Optical bandpass filters are filters that allow only a certain bandwidth of light and block the others above and below the specified bandwidth.
An optical diffuser can be defined as an element that scatters light. An optical diffuser is used for softening or giving shape to an illumination. Optical diffusers are commonly used in commercial photography.
Brillouin scattering may be described as a phenomenon of inelastic scattering of light in a physical medium brought about by thermally excited acoustical phonons. Brillouin scattering is usually observed in solid medium.
Raman amplification is a phenomenon in non-linear optical mediums where the transfer of power from one optical beam to another happens when it is downshifted in frequency by the energy from an optical phonon.
Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN) laser is a semiconductor laser. It is also called blue laser as the emitted wavelength of light is perceived as blue colour by the human eye. InGaN is essentially a semiconductor material, which is a mix of gallium nitride (GaN) and indium nitride (InN).
An international research team led by the Paris Observatory has developed an optical atomic clock based on strontium.
By Will Soutter
10 Jul 2013
Gallium nitride laser is a type of semiconductor laser. Semiconductor lasers that are based on gallium nitride are often called blue lasers, since they produce wavelengths lying between 360 and 480 nm.
Photomultipliers or photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) belong to a class of vacuum tubes that convert photons into electric signal. PMTs are known for their ultra-fast response and high sensitivity. They are particularly useful in low-intensity applications.
Optical flats can be described as an optical grade glass which is polished and made extremely flat on both surfaces, used for determining the flatness of various optical surfaces.
A beam combiner is essentially an arrangement of beam splitters and mirrors. The function of a beam splitter is to divide the incident light into two paths, one by transmission and another by reflection.