A Theory of Pigments of Maximum Luminous Efficiency

Abstract

Non-fluorescent pigments capable of reflecting saturated light close to narrow-band spectral lights may only be manufactured with vanishingly low reflectance. Schrodinger asks what maximum intensity of light across the visible spectrum can be reflected from a pigment color, and what the reflectance function of a pigment must be to attain such a maximum. He describes a two-dimensional manifold of optimal pigments. The manifold represents those pigments under arbitrary illumination conditions, provided the illuminant is present in an unbroken way across the visible spectrum. Under this scheme all possible optimal pigment colors are represented, each by a single exemplar.