The Case Study of Xenon Lamps: Are They Suitable?

The company worked with is an aesthetics medical device startup enterprise that is working to innovate Xenon flash lamp technology through the development of an aesthetics medical device based on a Xenon flash lamp. With a new and confidential aesthetics application and a unique electro-optics platform under development, they are looking to revolutionize an aspect of the  medical aesthetic device industry. They require rapid prototypes they can bring to bear quickly and a full bore solution to their development problem.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate a full Xenon lamp design for the platform and then choose the proper Xenon lamp for the purpose. This involved verifying the Xenon lamp candidates's efficacy, efficiency, spectrum of wavelengths, human safety, light interaction within various tissue media and other traits.

Setting up, we put together a setup to test the most viable Xenon lamp. We used tools including:

  • Spectrometer to monitor wavelengths used

  • Photodiode with optics and a spectral filter to refine the temporal profile part of the pulse, i.e. the pulse shape and pulse width we were testing

  • Analog to digital converter or A/D to operate devices and to collects signals in order to receive precisely defined measurements

  • Power meter to measure pulse energy

  • Electrical power supply

The responsibilities for this project were multiple. The responsibilities we handled were:

  1. Define the criteria by which we could recommend the most suitable Xenon flash lamp

  2. Prescribe measurements that would indicate success or its absence

  3. Recommend the most functional components for the purposes at hand. Components were to be bought or rented as needed.

  4. Write software application which could link every device used to quantify and organize measured results

  5. Performance of the necessary measurements. As results dictated, we made changes during the measuring process

  6. Analyzing results and making recommendations for the best Xenon flash lamp for the client's purpose

Concerning the software application, we prepared an entire software routine using LabVIEW to control the voltage and current used in a given Xenon lamp, to operate the spectrometer according to our needs, to collect all raw data the different sensors received, which could be used for several different settings. Every setting involved measuring:

  1. The spectrum the Xenon lamp emitted through the use of the spectrometer

  2. The Xenon lamp light's time dependence profile through the use of a photodiode on the Xenon lamp

  3. The optical pulse energy the Xenon lamp emitted using a power meter

  4. The amount of electrical power utilized in the Xenon lamp using a set of electrical power sensors

Every characteristic was synchronized carefully. We saved every parameter's values into a unified file. Through the software, we analyzed each measured variable within the loop and condensed the data into a set of parameters we then used to present the decision to the client

Tips to implement based on software design within LabVIEW
  • Modular application through a state machine

  • Every measurement came to be written into the file directly without the use of buffers. This allowed data to be directly transcribed despite any errors, power failures or other shutdowns, which meant 100 percent transfer and no lost data.

  • All raw data saved and analyzed using a dedicated analyzer

The end conclusion was that over the course of a month, we developed a full performance envelope for the entire platform product and were able to recommend a source for each potential application. This strengthened our relationship with the client, and we remain in communication with him to this day.

We would be happy to aide you in solving your technology challenges through a similar and custom process that will fit your needs.