Researchers at the University of Illinois are developing panels of microcavity plasma lamps that may soon brighten people’s lives. The thin, lightweight panels could be used for residential and commercial lighting, and for certain types of biomedical applications.
“Built of aluminum foil, sapphire and small amounts of gas, the panels are less than 1 millimeter thick, and can hang on a wall like picture frames,” said Gary Eden, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the U. of I., and corresponding author of a paper describing the microcavity plasma lamps in the June issue of the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.
Like conventional fluorescent lights, microcavity plasma lamps are glow-discharges in which atoms of a gas are excited by electrons and radiate light. Unlike fluorescent lights, however, microcavity plasma lamps produce the plasma in microscopic pockets and require no ballast, reflector or heavy metal housing. The panels are lighter, brighter and more efficient than incandescent lights and are expected, with further engineering, to approach or surpass the efficiency of fluorescent lighting.
This type of lighting might be a competitor to LEDs.
Found by Bubba Martin.
Nah, not an LED competitor as it is an area illumination technique that cannot provide a beam or directed light or any kind. This will definitely compete with electroluminescent panels like the ones from CeeLite or the flexible EL cloth from Crosslink.
These panels have a finite lifespan, like five years.
It uses high voltage at very low amps, much like neons.
I’ve researched with others for publicity applications, instead of large panels 12″ deep to store a ballast and two neon tubes.
These panels have one good property – you can punch a hole and it still lights up everywhere else.
2,
Hole resilience is an aspect of EL panels, but I’m not sure that’s the case with this tech.
What a great replacement for all the 2 x 4 ceiling panels to retro fit for green office buildings. What a dream it would be to have our current administration interested in promoting use of technology for its legacy rather than the “guy” who regenerated the cold war.
#2, Mark Derail, do you have some additional links or research info to share about this tech? I sure would like to replace my fluorescent panels with something like this. Darned tubes keep burning out, and they’re a pain to replace. From the article, “uniform emissions of any color can be produced”. Now that would be cool.
Return of the cheesy 80s art deco.
Would this be a cheap way to solve the light bleeding problems that many LCDs have?
7,
I’m not sure what you mean. LED backlighting is the best solution for LCDs now and is being deployed by the major brands as we speak. Soon LCDs will have LEDs that are sequentially fired in time with the crystal refresh to reduce motion artifacts with light patterning to match brightness levels with the screen image.