Photonics Dictionary: M

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device used to measure the phase difference between two collimated beams of light. It is named after the physicists Ludwig Mach and Ludwig Zehnder, who...

Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement, including the development of measurement standards, techniques, and...

Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the manipulation and control of very small fluid volumes, typically in the microliter (10-6 liters) to picoliter (10-12 liters) range, within...

Modal bandwidth is a crucial parameter in optical fiber communication systems, particularly in multimode fiber (MMF) systems. It quantifies the ability of a fiber optic link to transmit data at high...

A device used in measuring the attenuation of multimode optical fibers. A short reference length of fiber when combined with the mode filter has approximately the same angular output distribution of...

MTF analysis/measurement equipment refers to instruments and tools used to measure and analyze the modulation transfer function (MTF) of optical systems. The MTF is a quantitative measure of the...

A form of shearing interferometer that contains a simple wedged (plane-parallel) glass plate with a nonzero optical path difference to create interference between split optical wavefronts. The...