Laser Headlights Promise More Intense, Controllable Beams

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Laser Headlights Promise More Intense, Controllable Beams

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday February 11, 2014 @07:11PM from the but-you-better-not-aim-your-car-at-planes dept.

cartechboy writes "Soon, your new car's headlights will be powered by lasers. The 2015 BMW i8 is entering production, and it's the first vehicle to offer laser headlights. These new beams offer a handful of advantages over LED lighting, including greater lighting intensity and extending the beams' reach as far as 600 meters down the road (nearly double the range of LEDs). The beam pattern also can be controlled very precisely. Plus, laser lights consumer about 30 percent less energy than the already-efficient LED lights. Audi is among the short list of other auto manufacturers to promise laser lights in the near future. But the coolest part of all this? When you turn on a set of these new headlights, you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'"

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..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-11 19:14 · Score: 2

*slow sarcastic clapping* bravo, sir/madam. bravo.
1. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by davester666 · 2014-02-11 19:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  just remember to turn them off before cresting a hill, because otherwise you will be fined and/or imprisoned for firing lasers into the sky in an effort to down aircraft.
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
2. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by Barny · 2014-02-11 22:39 · Score: 2
  
  Except the headlight beams are not actually lasers.
  
  --
  ...
  /me sighs
3. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by mcvos · 2014-02-12 00:59 · Score: 2
  
  I should think "Release the photons" would be more sensible
  But you can already release photons with regular non-laser headlights. Nothing new about that.
4. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by Noxal · 2014-02-12 01:04 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I cry with joy every time I see a BMW's turn signals actually being used. I softly tell myself "Yes! Somebody that ACTUALLY DESERVES such a fine car!"
5. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by amalcolm · 2014-02-12 01:13 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Release the coherent photons?
  
  --
  Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
6. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by MightyYar · 2014-02-12 01:27 · Score: 2
  
  Yes, but there is something different about them. The guy driving in the 15 year old Maxima is driving in a more "got nuthin' to lose" style... using the shoulder as an extra lane, that sort of thing. Reckless and stupid. The BMW driver is more of a "get off my road!" kind of driver. More tailgating and anger than sheer recklessness.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
7. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by Stele · 2014-02-12 01:28 · Score: 2
  
  I find Lexus drivers to be more annoying than BMW drivers, at least around here. I've always wanted to ask one if they had to pay extra for their "Asshole Card" or if they get it free with the car.
8. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by Gr8Apes · 2014-02-12 03:07 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Of course, they could always turn their headlights "off" and then run you over while you're walking your black dog because they didn't see you in your black jeans and brown leather jacket. There's a reason drivers hit the high beams when there's no oncoming traffic, it's so they can see those types of people on unlit or poorly lit residential streets. I'll also note that there's no reason for the dog walker to stare into the headlights. Looking to the side should be easy, given the extra light.
  
  --
  The cesspool just got a check and balance.
9. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by Immerman · 2014-02-12 04:04 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Right, talk about a bad headline. Laser-excited phosphors are a completely different thing than lasers, and that's a really good thing. It's not even a good idea to shine a laser pointer directly into your eyes for any length of time, can you imagine driving past a line of oncoming cars with laser headlights? Your vision would be lucky to survive the week. Not to mention the horrible, horrible dazzle of laser light.
  
  --
  --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
10. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by Immerman · 2014-02-12 04:24 · Score: 2
  
  Car powers lasers. Lasers shine on phosphors. Phosphors emit wide-spectrum normal light at high efficiency.
  Not sure how they get the increase in range, unless they're just a lot brighter (ugh, like existing high-intensity headlights aren't bad enough for everybody else's visibility.)
  
  --
  --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
11. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by ColdWetDog · 2014-02-12 04:48 · Score: 2
  
  They're new, more expensive and associated with sharks.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
12. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by operagost · 2014-02-12 05:45 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  the idiots who think that turning on their high beams any time that there isn't an oncoming car is a good idea
  
  So when is a good time? I use a flagger who walks in front of my car. If he doesn't see anyone walking his dog, he gives me the signal to turn on the brights.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
13. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by operagost · 2014-02-12 05:47 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  This kind of shit is why I started saying, "Make it so."
  - Jean-Luc Picard
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
14. Re:..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!'" by cusco · 2014-02-12 05:50 · Score: 2
  
  On an open highway where there are no street lights is the only time that I can imagine high beam lights being appropriate. There is absolutely no reason to use them in the city, except to piss people off.
  
