Illuminating Life Sciences: A Biophysical Guide to the Use of Chromatic and White Light Sources in Photobiology

Abstract

With the increasing availability of LEDs, researchers in photobiology have easier access to customized light sources. However, the abundance of different light sources poses new challenges for the correct characterization of existing light conditions. The photobiological effect of a light source depends mainly on the number of photons involved and the spectral composition. However, light sources are mainly described by parameters such as radiant flux, dominant or peak wavelength, and correlated color temperature (CCT). Therefore, in this work, chromatic and white light sources were measured for their spectral composition, various characterization parameters were determined, and the resulting photon flux densities were calculated, focusing on dominant versus peak wavelength for chromatic LEDs and the CCT for white LEDs and fluorescent tubes. The use of the dominant wavelength is inappropriate as it is partly outside the actual spectral range. It was also shown that white light sources with the same CCT have significantly different spectral compositions and, therefore, may have different photobiological effects. The results of this work should serve as a basis for life scientists to better compare light sources, to correctly interpret existing parameters, and to describe light conditions in a standardized and comparable way.