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DLP/DMD for 365nm light

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: TIDA-00293, DLP9500UV, DLP4710

I am working on a research project at the University of Texas at Dallas where we need to produce a patterned image of 365nm light, and we were wondering if we could use DLP/DMD for this?

We saw there are high-end, UV-specific DLP/DMD chips, but they are beyond our budget and not a complete projection system. We would like to use a high power 365nm source but would only use it intermittently (<10% duty), and do not need extremely long lifetime at this stage. Perhaps we could get away with using normal DMD chips rather than the UV-specific one?

So far we have tried putting our current source (LED Engin #LZ1-10UV00-0000) in some old DLP projectors we have around, but they all have plastic lenses/optics in them that absorb the 365m light.

Are there any DLP/DMD projection systems that use all glass optics that we could use for this purpose, or some other way we could try to get this working on a limited budget?

Thank you!

  • Hi Carter,
    We do not have information about the materials used by optical module manufactures for optics & lens in a projection system. You may want to try
    - Optical engines used in DLP based 3D printers; Very likely these engines use glass optics and typically operate at 405 nm wavelength. or
    - Very high brightness projector; these product may have plastic components in the path. We do not have sufficient information to suggest or recommend any product.
    Regards,
    Vivek
  • HI Vivek, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately at 405nm, the usual plastic optics can work okay, but become unusable at 365nm.

    TI has a whole website dedicated to UV projection with "98% transmission down to 363nm" (www.ti.com/.../overview.html), and several product lines (e.g. DLP9500UV) and even this possible candidate: TIDA-00293, so I assume someone at TI has more information on this topic.

    Is there a better forum, or is it possible to be put in touch with someone on the team who understands/works in this area?

    Thank you!
  • Hi Carter,

    TI makes DLP chips and evaluation modules for our customers to quickly evaluate functionality. To get the right performance from the system, you need the right optics module with the right trade-offs on cost/power/performance.

    We have an extensive partners that make optical modules for a wide variety of applications including 3D printing. We recommend you to check the "Optics and electronics" tab at the link below.

    www.ti.com/.../optics-electronics.html
    You will see companies like Visitech, Vialux and Invision with module solutions using our UV products. You will find their contact on these pages.

    If you are looking into small form-factor solutions like DLP4710, please see the below link from YoungOptics.
    www.ti.com/.../buy-optical-engine.html
    While this current module is optimized for display, they could support specific requirements.

    But, I think UV is what you primarily are looking for. So, I'd start with those options first.

    Hope this helps and thanks for your post.
    Thanks
    Srik