Blinding properties incan vs. LED

[idleprocess]

Some white LEDs use a violet pump diode instead of a blue one. This should reduce the problem of blue glare, and if the dome is equipped with UV blocking properties then it should reduce glare a little further. GE was experimenting with violet pump LEDs early on in the development of white ones and they were marketing the product for applications where color quality was important. I don't know if they're still producing their "VioLEDs" but I know that others are.

We've been talking about NUV/violet-pump white LEDs since at least as long as conventional blue-pump white LEDs - the operating model being the florescent lights that have been around for about a century now. Violet-pumped seem to appear in production ranging from sample to short-run quantities while billions of blue-pumped are put out every year.

I recall efficiency and lifespan issues with the early violet-pumped white LEDs. Violet die simply have not been the subject of such intense evolution forcing steady increases in radiometric efficiency that blue die have been. Semiconductor packaging methods are also likely not fond of being bombarded with the levels of NUV that violet die produce, likely leading to lifespan problems.

What's on the market now? A quick search suggests that they're still very much a laboratory curiosity or extremely niche product.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

It looks like these LED streetlights were using violet or NUV pump diodes. As the phosphor coating either burns off or becomes detached, they're revealing the color of their pump diodes. Also there is a line of LG TV sets that are notorious for their Vestel backlights failing by turning purple. We have a few of those dogs at work.