The first organic LED (OLED) Christmas tree lighting took place recently at General Electric Co.'s Research Center headquarters in Niskayuna, N.Y. The company said the event provides a glimpse into how thin, flexible, roll-to-roll processed OLEDs are going to transform the lighting industry. GE OLED team members bask in the glow of the first OLED Christmas tree. (Photos: Business Wire) "We haven’t quite achieved Rockefeller or national Christmas tree lighting status yet, but we’re well on our way," said Anil Duggal, who leads GE’s OLED program. "We hope GE’s OLED tree lighting will inspire and capture people’s imagination during the holidays on the limitless possibilities of this next-generation lighting concept." "Customers will recognize that, while this demonstration was more for holiday spirit and team camaraderie, it does reinforce how far OLED technology has come and how it is poised to revolutionize lighting and interior design," said John Strainic, global product general manager with GE Consumer & Industrial, which will commercialize OLEDs for businesses and consumers in the coming years. A 15-ft-by-6-in. roll of GE's OLED lighting devices. OLEDs, thin, organic materials sandwiched between two electrodes that illuminate when an electrical charge is applied, will provide an entirely different way for people to light their homes or businesses. They have the potential to deliver dramatically improved levels of efficiency and environmental performance, while achieving the same quality of illumination found in traditional products today but with less electrical power.Earlier this year, GE scientists said they achieved a major research milestone by demonstrating the first roll-to-roll-manufactured OLED lighting devices. Likened to a newspaper printing process, roll-to-roll manufacturing is seen as a key factor to making OLED lighting commercially viable in the general lighting industry. “We’re making great progress toward hitting the metrics needed to successfully introduce OLED lighting to market. We continue to make steady advances in efficiency, lifetime, and lighting quality using device structures that can be made with roll-to-roll manufacturing, so that we’ll be able to introduce OLED lighting at an affordable price,” Duggal said. To see a video of the OLED tree lighting, click here. You also can read a blog entry from Duggal at the research center’s technology blog, From Edison’s Desk. For more information, visit: www.ge.com/research