Edmund Optics has released the TechSpec family of light pipe homogenising rods for OEM illumination needs. The rods use total internal reflection to turn a non-uniform light source into uniform illumination and deliver it to the target site. These rods are ideal for applications where point sources such as LEDs must be combined and made to deliver even lighting.
Unlike traditional square integrating rods, TechSpec rods have a hexagonal cross section. The hexagonal shape provides a better match to spherical point source wave fronts, resulting in a 35 per cent increase in coupling efficiency, allowing these light pipes to deliver brighter illumination for a given light source.
The light pipes use total internal reflection to effectively randomise entrance angles at their output aperture. The result is a homogenisation of the original light source’s spatial intensity distribution, providing greater uniformity of illumination at the rod’s end.
Because the homogenising effects of traveling through the rod are not wavelength or entry-angle dependent, the rods can mix the light from multiple sources into a uniform beam. This allows OEMs to use the rods to combine the light from several LEDs to increase illumination intensity or to mix colours to obtain unusual spectral characteristics.