List of light sources

Lightning

This is a list of sources of light, including both natural and artificial processes that emit light. This article focuses on sources that produce wavelengths from about 390 to 700 nanometers called visible light.

Electric discharge

• • Arc lamp
  • Flashtube
• • Lightning
  • Electric spark
• • Electrodeless lamp
  • Excimer lamp
  • Fluorescent lamp
    • Compact fluorescent lamp
    • Tanning lamp
    • Black lights
      

      Ultraviolet Infinity mirror
    • Geissler tube
    • Moore tube (Defunct)
    • "Ruhmkorff" lamp (Defunct)
  • High-intensity discharge lamp
    • Carbon arc lamps
    • Ceramic discharge metal-halide lamp
    • Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide lamp
    • Mercury-vapor lamp
    • Metal-halide lamp
    • Sodium-vapor lamp
    • Sulfur lamp
    • Xenon arc lamp
  • Hollow-cathode lamp
  • Induction lighting
    • Sulfur lamp
      

      Sulfur lamps
  • Neon and argon lamps
    • Dekatron (Defunct)
      

      Dekatron
    • Nixie tube
  • Plasma lamp
  • Xenon flash lamp

Incandescence

• Black-body radiation
• Carbon button lamp (Defunct)
• Earthquake light
• Halogen lamp
• Incandescent light bulb
  

  Incandescent light bulb
• Lava
• Nernst lamp (Defunct)
• Volcanic eruption
  

  Volcanic eruption

Combustion

Lamps

• Argand lamp (Defunct)
• Argon flash
• Carbide lamp (Defunct)
• Betty lamp (Defunct)
• Butter lamp
• Flash-lamp (Defunct)
• Gas lighting
• Gas mantle
• Kerosene lamps
• Lanterns
• Limelights (Defunct)
• Oil lamps
  

  Oil lamp
• Tilley lamp (Defunct)

Other

• Bunsen burner
• Candle
  

  Candle
• Embers
• Explosives
• Fire
  

  Fire
• Fire whirl
  

  Fire whirl
• Fireworks
  

  Fireworks
• Flamethrower
• Muzzle flash
• Rubens' tube
• Torch

Nuclear and high-energy particle

• Annihilation
• Bremsstrahlung
• Čerenkov radiation
  

  Čerenkov radiation
• Cyclotron radiation
• Fusor
  

  Fusor
• Nuclear explosion
• Scintillation
• Synchrotron light source

Celestial and atmospheric

Nebula and stars

Starry sky, the Milky Way, and a shooting star

• Astronomical objects
  • Sun (sunlight, solar radiation)
    

    Sun
    • Corona
    • Photosphere
  • Stars (Starlight)
    • Nova / supernova / hypernova
    • Galaxies
      • Milky Way
    • Star clusters
  • Deep sky objects
    • Quasars
    • Accretion discs
    • Blazars
    • Magnetars
    • Pulsars
• Atmospheric entry
  • Meteors
    

    Meteor
    • Meteor showers
  • Bolide
    • Earth-grazing fireball
• Lightning (Plasma)
  • Sprite (lightning)
  • Ball lightning
  • Upper-atmospheric lightning
  • Dry lightning
• Aurorae
• Čerenkov radiation

Luminescence

Luminescence is emission of light by a substance not resulting from heat.

Chemiluminescence

Chemiluminescence is light resulting from a chemical reaction.

Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is light resulting from biochemical reaction by a living organism.

• Aequorea victoria
• Antarctic krill
• Cavitation bubbles
• Foxfire
• Glowworm
• Luciferase
• Panellus stipticus
  

  Bioluminescent panellus stipticus
• Parchment worm
• Piddock

Electrochemiluminescence

Electrochemiluminescence is light resulting from electrochemical reaction.

Crystalloluminescence

Crystalloluminescence is light produced during crystallization.

Electroluminescence

Electroluminescence is light resulting of an electric current passed through a substance.

• Light-emitting diodes
• Organic light-emitting diodes
• Polymer light-emitting diodes
• AMOLED
• Light-emitting electrochemical cell
• Electroluminescent wires
• Field-induced polymer electroluminescent
• Laser
  

  Lasers
  • Chemical laser
  • Dye laser
  • Free-electron laser
  • Gas dynamic laser
  • Gas laser
  • Ion laser
  • Laser diode
  • Metal-vapor laser
  • Nonlinear optics
  • Quantum well laser
  • Ruby laser
  • Solid-state laser

Cathodoluminescence

Cathodoluminescence is light resulting from a luminescent material being struck by the electrons.

Mechanoluminescence

Mechanoluminescence is light resulting from a mechanical action on a solid.

• Triboluminescence

Triboluminescence, a type of mechanoluminescence, is light generated when bonds in a material are broken when that material is scratched, crushed, or rubbed.

• Fractoluminescence

Fractoluminescence, a type of mechanoluminescence, is light generated when bonds in certain crystals are broken by fractures.

• Piezoluminescence

Piezoluminescence, a type of mechanoluminescence, is light produced by the action of pressure on certain solids.

• Sonoluminescence

Sonoluminescence, a type of mechanoluminescence, is light resulting from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound.

Photoluminescence

Photoluminescence is light resulting from absorption of photons.

• Fluorescence

Fluorescence, a type of photoluminescence, is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation.

• Phosphorescence

Unlike fluorescence, a phosphorescent material does not immediately re-emit the radiation it absorbs.

Radioluminescence

Radioluminescent

Radioluminescence is light resulting from bombardment by ionizing radiation.

Thermoluminescence

Thermoluminescence is light from the re-emission of absorbed energy when a substance is heated.

Cryoluminescence

Cryoluminescence is the emission of light when an object is cooled.

See also

• Luminous efficacy
• Photometry (optics)

External links

• A CD spectrometer Color spectrographs of common light sources
• The Double Amici Prism Hand-Held Spectroscope in Practice - Dozens of raw visible spectra of a wide variety of light sources.