Optical device firm Bookham is entering the biomedical market with an optical module which uses LED multiplexing technology for bio-analytical applications and medical instrumentation.

The ZoroLight LED module, which is launched this week at the BiOS exhibition in San Jose, does not use traditonal lenses but traps light in a tunnel of highly-reflective dielectric coated surfaces that are geometry optimised for efficient source light collection and filter performance.

As a result LED illumination offers brightness, efficiency and size advantages over the traditional approach to LED combining methods, said Bookham.

"The use of LEDs is attractive in fluorescence applications due to their 10x-20x longer lifetime compared to bulbs and their cost savings over lasers," said Bookham's product line manager, Ben Standish.

"Using this approach, the ZoroLight  LED module  multiplexes up to six wavelengths in the visible range, or red, green & blue for white light, in less space than any other approach of comparable efficiency," said Standish