies microwave radiation using ammonia gas molecules in a process analogous to how lasers amplify visible light through stimulated emission of radiation. The...

Chirped mirrors are optical devices designed to manipulate the spectral properties of ultrashort laser pulses. They consist of multiple layers of dielectric coatings deposited on a substrate, where...

Dual-chirped optical parametric amplification (DC-OPA) is an advanced technique in ultrafast laser technology used to amplify femtosecond laser pulses to extremely high energies while maintaining...

An erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is a type of laser that uses an optical fiber doped with erbium ions (Er³+) as the gain medium. These lasers are widely used in telecommunications, medical...

A femtosecond laser is a type of laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of femtoseconds, where one femtosecond is equal to 10-15 seconds. These lasers are capable of...

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...

Fluoride fibers are optical fibers made from fluoride-based materials, typically fluoride glasses or crystalline fluoride compounds. These fibers are characterized by their unique optical properties,...

Harmonic generation refers to a nonlinear optical process in which incoming photons interact with a material and produce new photons at integer multiples of the frequency of the incoming photons....

Laser irradiation is a process that involves the use of focused laser beams to deliver energy to specific areas for medical, industrial, or scientific purposes. The laser (light amplification by...

A maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. It is the microwave analog of a...

A microchannel plate (MCP) is a specialized electron multiplier device used in various applications such as particle detection, imaging, spectroscopy, and night vision technology. It consists of a...

Mode-locking is a technique used in lasers to produce ultrashort pulses of light with durations on the order of picoseconds, femtoseconds, or even attoseconds. This method synchronizes the phases of...

A photon-counting instrument for use in both space-borne and ground-based photometric and spectroscopic instrumentation. This style of detector is composed of opaque photocathodes for photon to...

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 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...

Optical parametric amplification (OPA) is a process in nonlinear optics where a weak signal beam is amplified by a much stronger pump beam through the nonlinear interaction in a nonlinear optical...

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical signal. Photodetectors are widely used in various applications, ranging from...

A photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a highly sensitive vacuum tube that detects and amplifies low levels of light. It is widely used in various applications where high sensitivity, fast response times,...

A read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) is an electronic device used in imaging systems, particularly in infrared (IR) and other sensing technologies. It is designed to interface with an array of...

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...

An ultrafast pulsed laser is a type of laser that emits extremely short pulses of light with durations typically on the order of femtoseconds (10-15 seconds) or picoseconds (10-12 seconds). These...

Volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) are specialized optical elements that consist of periodic variations in refractive index throughout the volume of a transparent material, typically a photosensitive glass...