Monday, January 2, 2023

Matrix Laser Lighting the Lights of the Future

 Audi continues to innovate in lighting technology and presents its latest developments in high-resolution Matrix Laser technology. For the first time, the brilliant laser light allows projection technology to be integrated into a compact and powerful headlamp, allowing for brighter and safer roads. Audi collaborates with specialist partners in the iLaS project to create the lights of the future.

Audi is a leader in automotive custom lighting technologies and proves it once again by presenting its advances in high-resolution Matrix Laser technology. It is currently collaborating with specialized partners in the project “Intelligent Laser Light for High-Resolution Compact Adaptive Headlights” (iLaS) with the aim of developing the lights of the future.

Matrix Laser technology is based on the laser high beam headlights that Audi first introduced on a production model, specifically the Audi R8 LMX. Now it goes a step further and as a novelty the bright laser light will allow the projection technology to be integrated into a compact and powerful headlamp.

The new technology works by rapidly moving a micro mirror that redirects the laser light beam. When the vehicle travels at low speeds, the light is distributed covering a larger projection area, on the other hand, at high speeds the opening angle decreases, increasing intensity and range at the same time. In addition, the light can be precisely distributed, that is, you can modify the brightness of the different areas to be illuminated and control the lighting times in them.

Another novelty is the intelligent function of rapid activation and deactivation of the laser diodes based on their relative position with respect to the mirror, which allows the beam of light to be widened or narrowed in a dynamic and completely variable way. As with Audi's current Matrix LED headlamps, this way the road is always illuminated without dazzling other vehicles. The main difference from Matrix LED headlights is that these custom headlights for cars offers even higher resolution and more dynamics. Highway driving is safer.

And if you still want to go deeper into how it works, we'll tell you that, in the new technology, Osram's laser diodes emit blue light with a wavelength of 450 nanometers on a moving mirror about three millimeters in size. This mirror redirects the blue light to a converter that transforms it into a beam of white light and projects it onto the road. The mirror used comes from the supplier Bosch.