Glossary Term Archives

Anomalous dispersion means that the lower-frequency components are slower relative to the higher frequency components ie red trails blue; corresponds to negative group velocity dispersion, meaning a negative chirp.

A biaxial crystal has two optic axes, both being extraordinary wave axes. Examples of biaxial crystals are all of the monoclinic, triclinic, and orthorhombic crystal systems.

Birefringence is a case of an anisotropic optical property, and refers specifically to materials that have a refractive index (or susceptibility) that depends on the direction of propagation and the polarization of light in a medium. Birefringent crystals can be either uniaxial or biaxial.

Dispersion refers to the case when the spectrum of a beam of light is dependent on parameters such as space or time, which are referred to as spatial or temporal dispersion, respectively. Spatial dispersion is involved whenever you have a grating pair, prism, or other component that physically separates different spectral components of incident lightContinue reading “Dispersion”

In the presence of an electric field, the amount of polarization possible in a dielectric material.

A dielectric whose polarization always has a direction that is parallel to the applied electric field, and a magnitude which does not depend on the direction of the electric field. SOURCE: McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

“Laser” stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”. In comparison with light from an incandescent source, a laser produces an output that is unidirectional, coherent, and of a small bandwidth. The essential components of a laser oscillator are a pumping source, a gain medium, and a feedback mechanism. The main difference between aContinue reading “Laser (oscillator)”

Used in fiber optics, the mode field diameter is the effective diameter of the area that light propagating in a fiber will see

Normal dispersion means that the higher-frequency components are slower relative to the lower frequency components ie blue trails red; corresponds to positive group velocity dispersion, meaning a positive chirp.

Also known as a transverse magnetic field; in this configuration, the magnetic field is pointing in and out of the “normal”, while the electric field is in the plane of the “normal”.