LED light source with thermally conductive luminescent matrix

1. A light source comprising

at least one LED, and

a thermally conductive luminescent matrix, said at least one LED being embedded within said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said thermally conductive luminescent matrix acts as a waveguide for a desired proportion of the light emitted by said at least one LED, and wherein said thermally conductive luminescent matrix is larger than the minimum required for wavelength conversion and provides a light emitting and heat emitting surface larger than that of the at least one LED.

2. The light source of claim 1 wherein said thermally conductive luminescent matrix has a dopant concentration less than 2% and thermal conductivity greater than 1 W/m/K.

3. The light source of claim 1 further comprising

at least one pocket in said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said at least one LED is optically bonded into said at least one pocket in such a way that only one face of the at least one LED is not optically bonded to the luminescent matrix material.

4. The light source of claim 1 wherein said light source is a self-cooling distributed light source.

5. The light source of claim 4 wherein the optical output of said distributed self-cooling distributed light source is greater than 30 lumens per square inch.

6. The light source of claim 4 wherein more than 50% of the heat generated within said self-cooling distributed light source is dissipated by the emitting surfaces of said self-cooling distributed light source.

7. A light source comprising

at least one LED,

a thermally conductive luminescent matrix, said at least one LED being embedded within said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said thermally conductive luminescent element acts as a waveguide for a desired proportion of the light emitted by said at least one LED, and

at least one pocket in said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said at least one LED is optically bonded into said at least one pocket;

wherein said at least one LED is a shaped LED such that 5 sides of said shaped LED are in contact with said thermally conductive luminescent matrix.

8. A light source comprising

at least one LED,

a thermally conductive luminescent matrix, said at least one LED being embedded within said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said thermally conductive luminescent matrix acts as a waveguide for a desired proportion of the light emitted by said at least one LED, and

at least one pocket in said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said at least one LED is optically bonded into said at least one pocket;

wherein said pocket is formed via at least one of the following methods; laser ablation, photochemical etching, ultrasonic drilling, or reactive ion etching.

9. A light source comprising

at least one LED,

a thermally conductive luminescent matrix, said at least one LED being embedded within said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said thermally conductive luminescent matrix acts as a waveguide for a desired proportion of the light emitted by said at least one LED, and

at least one pocket in said thermally conductive luminescent matrix, wherein said at least one LED is optically bonded into said at least one pocket;

wherein at least one shaped LEDs is bonded into pockets within at least one thermally conductive luminescent matrix forming a generally flat surface, a dielectric coating is used to electrically isolate all but the contacts of at least one shaped LEDs on said generally flat surface and an electrically conductive interconnect is formed to interconnect said at least one shaped LEDs on said generally flat surface.

10. A generally isotropic distributed self-cooling light source comprising

at least one LED,

a waveguiding and thermally conductive luminescent element, and

an interconnect means between said at least one LED and said waveguiding and thermally conductive luminescent element.

11. A generally lambertian distributed self-cooling light source comprising

at least one LED,

a waveguiding and thermally conductive luminescent element,

an interconnect means between said at least one LED and said waveguiding and thermally conductive luminescent element, and

a reflecting element.

12. A light source comprising:

at least one light emitting diode (LED); and

at least one thermally conductive luminescent matrix positioned in thermal contact and optically coupled with the at least one LED, to perform its principal function of wavelength conversion of light emitted from the at least one LED;

wherein the at least one thermally conductive luminescent matrix has a light emitting surface;

and wherein more than half of the heat generated within the light source is dissipated by the light emitting surface of the at least one luminescent matrix.

13. The light source of claim 12 , and further comprising:

at least one pocket in the at least one luminescent matrix, in which the at least one LED is embedded to enhance coupling of light and heat to the at least one luminescent matrix.

14. The light source of claim 13 , wherein the at least one luminescent matrix acts as a waveguide to spread light emitted by the at least one LED over a wider cross section of the luminescent matrix.

15. The light source of claim 13 , wherein:

the at least one thermally conductive luminescent matrix includes a first such matrix and a second such matrix arranged in a stack and having their light emitting surfaces facing outward in opposite directions and having opposite surfaces facing inward, and

the at least one LED includes at least first and second LEDs embedded in the opposite surfaces of the first and second luminescent matrices, respectively, whereby light and heat from the first and second LEDs are emitted from the light source outwardly in opposed directions.

16. The light source of claim 12 , wherein the at least one luminescent matrix acts as a waveguide to spread light emitted by the at least one LED over a wider cross section of the luminescent matrix.

17. A light source comprising:

at least one light emitting diode (LED);

at least one thermally conductive luminescent matrix positioned in thermal contact and optically coupled with the at least one LED, to perform its principal function of wavelength conversion of light emitted from the at least one LED; and

electrical interconnect means positioned between the at least one LED and the at least one luminescent matrix, to provide electrical connection to the at least one LED.

18. The light source of claim 17 , wherein the at least one luminescent matrix acts as a waveguide to spread light emitted by the at least one LED over a wider cross section of the luminescent matrix.

19. The light source of claim 17 , wherein:

the at least one thermally conductive luminescent matrix has a light emitting surface; and

more than half of the heat generated within the light source is dissipated by the light emitting surface of the at least one luminescent matrix.

20. The light source of claim 17 , wherein:

the electrical interconnect means includes a metal-based layer screen-printed onto the at least one thermally conductive luminescent matrix.