  --
  "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Side benefit by SuperKendall · 2014-02-11 19:17 · Score: 3, Funny

I'm down for laser headlights if I can program in the exact speed the cops with laser speed detectors get to see.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re:Side benefit by DoofusOfDeath · 2014-02-12 00:15 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I'm pretty sure it's stuck at 186,000 miles/second.
brighter? by lecoupdejarnac · 2014-02-11 19:21 · Score: 5, Interesting

I can't be the only one who thinks that the headlights on certain luxury cars are already annoyingly bright to other drivers. Now we get to be blinded by lasers, great...

Oh and beta sucks.
1. Re:brighter? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-11 19:28 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  New car headlights are horribly bright, hurt my eyes, and the LED taillights are almost as bad.
2. Re:brighter? by Fusselwurm · 2014-02-11 19:30 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  My take on it as well.
  There is a lights arms race on the streets. I wonder if we already passed the point of "more is safer".
3. Re:brighter? by misosoup7 · 2014-02-11 19:36 · Score: 2
  
  So they decided that it was dangerous and made it illegal to point lasers at air planes yet they think it's some how safe to point it at cars? Seems like someone forgot to sanity check their idea.
4. Re:brighter? by jklovanc · 2014-02-11 20:07 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Laser pointers are quite different than laser headlights.The key is divergence. A laser pointer is tuned to spread out as little as possible with distance and can therefore be quite powerful at long distances. A headlight, through the use of dispersing phosphors and or lenses is designed to spread out and cover much more area. Illuminating a 1/2 inch circle 600 yards down the road is not much use.The key is that laser light is more controllable. Perhaps directing more light lower down along the road. Laser headlight will use a laser initiator but when the beam comes out of the headlight it will be far from cohesive.
5. Re:brighter? by tgv · 2014-02-11 20:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yes, indeed, but you've already mentioned the main problem: "quite powerful". If the light is more concentrated, it will also be more concentrated when it hits the eye of the driver in the other direction.
6. Re:brighter? by c0lo · 2014-02-11 22:00 · Score: 2
  
  ... (unless he's in a go-kart or something.. Ariel atom maybe???)
  Not necessarily: passing over the top of a hill, your headlight beam will be above the incoming traffic. Going down, there will be a moment when your beams will shine straight in the eyes of the drivers in the other lane.
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
7. Re:brighter? by ArsenneLupin · 2014-02-11 22:05 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  A headlight, through the use of dispersing phosphors and or lenses is designed to spread out and cover much more area.
  What if you get into an accident that destroys the outer housing of the light (containing the dispersin phosphors and/or the lenses) while leaving the source intact?
  So you've got a "deathray" shooting out from the accident scene wanting to involve more cars, until somebody turns it off...
8. Re:brighter? by gordo3000 · 2014-02-11 22:09 · Score: 3
  
  how do you correct for various heights of cars (say, an AUDI Q7 vs an audi A3)? I am driving a non-SUV for long distances for the first time, and maybe I'm getting old, but I get blinded when there is an oncoming SUV with these modern headlights, far more than I remember when I was 16 in a car.
9. Re:brighter? by bipbop · 2014-02-11 23:45 · Score: 2
  
  I'm sure that'll help a lot, given that all pedestrians come equipped with headlights.
10. Re:brighter? by Simon+Brooke · 2014-02-12 00:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Strongly agree. The problem is (in the UK at least) the limit to legal brightness is set in watts; it needs to be set in lumens.
  
  --
  I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
11. Re:brighter? by Simon+Brooke · 2014-02-12 00:04 · Score: 2
  
  Do they also detect pedestrians and cyclists?
  
  --
  I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
12. Re:brighter? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-12 00:24 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  No, a laser on it's own produces coherent light but it is not focussed. If you for example run a laser diode without any optics you will just get a big spot on the wall. It acts more like a spotlight than a laser beam (but you will get very annoying speckles from interference patterns since the light is coherent). This type of headlights has no focusing optic (well, there is one to direct the white light, but it will not focus it to a tight beam) that you will simply get a bright blue light instead of a death ray. Likely it is even eye safe at a distance of >30cm.
13. Re:brighter? by Oligonicella · 2014-02-12 01:06 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The ones with the blue tint are very painful.
14. Re:brighter? by GameboyRMH · 2014-02-12 01:41 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Well we're already deep into an impact safety arms race...
  I wonder if part of it is that BMW/Merc drivers simply enjoy blinding the poors they drive past, forcing them to slow down and pull to the side to avoid an accident. It must inflate their sense of superiority for their car to inconvenience so many other people.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
15. Re:brighter? by Hal_Porter · 2014-02-12 01:44 · Score: 2
  
