The Science of Light Engineering, Fields of Application and Theoretical Foundations

Abstract

The article discussed two important problems, which have not been addressed previously: – The conceptual interpretation of lighting engineering, and the expansion of its definition beyond illumination, which has became widely accepted. An expanded concept of lighting engineering proposed by the authors includes all fields of application of optical radiation (light): illumination, irradiation, phototherapy (light therapy), light alarm systems, light location, light design, etc; – The problem of developing the theoretical foundation of Lighting Engineering. Differences between three existing light theories are summarised. The first one is quantum theory, explaining all known light phenomena. The second one is wave theory based on the provision that light spreads in waves. The third theory is beam and photometric based on the light field theory, which is the most widely applied and simple for practical calculations and simulation.