The situation is similar for rear and internal lighting concepts. The light is no longer just used to light up the environment. State-of-the-art car lighting concepts are intelligent, precisely predict the driving situation, control and shape the light accordingly, accentuate the interior or exterior of the car either in a functional or decorative way and enable easy brand recognition. Materion Balzers Optics designs state-of-the-art thin-film coatings and manufactures coated optical components, helping automotive industry suppliers to present novel lighting concepts to the car manufacturer.
The use of connectible, laser-based high beam modules for headlights has become a reality by now. Depending on the traffic situation, we can light up the road over a distance of more than 500 m, basically turning night into day. The utilized beam sources illuminate a phosphor element via a tiltable mirror module, thus creating a bright, directional light which can be pixelated and steered as needed. Such high tech headlights pose great challenges for the optical components, in terms of laser beam steering as well as with regard to the utilization of safety-check sensors. Materion Balzers Optics’s coated optical components increase the efficiency of laser-based high beam modules and facilitate the implementation of reliable safety concepts.