Electroluminescence

Electroluminescence is light emitted by a material in response to an electric field or electric current, rather than heating.

Electron–hole pair: A bound or free pair of an electron and a positively charged vacancy in a semiconductor. Their recombination releases energy that can emerge as light.
Light-emitting diode: A semiconductor device that emits light when current passes through a forward-biased junction. LEDs are the most widely used devices based on injection electroluminescence.
Semiconductor: A material whose electrical conductivity lies between that of a conductor and an insulator and can be controlled. Most practical electroluminescent devices rely on semiconductor electronic states.
Henry Joseph Round: A British engineer who reported light emission from silicon carbide under electrical excitation in 1907. His observation is an early documented report of electroluminescence in a solid.
Radiative recombination: The recombination of an electron and a hole that releases energy as a photon. This is the direct photon-producing event in semiconductor electroluminescence.
Organic light-emitting diode: A light-emitting diode whose emissive layer contains organic semiconductor materials. OLEDs use electrically excited organic layers to create light in displays and lighting.
P–n junction: A boundary between p-type and n-type semiconductor regions, with different dominant charge carriers. A forward-biased junction brings electrons and holes together in LEDs.
Oleg Losev: A Soviet physicist who studied light-emitting semiconductor crystals and patented a light relay in the 1920s. His crystal detectors produced electroluminescence decades before practical LEDs.
Band gap: The energy difference between the valence and conduction bands of a solid. It largely sets the photon energy and color in semiconductor emitters.
Electroluminescent wire: A flexible conductor coated with phosphor that emits light under an alternating electric field. It demonstrates field-driven emission in a form unlike a semiconductor junction.

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