High brightness laser-driven white emitter for Etendue-limited applications

Area of Science:

• Solid-state lighting
• Optoelectronics
• Materials science

Background:

• Laser diodes (LDs) offer high efficiency at high currents, making them promising for lighting.
• Remote phosphor configurations are common, but integrating phosphor directly onto an LD presents challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, simplified laser-driven white emitter by directly incorporating phosphor onto an LD.
• To overcome manufacturing difficulties associated with previous phosphor-covered LD designs.

Main Methods:

• A novel laser-driven white emitter was developed by directly integrating phosphor with a laser diode.
• The device was operated under a continuous wave driving current.

Main Results:

• The emitter has a simple structure, facilitating mass production and standardization.
• Under a 3 A driving current, it produced 850 lumens with a correlated color temperature of 6990 K.
• Achieved a maximum wall-plug efficacy of 70 lm/W.
• The emitter's small size (0.45 mm x 0.2 mm) makes it suitable for Etendue-limited applications.

Conclusions:

• The developed laser-driven white emitter offers a simplified, producible alternative to remote phosphor systems.
• Its high luminous efficacy and compact size are advantageous for specific lighting applications.