Light & Optics

… info about light, optics, lighting …

All About Light

From Fermilab — classical, relativistic and quantum descriptions of light.

Visual Optics

“Perspective is deeply linked with human vision, geometrical optics, and inherent technical relations. In this section, we explore the sources of these visual factors, specifically to define the fundamental nature of perspective.”

Optics: Light, Color, and Their Uses Educator Guide (NASA)

“The guide contains color and light activities using lenses, prisms and mirrors to create telescopes, periscopes, microscopes and kaleidoscopes. Other activities include finding focal length and understanding reflection, refraction and diffraction. Activities are marked by grade level.” Includes link to 98 page PDF.

Optics Lessons

Series of lessons produced by the Optics class at Montgomery Blair High School, designed to teach how light behaves in different situations.

Edmund Industrial Optics

Large, comprehensive inventory of Optical Components

Präzisions Glas & Optik

German source for Optical Glass products and Optical Coatings

Lighting

Lighting Research Center

“Advancing the effective use of Light for Society and the Environment” – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Lumiram

incandescent, halogen, LED and flourescent full spectrum light bulbs. ”…contain neodymium glass which filters out yellow and other dulling frequencies of the visible light spectrum, resulting in purified light with enhanced violet, blue, green, and red tones.” (Have used these for years, they make regular incandescents look sickly yellow by comparison)

Solatube

“capture sunlight on your rooftop, redirect it down a highly reflective shaft, then diffuse it throughout your interior space”

Tubular Skylights

“transfer natural sunlight by using a clear dome over a reflective shaft which ends at your ceiling with a sealed diffuser”

Domestic Lighting for Off-Grid Homes

Comparison of lighting technologies available for use off the grid. Linked to from this guide.

Light up the World foundation

”…to provide renewable energy technologies and high efficiency lighting to communities around the world that do not have access to appropriate and affordable energy solutions … transition away from using polluting fuel-based lighting and costly single-use batteries … training local technicians and developing the capacity of local service providers”

Unite to Light

“dedicated to providing low-cost solar light and power to those without electricity across the globe.” See the Luke Light, which can be purchased through thier Buy One | Give One program.

Vision

Eye Resources on the Internet

Large list of links to eye-related resources, compiled on behalf of the Association of Vision Science Librarians

Ultraviolet damage to the eye revisited: eye-sun protection factor (E-SPF®), a new UV protection label for eyewear

“…an important share of the UV burden to the eye is explained by back reflection of radiation from lenses to the eye … antireflective coatings considerably increase reflection of UV radiation. To provide reliable labeling of the protective potential of lenses, an eye-sun protection factor (E-SPF®) has been developed. It integrates UV transmission as well as UV reflectance of lenses.”

Misc

LiTraCon

Light transmitting concrete!

The LED FAQ Pages

“…a compilation of questions and answers relating to Light Emitting Diodes and their Infrared Emitter cousins.” Lots of info on how to use Light Emitting Diodes, including many related links.

Don Klipstein’s LED Main Page

Excellent compilation of links to information about LEDs. Also, see Don’s main lighting page.

Light Pollution

Satellite monitoring of the artificial night sky brightness and the stellar visibility, from the Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute.