In this quick read, let's explain what is a photonic barrier, and how it affects weapon light performance.
What Is Photonic Barrier
Photonic barriers in the context of weapon light applications are incoming light sources that outpower the beam of the weapon light. When that occurs the user experiences the following:
- Can't see what's around or behind
- Can't positively target identification
- Can't positively acquire target or engage back
- Less powerful light can't beat photonic barriers
How To Combat Photonic Barriers
There are 3 ways to combat photonic barriers in low light situations.
- Get a light that has ENOUGH horsepower to push through fog, backlight and other urban light sources. (Why high lumen & candela light is trending)
- Avoid being lit up
- Under night vision, shine a stronger IR light back
Seeing clearly VS barely seeing it makes a huge difference.
Please see the illustration below:
A Weak Light Against Photonic Barrier
- Can't see anything around or behind
- Can't positively ID anything
- They have tactical advantages over you
A Powerful Light Against Photonic Barrier
- Stronger light beats the photonic barrier created by less intense light
- Able to lit up what's behind and around
- Now you have tactical advantages over them
Basically you need a strong light that can burn through a photonic barrier, and later in this post we will talk about the light specs you need to look for.
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Why Lumen Intensity Matters When Combating Photonic Barriers
Lumen is the preferred measurement of total brightness output by a light. The brighter it is, the more you can see and the faster you can make tactical decisions.
As far as combating photonic barriers, higher lumen creates higher lux.
Lux is the area intensity of the light measured as 1 lumen / squared meter.
- Anything over 10 - 1,000,000+ are considered photopic
- Anything between 1 and 10 is called diurnal Threshold
- Anything from 10 to 0.01 are considered mesopic
- Anything from 0.01 to 0.000001 are considered Scotopic
There are few technical terms to know before we dig deeper:
- Scotopic - Full starlight, full darkness, overcast darkness
- Mesopic - Moon light, Common street light
- Photopic - Daylight, Full color, Perceivable contrast and hue
Humans generally don't see well in the dark, and we need artificial light to help us see better.
If you encounter these types of light sources head-on, the more powerful your light will need to be to overcome these photonic light barriers.
In another word, a 500 lumens VS a 2000 lumens light in a head on firefight