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Light shaping for illumination

  • Rolf Wester

    Rolf Wester is a scientist at the Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen. He received his Diploma (MSc) in Physics in 1983 from the Technical University of Darmstadt and his Doctorate (PhD) in 1987 from the RWTH Aachen. In the same year he changed from the RWTH to the Fraunhofer ILT where he continued working on high frequency excitation of gas lasers. In recent years, his field of research interest switched to optics. He is now mainly concerned with the development of simulation software for physical optics problems and of numerical design tools for freeform optical elements.

     EMAIL logo     and Axel Bäuerle

    Axel Bäuerle received his MSc in Physics in 2008 from Imperial College, London (UK), working on high-power solid lasers. He joined RWTH Aachen University and Fraunhofer ILT in 2009, where he is a scientist working on algorithms to design freeform optical surfaces.
Published/Copyright: August 3, 2013
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Advanced Optical Technologies
From the journal Advanced Optical Technologies Volume 2 Issue 4

Abstract

The ever-increasing use of LED as a solid-state light source in general and specialized lighting has pushed the field of optics further for illumination towards sophistication and high precision. In this paper, we provide an overview of this domain, starting with a formulation of the underlying, fundamental mathematical problem, which in itself is not easily and directly solvable. We then describe various algorithms that have been developed as approximations for specialized cases, providing references to the relevant publications. Finally, two examples show the new possibilities in light shaping that have been made possible through the use of nonimaging freeform optics.

Keywords: extended source; illumination design; nonimaging optics; point source; OCIS codes: 220.2945; 220.4298
Corresponding author: Rolf Wester, Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, Steinbachstr. 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany

About the authors

Rolf Wester

Rolf Wester is a scientist at the Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen. He received his Diploma (MSc) in Physics in 1983 from the Technical University of Darmstadt and his Doctorate (PhD) in 1987 from the RWTH Aachen. In the same year he changed from the RWTH to the Fraunhofer ILT where he continued working on high frequency excitation of gas lasers. In recent years, his field of research interest switched to optics. He is now mainly concerned with the development of simulation software for physical optics problems and of numerical design tools for freeform optical elements.

Axel Bäuerle

Axel Bäuerle received his MSc in Physics in 2008 from Imperial College, London (UK), working on high-power solid lasers. He joined RWTH Aachen University and Fraunhofer ILT in 2009, where he is a scientist working on algorithms to design freeform optical surfaces.

This work has partly been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within its program on freeform optics (grant numbers 13N10832, 13N10833).

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Received: 2013-5-24
Accepted: 2013-7-4
Published Online: 2013-08-03
Published in Print: 2013-08-01

©2013 by THOSS Media & De Gruyter Berlin Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Masthead
  3. Community
  4. Interview with Jyrki Saarinen, the new Executive Director of EOS
  5. Conference Notes
  6. Conference Calendar
  7. Topical Issue: Lighting technology
  8. Editorial
  9. Lighting technology
  10. Tutorial
  11. Extracting light out of LEDs
  12. Review Articles
  13. Light shaping for illumination
  14. Lighting with laser diodes
  15. Research Articles
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  17. Backlight illumination design using constant extinction
  18. Review Article
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https://doi.org/10.1515/aot-2013-0028
Keywords for this article
extended source; illumination design; nonimaging optics; point source; OCIS codes: 220.2945; 220.4298

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Masthead
  3. Community
  4. Interview with Jyrki Saarinen, the new Executive Director of EOS
  5. Conference Notes
  6. Conference Calendar
  7. Topical Issue: Lighting technology
  8. Editorial
  9. Lighting technology
  10. Tutorial
  11. Extracting light out of LEDs
  12. Review Articles
  13. Light shaping for illumination
  14. Lighting with laser diodes
  15. Research Articles
  16. SMS freeforms for illumination
  17. Backlight illumination design using constant extinction
  18. Review Article
  19. Deconvolution for digital in-line holographic microscopy
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