From DUer "unblock " - Accidental Invention Points to End of Light Bulbs

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1870116

Accidental Invention Points to End of Light Bulbs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20051021/sc_space/accidentalinventionpointstoendoflightbulbs

Accidental Invention Points to End of Light Bulbs
cool!

The main light source of the future will almost surely not be a bulb. It might be a table, a wall, or even a fork.

An accidental discovery announced this week has taken LED lighting to a new level, suggesting it could soon offer a cheaper, longer-lasting alternative to the traditional light bulb. The miniature breakthrough adds to a growing trend that is likely to eventually make Thomas Edison's bright invention obsolete(...)

Quantum dots contain anywhere from 100 to 1,000 electrons. They're easily excited bundles of energy, and the smaller they are, the more excited they get. Each dot in Bower's particular batch was exceptionally small, containing only 33 or 34 pairs of atoms.

When you shine a light on quantum dots or apply electricity to them, they react by producing their own light, normally a bright, vibrant color. But when Bowers shined a laser on his batch of dots, something unexpected happened. (...)

:bounce:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9777070/

Now the article is a bit hyped. When they say this:



...they neglect to mention that LEDs as currently produced are NOT more power efficient than compact flourescents. They will someday be -- which is why the DOE estimates 2025. Whether this development helps them achieve superior efficiency is not elaborated on. So don't rush around trying to find LED lighting just yet.

Even in their current state, LEDs do have some compelling advantages -- when the proper control electronics are used, LED arrays can be made to change their light warmth and hue (as well as just dimming.) That allows for advanced lighting systems that can be used for mood enhancement and respond to room occupants.

And they are more durable and have the potential to be extremely cheap to fabricate, with very little environmental impact from disposal.

Just so you have the whole story.

Personally, I'm wondering whether the quantum dot technology would be applicable to improving the performance of this omnidirectional light receiver/concentrator concept that reflouresces at a solar-cell-freindly wavelength and bottles the resulting light to concentrate it at the end of a light-box:

http://www.solgel.com/articles/Sept01/ren_solar.htm

...cool stuff. 3M's had a patent on the basic concept since the 70's.

:-)