Optical Attenuation Research Articles

Tunable Multicolor Circularly Polarized Luminescence via Co-assembly of One Chiral Electron Acceptor with Various Donors

Tunable Multicolor Circularly Polarized Luminescence via Co-assembly of One Chiral Electron Acceptor with Various Donors

Investigation of Structural, Physical, and Attenuation Parameters of Glass: TeO2-Bi2O3-B2O3-TiO2-RE2O3 (RE: La, Ce, Sm, Er, and Yb), and Applications Thereof.

A novel series of glass, consisting of B2O3, Bi2O3, TeO2, and TiO2 (BBTT) containing rare earth oxide RE2O3, where RE is La, Ce, Sm, Er, and Yb, was prepared. We investigated the structural, optical, and gamma attenuation properties of the resultant glass. The optical energy bands, the linear refractive indices, the molar refractions, the metallization criteria, and the optical basicity were all determined for the prepared glass. Furthermore, physical parameters such as the density, the molar volume, the oxygen molar volume, and the oxygen packing density of the prepared glass, were computed. Both the values of density and optical energy of the prepared glass increased in the order of La2O3, Ce2O3, Sm2O3, Er2O3, and then Yb2O3. In addition, the glass doped with Yb2O3 had the lowest refractive index, electronic polarizability, and optical basicity values compared with the other prepared glass. The structures of the prepared glass were investigated by the deconvolution of infrared spectroscopy, which determined that TeO4, TeO3, BO4, BO3, BiO6, and TiO4 units had formed. Furthermore, the structural changes in glass are related to the ratio of the intensity of TeO4/TeO3, depending on the type of rare earth. It is also clarified that the resultant glass samples are good attenuators against low-energy radiation, especially those that modified by Yb2O3, which exhibited superior shielding efficiency at energies of 622, 1170, and 1330 keV. The optical and gamma ray spectroscopy results of the prepared glass show that it is a good candidate for nonlinear optical fibers, laser solid material, and optical shielding protection.

Bessel-Beam Interferometry for Turbidity With Refractive Index, Attenuation Coefficient, and Loss

This letter demonstrates a quasi-Bessel beam optical interferometry and fast Fourier transform (FFT) to estimate turbidity of liquid samples in terms of the refractive index (RI), optical attenuation coefficient, and loss. The device comprises a broadband superluminescent diode (SLD) source and a packaged deep-seated optical fiber negative axicon (DSNA) probe connected to the SLD source guiding light to the liquid sample trapped in between DSNA probe head and a glass slide. It generates a low-coherence interference spectrum as recorded in a spectrometer via an optical circulator. The FFT of the said spectrum gives power spectrum corresponding to the respective interfaces of the trapped sample. The power spectrum is used wisely to estimate turbidity in terms of RI, optical attenuation, and optical loss. The design is able to measure as low as 5 NTU (nephelometric turbidity units). This sensing platform may be useful in environmental protection, pharma, and processing industries.

A Novel Stretchable and Flexible Sensor Using Graphite-Added Optical Waveguide for Human Motion Detection

According to the Bill-Lambert law, this article reports a flexible optical waveguide sensor based on the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) doped with graphite. We quantitatively study the attenuation spectra induced by adding graphite with different particle sizes and amounts into the optical waveguide of the sensor. Adding the graphite’s particle size with <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.5\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula> m and its concentration of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5\times 10^{-{3}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> wt% shows that the relationship between the optical attenuation and the tensile strain in the range of 90% is approximately linear. Our further experiment shows that the radial shrinkage of a waveguide is more than 16.8% when the axial tensile strain is larger than 90%, this increases the density of graphite particles on the optical waveguide’s cross-section, resulting in a non-negligible effect on light transmission, which makes the relationship between light attenuation and the tensile strain nonlinear. Our proposed waveguide strain sensor is applied to the motion detection of human joints and muscles. We obtained a series of stable, reliable and durable response no matter the static and dynamic conditions. The sensitivity of the proposed flexible strain sensor is improved by a factor of 3.9 and 1.2 than that of sensors made of the pure PDMS and the polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), respectively. Meanwhile, it has a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and is insensitive to installation angle errors. There will be a good application prospect in wearable devices that can adapt to the complex curved surface, due to the proposed waveguide strain sensor’s stretchable, sensitive and low-cost characteristics.

