At the heart of Soraa LED technology is a group of very innovative and persistent heavy hitters. This group includes Dr. Shuji Nakamura, who developed the world’s first high brightness gallium nitride (GaN) LED, which others in the field considered much too difficult to produce. In 2007, Dr. Nakamura, along with Dr. Steven DenBars and Dr. James Speck made a decision to proceed with the development of GaN on GaN™ LED technology, which they knew would become the future of lighting, despite the fact that most industry experts considered the platform impossible to execute. The innovations have led to the development of highly energy efficient, and color correct, white LED lighting, for which Dr. Nakamura received the Global Energy Prize for the invention, commercialization and development of in 2015. The GaN on GaN™ LED technology, which is the standard for all Soraa lighting, is the key to the success of the innovative lighting produced by the company. In 2014, Dr. Nakamura, together with Prof. Isamu Akasaki and Prof. Hiroshi Amano, received the Nobel Prize for physics for inventing the blue light-emitting diode. This innovation, whose brilliant blue light, when partially converted to yellow is the key to white LED lighting.

Soraa’s innovative and industry leading GaN on GaN™ platform, which defied every trend in the industry, proved to provide more light than any other industry accepted technology. The technology handles more current per area than any other LED substrates, such as sapphire or silicon carbide, because the GaN on GaN™ crystals are upwards of a thousand times purer than any other LED crystal. This incredible technology allows the Soraa LED MR16’s to be more energy efficient and produce industry leading Color Rendering Index (CRI) and R9 lighting.

The Soraa LED MR16 Vivid Series CRI is rated at an amazing 95 on a scale of 100, with 100 indicating perfect color rendering. Specifically, CRI refers to how well the light renders a total of eight pastel colors. This does not include such colors as deep reds, yellows and blues, which can be an issue in retail when insuring that the bright saturated colors of a piece of clothing, as observed in the store, appears the same as it would in daylight. For this reason, Soraa also lists what is designated as an “R9” rating, which indicates how good saturated reds appear when illuminated by a Soraa lamp. The R9 rating, like CRI, is also a 100-point scale, with 100 being perfect, and Soraa LED MR16’s are rated at an industry leading R9 of greater than 90. Soraa MR16 lamps also have very high “efficacy” ratings, which indicate how much light, in lumens, is produced for every watt of electrical power input. The higher the rating the more efficient the lamp is at converting the electricity to light and, in this rating category, Soraa MR16 lamps also have industry leading ratings. From a mere 9 watts, the various Soraa LED MR16 lamps produce an output of 465 – 590 lumens each.

In addition to the amazing CRI, R9, and efficacy ratings, Soraa MR16 lamps meet all ANSI and IEC form factor standards for lamps. Whereas some LED lamps exceed the form factor, thus do not fit into some fixtures, all Soraa MR16 lamps comply with the standards and fit all existing fixtures. All Soraa Gen3 lamps are suitable for use in enclosed fixtures, and can also be used in glass front fixtures, as they contain a thermal turndown circuit which senses temperature and as the ambient temperatures increase, the power will be automatically reduced to preserve the operational life of the lamp. While the reduction of power will reduce the light output, that reduction in power will, likely, result in the same amount of light output as a lower power lamp which may be recommended for the same fixture. Consult the Soraa product spec sheet for guidance, in regard to the recommended lamp operating temperatures, in choosing the correct lamp for your fixture. Further input can be obtained from a Polar-Ray consultant in guiding you to the best lamp selection for your application.