3 Japanese Win Nobel Prize in Physics for Blue LED

Tokyo, Oct. 7 (Jiji Press)--Three Japanese scientists have jointly won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the blue light-emitting diode, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday. The three are Meijo University Prof. Isamu Akasaki, 85, Nagoya University Prof. Hiroshi Amano, 54, and University of California, Santa Barbara, Prof. Shuji Nakamura, 60. Calling the blue LED "a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light source," the institute said in a press release that the three scientists "triggered a fundamental transformation of lighting technology." "As about one fourth of world electricity consumption is used for lighting purposes, the LEDs contribute to saving the Earth's resources," the institution said. After the invention of blue diodes, LEDs began to be widely used, such as in mobile phone displays and traffic signals, as well as in white lamps. "Red and green diodes had been around for a long time, but without blue light, white lamps could not be created," the institution noted. "They succeeded where everyone else had failed." The award ceremony will be held in Stockholm on Dec. 10. The three will receive a prize of 8 million Swedish kronor, or about 120 million yen. "I was somewhat surprised. This is the greatest honor for me," Akasaki said at a press conference at Meijo University in Nagoya, central Japan. "We have not yet fully used the potential of blue LEDs, so there remains a lot to do," he said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Akasaki to offer his congratulations. "All Japanese people are pleased and feel proud," Abe said. He also issued a statement pledging to make the domestic research environment more attractive. The trio are the first Japanese Nobel laureates since Kyoto University Prof. Shinya Yamanaka, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 for creating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. They are also the first Japanese winners of the physics prize since 2008, when Yoichiro Nanbu, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, Makoto Kobayashi, professor emeritus at Japan's High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, and Toshihide Masukawa, special professor at Nagoya University, won the prize. The total number of Japanese Nobel laureates now stands at 22, including Nanbu, now a U.S. citizen. Work to develop blue diodes was tough because a massive amount of energy is necessary to secure sufficient emission of light. Silicon carbide-based blue LEDs were developed in the 1970s, but the light emitted was too weak for the LEDs to be put to practical use. Researchers then focused on producing blue LEDs using zinc selenide. In 1973, Akasaki, who then worked for Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., now Panasonic Corp. <6752>, began to develop gallium nitride-based blue LEDs, which were believed to be much more efficient than other types. Akasaki then moved to Nagoya University. In 1989, he and Amano together succeeded in developing gallium nitride-based blue LEDs for the first time in the world. Meanwhile, Nakamura led research to develop techniques to commercialize blue LEDs while he was working at Nichia Corp. of Anan, Tokushima Prefecture, western Japan. In 1993, Nichia announced blue LEDs using the technology developed by Nakamura. Akasaki's research results were commercialized by Toyoda Gosei Co. <7282>, an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp. <7203>, in 1995. Akasaki has also developed blue-laser technology using gallium nitride-based blue LEDs. This became the basis for the blue-violet laser technology used in the Blu-ray optical disc data storage format. END