Possible lowering of exotic diode prices?

The Lightning Stalker said:

Well, in light of that information, it
appears that the reason orange and yellow
diodes aren't cheap (extant?) right now is
because a semiconductor with the right
bandgap has yet to be discovered. Good
information, +2

Click to expand...

Well that and the demand for such diodes is very, very small.

Refreshing to note that we have practical minded people here who understand a huge chunk of our hobby is simply driven by the display / television market, and it is what it is.

RGBY for display offers significant gamut improvements over RGB. The problem is that LED or regular solid state light sources that generate yellow are far more common and economical than yellow emitting laser sources. The key driver with display technology though has been RGB...for now. If yellow based diodes were available for the same price as blues and reds I can guarantee you we'd be seeing them in higher end sets. I spent 3 hours eyeball calibrating my old man's Mitsi laser TV, and while it was excellent in the end the additional yellow channel would have helped - a lot.

On the other end I've been arguing for about a decade that RGB is more of a problem for digital capture. We need a minimum of an additional color filter like yellow, and a mid blue would help as well. RBG is fine for DJ lights, but it's highly limiting for display or aquisition.

That, and a 2watt yellow would look utterly bad-ass in my projectors. :evil:

The Lightning Stalker said:

Well, in light of that information, it
appears that the reason orange and yellow
diodes aren't cheap (extant?) right now is
because a semiconductor with the right
bandgap has yet to be discovered. Good
information, +2

Click to expand...

Also correct. I have an article about that saved somewhere as well...so many articles...
Thats why the closest "Orange" anyone has gotten are the ~620nm diodes that need something like 5 degrees to even lase.

A part of me doubts any magical material will be found to span the big gaping yellow-orange void in the diode spectrum, but who knows. I can see the "greens" pushing higher to 540-550, but I don't think the reds will go any lower than they are.

blasterman said:

RGBY for display offers significant gamut improvements over RGB. The problem is that LED or regular solid state light sources that generate yellow are far more common and economical than yellow emitting laser sources.

...

If yellow based diodes were available for the same price as blues and reds I can guarantee you we'd be seeing them in higher end sets.

Click to expand...

This is internally inconsistent.

How can you guarantee that if yellow lasers were economical, they'd be added to laser display technology, given that yellow LEDs are affordable now, and LED based projectors are still RGB?

crazyspaz said:

Thats why the closest "Orange" anyone has gotten are the ~620nm diodes that need something like 5 degrees to even lase.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've seen those mentioned too. But as long as we're taking temperature into account: link
Really beautiful, and with a standard diode too. IIRC LN2 isn't too hard to acquire.

I believe the currenct technology allows for 400-530nm diode lasers, plus 630nm-3um. The reason we don't see some of those wavelengths is lack of demand.

We're very close to having (buyable) diodes in the 470-490nm range, with some luck maybe even 490-510nm.

I think they'll manage reddish orange (620-630nm) at normal temperatures in the not so distant future, as well as slightly yellower greens.

Atomicrox said:

We're very close to having (buyable) diodes in the 470-490nm range, with some luck maybe even 490-510nm.

Click to expand...

Did somebody say 500? That would be the most coolest thing in the whole uneeverse to me. Doesn't even have to melt rocks together.
(that's a 500nm LED)

Not necessarily 500nm, but there are 495nm diodes out there if you want to pay $$$$. There's also a very low power 510nm diode being used in gun sights.

mmmmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm

CNI sells 510s up to ~30mw. Also, optoengine sells 500.8nm DPSS, but it would probably cost you and arm and a leg. I know it's not a diode, but still, that color would be absolutely amazing.
510 datasheet
500.8 datasheet