Where to look for a UV light that is invisible to the naked eye?

[David Nolan]

TL;DR Summary

Where to look for a UV light that is invisible to the naked eye?

No blue/violet light, I just want the UV light that is invisible to the naked eye like. A lens that filtered out the blue/violet light from a black-light would also be fine. Looking for leads.

Why I want one?

Science experiment... related reasons.

FYI: I know they are dangerous and am taking precautions.

Where to look for a UV light that is invisible to the naked eye?

Essentially I want to buy a UV light that doesn't have that annoying blue glow, I just want the UV light that is invisible to the naked eye like infrared light. I read a bit about it and from what I read what I'm looking for is possible. A lens that filtered out the blue/violet light would also be fine. Looking for leads.

Why I want one?

Science... related reasons.

FYI: I know they are dangerous and am taking precautions.

 

[anorlunda]

FYI: I know they are dangerous and am taking precautions.

This is not a private chat. It is a public forum. Thousands of people can read the content, now or years into the future. Even children can find this thread by search and read the content. Do you really want us to give advice that may be dangerous to someone on a public forum?

 

[berkeman]

I'm getting a tan just reading this thread!

 

[berkeman]

Science experiment... related reasons.

BTW, Welcome to PF, David. As you can tell by now, we take safety pretty seriously here at PF. Since you mentioned safety explicitly, this sounds like you want a pretty intense source of UV. What exactly is your "science experiment"? Why do you need an intense UV source to conduct it? Can you not do the same science experiment at the power level of fractions of a watt?

 

[David Nolan]

Hi Berkeman, thanks for getting back to me. Honestly the only reason I put that in there was because people kept telling me it wasn't safe to use UV light period (Stack Exchange) . I don't want a powerful UV light at all. I just want one without the blue/violet glow you see in commercial black-lights. The experiment is 'classified'

 

[David Nolan]

This is not a private chat. It is a public forum. Thousands of people can read the content, now or years into the future. Even children can find this thread by search and read the content. Do you really want us to give advice that may be dangerous to someone on a public forum?

For the record, yes. I think the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

[David Nolan]

BTW, Welcome to PF, David. As you can tell by now, we take safety pretty seriously here at PF. Since you mentioned safety explicitly, this sounds like you want a pretty intense source of UV. What exactly is your "science experiment"? Why do you need an intense UV source to conduct it? Can you not do the same science experiment at the power level of fractions of a watt?

I responded in a new post accidentally. Apologies.

 

[Tom.G]

https://www.newport.com/c/bandpass-filters
https://www.newport.com/c/shortpass-filters
https://www.edmundoptics.com/c/optical-filters/610/#

 

[f95toli]

UV LED at around 300nm?

https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=2814

You haven't said what your budget is, some diodes do require a proper driver and possible even temperature control to work well and they are not cheap

 

[bigfooted]

In our lab we have used these UV LEDs from Thor and the Edmund Optics filters for calibration of UV sensors in hydrogen flames. This is probably what you want in an accurate academic experiment. You can also find cheaper LEDs online that cost a couple of [insert coin here], but I do not know what to expect from them.
You can also find circular UV-pass filters online for making UV pictures with a regular camera, they are dirt cheap.

 

[berkeman]

I just want one without the blue/violet glow you see in commercial black-lights. The experiment is 'classified'

So you want a UV source that people will not know is there, and the experiment is secret. Okay. Are the subjects of this experiment aware of what you are doing, and have said it is okay? Or are you going to expose people to this UV without their consent?

 

[anorlunda]

Have you considered that the annoying blue glow is part of the safety precautions of the UV light? It alerts people that something active is there. It is like adding tear gas to odorless natural gas to alert people if there is a leak.

You plan to take precautions, but you ask about removing a precaution.

 

[berkeman]

It is like adding tear gas to odorless natural gas to alert people

Actually, it's Mercaptan...

https://www.chemservice.com/news/what-are-mercaptans/

 

[berkeman]

Hi Berkeman, thanks for getting back to me. Honestly the only reason I put that in there was because people kept telling me it wasn't safe to use UV light period (Stack Exchange) . I don't want a powerful UV light at all. I just want one without the blue/violet glow you see in commercial black-lights. The experiment is 'classified'

So you want a UV source that people will not know is there, and the experiment is secret. Okay. Are the subjects of this experiment aware of what you are doing, and have said it is okay? Or are you going to expose people to this UV without their consent?

Well, since you have not responded, this thread is closed as potentially dangerous. If you want to contact me via PM to explain your project better, there is a chance that this thread can be reopened.