A step in evolution

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Has anyone tried the blue?

[Dakarn]

Initial thoughts:

I haven't got mine yet, but a few of us others (at JSSDC) got them quicker and the emitter domes are "delicate" and larger than the LEDengin 10w so optics are gonna be a sticky point here The standard optics don't seem to work real well, and for our purposes may require a reflector.

Initial testing by others show that the red isn't as impressive (not surprised) at half spec, though this could also be due to the optics.

Green looks promising though

We'll all post our results when testing is complete.

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Once you get past size, optics is always an issue. Although this is currently a top end saber type of item, if it works out, using reflectors is going to add to the cost.

[Thaxos]

Wow.... That looks awesome!

[Sunrider]

Has anyone tried the blue?

There is a new post by goodman on fx with pix. The blue looks good but doesn't doesn't make the over driven Lux V look dim like the green.

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Thanks I'll go look for that.

Someday SOMETHING is going to supercede the conventional Lux-style LED for our saber use...this is a promising technology and its still fairly new so we may have to wait for good tightly-collimated optics solutions...

...but hopefully not as long as for the Endor [waiting...waiting...25 degrees? where's the 10 degree? waiting...waiting... lol].

[Novastar]

Onli... regarding the Endors... I can almost guarantee a few things with them:

* They are not "ideal" in many ways (but not all ways) for saber building
* It is unlikely (due to physics, lol) that you will see any kind of collimator lens that will create <25 degree angle that would be practical in sabers
* Even with a reflector... a MASSIVE amount of the generated light is lost from the Rebel 3-up
* They are/were good for proof-of-concept runs at things like "flash on clash" features in sabers (CF only at this point), and possibly for people to go "all one color" for a little bit of a push on brightness

Regarding the "supercede the traditional"... that day has most certainly come, and it's only a matter of time.

Additionally, I'm going to venture a guess that by 2011 or so (possibly earlier)... it will be pretty "commonplace" to have a saber that offers the ability to "flash on clash". It's neat to see an idea that I've been hoping for/researching about since early 2007... actually come to LIFE!!! I'm grateful that Eandori and I chatted back then, consulted with Erv... and Eandori (Edwin) was able to create the very first TRUE "flash on clash" working proof-of-concept sabers.

Now... it's gonna be commonplace! Pretty cool.

BACK ON TOPIC... Sunrider, you're the man for looking into all of this!!! VERY COOL! I sure hope it offers one of many solutions for clash/flash (or "normal"???) sabers as the year progresses...

[Sunrider]

Thanks Nova but I didn't do much but stumble upon an inventive company. I must say I am glad to to see Goodman's demonstration of how this led begins pumping out photons at the point the staple Lux V ends. This confirms it can outshine any single led we have seen before.

The only real stumbling block is finding a good driver with effects to push it to 4 or 5 amps. 1400 lumens continuous with clash flash to 2000!

Do Jedi wear sunglasses?

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Agreed on the Endors I eventually gave up waiting on them and went for XWingbands tri-rebels instead which were an improvement and perhaps as good as possible with a triple-cluster design under one optic though their optics were not totally ideally perfect either...I think even XWing might agree with that? And yeah the flash clash you and Eandori came up with is a great idea and I've still got three x/x/white tri-rebels waiting for if/when I ever get a CF but personally I was more interested in experimenting with 'custom' colour mixes and as you said going all one colour for a bit of a push on brightness like triple royal-blue.

I really like the sound of your timetable...2011...I hope that clash-flash does become commonplace that soon...though if its a CF-only proposition I don't think its going to be exactly "commonplace" unless somehow CFs become commonplace...which I'm sure we'd all love to see LOL.

Yes I suspect you are right that its only a matter of time until photonic lattice supercedes the traditional leds...they are a significant performance gain and still at the beginning of their potential. I'm not suggesting traditional LEDs are at the point of diminishing returns yet, there is still room for them to make great gains through efficiency but its becoming a mature technology so I don't expect the same 'giant leaps' of performance that we may see in phlatlight over the next couple years.

We can and will still be making great sabers in the present with the seouls and rebels that will be stocked here @ TCSS and crees and ledengines too but looking forward I think these phlatlights will be VERY BIG if the optics issue can be solved.

And theres also the possibility this technology might get licensed by one or more of the big makers and rolled into their designs too...which could speed things up even more.

[Matt Thorn]

I had been thinking this was not really a step in evolution, but rather just a novel or extremely efficient use of existing technology. But it seems I was wrong. I just read (or rather tried to read) an article by the chief scientist at Luminus Devices on the photonic lattice technology from the August 2007 issue of LEDs Magazine. It's an LED, yes, but how it differs is the way it extracts light from the semiconductor. Compared to this stuff, existing methods seem crude and primitive. Most of the article went over my head, but here's a line that caught my eye and should be of interest to sabersmiths:

The photonic lattice enhances light extraction and, if properly designed, can collimate light without the use of a lens.

(Emphasis added.)

[Scars Unseen]

Awesome! Now all we have to do is hook the company owner's children on making lightsabers so they'll bug him into authorizing a run of small diameter 5% collimating photonic lattices of various colors and we'll be golden!