Blue light often brings police cars to mind, but here we’re talking about the crucial role of blue light in LED technology.
Blue as in RGB
We’ve previously written about color temperatures, blackbody curves, and what is really meant by white light. By combining red, green, and blue (RGB), you can create all colors with an LED. Even white. And all kinds of white. Blue was particularly tricky, and in the early 90s, physicists still hadn’t managed to produce blue LEDs, which were essential for white LED light.
Reward for Effort
Shuji Nakamura, a Japanese physicist, was employed at a large company working with optoelectronics. He eventually managed to develop a functional solution in 1993. He thus invented the blue LED. The trick was, in addition to using phosphorus, also to use gallium nitride, a semiconductor that proved to be good at handling temperatures and voltages. Better than gallium arsenide, for those particularly curious about the technical details.
The company Nakamura worked for made enormous profits from this discovery, but Shuji himself was only compensated with 200 dollars! His colleagues mocked him for this and gave him the nickname “the slave.” However, Shuji would eventually be vindicated. He received an increase to 8 million dollars after a legal battle a few years later, and, as the icing on the cake, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014. In addition to being used in all white LEDs, his blue light is also used in Blu-ray players and more.
LED Christmas Tree, Blue as in White
When Nakamura received his Nobel Prize for “the invention of efficient blue LEDs which enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources,” Montejaur’s customers had already been enjoying the fine warm white light’s properties for 5 years. The hoistable Flag pole Christmas Tree was launched, as you know, already in 2009.
For the most dedicated blue light users, there is a hanging blue LED Christmas Tree. See the picture, but we want to emphasize that our carefully tuned warm white color is by far the most popular among our customers. But only thanks to Shuji Nakamura’s blue color component!
