Osram Opto Semiconductors Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., has developed an LED with a color-rendering index (CRI) as high as 95, which users can adjust for color temperature. This makes it an ideal candidate for illuminating operating rooms where colors must appear natural and the staff can precisely control chromaticity.
The LED, dubbed the Osram Ostar Medical, consists of four LED chips in the colors warm white, ultra white, green, and amber. The range of colors lets users set the shade of white with color temperatures ranging anywhere from 3,700 to 5,000 Kelvin. And when optimized for the red spectrum (Ra), the CRI remains at 95, so red shades are particularly true to-life, which is important in operating rooms.
The chip measures 0.23 x 0.19 in., and is about 0.5-in. tall, making it about one-fourth the height of components currently used in OR lights. The compact design comes courtesy of a flat antireflex-coated glass cover that replaces the usual lens.