It's not just an LED...it's a Power Light Source!
The Lumileds Luxeon Power Light Source is basically an extremely high quality LED. Seriously,
bring me the world's biggest ass, and this LED will surely kick it. We recently decided to use
this particular product at my place of employment, applying it to aircraft cockpit display lighting.
This LED is available in many exciting colors: white, green, blue, royal blue, cyan, red,
red-orange, and amber. The "warm" colors -- those with a reddish tone -- use Aluminum Indium
Gallium Phosphide (AlInGaP), whereas the "cool" colors -- those with a blue base -- use
Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN). Every color is fully dimmable, and the datasheet suggests
that dimming be accomplished via pulse width modulation (PWM).
The Luxeon Power Light Source is useful in products where long life and low temperature are
important: life expectancy is approximately 100,000 hours under normal use. The device is cool
to the touch, making it much safer than, say, halogen bulbs which can get extremely hot even
after only a short operating period.
This LED has an extremely fast turn-on time; less than 100 nanoseconds. This is likely one
of the reason my employers chose it for use in defense aircraft; when you're in a combat plane, you
don't want to have to wait even a few seconds for your light to turn on!
If you decide to use a Luxeon Power Light Source LED, it is important to handle and solder it
properly. Luckily, hand soldering -- the most accessible form of electronic attachment for most
people -- is perfectly safe and will not damage the device. The maximum soldering temperature
is 260 degrees Celsius, for no more than five seconds. When handling the LED, you should
pick it up by body, not the lens, as is also true for handling halogen bulbs.
The LED is available in three types of radiation pattern: the Batwing (low dome), the Lambertian
(high dome), and the side emitting. The radiation pattern is a function of angular displacement from
the center of the light source. Your application will determine the type of radiation pattern you
ought to order.
For more information, visit one or both of the following sites:
http://www.lumileds.com
http://www.luxeon.com | 
