Patent ID: 7488101

Claim:
High intensity mutli-wavelength illumination apparatus, said apparatus comprising: an array of LEDs each of which has a predetermined spectral output that is emitted over a predetermined solid angle; an array of non-imaging concentrators the individual non-imaging concentrators of which are optically coupled in one-to-one correspondence with said LEDs, each non-imaging concentrator in said array of non-imaging concentrators operating to collect radiation emitted by each of said LEDs and to re-emit substantially all said collected radiation as a beam having a diverging solid angle smaller than said predetermined solid angle over which radiation is emitted by each of said LEDs, said non-imaging concentrators each having an entrance aperture for receiving radiation emitted by a corresponding one of said LEDs and an exit aperture from which said LEDs output emerges spatially and spectrally uniform in the near field of said exit aperture; and a light integrator having an entrance facet optically coupled to each of said exit apertures of said non-imaging concentrators for receiving radiation there through and conducting it to an exit facet thereof from which radiation is emitted for a downstream application, said light integrator being structured and arranged to substantially uniformly mix the individual beams emitted by each concentrator so that radiation emitted from its exit facet is uniformly colored.