Looking For A Solid Material Light Diffuser - Terminology?

[golmschenk]

I'm looking for a solid material that will diffuse light throughout it. In particular I would need a thin bar with a light source at one end that will diffuse light to all sides of the bar, however, I don't specifically need a bar as long as the material can be machined. I'm trying to search for some type of material like this, but I guess I really don't know what kind of terminology to be using and I keep ending up finding only cinematography light filter films. If anyone has any idea of the material I'm looking for or just the proper terminology of what I should be searching for let me know. Thanks for your time!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Do you mean translucent plastics? Polypropylene or polyurethane may work ok:

http://www.professionalplastics.com/

If you need quantitative control of the exitance, that's significantly more complex. Another good trick is to simply roughen the faces of a clear plastic like acrylic (with sandpaper or something).

 

[golmschenk]

Thanks, the translucent plastic *might* work. A more quantitative control would definitely be a plus. Even if that means it will be more complex/expensive. What would I want to look for if I were searching for this more complex method?

 

[Andy Resnick]

I know a little about non-imaging optics (of which illumination control is a topic), but all I know is that it's more an art than science.

It would be more helpful (here) if you gave some information about your application.