Light-emitting diode of their major uses until their price drops low enough to make signaling and illumination uses more economically feasible. Barcode scanners are the most common example of machine vision applications, and many of those scanners use low-cost products red LEDs instead of laser-based LEDs. Optical computer mice are an example of LEDs in machine vision, as it is used to provide an even light source on the surface for the miniature camera within the mouse. LEDs constitute a nearly ideal light source for machine vision systems for several reasons: The light from LEDs can be modulated very quickly so they
Light-emitting transistor Light-emitting transistor A light-emitting transistor or LET is a form of transistor that emits light. Higher efficiency than light-emitting diode (LED) is possible. Reported in the January 5, 2004 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters, Milton Feng and Nick Holonyak, the inventor of the first practical light-emitting diode (LED) and the first semiconductor laser to operate in the visible spectrum, made the world's first light-emitting transistor. This hybrid device, fabricated by Feng's graduate student Walid Hafez, had one electrical input and two outputs (electrical output and optical output) and operated at a frequency of 1 MHz. The device was