Glossary
- Laser: acronym of : « light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation » ; device emitting spatially and temporally coherent light radiation based on the stimulated emission
- Waist: position along the propagation axis where a laser beam has the smallest size
- Vertex: top of a surface
- Wavelength ( of a light wave ): distance between two consecutive identical states of the electric ( or magnetic ) field
- Lens: optical component with two refractive surfaces axially symmetrical for redirecting the light in a controlled manner
- Refraction index: for a transparent medium, ratio between the light speed in the air and the light speed in the medium ; for a reflective surface in the air or vacuum, the refraction index is « - 1 »
- Elliptical beam: a beam in which « equi-intensity » curves in a plane perpendicular to the propagation axis are elliptical
- M square factor (M2): ratio between the divergence of an embedded gaussian beam and that of the fundamental mode of a laser (gaussian mode) with the same waist size and at the same wavelength