The key, says Kao, is that Luminit's process directs the reflected light precisely where required by the customer, delivering maximum brilliance and clarity. Our diffusers come in variety of shapes, sizes, angles, thickness, materials, and forms.” We provide our customers with superior quality of homogenized light, including custom angles. “The rest of the stuff out there, they're bulk diffusers, they're particle diffusers, they're almost like a lamination process where the epoxy has particles in it. “In terms of surface holographic diffusers, we're the only one,” says Williams.

Walter Williams, manager of Web Operations, says the products produced by Luminit are so unique the company is not only the best at what they do, they're the only ones who do what they do. The consisent high quality of the rolls is very important to the quality of our final product.” Custom Angles “The rubber nip roller can't have any imperfections on it, or it will leave that imperfection as a pattern on what we're printing. “The nip roller presses against a ‘nickel shim’ that has a pattern on it that must be perfectly even,” explains Zinsli. onto the epoxy, which is then applied to the film using an ABBA nip roller. Luminit marketing manager Pete Zinsli says the rollers are critical to the process of embossing a sub-micron pattern of lenses - as many as 20 million/sq in. that maintain critical grinding tolerances, feature clean compounds, and offer quick turnarounds. The converting equipment uses high-precision rubber rollers from Abba Rubber Intl. Those diffusers adhere to a variety of polyethylene and polycarbonate films up to 20 in. To create its LSDs, the company's proprietary toll casting process employs epoxy to pick up the surface structure that is shot using a laser. In fact, says Kao, “We are in the process of developing the next generation LCD backlight and rear-projection TV.”

Kao explains as light emitting diodes are becoming brighter and more energy efficient, they are being used in more general applications, further broadening the company's customer base. The converted films are used in a variety of light-transfer applications, flat screen TVs, cell phone displays, computer monitors, and bio-medical instrumentation. The Torrance, CA-based company specializes in “custom and standard holographic diffuser solutions,” converting advanced opto-electronic technology into film-based products that integrate photonics, optics, holography, electronics, and software. “It's very, very different from regular printing or film lamination.” “There is a proprietary process involved,” says Kao. Other than the ability to fly, the two have little in common. In fact, comparing the process Luminit uses to develop and convert its specialty LSD structures is like comparing the space shuttle and a Piper Cub. Stanley Kao, business development manager for Luminit LLC, says the proprietary process used to create its Light Shaping Diffusers (LSD) “is a film-to-film, roll-to-roll process in-line, using equipment pretty much like that used in the printing industry.” But that's where the similarities end.

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