Use the triangular in equal radiant power under visual weighting and stipulate the detector's spectral responsivity
This model has nonnegative response: is zero outside –. For a ideal calibration line at , and , so . An equal-radiant flux test line at gives , and . The unchanged conversion indicates , whereas the model's intended weighted result is . The required spectral mismatch correction is : the uncorrected result is 50% too large. All these numbers are declared model outputs, not instrument measurements or standard photometry data.
Figure 1.
Calibration at one wavelength leaves a spectral mismatch at another
. Original schematic and analytic model. The apparatus shows the signal path of a filtered photodiode photometer, with shutter-closed subtraction; it is not a drawing to scale of a specific instrument. The lower panels use the declared triangular weighting and detector response, not CIE tables. The two ideal lines carry the same collected radiant flux; the source-dependent factor corrects the test indication within this model only. Details.
Photometric calibration 2026-10-14
NIST Measurement Services: Photometric Calibrations by Yuqin Zong and others describes a concrete experiment (§§3.2–3.3.2): a silicon photodiode, multilayer photometric matching filter, precision aperture, temperature sensor and current-to-voltage converter. A monochromator supplies a small beam; scanning wavelength yields spectral responsivity, and scanning position checks response across the aperture. Finite spectral bandwidth requires correction. The average aperture response converts uniform illumination to illuminance.
On the photometric bench (§§3.4.1, 3.5.3, 3.5.6), align lamp and aperture reference planes, set the lamp's electric current, stabilize, and compare a check lamp with standard photometers. The readout is a voltmeter signal. Subtract the shutter-closed reading (§3.4.4), divide by converter gain to infer electric current, and use calibrated illuminance responsivity to obtain . For a distant source, luminous intensity follows from , with between reference planes.
Controls include repeat lamp operations, distance changes to test the inverse-square law, temperature corrections and gain linearity checks. Spectral mismatch correction is source dependent (§3.4.3). Unknown optical spectra, spatial nonuniformity and incorrect reference planes remain limitations.[ref]