Photonics Dictionary: F

A FAC lens, or fast axis collimation lens, is an optical component used in laser diode systems to collimate the fast axis of laser emission. Laser diodes emit light in two main axes: the fast axis,...

In image processing and machine vision, the process in which an initial measurement pattern or some subsequence of measurement patterns is transformed to a new pattern feature. In image pattern...

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer when detector noise prevails, which exceeds the SNR of a scanning spectrometer in the same time by a factor proportional...

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a type of optical filter that is inscribed or "written" into the core of an optical fiber. It consists of a periodic modulation of the refractive index along the length...

Fiber joints, also known as fiber optic splices, refer to the connection points where two optical fibers are permanently joined together to form a continuous optical transmission path. These joints...

A fiber optic preform is a cylindrical glass rod or tube used as the starting material for manufacturing optical fibers. It serves as the precursor from which optical fibers are drawn. The process of...

A fiber optic spectrometer is a device used for measuring the spectral content of light. It utilizes optical fibers to transmit light from a source to a spectrometer unit, where the light is...

A fiber optic transceiver, often simply referred to as an "optical transceiver," is a device used in fiber optic communications to transmit and receive data over optical fibers. It integrates both a...

A transformer that is designed to regulate the amount of current that passes through an electron tube's filament.

An instrument designed to place nongraphic information, usually generated by a computer, onto photographic film. The information is generally encoded as a series of opaque and translucent spots, or...

Nonimage-forming light, concentrated or diffuse, that is transmitted through the lens to the image. It is frequently the result of reflections from lens surfaces, a lens barrel, shutter or lens mount.

The Floquet Fermi liquid state refers to a concept in condensed matter physics that arises when a system is subjected to periodic driving or modulation, typically by an external periodic field such...

In various fields such as fluid dynamics, microfluidics, and biotechnology, a flow channel refers to a defined pathway through which a fluid (liquid or gas) flows. The channel can be of various...

A flowmeter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a fluid passing through a particular point in a system. It works by sensing the velocity of the fluid passing through it and...

A device, also called a fluorescence lifetime instrument, that measures decay curves of fluorescing samples. It generally consists of a gated pulsed flashlamp or a cavity dumped dye laser...

The optical form of the crystal fluorspar, calcium fluoride, that is utilized for its low optical dispersion, its low refractive index, and its transparency to infrared and ultraviolet radiation.

A device used to scan, with a small, intensely bright spot, portions of a picture surface and to transform the original picture into a series of electrical signals. In optical character recognition,...

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a mechanism describing the transfer of energy between two closely spaced fluorescent molecules. This phenomenon is named after the German scientist...

A polarizing prism formed from calcite that is like the Nicol prism but has the two parts divided by a thin air-film and cut to such angles that the extraordinary beam will be transmitted and the...

A hologram formed by the recording of a plane object situated in the focal plane of a lens so that each object gives rise to a parallel beam of light incident on the plate. A collimated reference...

An instrument using a Michelson interferometer, a beamsplitter, two plane mirrors and a detector to give Fourier analysis of the detector signal to provide the desired spectrum.

Any of the various methods of decomposing a signal into a set of coefficients of orthogonal waveforms (trigonometric functions).

Image processing peripheral that converts video images from cameras into digital format and transfers these digital images to PCs.

Free-space optics (FSO), also known as optical wireless communication or optical wireless networking, refers to the transmission of data using modulated beams of light through free space (air or a...

A frequency comb is a precise and regular series of equally spaced spectral lines, or frequencies, that are generated with great accuracy. The term "frequency comb" is often associated with the Nobel...

The frequency domain is a concept used in signal processing and analysis to represent signals and data in terms of their frequency components. In contrast to the time domain, where signals are...

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...

FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer is a powerful analytical instrument used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid, or gas sample. It operates based...

Optical fibers fused together to form a solid, vacuum-tight assembly in the form of a slab or rod. Discs or rectangular shapes having ground and polished surfaces perpendicular to the fiber lengths...

Fused quartz and silica are closely related materials, both composed primarily of silicon dioxide (SiO2), but they are produced through different manufacturing processes and have distinct properties...

1. The combination of the effects of two or more stimuli in any given sense to form a single sensation. With respect to vision, the perception of continuous illumination formed by the rapid...