The Lighting Revolution

By using laser diodes it could be possible to obtain a luminescence 1000 times higher than an LED to make a very bright light source. Nakamura says it could take 5-10 years but there are a number of challenges to overcome. “Currently, laser diodes are very expensive – around $10 for a laser diode, but just $0.10 for an LED,” says Nakamura. “Also, the ‘wall plug’ efficiency of laser diodes is around 30%, this is not high enough compared to the blue LED, which is about 50–60%.”

Source: light2015blog.org

By using laser diodes it could be possible to obtain a luminescence 1000 times higher than an LED to make a very bright light source. Nakamura says it could take 5-10 years but there are a number of challenges to overcome. “Currently, laser diodes are very expensive – around $10 for a laser diode, but just $0.10 for an LED,” says Nakamura. “Also, the ‘wall plug’ efficiency of laser diodes is around 30%, this is not high enough compared to the blue LED, which is about 50–60%.”