Ultra Hi-Res Displays Using Nanoresonators

If you love the iPhone 4’s “Retina Display,” then you’ll marvel at what researchers at the University of Michigan are working on. Jay Guo, an associate professor in the University’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and fellow researchers Ting Xu, Yi-Kuei Wu, and Xiangang Luo have created pixels eight times smaller than the ones on Apple’s iPhone 4 using nano-thin sheets of metal with precisely spaced gratings. The gratings act as resonators, trapping and transmitting light of particular wavelengths. By changing the space between the slits, different colors can be generated.

The pixels in the nanoresonator displays are about ten times smaller than those on a typical computer screen, and about eight times smaller than the pixels on the iPhone 4. Not only is the technology useful in projection displays, it can also be part of wearable, bendable and extremely compact displays.