Visible Illumination Source

A visible illumination source provides a spatially uniform distribution of temporally stable irradiance over a 70mm diameter area for testing CCD and CMOS imagers. The spectral range of the PI-4870 Visible Illumination Source is from 400 to 750 nanometers. Specific spectral bandpasses and irradiance levels are selectable in software operating under Windows 95, 98, or NT. The unit is compact, capable of operating in any position, requires minimum maintenance, and does not produce excessive heating of the system optics, or the device under test.

The design is based on a high collection efficiency collector/concentrator. The collector/concentrator collects the energy emanating through a large solid angle from a 20 W 3200°K Quartz Tungsten Halogen Lamp and concentrates it to a small area.

The energy is filtered to remove heat (near-ir) and UV, then homogenized by a series of holographic diffusers, a beam homogenizer, and an output imaging lens. Bandpass and neutral density filters process the energy before it is delivered as a semi-collimated beam of uniform spatial distribution to the device under test. A closed-loop monitoring system maintains intensity and spectral stability to ±0.1% for short and long intervals.