Artificial sunlight lighting luminaires for indoor environments

A lighting luminaire, comprising:

• a tunable white light source channel configured to emit visible light with an emission spectrum within about 400 nm to about 700 nm, the channel having a correlated color temperature (CCT) tunable within about 1900 K to about 6500 K;
• a near-infrared channel comprising at least one infrared light emitter (103) configured to emit radiation in a near-infrared region;
• and
• a controller (506) configured to coordinate the light output of both the tunable white light source channel and the near-infrared channel, over time and in accordance with a predetermined schedule or in response to control signals, to emulate a spectral power distribution and illuminance characteristic of natural sunlight.

A method of operating a lighting luminaire to emulate natural sunlight, the method comprising:

• varying, by a controller (506), a drive signal to a tunable white light source channel of the luminaire to emit visible light with a correlated color temperature (CCT) tunable within about 1900 K to about 6500 K;
• driving, by the controller, one or more near-infrared light emitters to emit radiation in a near-infrared region;
• coordinating, by the controller, the drive signals to the tunable white light source channel and the near-infrared light emitters over time;
• and
• causing a combined spectral power distribution and illuminance to approximate those of natural sunlight, based on a predetermined schedule or in response to control signals.