The bright white light that Philips is showing off is a new OLED fixture which could set the stage for the next revolution in low profile and high efficiency lighting. Although LEDs seem to inundate the news of aquarium lighting, one day OLED will catch up and join the party and the new AC-powered OLED from Philips might just be that prototype. You know all about LEDs but OLEDs are a different type of light, made from Organic Light Emitting Diodes which can cast a glow over a broad surface.
Up until now, part of the expense of the OLED lighting technology (besides price) has been that it required more sophisticated and costly power converters so that it could run from DC power. With this new advancement, Philips will now be able to provide OLED components to lighting manufacturers which runs straight off of the grid, which means that more people will buy and use them, then the price will come down and OLEDs will get cheaper and brighter. The next thing you know we’ll all be buying our aquarium lights as sheets cut to order. Granted, OLEDs are barely bright enough for some of the lowest light corals but it’s only a matter of time before those trickster scientists figure out how to make OLEDs produce an unnatural amount of photons.
[via Engadget]
