Brightest LED at ~1-3ma current on 3.6v or less?

[NeverDie]

I know that there have been a lot of LED advances by CREE and others, but I haven't really tracked it. I'm looking for an LED that has an excellent lumen-to-current ratio. Any leads or suggestions? It would be for nighttime illumination, and I want to control it wirelessly.

[NeverDie]

Well, after looking into it, it appears that brightness is very much proportional to current. Even a very modest brightness of 7.5 lumen will require at least 20ma at 3v: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/wurth-electronics-inc/158301240/732-5660-1-ND/4947878

[mfalkvidd]

@NeverDie for a theoretical maximum, check out https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/880/how-many-photons-per-second-is-one-lumen

A perfect led would convert all the electrical energy into photons of your chosen wavelength(s). Seems like leds are only able to convert about 10% though.

[Terrence]

@mfalkvidd > Seems like leds are only able to convert about 10% though.

10% !! What a bummer. For being so efficient, can you imaging how low power the next step in lighting will be?
Time to invent the next version of LED.