Fraunhofer Application Center for Inorganic Phosphors

In recent years, the light-emitting diode (LED) has established itself as a universal artificial light source. Modern high-power LEDs offer numerous advantages in terms of efficiency, compactness, lifetime and environmental protection as compared to conventional incandescent and energy-saving lamps. The tuneability of its light and its small size opens up completely new possibilities for lighting design.

Increased demands

As the LED is established as lighting element, the task is now to further develop the technology for increased demands. Light management by intelligent control systems for interactive or automated control and energy saving (»Smart Lighting«) as well as advanced lighting concepts for stimulating the biological effects of light on humans (»Human Centric Lighting«) place new demands on the lighting environment. The digitalisation of processes in product development (»Digital Prototyping«), the networking of luminaires for monitoring the operating status (»Predictive Maintenance«) and for the distributed acquisition of sensor data (»Internet of Things«) also represent tasks for development.

New Challenges

New challenges not only consist of improving the LED chips, but also in the phosphors and encapsulation materials. In addition to the efficiency of the LEDs and the phosphor, reliability and colour stability are also important aspects. The thermal management in LEDs and LED modules  is of crucial importance.

Research and development

In the field of phosphors, our range of services consists of the evaluation, design, and development of phosphors and phosphor systems with the aim of improving their efficiency, reliability, and colour stability. In order to do so, we apply comprehensive optical and spectroscopic analyses, thermal and microstructural characterizations at the Fraunhofer Application Center in Soest as well as investigations into the long-term stability of light-emitting diodes and lighting elements.

The output of our research activities have led to phosphor-doped glasses and glass ceramics for lighting and lighting technology as well as medical diagnostics. Further research fields include the characterization of optics for light-emitting diodes as well as the microstructuring of optics and phosphors.

The Fraunhofer Application Center in Soest provides tailor-made services as per customer requirements. The aim is to support the competitiveness and the future of the lighting and its associated industry as well as related areas. The optimization of materials, components, and systems are aimed to contribute to the success of the project partners. The focus remains the collaboration of both parties in the concept and applications.

We offer:

• Characterization and evaluation of luminaires, light-emitting diodes and luminescent materials as well as their long-term stability
• Fabrication and development of luminescent glasses and glass ceramics
• Structuring of LED optics and phosphors
• Light simulation of LED optics based on ray data
• Thermal management and photometric evaluation of luminaires, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and LED modules
• Evaluation of electrical components and their long-term stability
• Surface and elemental analyses, thermal and thermokinetic analyses of materials

Please find an Overview of our services here:

Range of services