Compact etendue-preserving light-mixing optics

We present a compact freeform optic, called Freeform Shell-Mixer, which, when placed on top of a multicolor light source (particularly, a multi-chip LED), turns it into a virtual source in which colors are uniformly mixed. The optic, compatible with injection molding, makes use of tendue-conserving Kohler integration to provide homogeneous mixing of light. Its minimal size (just 2x larger than the source) makes the concept compatible with many luminaries, as ray tracing models show. Simulations indicate that the Freeform Shell-Mixer can reach efficiencies above 95% and both the size of the virtual source and its emission pattern are very similar to the ones of the original source, so the correct performance of the luminaire is secured. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America