Power Density

Author: the photonics expert Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta

Definition: intensity or power per unit frequency interval

Category: article belongs to category optical metrology optical metrology

DOI: 10.61835/l5z Cite the article: BibTex plain text HTML Link to this page LinkedIn

The term power density is sometimes used as a short form of power spectral density in the context of noise specifications. In other cases, it is meant to be an optical power per unit area, but optical intensity or irradiance is then a more appropriate term.

In order to avoid such confusion, it is recommended to avoid the use of this term altogether, unless the context makes clear which meaning is used.

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