A Six-Section Photonic Integrated Transmitter With Chirp Control for Extension of the Transmission Reach

We demonstrate a novel directly modulated transmitter, based on a six-section photonic integrated circuit. The device uses a unique master-slave configuration with a variable optical attenuator in between, allowing decoupling of cavities and independent control of the injection power. The VOA also provides the ability to find an optimum injection level that balances the trade-off between the extinction ratio and the chirp of the transmitted signal. Using the device, an error-free transmission of a 10 Gb/s non-return-to-zero signal over 25 km and 50 km standard single mode fibre is achieved.

Precision of attenuation coefficient measurements by optical coherence tomography.

.Significance: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an interferometric imaging modality, which provides tomographic information on the microscopic scale. Furthermore, OCT signal analysis facilitates quantification of tissue optical properties (e.g., the attenuation coefficient), which provides information regarding the structure and organization of tissue. However, a rigorous and standardized measure of the precision of the OCT-derived optical properties, to date, is missing.Aim: We present a robust theoretical framework, which provides the Cramér –Rao lower bound for the precision of OCT-derived optical attenuation coefficients.Approach: Using a maximum likelihood approach and Fisher information, we derive an analytical solution for when the position and depth of focus are known. We validate this solution, using simulated OCT signals, for which attenuation coefficients are extracted using a least-squares fitting procedure.Results: Our analytical solution is in perfect agreement with simulated data without shot noise. When shot noise is present, we show that the analytical solution still holds for signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) in the fitting window being above 20 dB. For other cases (, focus position not precisely known), we show that the numerical calculation of the precision agrees with the derived from simulated signals.Conclusions: Our analytical solution provides a fast, rigorous, and easy-to-use measure for OCT-derived attenuation coefficients for signals above 20 dB. The effect of uncertainties in the focal point position on the precision in the attenuation coefficient, the second assumption underlying our analytical solution, is also investigated by numerical calculation of the lower bounds. This method can be straightforwardly extended to uncertainty in other system parameters.

Depth-resolved extraction of optical attenuation for glaucoma assessment in clinical settings: a pilot study.

We assessed the ability of the optical attenuation coefficient (AC) to detect early-stage glaucoma with two AC estimation algorithms: retinal layer intensity ratio (LIR) and depth-resolved confocal (DRC). We also introduced new depth-dependent AC parameters for retinal nerve fiber layer assessment. Optical coherence tomography B-scans were collected from 44 eyes of age-similar participants with eye health ranging from healthy to severe glaucoma, including glaucoma suspect patients. Mean AC values estimated from the DRC method are comparable to ratio-extracted values (p > 0.5 for all study groups), and the depth-dependent ACDRC parameters enhance the utility of the AC for detection of early-stage glaucoma.

MEMS-based metamaterial grating waveguide for tunable optical attenuator and modulator applications

We present a metamaterial grating waveguide (MGW) for tunable optical attenuator and modulator applications in the infrared (IR) wavelength range, which is composed of sixty periodically one-dimensional gold (Au) nanograting structures on silicon (Si) nanograting waveguide. The first thirty Au nanograting structures along the opposite propagation direction of the guided wave are divided equally into three groups. By elevating the first group (G1) of Au nanograting structures from the Si waveguide surface, the transmission intensity of MGW decreases from 1.0 to 0.3 at the wavelength of 1.278 μm. While elevating the second (G2) and third (G3) groups of Au nanograting structures from the Si waveguide surface, the transmission intensities can be attenuated from 1.0 to 0.3 and 1.0 to 0.4, respectively. For the elevation of G3, the transmission intensity at a specific wavelength can be switched between 0 and 0.8. Furthermore, MGW shows a linear blue-shifting relationship of resonant wavelengths and incident angles between 8° and 20° with a correction coefficient of 0.9991. The resonances of MGW also exhibit blue-shifting characteristics by increasing the environmental refraction index. This proposed design of MGW provides a useful approach for variable optical attenuating, optical switching, wavelength tuning, and sensing applications in the IR spectrum range.

