From the perspective of solid state physics, Brillouin scattering is an interaction between an electromagnetic wave and one of the three above-mentioned crystalline lattice waves (e.g. electrostriction and magnetostriction). The scattering is inelastic i.e. the photon may lose energy (Stokes process) and in the process create one of the three quasiparticle types (phonon, polariton, magnon) or it may gain energy (anti-Stokes process) by absorbing one of those quasiparticle types. Such a shift in photon energy, corresponding to a Brillouin shift in frequency, is equal to the energy of the released or absorbed quasiparticle. Thus, Brillouin scattering can be used to measure the energies, wavelengths and frequencies of various atomic chain oscillation types (quasiparticles). To measure a Brillouin shift a commonly employed device called the Brillouin spectrometer is used, the design of which is derived from a Fabry–Pérot interferometer. Alternatively, high-speed photodiodes, such as those recovered from inexpensive 25-gigabit Ethernet optical transceivers, may be used in combination with a software-defined radio or RF spectrum analyzer.