The world's first OLED lamp

Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) fascinate me. It's not just that they could possibly be both extremely efficient and extremely cheap, but they also create huge new possibilities for lighting.

Very simply, OLEDs are like LEDs in that electrons jumping across a diode emit photons. But instead of being a traditional diode, the OLEDs are actually a printed film. This means that the light comes from everywhere on the film simultaneously, and the film can take on unique properties, like being flexible, lightweight, two-dimensional, and transparent.

Before today, we didn't have anything but our own imaginations and some crazy experiments to try and figure out what an OLED lamp might look like.

But Osram, a leading OLED manufacturer, recently partnered with well-known artist Ingo Maurer (whose extremely expensive LED lamps were previously featured on EcoGeek) to produce the world's first true OLED lamp.

Osram gave Ingo ten small (132 x 33 millimeter) OLED panels to use to create his lamp. The result is actually pretty stunning. And since the panels are limited edition and Maurer is a very famous and respected artist, this might be the most expensive table lamp in history. But that doesn't mean I don't want one.

Here's what Ingo has to say about the OLEDs

They have a totally different look than traditional light sources. They neither require reflectors directing the light into the right direction nor large sockets. Their lightness allows the realisation of long-standing visions of mine.

Osram has a team of over 50 scientists working on OLEDs right now. Though LED lights still have almost no market share, and OLEDs are more advanced and expensive than LEDs, Osram believes that the investment will pay off. There's one picture in the gallery below that really shows of the possibility of OLEDs.

I spent over a minute staring at the picture, trying to figure out where the lamp was. Then I realized, the semi-transparent windows were, in fact, the lamps.

As OLEDs create 100% diffused, non-directional light on two-dimensional surfaces, they can fill a room with light without even seeming to be there. Other possible applications are skylights that become regular lights at night or brake lights as part of a car's rear window.

And, of course, these have all the advantages while consuming a fraction of the amount of energy consumed by regular lightbulbs.

Via OLED Info (Thanks to Ron for the tip.)

Full press release here and here