Implementation and Calibration of an IoT Light Attenuation Turbidity Sensor

Turbidity is an important characteristic of water quality that can indicate the presence of undesirable suspended particulate matter. Having access to an inexpensive and effective turbidity sensor unlocks numerous Internet of Things (IoT) possibilities for remote environmental monitoring. Optical light attenuation turbidity sensors operate on the premise of detecting signal degradation from a light source due to scattering from particles in a solution. This approach is technologically unpretentious and only requires a handful of inexpensive electronic components to construct. However, while this method is touted as “simple”, a significant challenge lies in sensor calibration. That is, converting an analogue signal into a meaningful and accurate digital reading in a known turbidity measurement standard (e.g., Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU)). This paper presents an IoT light attenuation turbidity sensor design and explores the calibration process to determine the sensor's range and accuracy. Sensor calibration is undertaken using Formazin turbidity standards and is cross-checked against a commercial turbidimeter. We provide a step-by-step procedure for determining the correct signal strength to use and a functional form for the sensor response to the Formazin standard. Finally, we specify an estimate of the accuracy of the sensor and suggest the next steps in the proposed turbidity sensor's development. Results indicate that the sensor achieves within 2%-10% of accuracy at higher ranges (100–4000 NTU), but its performance becomes significantly less reliable in low NTU ranges (< 100 NTU) where the error rate increases to 26%. The turbidity sensor is used as part of an IoT remote aquatic environmental monitoring platform.

Fabrication, microstructure, and nonlinear/linear optical parameters of polymeric‐based poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) nanocomposites films for optical attenuation applications

AbstractHerein, a novel proposed optical attenuator poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVA/PVP) doped PbS (NPs) nanoparticles nanocomposites films. The samples are fabricated by casting‐method to analyze the linear optical properties and estimate the nonlinear optical parameters. The crystal and molecular structure of the fabricated nanocomposites thick (PVA/PVP) films of different PbS (NPs) doping ratios were analyzed by XRD technique and FT‐IR, respectively. The semi‐crystalline nature of the fabricated PVA/PVP is influenced through all samples and the crystallinity is increased. The particle size of PbS (NPs) is increased in the doped samples and the strain parameter is increased. The measured transmission of the fabricated PVA/PVP doped PbS (NPs) films are decreased as the doping ratio of PbS (NPs) is increased. The absorption coefficient is incremented and shows large absorption values in the UV regions, may be utilized in UV‐blocking for saving the human skin, dramatically, and a noticed red‐shift in the edge of absorption for all samples as the doping ratio is increased. The most probable transition is indirect, and the evolved values of the energy gaps between HOMO and LUMO levels are decrement from 3.97 to 2.65 eV as doping ratio of PbS (NPs) is increased. Different models are utilized to evaluate the average values of the real refractive index (2.175–2.438). The fabricated PVA/PVP doped PbS (NPs) samples are investigated for normal light and laser attenuations. The mass attenuation coefficient increases, gradually, with increment of PbS (NPs), but the half value layer (HVL) parameter decreases with increasing of the doping ratio. These experimental results confirm the applicability of the fabricated samples to attenuate Red‐632 nm and Green‐532 nm laser radiation. It is possible to utilize PVA/PVP doped PbS (NPs) nanocomposites in different, wide‐scale optical filters.

Depth-resolved visualization and automated quantification of hyperreflective foci on OCT scans using optical attenuation coefficients.

An automated depth-resolved algorithm using optical attenuation coefficients (OACs) was developed to visualize, localize, and quantify hyperreflective foci (HRF) seen on OCT imaging that are associated with macular hyperpigmentation and represent an increased risk of disease progression in age related macular degeneration. To achieve this, we first transformed the OCT scans to linear representation, which were then contrasted by OACs. HRF were visualized and localized within the entire scan by differentiating HRF within the retina from HRF along the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The total pigment burden was quantified using the en face sum projection of an OAC slab between the inner limiting membrane (ILM) to Bruch's membrane (BM). The manual total pigment burden measurements were also obtained by combining manual outlines of HRF in the B-scans with the total area of hypotransmission defects outlined on sub-RPE slabs, which was used as the reference to compare with those obtained from the automated algorithm. 6×6 mm swept-source OCT scans were collected from a total of 49 eyes from 42 patients with macular HRF. We demonstrate that the algorithm was able to automatically distinguish between HRF within the retina and HRF along the RPE. In 24 test eyes, the total pigment burden measurements by the automated algorithm were compared with measurements obtained from manual segmentations. A significant correlation was found between the total pigment area measurements from the automated and manual segmentations (P < 0.001). The proposed automated algorithm based on OACs should be useful in studying eye diseases involving HRF.

