The broadband IR sources supplied by Scitec produce a broad spectrum of IR light from around 800nm to around 20µm depending on the temperature the device is operated at.

The wide output is commonly optically filtered to restrict the output to a small bandwidth appropriate for detection of a particular gas. Gas detection is by far the most common application of the IR sources.

Other applications are to act as IR targets for thermal imagers, for use as micro heaters and as mid IR illumination.

- General space heaters as they are far too small.

- Long term Battery operation. An IR-12K will run off a set of four AA batteries for about an hour.

- Communication systems. Most parts can only be pulsed at less than 1Hz and even the IR-50 can only be pulsed at 100Hz. This not suitable for most communication systems. Consider instead 850nm to 900nm LEDs which are a lot cheaper, a lot faster and a lot more energy efficient for the application.

- Near IR illumination. Cheap IR cameras work at around 800nm to 900nm. The output of broadband IR sources is small at these wavelengths so again, IR LEDs operating at these wavelengths should be used.

- Mounting on or near people, animals or flamable objects. These IR sources are exactly like miniture bar fires and reach the same high temperatures. They can very easily burn people and set fire to objects that get near to or touch them. It is therefore very important that the users ensures this can't occur.