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Lightpaper Way Thinner Than OLED
Lightpaper is paper-thin lighting that can be printed and applied to any surface. This is a very impressive technology; I've covered some printed lights.
(Lightpaper, thin and bright)
In its current state, Lightpaper is manufactured by mixing ink and tiny LEDs together and printing them out on a conductive layer. That object is then sandwiched between two other layers and sealed. The tiny diodes are about the size of a red blood cell, and randomly dispersed on the material. When current runs through the diodes, they light up.The big problem with the product's current, version one, is how it places the LEDs when printed. Right now, they aren't distributed evenly on the printed surface. This can cause a shimmering, or starry night effect. [Rohinni CMO Nick Smoot] explained that for a lot of applications, this won't matter, but the challenge being worked on currently is to get specific placement of the diodes—to produce completely even light. Not an insurmountable task, a second version of Lightpaper is likely a few months out.
"The magical thing about this solution is it's brighter, it's thinner, it's flexible, it's addressable, and programmable. You can address the sections of the diodes, which is a whole other space when you start thinking about solutions of light that you can address sections of."
Fans of Isaac Asimov's 1952 classic Foundation and Empire may recall the marvelous wall-lights:
Ducem Barr stepped aside and in the interior of the house the walls glowed into life. The general entered into the daylight.He touched the wall of the study, then stared at his fingertips. "You have this on Siwenna?"
Via FastCoLabs and Rohini.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/21/2014)
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