From Edison To Leds: The Science And Story Of Light Sources

Visible light has an inescapable presence all around us. We have generated light from prehistoric times using a variety of techniques. In modern times, we mainly produce illumination through electrical means. There are interesting historic anecdotes and fascinating scientific facts behind the various modern techniques for generating light.

This book attempts to describe the stories and technologies related to many light sources ― some common, some less so. Described in a more-or-less chronological fashion, the book looks at developments from Edison and Swan's invention of the incandescent lamp, through lasers, to LEDs, and more. While the main focus is on sources of visible light, a number of devices that produce invisible radiation are also covered for the sake of completeness.

The book provides a holistic view of common and uncommon light sources from both historic and technical perspectives, to help readers place more modern developments in the context of what came before, and how. This book will be of benefit to all who are interested in optical sciences, especially in the generation, detection or use of electromagnetic radiation.

Faiz Rahman is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Ohio University, USA. He holds two Masters degrees and a PhD from Imperial College, London. Dr Rahman works on semiconductor materials and devices and has published a large number of journal papers and magazine articles. He has also edited two volumes on electronic and photonic nanotechnologies. Previously, he held various positions at the University of Nottingham, UK, Caltech, USA and Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, USA. Before moving to Ohio University, he was a member of Electrical Engineering faculty at the University of Glasgow, UK. Dr Rahman has received several awards for his research. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and is a senior member of Optica and the IEEE.