Light box for investigation of characteristics of optoelectronics detectors

摘要

In this paper, a light box for investigation of characteristics of optoelectronic detectors is described. The light box consists of an illumination device, an optical power sensor and a mechanical enclosure. The illumination device is based on four types of high-power light emitting diodes (LED): white light, red, green and blue. The illumination level can be varied for each LED independently by the driver and is measured by optical power sensor. The mechanical enclosure provides stable mounting points for the illumination device, sensor and the examined detector and protects the system from external light, which would otherwise strongly influence the measurement results. Uniformity of illumination distribution provided by the light box for all colors is good, making the measurement results less dependent on the position of the examined detector. The response of optoelectronic detectors can be investigated using the developed light box for each LED separately or for any combination of up to four LED types. As the red, green and blue LEDs are rather narrow bandwidth sources, spectral response of different detectors can be examined for these wavelength ranges. The described light box can be used for different applications. Its primary use is in a student laboratory setup for investigation of characteristics of optoelectronic detectors. Moreover, it can also be used in various colorimetric or photographic applications. Finally, it will be used as a part of demonstrations from the fields of vision and color, performed during science fairs and outreach activities increasing awareness of optics and photonics.