Never a Blue Monday: Imperial College student makes world's brightest ever cocktail

Fluorescent concentrators are optical devices that convert diffuse light into intense beams. By dipping a fluorescent yellow rod of yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) doped with cerium into a fluorescent blue pool of ethanol laced with coumarin dye, MSc student Xiangyu Xie in the Department of Materials, Imperial College London has demonstrated a novel two-stage fluorescent  concentrator that delivers the highest ever recorded luminance (brightness) amplification factor of 24.3 together with a respectable optical conversion efficiency of 2.79%. 

Not shaken, not stirred but rather zapped with light from a high-efficiency GaN ultra-violet diode array. Viewing advised with sunglasses on!