December 2007

• UCSB ramps non-polar blue LED output power
  Compound Semiconductor - December 2007, Volume 13, Number 11
  Non-polar LEDs can now deliver far higher output powers thanks to the efforts of Kenji Iso and co-workers at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

October 2007

• Nonpolar gallium nitride laser diodes are the next new blue (pdf)
  LaserFocusWorld - October 2007
  Despite their relatively young age, blue violet gallium nitride (GaN)-based laser diodes have achieved remarkable progress since their first demonstration in 1996.

September 2007

• First blue and first cw AlGaN-cladding-free blue-violet nonpolar InGaN/GaN lasers ( pdf )
  Semiconductor Today - Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK
  Last week's 7th International Congress of Nitride Semiconductors (ICNS-7) in Las Vegas, NV, USA saw reports of the latest progress in nonpolar laser diodes from the likes of University of California Santa Barbara and Japan's Rohm Co Ltd.

August 2007

• Efficient Semipolar Blue LEDs Created on Freestanding Substrate
  Photonics Spectra, August 2007
  Blue LEDs with high quantum efficiency and significantly reduced polarization-related internal electric fields have been successfully fabricated on freestanding semipolar substrates by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

July 2007

• Hybrid Fixture Lights up the Night
  State of California Energy Commission
  The hybrid LED/incandesent fixture saves on both energy and maintenance costs.

Mega-cone blue LEDs based on ZnO/GaN direct wafer bonding, the work of several SSLDC researchers, are featured on the cover of the journal Physica Status Solidi (c).

June 2007

• Non-polar GaN reaches tipping point
  Compound Semiconductor - June 2007 - Volume 13 Number 5
  Non-polar light-emitting devices based on GaN have huge potential, but chip performance has been limited. However, this is starting to change, say Steve DenBaars, Shuji Nakamura, and Jim Speck, who have made non-polar LEDs with an efficiency of up to 45% and some of the first non-polar lasers.
• University of California co-hosts largest sustainability in higher education conference
  HULIQ - Hickory, NC, USA
  "... June 27, at the UCSB campus. The conference will highlight the work of staff, faculty and students in addressing sustainability issues on campuses. ..." Steve DenBaars will be speaking on Tuesday and leading a session on Wednesday.
• Shuji Nakamura and the Gift of Light to the Developing World with David Irvine-Halliday
  UCTV
  Dave Irvine-Halliday, a University of Calgary professor and photonics engineer, is also the visionary founder of Light Up the World (LUTW), a non-profit organization that provides safe, affordable, and environmentally sound lighting systems where they are most needed.
• Massive power boost for non-polar GaN LEDs
  http://optics.org/cws/article/research/27819
  Thanks in no small part to improved substrate material, the Santa Barbara team working on non-polar GaN has produced a blue-violet LED with record output power and an external quantum efficiency of 41 percent at a very high drive current.

May 2007

• Business and Technology on KZSB Radio, hosted by Wayne B. Norris
  1290 AM, KZSB
  Professor Steven DenBaars is featured in a radio segment with host Wayne B. Norris and guest Dan Kepl, the founding artistic director of the Santa Barbara Chamber Music Festival.
• Let There Be Light
  Smithsonian
  Incandescent or fluorescent? What would Edison do? ... Steve DenBaars, a professor of material science at University of California at Santa Barbara, does some quick calculations and concludes...
• Environmental concern increases pace of lighting technology revolution
  EurekAlert (press release) - Washington, DC, USA
  Shuji Nakamura And The Revolution In Lighting Technology ($28, Prometheus Books) proposes, "Tomorrow, as the power of light emitting diodes rises and their ...
• UCSB achieves high-efficiency non-polar GaN LEDs at improved output power
  Semiconductor Today - Oxford,Oxfordshire,UK
  The research group at the University of Califormia, Santa Barbara (UCSB) led by blue LED pioneer Shuji Nakamura and Steve DenBaars has fabricated improved ...
• Massive power boost for non-polar GaN LEDs
  CompoundSemiconductor.Net
• Tales of Nakamura
  IEEE Spectrum - New York,NY,USA
  By contrast, Shuji Nakamura was working virtually alone at a small, obscure Japanese company in 1992 when he developed the bright blue light-emitting diode, ...

