Luminous intensity measures the luminous output from a source ina specific direction into unit solid angle. The candela (one of the SI base units, abbreviation cd), is the unit of luminous intensity and is maintained at NPL using standard photometers and lamps with an uncertainty of ±0.2%. Working reference standards are calibrated against the standard photometers whose calibration derives in turn from the NPL spectral responsivity scale based on the cryogenic radiometer.
Luminous intensity measurements are carried out on a photometric bench. They compare the output of test lamps with that of working reference standard lamps using a specially constructed filter-corrected silicon photodiode (photometer).
Illuminance, (measured in lux), at a point of a surface is thequotient of luminous flux incident on an element of the surface, by the area of the element. For a point source and a surface normal to the direction of view, illuminance equals luminous intensity divided by distance squared.
Apparatus for illuminance measurements are similar to that for luminous intensity, but, instead of comparing lamps, the distances from light centres to the photometer are carefully measured for each lamp. The illuminance produced at the photometer by the standard is calculated using the inverse square law. The best measurement capability is ± 0.5%. This method can be used to calibrate photometers and luxmeters.