A complete analysis of the structural, optical, and gamma-ray attenuation of Dy3+ doped modifiers dependent Lead phosphate boro-tellurite glasses

The current research scrutinizes the potential of the Dy3+ doped modifier-dependent (BaO, SrO, ZnO, CaO, LiO) lead phosphate boro-tellurite glasses as radiation attenuating channels. Various analytical studies observed the detailed results of all the above-listed modifiers in the boro-tellurite network. The amorphous character of the samples is established through XRD pattern. The FTIR study confirmed the bending and stretching vibration of BO3, Te−O, P − OH, and Pb−O units in the prepared glasses. The compositional variation in the glass structure was noticed through density and refractive index values. The Metallization criterion revealed the nature of the samples to be non-metal. Optical analyses employed UV−Vis−NIR absorption spectra and the energy transitions involved in Dy3+ ions levels were analyzed. Using Tauc’s plot, the direct energy bandgaps of the proposed glasses were examined, and the estimated Urbach’s energy is lower for the Zn-containing glass (39B2O3 +20PbO+15TeO2 +10 P2O5 +15ZnO+1Dy2O3; ZnPbP:Dy), which implies that the structure possesses fewer defects. We evaluated the radiation attenuation factors for these glasses to examine the impact of these oxides on the attenuation ability of the current glasses. Also, we examined the impact of the density of each glass on the attenuation ability of the glasses. The highest linear attenuation coefficient happened at 0.284 MeV (1.057, 0.988, 1.127, 0.957 and 0.836 cm−1 for BaPbP: Dy, SrPbP: Dy, ZnPbP: Dy, CaPbP: Dy and LiPbP: Dy respectively) and the lowest at 1.333 MeV (0.231, 0.222, 0.253, 0.213 and 0.182 cm−1 for the same glasses respectively). The glass which contains ZnO (ZnPbP: Dy) had the highest LAC, while the sample with LiO had the least LAC. The average mean free path for the prepared glasses corresponding to the two energies, 0.284 MeV and 0.662 MeV, is 1.79, 1.89, 1.65, 1.96, and 2.27 cm for the glasses with BaO, SrO, ZnO, CaO, and LiO, respectively.

Optical cavitation in non-absorbent solutions using a continuous-wave laser via optical fiber

Optical cavitation can be induced by short pulse lasers focused into a solution with a low absorption coefficient or using a continuous-wave laser focused into highly absorbent solutions. In this work, we report the generation of cavitation bubbles in ethanol using a continuous-wave fiber optic laser with emission at 450 nm wavelength. Silver and copper nitrate nanoparticles were immobilized on the flat end-face of a multimode optical fiber tip using the photodeposition technique and then immersed into the solution. Laser light transmitted through the optical fiber is strongly absorbed by both nanoparticles causing an abrupt increase in temperature around the tip of the optical fiber, reaching the spinodal limit of ethanol (∼187 °C). At this temperature, an explosive phase transition (liquid–gas) occurs causing the generation of a microbubble, which grows until reaches its maximum radius (∼1072 μm in 132 µs) and subsequently collapses, emitting a shock wave. The dynamic behavior of the gas bubble was studied as a function of the laser power using a high-speed video camera, and the shock wave emitted immediately after the bubblés collapse was detected by a microphone. The pressure of the shock wave was analyzed photodepositing different thin films of silver nanoparticles at the tip of the optical fiber, causing optical attenuations of 1, 3, 5, and 7 dB. The experimental results obtained showed that when a thin film of copper nitrate nanoparticles was photodeposited on a film of silver nanoparticles (5 dB), the pressure of the shock wave increases up to ∼ 13-fold, in comparison, if we use only one film of silver nanoparticles. Energetic shock waves have potential applications in a variety of areas such as medicine, biological sciences, material processing, liquid microjets generation, among others.