  If you drive along a motorway in the UK there's a nominal 70 mph speed limit and you'll find you have the following lanes.
  Inside lane : lorries limited to 70mph, cars that can't do 70mph, etc
  Middle Lane: Most people will do about 80 mph on the speedometer. The speedometers in UK are marked down by 5% so this is really 66 mph. It is rumoured that police won't prosecute people they catch doing this speed in a 70mph limit. I do this and pull into the inside lane if it is empty.
  Outside Lane: People do 90-100mph. The police will prosecute at these speeds. Still presumably they have speed trap detectors or a GPS app that warns them. Or they've done something illegal like register the car to someone who doesn't exist.
  Now this works fine except for something I call Wanker Driver Syndrome or WDS. A driver with WDS will whizz up behind you in the inside lane in a BMW or Mercedes doing 90-100mph if the inside lane is clear and slam his breaks on to get back to 80mph. He will hang on your tail for a while with his lights on main beam to fuck up your dark adjusted vision and then - before you have a chance to change lane - whizz off in the outside lane which is always clear in this situation. His (and it's always a he) reasons for doing this are obscure since he could just stay in the outside lane. Or drive at 80mph like everyone else, Or switch to the outside lane when he wants to overtake.
  It's completely different from the US where everyone sets their cruise control to the speed limit and leaves it at that. WDS suffers in the US get jailed or shot or something.
  So the benefit to the laser lights is safety for said WDS sufferer. You'll get a blast of light long before he has to slam the breaks on. It's very much not to the benefit of people who don't have WDS. I.e. the rest of us.
  
  --
  echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
16. Re:brighter? by LoRdTAW · 2014-02-12 02:06 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  This.
  The bright headlamp race has to stop. I drive on the highway daily for a total of a 50 mile(~80km) commute. I cant tell you the number of times I have been blinded by HID's and other overly bright headlamps. My coworker` even tinted the windows on his car...for night driving! Its that bad.
  You want my take? Idiotically bright headlamps are most always found on luxury vehicles. Its a way for the driver to tell everyone on the road "Look at me, I'm rich!" Automakers have no reason to justify such intense light other than entering into a pissing match with each other. You also have the tools who leave the high beams on because, why not they paid for them? And its next to impossible to drive in front of such an asshole with HID's.
  My thought: Fuck all of you luxury car makers and you're sick headlamp arms race. No one needs them - PERIOD.
17. Re:brighter? by tgv · 2014-02-12 02:14 · Score: 2
  
  Seriously, if you're going to get mad because that points about which there is uncertainty get discussed on a web forum, you should find another way of life.
  And you don't respond to the problem either. You only say: trust these people. They know what they are doing.
  So, let's start with a simple example. I'm sure that the engineers know how to design a system that raises and lowers electric windows. How come there are bugs in these systems? How come people can't close their windows after battery upgrades? How come people got locked in their expensive BMWs? How come there's still no answer on the Toyota cruise control? It can't be that hard, can it?
18. Re:brighter? by beelsebob · 2014-02-12 02:27 · Score: 2
  
  Right, I have in the past had to sit at a green traffic light for a while because I couldn't see, simply because the car in front of me's LED brake lights were embedded in the centre of my vision.
19. Re:brighter? by swb · 2014-02-12 03:02 · Score: 2
  
  Yay, another rich asshole on my tail with even brighter headlights. Awesome.
20. Re:brighter? by Quila · 2014-02-12 03:25 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Most bad HID lights are aftermarket junk.
  But this system looks pretty good. It has a camera that looks out for oncoming lights and dims them. If done really well, since it's laser, it could shape the beam to avoid oncoming cars while still lighting up the rest of the road. It would be nice if that were on all cars.
21. Re:brighter? by operagost · 2014-02-12 05:49 · Score: 2
  
  "Merc" is short for Mercury.
  "Benz" is short for Mercedes-Benz.
  Thank you,
  Mercury Automobile Memorial Society
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
22. Re:brighter? by ColdWetDog · 2014-02-12 05:53 · Score: 2
  
  As long as it works correctly. Given the half life of BMW electronics these days, I suspect that it will be fine for the first three weeks.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
23. Re:brighter? by MoronBob · 2014-02-12 06:21 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And there seems to be a big assumption that these headlights will never be misaligned like 4 out of 5 cars on the road today.
  
