[ Back ] Version with frames

Welcome to EINLIGHTRED

Eindhoven Institute for Lighting Technology Research and Education

Let there be light ...

Light, energy of the highest form, has always appealed to human imagination. This is not surprising as light makes our surroundings visible in our daily lives. It is because the existence of light that we know what is going on in the world around us, in the grand design of the cosmos. At day-time there is the sun, making our surroundings visible; at night we see twinkling stars and receive light that is already billion of years on its way, providing us with information on Galaxies from remote outskirts of the universe. In all these cases light is being created by the plasma. In a plasma, movements of charged particles (electrons orbiting around ions) constantly change in velocity, causing the radiation of light. By means of spectroscopy, the study of colour analysis, we can learn a lot about the objects that radiate light, the chemical position of the stars and galaxies, and follow the evolution of the universe.

As said light is generated by means of the movement of charged particles in plasmas, hot gases having the special feature of charged particles. The plasma state is, following the solid, liquid and the gas state, the fourth aggregation state of matter. It is known that more than 99,9% of the visible matter in the universe is in the plasma state. The study of the light of stars, nebulae and galaxies has demonstrated how rich and diverse the plasma state is. Apart from the difference in chemical composition, temperature and pressure, we also have a wide variety in geometrical structures that can be realized by means of electric and magnetic fields. But also in technology the plasma state shows a very rich diversity and that is why so many applications exist. Apart from generating light plasmas can be used for material treatment such as welding, cutting, etching and deposition, and in environmental technology for the investigation of pollution and cleaning of gases.

In the light institute EINLIGHTRED we deal with the study of fundamental aspects of light generation and its technology. This is for an important part plasma physics and therefore strongly related to other branches of plasma science such as plasma chemistry.

What does EINLIGHTRED represent?

Technology:
We are in frequent interaction and close contact with technological research institutes of ( Philips Lighting in Eindhoven and Aachen and Philips Research in Eindhoven), ASML and Draka Comteq.
Research:
The research methods used are both theoretical and experimental. As a part of theory formation a simulation package is being constructed; for the experiments many different types of diagnostics are in use in our Poly-diagnostic Lab.
Education:
We are part of the Eindhoven University of Technology (Department of Applied Physics); our primary task is the training of engineers and PhD's applied physics. At university, EINLIGHTRED has been embedded in the Research School CPS (Centre for Plasma Physics en Radiatio mnTechnology), links with the research groups EPG and PMP (formerly ETP) have been established. Inter-departemental contacsts with the Centre for Sustainable Development TDO exist.

Main Topics

Arranged according to technological application we have the following main topics:

This website

Main page
Lightsources
History
Research Projects
Breakdown
Segregation
Plasma Television
Extreme Ultraviolet
PolyLab
Plasmamodelling
Arges
Laser Wakefield
Education
Vacancies
Events
Links
Contacts
$Id: main_en.html,v 1.9 2007/01/20 14:12:53 webmanager Exp $