April 2007

• Time Magazine article on Shuji Nakamura (web pdf) (magazine pdf)
  Friday, April 6, 2007
  The world is a brighter place because Shuji Nakamura is not easily discouraged. In 1993 he astonished the scientific community with the first successful blue light-emitting diode, or LED.
• Steve DenBaars has been listed as the recipient of the USC Viterbi Awards for Engineering Alumni.

The County of Santa Barbara passed a resoultion of commendation honoring Professor Shuji Nakamura for his groundbreaking "LED" inventions and other achievements. Supervisor Brooks Firestone personally presented a plaque to Professor Nakamura at UCSB. Also attending are Chancellor Henry Yang and his wife Dilling, Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas, and Associate Dean Kevin Almeroth.

The European Commission's biennial PATINNOVA 07 (European Patent Forum), held in Munich, recognized Professor Shuji Nakamura as one of the three finalists for the European Inventor of the Year. For more details, visit: Lighting Up: Japanese inventor creates a world of colour.

• Seeing the light
  Pasadena Star News - Pasadena, CA
  Researchers are now working to create bright white light emitting diodes, small semiconductor crystals that are even more efficient than CFLs and have a lifetime of several decades, said Shuji Nakamura...
• How one man showed them the light
  Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
  Book Review of Brilliant! Shuji Nakamura and the Revolution in Lighting Technology By Bob Johnstone Prometheus Books
• Colloquium - Gallium Nitride Solid State Lighting: The Science, and Some Applications in Architecture (PDF Flyer)
• Tohoku University of Japan Announces the Opening of its US Office ...
  Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA
  On April 27, Professor Shuji Nakamura, University of California Santa Barbara will open the all-day program of the International Innovation Forum. ...

March 2007

• A New Blue Laser
  IEEE Spectrum article written by Michael Riodan
  Two groups have just announced a new kind of solid-state laser that emits bright blue-violet light, raising hopes of getting green

February 2007

• Visit the Region's Largest Nanotechnology Event
  Nordisk InnovationsCenter - Norway
  Keynote speakers include Professor Shuji Nakamura (UC Santa Barbara), winner of the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize, the 2005 Japan Prize winner Professor ...

Solid State Lighting & Display Center (SSLDC) hosted its nonpolar blue-violet laser diodes public lecture / demonstration on Feb. 20th at 10:00AM in the Engineering Sciences Building, Room 1001.

If you'd like additional details from the event, please contact ssldc@engineering.ucsb.edu

January 2007

Area business leaders, volunteers recognized during 101st awards ceremony

PHOTO CAPTION: Three of this year's Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce award recipients, from left: Chuck Slosser, president and CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation, Elieen Bunning of Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Santa Barbara and Prof. Shuji Nakamura of UCSB's Materials Department.

• CompoundSemi - "UC Santa Barbara Researchers Led by Shuji Nakamura Achieve Major Breakthrough in Laser Diode Development"
• EETimes - "UCSB researchers claim blue laser diode breakthrough"
• UC Santa Barbara Researchers Led by Shuji Nakamura Achieve Major Breakthrough in Laser Diode Development
• ZDNet - "Cheaper LEDs to light a green path?"

December 2006

• Semiconductor Today - "Record efficiency nonpolar and semipolar GaN LEDs"
• Compound Semiconductor - "Collaboration hails non-polar GaN LED advance"
• LEDs Magazine - "Nonpolar and semipolar GaN LEDs show great improvement"
• UC Santa Barbara Researchers Set New Records in Energy Efficient Light Emitting Diodes
• RSC.org - "Hydrogen gets promiscuous"
• Optics.org - "Pyramid electrode extracts more light"
• Beyond the bonds that bind: UCSB researchers discover hydrogen can form multicenter bonds