Conservative Finite-Difference Scheme for 1D Ginzburg–Landau Equation

In this study, our attention is focused on deriving integrals of motion (conservation laws; invariants) for the problem of an optical pulse propagation in an optical fiber containing an optical amplifier or attenuator because, to date, such invariants are absent in the literature. The knowledge of a problem’s invariants allows us develop finite-difference schemes possessing the conservativeness property, which is crucial for solving nonlinear problems. Laser pulse propagation is governed by the nonlinear Ginzburg–Landau equation. Firstly, the problem’s conservation laws are developed for the various parameters’ relations: for a linear case, for a nonlinear case without considering the linear absorption, and for a nonlinear case accounting for the linear absorption and homogeneous shift of the pulse’s phase. Hereafter, the Crank–Nicolson-type scheme is constructed for the problem difference approximation. To demonstrate the conservativeness of the constructed implicit finite-difference scheme in the sense of preserving difference analogs of the problem’s invariants, the corresponding theorems are formulated and proved. The problem of the finite-difference scheme’s nonlinearity is solved by means of an iterative process. Finally, several numerical examples are presented to support the theoretical results.

Polymer Optical Fiber Multimaterial: Flexible and Customizable Approach in Sensors Development

This letter presents the development and application of a multimaterial polymer optical fiber (POF) for temperature and force sensing. The POF is fabricated from the well-known polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) through a conventional extrusion method combined with the Polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable material with low melting point, which is thermally molded into the PMMA. In this approach, the high customizability enables the development of two configurations: (i) one input, one output (configuration 1); (ii) one input, two outputs (configuration 2). An advantageous feature of the PCL is its transmittance increase as a function of the temperature, which is confirmed via spectrophotometry at different temperatures. In the experimental analysis, the configuration 1 is used in the temperature tests and demonstrates a high linearity (coefficient of determination of 0.981) and resolution below 1°C, whereas its temperature limit is around 55°C. Configuration 2 is tested in simultaneous variations of temperature and transverse force, resulting in relative force insensitivity in temperatures below 40°C, whereas an optical power attenuation as a function of the applied force is found in temperatures around 55°C. Thus, the proposed approach shows a novel, flexible and customized technique for POF multimaterial fabrication, which can be employed not only on sensors applications, but also in the development of optical components based in POFs.

Surface hardness, thermal, optical, and photon attenuation coefficients assessment for dysprosium-doped tellurite glasses

Using a melt-cooling process with the host glass, Dy2O3 (1 wt%, 2 wt%, 3 wt%, and 4 wt%) doped tellurite glasses were produced. A (65–x)TeO2–20B2O3–10Al2O3–5GeO2–xDy2O3 glass system was analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The patterns have a hump at 2θ = 27°–29° and no sharp peaks, indicating that all the glass samples are amorphous. The Vickers microhardness determines how resistant a glass is to persistent deformation produced by a harder substance. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at 300–550 °C was used to evaluate the thermal properties of the Dyx glass samples. The glass transition temperature Tg (small endothermic peak), start crystallization temperature Tx and crystallization temperature Tc can all be seen on the DSC thermogram (exothermic peaks). The UV–Vis transmittance and absorption spectra were measured. The optical data show that the values of Egdir, EgInd and EU decrease as the amount of Dy2O3 increases, indicating a narrowing of the tails due to localized states in the forbidden gap. A concentration quenching event occurs when Dy3+ concentrations are above a certain threshold (1%). The addition of Dy2O3 increases glass density, while the addition of other Dy(III) oxides increases sample density. The radiation shielding values change as a consequence of density fluctuation. The sample with the highest amount of Dy2O3 (Dy4) has stronger radiation shielding characteristics; hence, it is superior in terms of shielding outcomes at all energy levels. Such Dyx samples can be used in various forms of ionizing radiation shielding.

