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4
Solid-State
Light Sources
A
ll articial light sources on the market are based on three technologies, two
of which (incandescence- and plasma-based sources, otherwise known as
discharges) have reached a plateau with regard to efcacy but nevertheless there
is still ongoing research and fascinating developments. The third technology,
although its development and marketing started much later than these other two
(and perhaps for that very reason), is now showing such fast progress that not only
can it compete with the other technologies, but in some cases it is the preference.
This chapter is an introduction to this technology of solid-state ...