Title: Methods and apparatus for transparent display using scattering nanoparticles

Abstract

Transparent displays enable many useful applications, including heads-up displays for cars and aircraft as well as displays on eyeglasses and glass windows. Unfortunately, transparent displays made of organic light-emitting diodes are typically expensive and opaque. Heads-up displays often require fixed light sources and have limited viewing angles. And transparent displays that use frequency conversion are typically energy inefficient. Conversely, the present transparent displays operate by scattering visible light from resonant nanoparticles with narrowband scattering cross sections and small absorption cross sections. More specifically, projecting an image onto a transparent screen doped with nanoparticles that selectively scatter light at the image wavelength(s) yields an image on the screen visible to an observer. Because the nanoparticles scatter light at only certain wavelengths, the screen is practically transparent under ambient light. Exemplary transparent scattering displays can be simple, inexpensive, scalable to large sizes, viewable over wide angular ranges, energy efficient, and transparent simultaneously.

Inventors:

Hsu, Chia Wei; Qiu, Wenjun; Zhen, Bo; Shapira, Ofer; Soljacic, Marin

Issue Date:

2016-05-10

Research Org.:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1252426

Patent Number(s):

9,335,027

Application Number:

14/067,471

Assignee:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)

DOE Contract Number:  

SC0001299

Resource Type:

Patent

Resource Relation:

Patent File Date: 2013 Oct 30

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY