Profiles in Lighting: QuarkStar

Based in Las Vegas, QuarkStar technically may be considered a startup, but its employee roster reads like a list of lighting and technology industry superstars. Perhaps not surprisingly, the alma maters of the staff — led by CEO Louis Lerman, chief financial officer Sara Kuwabara, and chief operations officer Jacqueline Teng — rival any international ranking of higher-education institutions and include Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Los Angeles; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Rice University; Tulane University; and several technical universities in Germany.

The firm shared with LEDs Magazine its ingredients for success and innovation.

Firm mission: Solid-state lighting faces significant obstacles to realizing its potential. As SSL’s first deep-tech skunk works, QuarkStar seeks to develop real-world solutions that overcome current compromises on light quality, size, efficiency, and controls. Our mission: No more compromises, do more with less, and, above all, create light that people will love.

What we are known for: Edge-X, which was the first of QuarkStar’s LED technologies to hit the market. Its modular optical system enables it to herd nearly every photon emitted from an LED and guide it to only where needed. With its compact footprint, meticulously mixed and conditioned light, and ability to switch distributions by swapping a 1-in. optic, Edge-X exemplifies doing more with less.

What people don’t know about us: Many team members are well known to the industry, but their diversity in backgrounds and interests are less so. Most, if not all, our team members are polymaths; we have several trained musicians and artists with published works in various mediums. Half of our executive team members are women and 60% of the inventors behind our IP portfolio (300 issued patents to date) are STEM minority members.

Our winning fixture design integrates technology suites we have developed at all these levels — novel package architecture, our Edge-X optics, and a networked control system based on OpenThread. With our L-Prize partner Nichia, we met DOE’s stretch goals for color and quality and for efficacy, color rendition, lighting distribution, and environmental considerations.

Advice to anyone interested in entering the lighting industry: Practically speaking, join the Illuminating Engineering Society — it’s a great resource for people at all experience levels. But most importantly, go out into nature and observe natural light. Go at different times of day. Experience it in different atmospheric conditions, seasons, and latitudes. Current lighting technologies have outstripped what is needed for “functional” lighting. Now is the time to pursue the type of lighting with which humans have evolved over millions of years.