Hi Cory!
this very topic came up last week at the workshop in Chicago; the short answer is yes, you can swap light sources, because they all use the same type of connection to couple to the optical fiber. Things you will have to consider are how to put a shutter and filters (IR, UV, neutral density) into the light path, and how much those additional components skew the focusing of the light onto the fiber coupler. On the OG Whitmore design, the filters are before the focusing lens and the shutter is built into the coupling plate.
I too have a vintage Oriel system with annoying-to-align Q lamp housing. For the workshop, I brought the front end (fibers, test head, spectrometer, laptop) and we used one of the three light sources the Getty brought, which included a tungsten-halogen source and two xenons (I will let Vincent decide if he feels comfortable sharing brands/models). There's no reason why the multi-LED driver the Thomas design systems were using would not also have worked, we just didn't have the time to play with those variations in setup.
We're looking at options for our too, happy to swap further notes with you.
bonne chance,
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Cindy Connelly Ryan
Library of Congress
Silver Spring MD
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