Blue LED wins Physics Nobel Prize

The invention of the blue light-emitting diodes has scooped this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. Twenty years ago, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura produced bright light beams from semiconductors, triggering a fundamental transformation in lighting technology. Where incandescent bulbs lit the 20^th century, the 21^st century would be illuminated by LED lamps. Blue LEDs are based on the wide band gap semiconductors GaN (gallium nitride) and InGaN (indium gallium nitride) and are added to existing red and green LEDs to produce the impression of white light. Modules combining blue with red and green diodes are used in big video screens and in adjustable-colour fixtures. With the advent of blue diodes, white light could now be created, offering a great benefit to mankind. LED lamps hold great promise for increasing the quality of life for 1.5 billion people around the world who lack access to electricity grids. LED lamps emit a bright white light, are long-lasting and energy-efficient – and are constantly being improved. A light-emitting diode consists of a number of layered semiconductor materials. In the LED, electricity is directly converted into light particles, photons, leading to efficiency gains compared to other light sources where most of the electricity is converted to heat and only a small amount into light. They will contribute to saving the world’s resources; LEDs last up to 100,000 hours, compared to 1,000 for incandescent bulbs. Importantly, they also contain no mercury. The 8 million SEK (£0.7 million) prize will be shared equally between the three Laureates. Akasaki is currently Professor at Meijo University and Distinguished Professor at Nagoya University, where Amano is also a professor. Nakamura is currently a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. The awards were established in the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, and first awarded in 1901. 107 Nobel Prizes in Physics have so far been awarded to 196 laureates. 47 have been given to one Laureate only, and just 2 women have been awarded the Physics Prize so far – including Marie Curie. See a video of the announcement here, with an illustration of the three LEDs combined. More information: Efficient blue light-emitting diodes leading to bright and energy-saving white light sources