NEWARK, N.J., Feb.27 -- A new method for producing ultraviolet (UV) light has been patented by an international team of university researchers in New Jersey and Germany. With colleagues at The Technical University in Munich, Rutgers-Newark physics professor Daniel Murnick has developed a system that provides a much more energy-efficient UV light source with higher power and lower maintenance than conventional UV light sources.
The source uses the shorter deep or vacuum UV wavelength and provides the potential for major industrial and commercial applications. The team has been granted two patents so far, one for the basic technology and one for its laser application, and a third patent is pending for large-area UV lamp technology. "Using fundamental physics, we have found a different and more efficient way to produce UV light and small UV lamps," said Murnick. "This unique new UV lamp works so well because of an extremely efficient excitation of the gas molecules, which produces the UV light."