Device and method for uniform contact illumination

摘要

A device and a method for uniformly illuminating transparent or opaque objects while confining the illumination to those objects. The device consists of a radiation source and a transparent block. The device exploits total internal reflection to ensure that radiation introduced to the block by the radiation source propagates only within the block except where the block is in contact with the object to be illuminated. Where there is contact with the object, some of the radiation enters transparent objects, illuminating them from within or is diffusely reflected from opaque objects.