I must admit, I have not stayed up to date on quantum dot LED technology. While I’ve read a few technical articles about them and I know they have had a big impact on flat screen color performance, I haven’t found where they will quickly appear in residential lighting.
My interest in quantum dot LED or OLED was sparked again while reading a Wired Magazine article on passwords. Like quantum dots, quantum computing is on the precipice of impacting that industry. If quantum computing comes to fruition, passwords as we know them will become obsolete. Regardless how many numbers, how many capital letters and how many special characters we use, passwords will be unearthed in seconds because of the unimaginable processing speed of quantum computing.
Of course, now that lighting is part of the “tech” sector (remember, LED are simply semiconductors) rapid change is an inevitability. No one in the computer industry is suggesting quantum computing will not happen just as I’m not denying quantum dot LED will show up in residential lighting…eventually. Despite this coming technology, passwords, or baseline security protection is not making advances, or more succinctly put, they are not finding security protections options as fast as quantum technology normalization is advancing.
I can’t imagine a career dedicated to creating digital security options. I can only say, “Good luck!” Even though lighting has been my life for almost fifty years, I’m not sure I’m smart enough to visualize how quantum dots LED/OLED will impact residential lighting. My guess is the quantum technology will be packaged to create almost perfectly replicated natural light that easily changes throughout the day, minute by minute, season by season. Our bodies circadian demands will be full satiated and the harm done by artificial lighting up to this point will be placed in the rearview mirror, but does residential lighting have a “password issue?”
Is there something we currently enjoy with today’s LED lighting that will be changed by quantum LED/OLED? Will any of our power savings disappear? Will output suffer? The swap from incandescent light to LED forced a realignment of our perception of the color of light. Will the introduction of quantum LED cause a revisit of this issue? Does the elimination of light within the UV and infrared spectrum disappear with quantum technology? Will UV and infrared light again be a concern?
Perhaps these are being answered as I type. I plan on spending more time trying to understand the impact quantum LED/OLED might have on residential use lighting. In the meantime, I better change some computer passwords…or not.
Lighting by Jeffrey 