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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
Refracting surface: surface interfacing two transparent media with different refraction indexes
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