[jloughry]

The laser doesn't illuminate the road directly; it excites a phosphor puck that lights up white and is then focused and aimed like a regular incandescent filament or gas discharge arc. Just like white LEDs, only much more efficient.

[csours]

Cool! Any reference for this?

[jloughry]

Here's the most recent article I've seen:

https://www.designworldonline.com/energy-efficient-lighting-...

Near the end of the article is a diagram of the new SDL (Dr. Shuji Nakamura's new company) laser diode, phosphor, and beam dump in an SMD package.