High Efficiency Laser Projection Systems (HELPS)

The multi-billion dollar global market for high brightness light sources for the lighting and display sectors is presently dominated by inherently inefficient and short-lived ultra high pressure bulbs. This project seeks to develop a radically different light source based upon novel ways of frequency-doubling infra-red lasers to generate more than 3W of visible light, and to test the source in a representative demonstrator projection system. The envisaged light source will provide exceptional brightness, reliability and lifetime, and an order of magnitude improvement in energy efficiency. In the initial target market area of high performance light projection equipment the technology developed would be additionally commercially disruptive by virtue of its far superior colour rendering capabilities. A range of large and rapidly-growing related markets would be accessible to the new light source, offering excellent potential returns.