Luminosity and Color-Rendering Capability of White Light

Abstract

The spectral power distribution of white light required to maximize luminous efficiency and the color-rendering index is approximated by additive combination of three spectral lines near 450, 540, and 610 nm. The two wavelength regions near 500 and 580 nm are disadvantageous. These results are related to the color-mixture functions of human color vision. Three functions that indicate the effectiveness of red, green, and blue light for composing high-performance white light are shown.