Scientific Glossary
- Offset frequency: Carrier-envelope phase evolution of a stabilized ultrashort-pulse mode-locked laser.
- Optical atomic clock: Precision clock whose oscillator (time keeper) is an optical transition in an atom or ion counted by an ultrafast laser.
- Optical cavity: An arrangement of mirrors that forms a standing wave of light waves.
- Optical frequency comb: A precision tool for measuring frequencies of light; the frequency spectrum of a stabilized mode-locked laser consisting of hundreds of thousands of sharp lines of different colors (frequencies) that resemble the teeth of a comb.
- Optical frequency synthesis: Control of the frequency comb produced with a mode-locked laser to produce a desired optical frequency.
- Optical lattice: Egg-cartonlike potential wells that resemble a crystalline lattice formed during laser cooling.
- Optical pulse synthesis: The use of two phase-locked-mode-locked femtosecond lasers to produce a new, coherent pulse with larger amplitude than the individual laser outputs.
- Optical trap: A tightly focused beam of light capable of holding particles stable in three dimensions; optical tweezers.
- Optical tweezers: A focused laser beam that can manipulate micron-sized objects in solution.
- Optoelectronic device: An instrument that is or uses a electrical-to-optical or optical-to-electrical transducer.
- Oscillator: A mechanical, electrical or biological mechanism that produces regular, periodic variations in time.