KAUST-Nobel Laureate Collaboration Bringing Light to the World
Boon Ooi, KAUST Professor of Electrical Engineering, Nobel laureate Shuji Nakamura from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and a team of researchers from King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) are working to provide energy-efficient lighting to the world.
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"In 2014, Nakamura, Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in developing blue LEDs, which have been essential in enabling the creation of white LED lights suitable for widespread use. LEDs are not inherently white light-producing devices, and white light production requires either the use of a blue LED to excite yellow phosphor, or a combination of red, green and blue LED lights."
"Although red and non-visible near infrared diodes existed, it was much more challenging to create blue ones. Nakamura and his colleagues produced blue LEDs through the use of the semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN), a material that was notoriously difficult to handle at that time."
