For manufacturers / Laboratory testing
Independent laboratory testing for curing lights and light-cured materials.
Manufacturers bring us two kinds of questions: what does our light actually deliver? and what should our instructions for use say? We answer both the same way — with measurement. We report measurements; we don't provide endorsements. That independence is what makes the data usable in regulatory submissions, marketing claims, and peer-reviewed publication.
- 200+Peer-reviewed publications involving the MARC platform
- 18Journal papers naming the MARC Light Collector
- 2009Deployed worldwide since
- 350–1,000 nmSpectral range, visible to infrared
The catalogue
What we test.
Power and irradiance
Total power output on a laboratory integrating sphere; tip irradiance derived from optically measured active area — supports ISO 10650:2026 test methods. Sampling fast enough to resolve short, high-intensity exposure modes.
Spectral characterization and photoinitiator efficiency
Spectral radiant power across 350–1,000 nm, with multi-wave LED bands resolved separately. We convolve your light's emission with photoinitiator absorption to report CQ and TPO efficiency — the fraction of your light's power the chemistry can actually use — and the effective power available to each photoinitiator.
Irradiance at clinical distance
Output measured from contact to 10 mm in 1 mm steps through a calibrated nine-aperture series (3–11 mm), quantifying collimation and what the light delivers at the working distances restorations are actually cured at.
Beam profiling
Laser-beam-analyzer irradiance maps across the active area, with uniformity metrics including the industry-standard Top Hat Factor, plus Bluelight's own Hot/Cold Ratio and Clinical Variability Ratio analyses: hot-spot and cold-spot behaviour at the 4 mm scale of a typical restoration.
Thermal performance
Surface temperature rise at the tip, and pulp-chamber temperature in an instrumented natural tooth under simulated intraoral conditions — the safety half of a high-output claim.
Endurance and battery
Automated repeated-cycle protocols: output stability across cure cycles and full battery-drain behaviour, with per-cycle spectral data.
Depth of cure — one of the ISO 4049 test methods
One of several tests ISO 4049 specifies for polymer-based restoratives: material packed into the specified mold and irradiated per your instructions for use; all uncured material is scraped away, and the height of the remaining solid is halved. The result must support the depth your IFU states, within the standard's tolerance — the test behind every stated depth-of-cure claim.
Instructions-for-use development
Our transmission-guided protocol measures per-wavelength light transmission across every shade of a composite line and anchors it with depth-of-cure testing. Because beam hot spots make delivered energy differ from a light's nominal output, we measure the irradiance and total energy actually delivered into the 4 mm specimen directly. The result: the shade-group, increment, and cure-time tables your IFU states — traced to measured delivered energy, not estimation.
| Shade group | Max increment | Irradiance range 1 | Irradiance range 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group A (high transmission) | 2.0 mm | t₁ s | t₂ s |
| Group B (median) | 2.0 mm | t₃ s | t₄ s |
| Group C (opaque / low) | 1.5 mm | t₅ s | t₆ s |
The process
How an engagement works.
A call to define objectives and the claims the data must support.
A written protocol, sample requirements, and a fixed quote.
You ship samples; we run the protocol.
Complete datasets in open formats. NIST-traceable calibration.
A scoping call defines your objectives and the claims the data must support. We write a specific protocol with sample requirements and a fixed quote. You ship device samples — and materials, if the study calls for them. We run the protocol and deliver a report with complete datasets in open formats (CSV, Excel, PDF; mW/nm, mW/cm², J/cm²). Instrument calibration is NIST-traceable. If publication is a goal, we design to publication standards from the start, typically partnering with a university research group.
Beyond services
Your own reference instrument.
Several manufacturers run a MARC Light Collector in their own facilities — for R&D characterization during development, and on the production line as a reference instrument for output verification and batch QC, confirming that shipped units deliver their specified irradiance and spectrum. The MARC-LC is sold as a quoted instrument; purchase includes team onboarding, study-design support, and ongoing calibration, software, and technical support from Halifax.
Start with a scoping call.
Tell us what the data needs to support — a regulatory submission, a marketing claim, an IFU, a publication — and we'll come back with a specific protocol and a fixed quote.