In optics, can you change the colour of light emitted, without losing to much of the intensity?

Question

I have a HPS lamp which emit much (about 80%) of its light with a wavelength, between 550nm and 620nm, I want to know if one can use a colour filter to change colour of the light emitted, blue (or a value between 420nm and 500nm) without loosing to much of the intensity of the light. If a filter is just filtering the light then I suppose most of the light, above the 500nm wavelength will be lost...true? I do not know how this works but if it is just changing the colour it would be great to change the light blue with almost the same lumens.

Answer 1

I think you are correct....a color filter will absorb the majority of the intensity (if it is a blue passthrough).

However, you can get an LED lamp in the blue range of 480 nm. I'm not sure though if they are made to such high intensities as HPS lamps.

Here's what the kids are doing with them under their autos...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/40-BLUE-Plasma-LED-lighting-bulbs-High-Power-12V_W0QQitemZ180167087846QQihZ008QQcategoryZ40019QQcmdZViewItem

Cool! He, he...;))

Answer 2

As you have rightly pointed out, using a filter will remove most of the light and thus will not work. You need to find a different lamp which emits in the wavelength region of interest.