  --
  Telecommuting! What about socialization?
24. Re:brighter? by mark_reh · 2014-02-12 07:15 · Score: 2
  
  Laser headlights do not direct laser beams onto the road. The laser is used to pump a phosphor that produces white light.
  I have an Audi TT with HID lamps. When supplied by the factory, law requires that they have to respond to oncoming traffic and tilt the beams downward. The control system in my car reacts to bumps in the road, and turns the beams in the direction the car is turning. When starting the car the system tests itself- the headlights dip downward, then tilt inward, then tilt back up.
  If you're being blinded by HID headlights it is probably from after-market kits that simply replace standard lights without any of the controls.
25. Re:brighter? by freeze128 · 2014-02-12 09:54 · Score: 2
  
  "Merc" is short for Mercenary.
  
  "Hg" is short for Mercury.
26. Re:brighter? by semi-extrinsic · 2014-02-12 10:01 · Score: 2
  
  The control system in my car reacts to bumps in the road, and turns the beams in the direction the car is turning.
  This is what car manufacturers claim, but it's nowhere near true. The typical slewing time for the optics looks to be about 0.5 seconds from "standard" to "dipped", and that's way too slow for reacting to bumps/potholes when you're going faster than 30. I regularly get blinded by Audis, BMWs and Volvos with factory HIDs, but Mitsubishi seems to be worst. It could perhaps be that they are just worst at controlling chromatic abberations (since blue light blinds you more).
  
  --
  for i in `facebook friends "=bday" 2>/dev/null | cut -d " " -f 3-`; do facebook wallpost $i "Happy birthday!"; done
How is this different? by nullchar · 2014-02-11 19:27 · Score: 2

Audi tested lasers on sharks before BMW:
http://news.slashdot.org/story...
1. Re:How is this different? by c0lo · 2014-02-11 19:37 · Score: 2
  
  While Audi introduced it on concept cars, BMW are busy with the series production
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Warning by JazzXP · 2014-02-11 19:34 · Score: 4, Funny

Do not look into headlight with remaining eye.
Re:At what replacement cost? by viperidaenz · 2014-02-11 19:50 · Score: 2

high power LED's have a life span between 20,000 and 50,000 hours. The hotter they get the shorter the lifespan.
*sigh* by Alarash · 2014-02-11 20:21 · Score: 2

I was already pissed off at people with Xenon headlights, now they get friggin' LASERS ?
great.. by epyT-R · 2014-02-11 20:21 · Score: 2

the xenons already burn my retinas.. It's bad enough they don't control the UV+ emissions from these things that well.. LASER light can cause serious damage.
1. Re:great.. by sonamchauhan · 2014-02-11 21:15 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The sun doesn't tailgate you at night.
Re:Blindness / Bad Idea by Rainwulf · 2014-02-11 20:23 · Score: 2

An accident waiting to happen can be applied to anything sharp, hard, fast, heavy, chemicial, high voltage or high current or controlled by a human. What a stupid riposte to a cool new technology.
The dangers of this have aready been taken into consideration, being a lot of safeguards and cut offs that fail safe. Your response has been used against anything possibly dangerous that has ever existed or been created. You must be a conservative.
Two Strikes by SuperKendall · 2014-02-11 20:38 · Score: 2, Insightful

I can't be the only one who thinks that the headlights on certain luxury cars are already annoyingly bright to other drivers.
Yes they are. So why not make them more directional so you can get brightness in a more specific area without dispersal... I wonder what kind of light technology could make that possible.
Oh and beta sucks.
Can't get a boycott right either I see. The overall quality of writing on Slashdot has improved this week, why not joint the rest of them and increase it further.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re:Two Strikes by swilver · 2014-02-11 23:02 · Score: 2
  
  ...only to be defeated by a hill in the road.
  Every little bump one of these cars hits already is making me think they're flashing their high beams because the angle of the light that should be pointed at the road is now pointing in my eyes.
  Making it even brighter? W...T...F...
Not blinded by laser but blinded nonetheless by aepervius · 2014-02-11 20:44 · Score: 2

My understanding is that the laser is used to pump energy efficiently in a light emitting substance, thus making it a classic point light which expand spherically. They are not using laser directly to light the road which would be pretty much useless (you want a rather wide cone to show the whole road and a bit on the side).

Nonehteless I am betting such light would be forbbidden in many country in europe where the maximum intensity you can pump is limited by law. And rightfully so, the "normal range light" are okish but the "long range" light are already quite blinding, and usually leave me blind fully for 3 to 4 seconds when one is oncomming and forgot to switch back to normal range light. I can't imagine regulator allowing even more powerful long range light being able to light everything on 600m.

