OLED Breakthrough Yields 75% More Efficient Lights 151
Mike writes "Researchers at Korea's Advanced Institute of Science and Technology recently announced a breakthrough in OLED technology that reduces the ultra-thin lights' energy consumption by 75%. The discovery hinges upon a new method of creating 'surface plasmon enhanced' organic light emitting diodes that boast 1.75 times increased emission rates and double the light intensity." OLEDnet notes: "The finding was published in the April issue of Applied Physics Letters and the June 25 issue of Optics Express. It will be also featured as the research highlight of the August issue of Nature Photonics and Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science."
Sounds good but... (Score:1, Interesting)
43% less power, you mean (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sounds good but... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's all well and good... (Score:2, Interesting)
But what *I'd* really like to see is some real advancement in photon-reflective display technology rather than emissive. Our eyes are evolved to primarily observe light reflected _OFF_ of other objects, not photons flung straight into our eyes from some source, and in my experience it is *FAR* easier to observe something for an extended period of time that is being lit by surrounding light than it is to study something that produces its own. I think it may have something to do with pupil dilation... but I'm not sure.
Now of course, I know there's electronic paper, which I think is awesome, but what I think would be cooler is if A) color were practical, and B) the display could be updated in real-time, at no less than several dozen times per second, making full-fledged animation possible.
Re:News at 11, new eco friendly whale oil OLEDs. (Score:2, Interesting)
OLEDs might be the future for most displays (has the problem of a low blue life span been solved yet?), however when it comes to competing with direct sunlight all they can do is try to outshine it - not a competition any technology so far has won.
Transreflective LCDs, where the backlight transmits its own light but also reflects incoming light, are much better solution there. And for mostly static displays of course ePaper which will hopefully get faster pixel switching time and colour in the future.
Re:two possible improvements (Score:2, Interesting)
Another big advantage with using silver is that it isn't susceptible to photocorrosion (silver oxides do not form readily).
Hey, sorry for my ignorance, but I thought that silver is highly susceptible to photocorrosion - isn't it used in photographic (b&w) film, or photochromic lenses? I'd just like to know where the difference is, or just some more info.
Re:Sounds good but... (Score:2, Interesting)
Fundamental equation: Life = Energy. If we as a species don't find a way to regulate energy consumption, Mother Nature will.
Re:But how long do they last? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sounds good but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounds like a great new technology but I get frustrated when product seems to take forever to get to market.
It's important to keep perspective on news items like this as "research results" rather than "products." That misunderstanding takes the fun out of a great spectator sport. ;-) Sometimes results out of the lab are immediately applicable, more often they take a quite a number of years to work out the practical kinks. E.g. this recent article on silicon for photo detectors in Tech Review [technologyreview.com] has a good examples of the kinds of problems researchers have to muddle through on the way from breakthrough to reality. It doesn't help that popular tech reporting (and some researchers) love to add 'hooks' of tantalizing applications for new work... but for all those lofty dreams it's still just a research result.
In short, it's best not to hitch one's proverbial horse to any one of these announcements. Instead, read a lot of them to get a good sense of where technology is headed and where academia and industry are investing their efforts.
lab incandescent lights much more efficient (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sounds good but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides being +1 insightful, you can replace "sometimes" with "almost never", especially on Slashdot technologies. I honestly cannot remember a SINGLE technology predicted here that I can actually buy yet. But I've only been here a few years.