The science behind white LEDs
Steve Bush looks into Lumileds’ explanations of how it has developed LEDs that produce warm, but also crisp white light
How do you get that ‘whiter than white’ look in clothing?
You add fluorescent dyes to the cloth that absorb short wavelength sunlight – violet and ultra-violet – and re-emit it as blue.
Visually, this extra blue works against any yellowing of white cloth to give a whiter-than-white look.
This same fluorescence is what makes some clothes glow under ‘black light’ (ultra-violet) in clubs.
According to Californian LED maker Lumileds, for it to work, the colour point in CIE u’, v’ space is shifted downwards in v’ by six to eight points.
“Perceptual studies done at Lumileds determined that this is the ideal blue shift to give a perception of crisp white without shifting too far and giving a noticeable blue tint,” said the firm.
Getting whiter-than-white to work under artificial light, in clothing shops for example, requires a light source with that includes wavelengths shorter than (more violet than) 420nm.
Halogen lamps have some of this, as do ceramic metal halide lamps, while conventional white LEDs have none – being based on blue die with emission typically peaking at 455nm (middle peak in diagram, Figure 1).
To stimulate optical brighteners, Lumileds developed LEDs that include a second (left) peak between 400nm and 415nm alongside the standard one at 455nm and the phosphor-converted yellow-green and red emissions.
Launched a while ago and branded ‘CrispWhite’, Lumileds has now revealed some of the thinking behind it.
The colour temperature is 3,000K. “This gives a warm inviting environment similar to traditional halogen lamps,” said the firm.
Specifically, emission is designed to be below the Plankian curve, to ensure all luminaires have a warm tint, while staying inside ANSI limits.
With treated cloth, additional blue shift from the stimulated optical brighteners pushes the objects down towards the psychologically ‘whitest’ point.
“This colour point is very similar to ceramic metal halide lamps that are adopted in retail environments,” said Lumileds.
The 400nm-415nm emission range was chosen because it is both short enough to stimulate brighteners, as well as being close enough to the edge of the eye’s sensitivity curve to have little effect on the perceived colour of untreated items.
Ultra-violet light can cause colours to fade, and has been linked to the development of cataracts.
“CrispWhite uses only LEDs with dominant wavelengths above 400nm, which don’t cause fading and other damage to merchandise,” said Lumileds,
“Light with wavelengths below 400nm is classified as ultra-violet and also carries increased risk of causing cataracts with extended exposure,” said the company.