Maximum Luminous Efficiency Contour Charts for Colored Materials

摘要

This note contains 17 principal figures. Each is a graphic portrayal of the maximum luminous efficiency of colored materials as illuminated by a specified source of light. Each figure consists of a family of isoefficiency contours, computer-plotted on the familiar 1931 International Commission on Illumination chromaticity diagram. Blackbody sources included in the 17 figures are 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2360, 2854 (Illuminant A), 3000, and 3200 Kelvin. Equal energy and illuminants B, C, and D6500 are also included as are contour charts for several 'neon,' mercury and other sources that have prominent line spectra. These charts are intended to be tutorial. They illustrate immutable constraints on the luminous efficiencies of even 'ideal' colored materials. The relationships apply to light-reflecting as well as to light-transmitting materials. While the lower percentage contours of some of the figures are inherently imprecise quantitatively, all provide a basis for an approximate evaluation of an existing color filter (or colored material) in terms of an ideal filter (or colored material). Such an evaluation can reveal the possibility (or impracticality) of a significant improvement in luminous efficiency. (Author)