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Fundamentals of Light Sources

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Biophotonics

Part of the book series: Graduate Texts in Physics ((GTP))

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Abstract

A broad selection of light sources is available for the biophotonic UV, visible, or infrared regions. These sources include arc lamps, light emitting diodes, laser diodes, superluminescent diodes, and various types of gas, solid-state, and optical fiber lasers. This chapter first defines some basic terminology used in radiometry, which deals with the measurement of optical radiation. Understanding this terminology is important when determining and specifying the degrees of interaction of light with tissue. Next the characteristics of optical sources for biophotonics are described. This includes the spectrum over which the source emits, the emitted power levels as a function of wavelength, the optical power per unit solid angle emitted in a given direction, the light polarization, and the coherence properties of the emission. In addition, depending on the operating principles of the light source, it can emit light in either a continuous mode or a pulsed mode.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Newton, MA, USA

    Gerd Keiser

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  1. Gerd Keiser
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Correspondence to Gerd Keiser .

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Keiser, G. (2022). Fundamentals of Light Sources. In: Biophotonics. Graduate Texts in Physics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3482-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3482-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-19-3481-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-3482-7

  • eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

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