In sorting, the access of wavelengths of all visible and invisible colours is attractive for discriminating between organic and inorganic material. Features such as the color of ripe fruit and vegetables, sorting inorganic material such as metal, plastic or wood for recycling or detecting harmful bacteria on nuts can be interrogated by specific wavelengths. Optical phenomena such as absorption, reflection and spectral content provide vital signatures to help the sorting process. In such applications, conventional light sources are limited by a few specific wavelengths, but the availability of ALL wavelengths from SuperK sources allow sorting applications to either dial in or tune a number of wavelengths to optimise the sorting process or to use white light and sort via a spectral signature.

In related applications, the broad bandwidth of the SuperK makes it an ideal source for applications in metrology. In applications such as white light interferometry, defect inspection systems and systems for device measurement, traditional lamp solutions do not offer the brightness or power for demanding applications. Lasers are another solution, but the high temporal coherence of such sources leads to parasitic interference issues and also speckle. The SuperK systems have the broadband nature of a lamp, but the power of a laser, allowing interference free and speckle-free illumination for metrology and inspection systems.