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Spectral Power Distribution

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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

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Synonyms

Spectral power distribution curves

Definition

Spectral power distribution (SPD) is a function of wavelength and describes the amount of optical radiation across part of a spectrum. SPD usually describes optical radiation emitted by a light source, but generally, SPD can be applied to describe optical radiation reflected by an object, or transmitted from a transparent/semi-transparent object.

According to the definition of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), SPD is “a pictorial representation of the radiant power emitted by a light source at each wavelength or band of wavelengths in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum.” Ideally, SPD should be expressed in units of W/nm. However, in some of the literature, SPD is a general term used to describe any radiometric or photometric quantity as a function of wavelength (with corresponding units). In many conventional cases, SPD is referred to as radiant power per unit area as a function of...

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References

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  8. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/spd.html HyperPhysics (©C.R. Nave, 2012)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Measurement Standards, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Yi-Chen Chuang

Authors
  1. Yi-Chen Chuang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi-Chen Chuang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Design University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

    Ronnier Luo

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Chuang, YC. (2015). Spectral Power Distribution. In: Luo, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_352-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_352-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

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