WARF TECHNOLOGIES

Ultraviolet (UV) lamps are used as a source of white (multi-colored) UV light for many applications; however, these lamps are large and expensive, require a high voltage, generate a lot of heat and may waste much of the bright light due to leakage when coupled with optical fibers.

UW-Madison researchers have developed a fiber-coupled, broadband UV light source with approximately one million times the spectral radiance of conventional UV lamps. This UV supercontinuum source consists of a pulsed ultraviolet laser followed by a fiber-optic cable. It produces light that is laser-like, except that it possesses many colors rather than just one. To achieve supercontinuua, a particular relationship among properties including laser pulse duration and energy, laser wavelength and fiber dispersion, diameter and length must be met.

• Sensing gases, biospecimens and other materials that absorb UV light

• Compact; making it a practical, direct, drop-in replacement for all fiber-coupled UV lamps
• Produces a UV continuum in a wavelength range extending to less than 350 nanometers
• Can be coupled with a “scanner” to provide a broadly tunable UV source
• Can be driven with a single-stage, narrow-band laser
• Does not require spectral broadening of the fiber optic excitation pulse by an organic dye laser
• Different types of optical fibers may be used.

For More Information About the Inventors

• Scott Sanders

Tech Fields

• Analytical Instrumentation, Methods & Materials : Lasers
• Analytical Instrumentation, Methods & Materials : Spectroscopy