Attenuation of near-ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light in sound and carious human enamel and dentin

ObjectivesThis in vitro study aimed to investigate the optical attenuation of light at 405, 660 and 780 nm sent through sound and carious human enamel and dentin, including respective individual caries zones, as well as microscopically sound-appearing tissue close to a carious lesion.Materials and methodsCollimated light transmission through sections of 1000–125-µm thickness was measured and used to calculate the attenuation coefficient (AC). The data were statistically analysed with a MANOVA and Tukey’s HSD. Precise definition of measurement points enabled separate analysis within the microstructure of lesions: the outer and inner halves of enamel (D1, D2), the translucent zone (TZ) within dentin lesions and its adjacent layers, the enamel side of the translucent zone (ESTZ) and the pulpal side of the translucent zone (PSTZ).ResultsThe TZ could be distinguished from its adjacent layers and from caries-free dentin at 125 µm. Sound-appearing dentin close to caries lesions significantly differed from caries-free dentin at 125 µm. While sound and carious enamel exhibited a significant difference (p < 0.05), this result was not found for D1 and D2 enamel lesions (p > 0.05). At 405 nm, no difference was found between sound and carious dentin (p > 0.05).ConclusionsLight optical means enable the distinction between sound and carious tissue and to identify the microstructure of dentin caries partially as well as the presence of tertiary dentin formation. Information on sample thickness is indispensable when interpreting the AC.Clinical relevanceNon-ionising light sources may be suitable to detect lesion progression and tertiary dentin.

Multi-class classification of breast tissue using optical coherence tomography and attenuation imaging combined via deep learning.

We demonstrate a convolutional neural network (CNN) for multi-class breast tissue classification as adipose tissue, benign dense tissue, or malignant tissue, using multi-channel optical coherence tomography (OCT) and attenuation images, and a novel Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC)-based loss function that correlates more strongly with performance metrics than the commonly used cross-entropy loss. We hypothesized that using multi-channel images would increase tumor detection performance compared to using OCT alone. 5,804 images from 29 patients were used to fine-tune a pre-trained ResNet-18 network. Adding attenuation images to OCT images yields statistically significant improvements in several performance metrics, including benign dense tissue sensitivity (68.0% versus 59.6%), malignant tissue positive predictive value (PPV) (79.4% versus 75.5%), and total accuracy (85.4% versus 83.3%), indicating that the additional contrast from attenuation imaging is most beneficial for distinguishing between benign dense tissue and malignant tissue.

How Well Can We Measure Galaxy Dust Attenuation Curves? The Impact of the Assumed Star-dust Geometry Model in Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting

One of the most common methods for inferring galaxy attenuation curves is via spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling, where the dust attenuation properties are modeled simultaneously with other galaxy physical properties. In this paper, we assess the ability of SED modeling to infer these dust attenuation curves from broadband photometry, and suggest a new flexible model that greatly improves the accuracy of attenuation curve derivations. To do this, we fit mock SEDs generated from the simba cosmological simulation with the prospector SED fitting code. We consider the impact of the commonly assumed uniform screen model and introduce a new nonuniform screen model parameterized by the fraction of unobscured stellar light. This nonuniform screen model allows for a nonzero fraction of stellar light to remain unattenuated, resulting in a more flexible attenuation curve shape by decoupling the shape of the UV attenuation curve from the optical attenuation curve. The ability to constrain the dust attenuation curve is significantly improved with the use of a nonuniform screen model, with the median offset in UV attenuation decreasing from −0.30 dex with a uniform screen model to −0.17 dex with the nonuniform screen model. With this increase in dust attenuation modeling accuracy, we also improve the star formation rates (SFRs) inferred with the nonuniform screen model, decreasing the SFR offset on average by 0.12 dex. We discuss the efficacy of this new model, focusing on caveats with modeling star-dust geometries and the constraining power of available SED observations.

Development of a pulsed vacuum ultraviolet light source with adjustable intensity.

This paper describes the development of a pulsed light source using the discharge from an electrode in a medium of various noble gases. This source can be used to aid in the characterization and testing of new vacuum-ultraviolet sensitive light detection devices. The source includes a novel spark driver circuit, a spark chamber into which different noble gases can be introduced, and an optical attenuation cell capable of being filled with different gases to allow for the attenuation of the pulsed light down to single photon levels. We describe the construction, calibration, and characterization of this device deployed at a dedicated light detection test stand at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.