Using science to get back to nature
Our 30 year journey to mimic sunlight indoors
While light fixtures are important to us, the secret sauce is not the light fixture, it's the LIGHT coming out. That magic happens at the LED board, driver and control gear level. To produce the right spectrum at the right time takes expertise in LED dies, phosphors, packaging, PCB board design & assembly and that's just the LED board.
It's even more complex to control the power to optimally drive the packaged LED chips to produce the desired spectrum without compromising efficiency and life. Our dedication to mimicking the sun doesn't stop there. Next time you look out a window you'll notice sunlight doesn't "flicker" like the vast majority LEDs.
We go to great length to minimize flicker without compromising dimmability (a.k.a. intensity) as controlling intensity is critical in mimicking sunlight and its seamless transition between rising, midday and setting.
The Sun
"The Sun is the giver of life" - Ramses II
How complex can it be ?
Dynamic
The sun is constantly changing spectrum as it rises and sets. Below are 60 spectral measurements from 5:13am to 12:00 Noon. Each measurement has slight differences in spectrum, but visually the changes are barely noticeable from 7:50am when it hits 5000K until 4:20pm when it starts to dip below 5000K.
On this day the sun was up for 12 hours 53 minutes.
- Sunrise was 5:33 am 2500K
- 11 hour 40 minutes was 4000K or more
- 8 hours 19 minutes was 5000k or more
- Peak / noon was 5300K
Your eye sees "Kelvin" temperature ( CCT), the body sees much more
Solar vs.Sunlight
The "solar" spectrum is the spectrum the sun produces, however "Sunlight" is the part of the solar spectrum that gets through our atmosphere. Even though sunlight gets through the atmosphere, we don't necessarily get all of it as there are parts of the non-visual, infrared spectrum that get absorbed by water in the atmosphere.
As you can see in the graphic below, the sun's energy that makes it to the earth is between 280nm and 2480nm, yet visual light is small part. Visual light is 380nm-750nm, the rest is either Ultra Violet ( UV) 280nm-380nm or Infrared (IR) 750nm-2480nm.
Half of sun's energy isn't even visible! 50% of the sun's energy is seen by our eyes but... 100% of the sun's energy is seen by our BODY !
We have evolved under the sun and our body uses and needs all of its energy for many of our bodily systems and functions.
Visual vs. Non Visual
50% of sunlight is visual, can be seen with our eyes. The other 50% is non-visual energy, can not be seen with our eyes. When we get into our natural state in the shaded sun, about 25% of the visual energy gets absorbed by grass, trees, dirt etc. producing the beautiful colors, and the deep greens. The infrared, non-visual energy gets reflected resulting in 75% of the sun's energy is non-visual in the shade, our natural environment
Bringing Natural Light Indoors
Our lighting products bring the natural rhythms of the sun indoors, delivering Circadian tuned and human-centric lighting for optimal health and wellbeing.
Contribute To Mental And Physical Performance
Apres lighting products are designed to support the body's natural rhythms, helping to enhance mental clarity, focus, and physical performance.
Circadian Tuned Lighting
Our lighting products are specifically designed to mimic the natural rhythms of the sun, providing a circadian tuned lighting experience.
Mind And Body Wellness
Our lighting products help promote mind and body wellness by providing the right spectrum and intensity of light to support the body's natural rhythms, and improve sleep quality.
Meet The Founder
Jay Goodman
Founder
At Après Illumination, we are on a never ending quest to mimic the sun's energy, indoors. As more and more peer reviewed research gets published, the connection between the sun and a longer, happier , healthier life is undeniable.
My last company I started in my garage to take advantage of the huge opportunity in energy saving lighting for commercial and industrial markets. We manufactured fixtures for many of the Fortune 100 companies in both their offices and warehouses and all based on precision optical control to maximize savings without compromising the quality of the illumination. I successfully exited that company in 2016.
After 30 yrs. in this industry, I can confidently say this opportunity for more Human-Centric lighting, lighting for people, is going to make the energy savings "gold rush" look like child's play.
Let's GO !