Abstract: An ophthalmic illuminator is provided that includes a plurality of color sources, each color source producing a light of a corresponding color; a combiner for combining the light from the color sources to produced a combined light; at least one optical fiber configured to receive the combined light and propagate the received combined light towards a distal end of the ophthalmic illuminator; and a controller configured to control an intensity for each of the color sources responsive to a sampling of a spectral content for the combined light.

Abstract: An assembly for use in an ophthalmic endoilluminator includes a precision lamp assembly, an actuator, and a controller. The precision lamp assembly has a housing and a lamp holder for holding a lamp. The actuator is connected to the precision lamp assembly and is configured to move the precision lamp assembly. The controller controls the operation of the actuator. The controller directs the actuator to move the precision lamp assembly over time to compensate for hot spot movement of the lamp.

Abstract: A system and method for hardware limiting the ignition of an ophthalmic illumination source are disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention is an ophthalmic illuminator, comprising: an illumination source having a desired useful lifetime; and an ignition system operable to provide an ignition pulse to ignite the illumination source, wherein the ignition pulse voltage is limited to prevent ignition of the illumination source beyond the desired useful lifetime. The desired useful lifetime of the illumination source can be an arbitrarily selected lifetime that is less than an expected illumination source lifetime based on manufacturer's specifications for the illumination source. The ignition pulse voltage limit can be a threshold voltage, wherein the threshold voltage is a minimum voltage required to ignite the illumination source near the end of the desired useful lifetime.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for filtering light. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention may filter light provided as a source of illumination by using one or more mirrors in an optical path. In a specific embodiment, one or more cold mirrors in the optical path are coated such that they are operable to reflect light in the desired wavelengths while transmitting other wavelengths of light. Thus, as light from a light source is reflected off these cold mirrors undesired wavelengths of light may be substantially removed from the light before it is utilized to illuminate an area. In other embodiments, one or more hot mirrors mirror may also be provided in the optical path, where these hot mirrors are coated such that they are operable to transmit the desired wavelengths of light and reflect undesired wavelengths.