Characterization of Linear Light Sources with the Smartphone’s Ambient Light Sensor

Abstract

AbstractThe smartphone’s ambient light sensor has been used in the literature to study different physical phenomena [1–5]. For instance, Malus’s law, which involves the polarized light, has been verified by using simultaneously the orientation and light sensors of a smartphone [1]. The illuminance of point light sources has been characterized also using the light sensor of smartphones and tablets, demonstrating in this way the well-known inverse-square law of distance [2, 3]. Moreover, these kinds of illuminance measurements with the ambient light sensor have allowed the determination of the luminous efficiency of different quasi-point optical sources (incandescent and halogen lamps) as a function of the electric power supplied [4]. Regarding mechanical systems, the inverse-square law of distance has also been used to investigate the speed and acceleration of a moving light source on an inclined plane [5] or to study coupled and damped oscillations [6]. In the present work, we go further in presenting a simple laboratory experiment using the smartphone’s ambient light sensor in order to characterize a non-point light source, a linear fluorescent tube in our case.