High power LEDs
About 10 years ago, as high power LEDs became available, many quantitative microscopists started changing over from arc lamps to LEDs for illumination because of their rock solid intensity. Philips Lumileds have been the weapon of choice (up to ~100 lumens), and remain an excellent line of mature products. But more recently, Luminus has been producing some super high power LEDs (>2000 lumens) that are worth considering.
The Luminus PT line has large area, monolithic flat emitters (1.5-12 mm2) with intensities from 200-600 lumens, depending on the color. These things are beasts, and suck up to 30 amps each. Check out the fuse-like blade connectors on the OEM boards:
Lumileds have the advantage in terms of spectral variety available, but if you need more light, Luminus is the way to go.
Hi! Thanks a lot for the tip! I am looking for strong LEDs to achieve saturating light levels for a large area of channelrhodopsin expressing cells. This might be exactly what I need.
Great blog idea, by the way! I will be a frequent reader for sure.
cheers,
T