IR & UV Management Solutions High intensity light sources unwanted energy outside of the visual spectrum. Incandescent sources emit large quantities of heat (IR), while metal halide and arc lamps emit large quantities of UV light. High quantities of IR can put unacceptable heat loads on other components and the illuminated objects, while excess UV is a health hazard and can degrade lamp system components, etc. DSI’s HeatBuster® hot and cold mirrors provide versatile solutions to the need to manage IR & UV emissions. Hot mirrors transmit the visual light, while reflecting the near IR (the bulk of an incandescent burners output). In addition to blocking the IR, a blue red hot mirror also blocks the UV. Cold mirrors reflect the visual and transmit the infrared. UV blockers transmit the visual, while blocking the transmission of UV light. Hot and cold mirrors can be combined in one system to provide “cool” beams of light from incandescent sources, while a cold mirror and a UV blocker are often combined for service with metal halide burners. The capabilities of our coatings to withstand extreme conditions, together with our capability to deposit coatings on unusual shapes, allows us to implement new solutions to meet your needs. For example, depositing a HeatBuster cold mirror directly on the burner envelope of a 1 kW arc lamp allowed better control of the light output and elimination of an external reflector element. Deposition of cold mirrors on very high aspect ratio reflectors impossible to coat by other means allows much more efficient use of burner outputs. Deposition of a hot mirror on a cylindrical sleeve for an operating theatre light provided cool illumination with good color rendering. We have over 15 years experience at crafting OEM solutions to IR and UV management problems for lighting and related applications. Contact us today with your requirements; we can help! Top

Energy Efficiency Quartz halogen lamps provide high intensity illumination with a desirable color. However, these sources are very inefficient, with about 90% of the total energy being emitted in the IR. Deposition of a properly design hot mirror directly to the burner envelope can greatly improve the efficiency of quartz halogen burners by reflecting a major portion of the IR back into the burner filament, where it is reabsorbed and contributes to maintaining proper filament temperature. Filament temperature is maintained with less net electrical power input. Successful implementation and design of such a strategy requires close collaboration between the burner designer and the coating designer. The physical shape of the burner, filament placement, and electrical design properties must take into account the effects of the coating, and the coating process must be tailored to the shape and intended operating characteristics of the burner. DSI has a fifteen year history of working with major lighting companies to bring energy efficiency to quartz halogen lighting. In 1986 we started a collaborative program with General Electric to develop hot mirror coatings for quartz halogen burners. Today GE has manufactured millions of burners with the process that DSI and GE developed. Since that time, together with several major lighting manufacturers, we have continued to extend our capabilities and processes for energy efficiency of quartz halogen burners. Today DSI not only offers coated products, but also complete MicroDyn deposition systems with turnkey processes for this purpose. Top

Reflectors Reflectors traditionally have been made from aluminum. While an inexpensive solution, aluminum reflectors also reflect all the IR from the burner onto the subject, and only reflect about 90% of the visual light. Aluminum reflectors also fail in high power applications due to the heat load. DSI’s all dielectric metal oxide HeatBuster cold mirror coatings, when deposited on a formed glass or ceramic reflector, are a major improvement over metal reflectors. On a glass reflector the HeatBuster cold mirror allows much of the IR output of the burner to escape through the reflector, greatly reducing the heat load on the illuminated field. The HeatBuster cold mirror has higher reflectivity in the visual than aluminum, and provides higher lumen output than does an aluminum reflector. HeatBuster cold mirrors are completely stable, and provide service lifetimes of thousands of hours with no change in properties. For very high intensity sources (where a glass reflector may fail) deposition of a HeatBuster cold mirror on a ceramic reflector can provide a good solution. In this case the IR passes through the coating and is absorbed by the ceramic. Correct color rendering is an important aspect of a high performance reflector. This requires that the coating be tailored over the reflector to account for the changing angle of incidence of the light from the burner. DSI’s coating processes are capable varying the coating over the reflector so that proper color rendering is maintained. For applications using non-incandescent sources, DSI’s HeatBuster enhanced aluminum can be an effective choice. The enhanced aluminum has a considerably higher reflectivity than does uncoated aluminum, and has excellent durability. We have over ten years experience providing solutions to the most demanding reflector needs. All reflectors are done on an OEM basis, either with customer furnished material or on a turnkey basis. Contact us today with your requirements! Top

Color Filters Color filters separate white light into its component colors. These filters are essential elements in projection displays, stage/studio lighting systems, and a variety of decorative applications. Projection displays require filters for the three primary colors, while stage studio and decorative applications require a wide variety of custom colors. DSI’s MicroDyn process allows us to offer next generation color filters in high volume at competitive prices with the following key benefits: Precise, consistent control of color Essentially no Wet-to-Dry Shift Withstand Rapid Thermal Cycling to 1,000°C Continuous Operation at 1,000° for thousands of hours Withstand Severe Abrasion, Salt Fog, Damp Heat We offer standard color filters with rapid turnaround, and also manufacture to your OEM specification. Contact us with your requirements; we can help! Top

Color Correction Energy efficient light sources such as metal halide, arc lamps, etc provide light with a color rendering index (CRI) that is different from incandescent sources. For many applications it is desirable to change the output spectrum of the burner to more closely approximate the CRI of a incandescent source. This need can be addressed by deposition of a color correction filter directly on the burner envelope. At DSI we have demonstrated substantial improvements in the CRI of metal halide and other non-incandescent sources by this method. Successful development of a color correction coating for a lamp burner requires interactive engineering of the specific source and the coating. Contact us to learn more about the new possibilities for CRI improvements that DSI’s MicroDyn process has enabled! Top Diffusion Barriers Many specialty high intensity light sources are fabricated using quartz tubing. While quartz provides the best compromise between cost and longevity for these burners, the primary failure mechanism is diffusion of lamp components into the quartz, leading to early failure. DSI has developed a solution to this problem based on our proprietary plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process. This process is capable of depositing a fully dense film of aluminum oxide (or other barrier materials) on the inner surface of a quartz tube. This layer of aluminum oxide serves as a diffusion barrier to prevent the chemicals in the lamp from diffusing into the quartz envelope, and can dramatically lengthen the service life of the burner. In production lengths of quartz tubing of the desired diameter are coated on the inner surface with the aluminum oxide. These quartz tubes are then cut to the desired length, and seal fittings attached to the ends in the usual way. If you would like to improve the lifetime of your specialty lamp burners, contact us today. We can help! Top Technical Papers, Patents, and Application Notes Over the past fifteen years DSI scientists and engineers have written a wide variety of papers and patents on the applications of optical thin films to lighting applications. In the near future, we'll have our publications and patents available for view on this site. If you'd like to discuss a product or project, we invite you to email, send an inquiry form, or call us toll free at 1-866-4DEPSCI and speak directly to our technical staff. Return to top of page