 | rare light bulbs and lamps |
| glossary of terms |  |
What is DICHROIC MIRROR?
A special mirror which reflects light, but is transparent to heat, allowing visible light to be aimed where needed while allowing infrared heat waves to escape through the backside of the mirror.
The end result is object of illumination will have more light and less heat.
Obviously reducing heat output is important for film lighting or anything else that heat could melt or damage.
To check for Dichroic Mirror; hold mirrored surface up to a bright light source and try to look through the mirror. If mirror is semi-transparent then it is a dichroic coating.
Dichroic coatings are a by-product of the space industry and is a special reflective mirror filter applied to clear glass. Applying a dichroic coating is a very complicated time consuming process. Clear glass object is randomly rotated in a vacuum furnace above minerals of metallic oxides, such as magnesium, silicon, titanium, which are bombarded by an electron beam whose vapors are deposited in thin layers on the glass. Each mineral is in separate crucible. Different oxide vapors produce different reflective wavelengths, so to get a mirror reflection which will evenly reflect all visible light wavelengths is tricky and computer controlled.
references for this page: DICHROIC MIRROR, DICHROIC