New Broadband Light Source Offers Highest Brightness

The Mighty Light Plus (ML+) from Spectrolight is a high power white light source for microscopy, white light interferometry, machine vision, and precision inspection applications that delivers ten times higher spatial brightness than any other available product. Specifically, the ML+ outputs up to 7 watts from a 10 mm diameter, detachable, armored light guide. This provides high spatial uniformity suitable for both wide-field and focused spot illumination applications. And, all this is produced from an air-cooled package (including a low noise power supply), that is only 340 mm x 160 mm x 140 mm. 

An optional collimator is also available which enables the light guide output to be directed into a variety of free space optics applications or instruments. This collimator is designed to interface directly with Spectrolight Flexible Wavelength Selectors, thereby providing a low-cost, smoothly tunable, narrowband light source. This allows the ML+ output to be rapidly tuned to match the excitation spectrum of a wide range of fluorophores.

Many photonic applications need a bright broadband or tunable light source but cannot use a laser or supercontinuum source because of the high cost or unwanted coherence. Modern lamps deliver both a broad output spectrum and high power, but the challenge is to efficiently couple this into applications and instruments. A uniquely efficient optical design in the ML+ now provides end users and OEMs with a turnkey solution to this problem. Moreover, the ML+ bulb temperature of 3400K delivers output as short as 350 nm, while producing useful power above 2.5 μm. Rotation of a single knob enables the output power to be smoothly varied from 0-100%.