Spectral tuning of LED sources for improved lighting quality

Abstract

Placement of radiant power at different wavelengths within the visible spectrum affects our visual perceptions, such as color perception, brightness perception, and whiteness perception. In recent years, with the development of light emitting diodes (LEDs), it is becoming easier and easier to produce highly-structured spectra—spectra have sharp changes in slopes, spikes, or discontinuities—through spectral tuning. This paper reveals the benefits and importance of spectral tuning for LED sources through several psychophysical studies. It then introduces the recent development and challenges in characterizing lighting quality under these sources with highly-structured spectra and the trend of spectral-tunable systems for improved lighting quality.