Researchers, SPIE Praise Nobel Award for Developing Blue LED

BELLINGHAM, WA--(Marketwired - Oct 7, 2014) - Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura will receive the prize for their "invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources."

"The blue LED has completed the toolbox of solid-state lighting by providing a full gamut of colors through either color mixing or phosphor-coated blue LEDs," said R. John Koshel, professor and associate dean at the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences. "In a short 20 years this technology is used around us every day, from smartphone and laptop displays to lighting in our homes and offices to the headlights on our cars." 

All three Nobel laureates have a long history with SPIE, including dozens of papers each in SPIE Proceedings since the early 1990s. Papers coauthored by each of the three will be in the conference "Gallium nitride materials and devices" at SPIE Photonics West, 7-12 February 2015 in San Francisco.

SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs emphasized the value of the discovery to humanity. "The Nobel committee rightly acknowledged the LED's far-reaching benefit for humankind," he said. "This is an inspirational example of scientific discovery addressing one of our grand challenges -- energy consumption. From this advance, millions of people in need will have clean light for the first time using LEDs."

Mark Rea, professor and director of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, said that the development could be the most important one in lighting since the incandescent bulb.

"Blue LEDs may be the first 'white' lighting technology that actually displaces all the others because of their wide diversity in form factors, high reliability, controllability and high efficacy, or light per watt," Rea said. "This technology provides a platform for delivering greater safety, security, health, and productivity at a lower cost and a lower negative impact on the environment."

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. The Society serves nearly 256,000 constituents from approximately 155 countries, offering conferences, continuing education, books, journals, and a digital library in support of interdisciplinary information exchange, professional networking, and patent precedent. SPIE provided more than $3.2 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2013.