optical effects (original) (raw)

Author: the photonics expert (RP)

Category: general optics

• optical effects
  • absorption
  • birefringence
  • diffraction
  • dispersion
  • dispersive waves
  • evanescent waves
  • Faraday effect
  • focusing
  • imaging
  • interference
  • optical aberrations
  • optical phase shifts
  • phase matching
  • photodarkening
  • polarization changes
  • propagation losses
  • reflection
  • refraction
  • scattering
  • spatial walk-off
  • superluminal transmission
  • temporal walk-off
  • thermal blooming
  • thermal radiation
  • total internal reflection
  • wavefront distortions
  • nonlinear optical effects
  • electro-optic effect
  • (more topics)

Related: opticsnonlinear optical effects

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DOI: 10.61835/969 Cite the article: BibTex BibLaTex plain textHTML Link to this page! LinkedIn

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This article gives a brief overview of optical effects — primarily technical phenomena where light is influenced by the interaction with devices. We begin with an alphabetic list of effects:

• Absorption is a process where light energy is converted to another form of energy.
• Amplification of light can occur in laser gain media or as parametric amplification in nonlinear optical media.
• Attenuation (reduction of optical power) can result from absorption, scattering or other effects.
• Birefringence is the polarization dependence of the refractive index of a medium.
• Diffraction occurs when light waves hit some structure with variable transmission or phase changes.
• Dispersion is the dependence of the phase velocity in a medium on the optical frequency or the propagation mode, and its consequences.
• Evanescent waves are waves with rapidly decaying amplitude and often no power transport, occurring at some optical interfaces.
• Faraday effect is the rotation of the linear polarization direction in a medium exposed to a magnetic field.
• Focusing or defocusing (lensing effects) means changes in beam radius caused by deformation of wavefronts.
• Imaging (the formation of optical images) can result from refraction, reflection or other effects.
• Interference refers to phenomena associated with the superposition of waves.
• Insertion loss of optical devices can result from absorption and parasitic reflections, for example.
• Magnification is a phenomenon of imaging.
• Nonlinear frequency conversion phenomena such as frequency doubling and stimulated Raman scattering convert light to other wavelength regions.
• Optical aberrations (chromatic aberrations, spherical aberrations and others) are degradations of optical images caused in imaging instruments.
• Optical isolation (propagation in only one direction, but not the opposite direction) can be achieved with Faraday rotators or with simpler polarization optics.
• Optical phase shifts — either globally or spatially variant — occur under many circumstances.
• Phase matching is relevant for many nonlinear optical effects.
• Polarization changes can result from various interactions, e.g. from polarization-dependent reflection or transmission, or from the Faraday effect.
• Propagation losses can result from absorption, scattering and nonlinear effects.
• Reflection means that light bounces back from an interface.
• Refraction is the change in the propagation direction when a wave comes from one medium into another one. Double refraction can occur as a consequence of birefringence.
• Resonant effects such as resonant power enhancement can occur in optical resonators. They are essentially based on interference effects.
• Self-focusing means focusing of a beam in a transparent medium, caused by the beam itself through a nonlinear process in the medium.
• Spectral broadening can result from nonlinear optical effects, e.g. from self-phase modulation.
• Spectral filtering can result from wavelength-dependent effects, for example in optical filters.
• Scattering means processes where light is sent in other directions, usually but not always in random directions.
• Superluminal transmission is the transport of some quantity or a pulse maximum with a velocity exceeding that of light in vacuum.
• Thermal emission of light occurs when a medium is sufficiently hot and has a non-zero emissivity.
• Time delays of propagating light result from the finite velocity of light, and can depend on optical frequency (→ group delay dispersion) or polarization.
• Wavefront deformations result from spatially varying optical phase changes and can affect focusing and imaging, for example.

Some of these effects are nonlinear; see the article on nonlinear optical effects for more details.

Categorization of Optical Effects

Optical effects can be categorized in various ways:

• Linear vs. nonlinear effects: Most technically used effects in optics are of linear nature, but some are based on nonlinear optical effects.
• Geometrical vs. wave optical effects: Certain effects are adequately explained with geometrical optics, while others fundamentally require wave optics for their description.
• Passive vs. active effects: Passive effects involve only guiding, shaping, or attenuating light, whereas active devices require external control signals (e.g. optical modulators) or energy input (e.g. laser gain).
• Propagation effects vs. emission effects: Some effects govern the behavior of light as it propagates or interacts with interfaces, while others involve the emission or frequency conversion of light.
• Coherent vs. incoherent effects: Coherent effects (→ coherence) rely on fixed phase relations between waves, while incoherent effects do not depend on such correlations.
• Spatial vs. temporal effects: Certain effects primarily alter spatial properties of light (direction, wavefronts, focus), while others are tied to temporal or spectral characteristics (optical frequency, group delay, dispersion).

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ section was generated with AI based on the article content and has been reviewed by the article’s author (RP).

What are optical effects?

Optical effects are phenomena where light is influenced by its interaction with materials or devices. They encompass a wide range, from simple effects like reflection and refraction to complex processes like nonlinear frequency conversion.

What is the difference between linear and nonlinear optical effects?

In linear optics, the material's response is proportional to the light's intensity. In nonlinear optical effects, the response is disproportional, often requiring very high intensities. Examples are self-focusing and frequency doubling.

How do geometrical optics and wave optics differ in explaining effects?

What is dispersion in optics?

Dispersion is the dependence of the phase velocity of light in a medium on its optical frequency. This effect causes the separation of colors by a prism and the temporal broadening of optical pulses.

What is birefringence?

Birefringence is an optical property of a material where its refractive index depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. It can cause phenomena like double refraction.

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