--
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
1. Re:Not blinded by laser but blinded nonetheless by EmperorArthur · 2014-02-12 00:38 · Score: 2
  
  The problem is that the legal limit is (in the UK at least) 60 watts. As there lasers will emit many more lumens per watt than the incandescent bulbs in use when the law was written, this doesn't stop them being much too bright.
  So what you're saying is lawmakers didn't understand the technology they attempted to regulate, and ended up passing regulations that affect the wrong thing. (lumens vs watts) What a shock. Say it isn't so.
  
  --
  So lets pretend that we've just completed writing this code, as opposed to having just completed sabotaging it -Altera
nice and all.. by SuperDre · 2014-02-11 20:57 · Score: 2

Yeah, that's nice and all for the driver, but even with today's new headlights, it's a nightmare for oncoming traffic, headlights are so much brighter these days it blinds you as an oncoming driver.. And it's great if you can see for 600meters, but most people don't watch where they're going anyway..
There is no laser light comming out by Ivan+Stepaniuk · 2014-02-11 22:03 · Score: 3, Insightful

Blue lasers positioned at the rear of the assembly fire onto a set of mirrors closer to the front. Those mirrors focus the laser energy into a lens filled with yellow phosphorus. The yellow phosphorus, when excited by the blue laser, emits an intense white light.
There is no coherent laser light coming out from the headlight.

--
My other signature is a car
funny... by Lumpy · 2014-02-11 23:24 · Score: 3, Informative

"already efficient LED headlights"
That are actually inefficient as hell. HID still blows them away for lumens output at power consumed. LED's only advantage is a nearly 60K mile life on a car, but replacement is $450 each instead of the $45.00 each for an HID setup, or $4.00 each for halogen.

--
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
1. Re:funny... by Lumpy · 2014-02-12 03:15 · Score: 2
  
  The source is my driveway. HID headlights on my old car versus the new LED ones on the new car. Old car is insanely brighter and drawing 2.7 amps (35 watts ish) per headlamp when running at 13 volts ( car off running off of battery measured at the battery terminals 12.9Volts) the new car they are drawing 3.5 amps and are visibly dimmer yet the same color. (45.5watts around 4500K based on the known color of the replacement bulb I purchased recently for the old car.
  Both cars aimed at the SAME white garage door. the HID lights are visible brighter than the LED. Light pattern is almost identical.
  Oh the claimed warm up time is hogwash. I get full HID light within 30 seconds, useable light within 2 seconds.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Most important advantage not mentioned by Wdi · 2014-02-12 00:14 · Score: 2

With laser lighting, illumination in rain can be dramatically improved, but avoiding to shine the laser onto rain drops.
http://iq.intel.com/iq/33831801/future-headlight-technology-could-make-rain-disappear
Fun, wow by Maury+Markowitz · 2014-02-12 00:38 · Score: 3, Insightful

So the focused ones that blind me every time they go over a bump in the road is now going to be even worse?
Great.
Re: ..you'll be able to scream, 'fire the lasers!' by binarylarry · 2014-02-12 01:21 · Score: 2

Actually, based on the quality of Facebook's services, I'm led to believe it's more of a DERPA initiative.

--
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Shark by JoeMerchant · 2014-02-12 01:48 · Score: 2

Gotta get these on the Hyundai Tiburons!
Imaginary problems by sjbe · 2014-02-12 02:12 · Score: 2

And what happens in an accident... when the lens is smashed open, when the blue laser beam accidentally shines into a first responder's eyes?
Will never happen. This is an imaginary failure mode. It's about as likely as the first responder being blinded by a unicorn fart.
PHOSPHOR, not "phosphorus"... by jeffb+(2.718) · 2014-02-12 03:46 · Score: 2

The stuff that glows yellow when you hit it with blue light is a "phosphor". Yellow phosphorus is the stuff that catches fire on exposure to air. Different materials. I've seen a number of news articles that get this wrong.
It gets confusing, because while phosphors are intended to be luminescent (emitting light when stimulated by another form of energy), they can be phosphorescent (continuing to glow after the stimulus is removed) or just fluorescent (only emitting while the stimulus is applied). But "fluor" apparently never caught on as a noun, I guess.
Pedantry aside, your main point's correct, though (and deserves more mod points). These lights don't emit "laser beams", just LED-style white light (a lot of blue mixed with a broad range of green through red).