A dichroic filter, thin-film filter, or interference filter is a very accurate color filter used to selectively pass light of a small range of colors while reflecting other colors. By comparison, dichroic mirrors and dichroic reflectors tend to be characterized by the color(s) of light that they reflect, rather than the color(s) they pass. (See dichroism for the etymology of the term.)
Used before a light source, a dichroic filter produces light that is perceived by humans to be highly saturated (intense) in color. Although costly, such filters are popular in architectural [1] and theatrical applications.
Used behind a light source, dichroic reflectors commonly reflect visible light forward while allowing the invisible infrared light (radiated heat) to pass out of the rear of the fixture, resulting in a beam of light that is "cooler". Many quartz halogen bulbs have an integrated dichroic reflector for this purpose, being originally designed for use in slide projectors to avoid melting the slides, but now widely used for interior home and commercial lighting. This improves whiteness by removing excess red, however it poses a serious fire hazard if used in recessed or enclosed luminaires by allowing infrared radiation into those luminaires. For these applications non cool beam (ALU or Silverback) lamps must be used.
Contents |
Dichroic filters use the principle of thin-film interference, and produce colors in the same way as oil films on water. When light strikes an oil film at an angle, some of the light is reflected from the top surface of the oil, and some is reflected from the bottom surface where it is in contact with the water. Because the light reflecting from the bottom travels a slightly longer path, some light wavelengths are reinforced by this delay, while others tend to be canceled, producing the colors seen.
In a dichroic mirror or filter, instead of using an oil film to produce the interference, alternating layers of optical coatings with different refractive indexes are built up upon a glass substrate. The interfaces between the layers of different refractive index produce phased reflections, selectively reinforcing certain wavelengths of light and interfering with other wavelengths. The layers are usually added by vacuum deposition. By controlling the thickness and number of the layers, the frequency (wavelength) of the passband of the filter can be tuned and made as wide or narrow as desired. Because unwanted wavelengths are reflected rather than absorbed, dichroic filters do not absorb this unwanted energy during operation and so do not become nearly as hot as the equivalent conventional filter (which attempts to absorb all energy except for that in the passband). (See Fabry–Pérot interferometer for a mathematical description of the effect.)
Where white light is being deliberately separated into various color bands (for example, within a color video projector or color television camera), the similar dichroic prism is used instead. For cameras, however it is now more common to have a Bayer filter to filter individual pixels on a single CCD array.
Recessed or enclosed luminaires that are unsuitable for use with dichroic reflector lights can be identified by the IEC 60598 No Cool Beam symbol.
In fluorescence microscopy, dichroic filters are used as beam splitters to direct illumination of an excitation frequency toward the sample and then as an analyzer to reject that same excitation frequency but pass a particular emission frequency.
Some LCD projectors use dichroic filters instead of prisms to split the white light from the lamp into the three colours before passing it through the three LCD units.
They are used as Laser Harmonic Separators. They separate the various harmonic components of frequency doubled laser systems by selective spectral reflection and transmission.
Artistic glass jewelry is occasionally fabricated to behave as a dichroic filter. Because the wavelength of light selected by the filter varies with the angle of incidence of the light, such jewelry often has an iridescent effect, changing color as the (for example) earrings swing. Another interesting application of dichroic filters is spatial filtering.[2][3]
With a technique licensed from Infitec, Dolby Labs uses dichroic filters for screening 3D movies. The left lens of the Dolby 3D glasses transmits specific narrow bands of red, green and blue frequencies, while the right lens transmits a different set of red, green and blue frequencies. The projector uses matching filters to display the images meant for the left and right eyes.[4]
Dichroic filters applied to long wavelength lighting can mitigate against the attraction or disturbance of insects, birds and other wildlife in industrial applications, reducing adverse environmental impact.