Assessment and comparison of spectral and spatial emission characteristicsof non coherent light sources for use in photomedicine

An automated light analysis system is described that permits rapid and quan titative measurement of both spatial and spectral uniformity from non-coher ent light sources. Parameters that can easily be assessed with the lamp ana lysis system include: irradiance, uniformity of irradiance, spectral irradi ance, uniformity of spectral irradiance, and lamp output stability. The mea sured parameters permit the classification of different broad band sources according to their photobiological process effectiveness. Four lamps develo ped or customized for use in photodynamic therapy, all air-cooled devices t hat are simple to operate, have been assessed in this study. They include: 1) an in-house customized slide projector source, 2) a home-built light sou rce containing 5 slide projector lamps arranged in a pentagon configuration , 3) a home-built Eight source containing 3 sodium lamps placed in a linear array, and 4) a prototype commercial illuminator for photodynamic therapy containing a single, 1000 W quartz-halogen bulb. The automated light analys is system described is capable of quantitative analysis on a large variety of lamp sources with potential use in different photobiological application s, such as photosynthesis, environmental photobiology, photomedicine, as we ll as in many industrial applications.