A team of engineers from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology or SAIT is working in cooperation with researchers from Stanford University to develop a new type OLED display that exceeds its accuracy 20 times the screen resolution currently available.
This screen, inspired by ultra-thin solar panel technology, will enable the development of televisions, smartphones, or virtual reality devices and augmented reality with screens that can reach a resolution of up to 10,000 pixels per inch, and for comparison, the resolution of modern smart phone screens ranges between 400 and 500 pixels per inch .
According to a statement by Stanford University, the first screens produced in the laboratory showed very high quality compared to the "organic light-emitting diode" (OLED) technology currently used in televisions.
It also provides crystal clear colors with high gloss efficiency that consumes half the energy consumed by regular screens.
What is "OLED" technology?
At the heart of OLED are organic light-emitting materials, sandwiched between highly reflective, semi-transparent electrodes that allow current to be injected into the device.
When electricity flows through OLED, organic compounds emit red, green, or blue lights.
Each pixel in an OLED display is made up of smaller sub-pixels that produce these primary colors.
When the resolution is high enough, the pixels are seen as a single color by the human eye.
OLED is an attractive technology because it is thin, light, and flexible and produces images that are brighter and more colorful than other types of screens.
But in small screens close to the eye, such as virtual reality glasses and augmented reality, the human eye may be able to see those pixels, which makes the user aware that he is looking at a screen and spoils some of the pleasure of his experience, and to treat this matter must reach the required pixel density in Virtual reality and augmented reality applications, to several thousand pixels per inch, and this capability cannot be provided by current display technologies.
New meta-oled technology makes colors more pure and luster more efficient (Stanford University)
From panels to screens
To overcome the problem, researchers came up in a new study recently published in the journal "Science" to the idea of using the latest solar panel technologies to design future virtual reality screens that will be of very high quality thanks to the new ultra-high-definition technology.
The 10,000 pixels per inch resolution delivers unprecedented realistic visuals, and is therefore ideal for all virtual or augmented reality applications.
The researchers called the new type of these screens the name "OLED Metaphotonic", or shortened "Metaphotonic".
The study is based on research by Stanford University materials scientist Mark Brungersma, who previously worked to develop a new design for an ultra-thin solar panel that uses "optical surfaces" technology to shape the front wave of light.
The team showed that the structure of the OLED screens can be completely redesigned thanks to the introduction of mirrors with nanoscale surfaces, so that the light scatters within the very thin components of the screen "like water diffusion," says this researcher.
Future screens will be of very high quality thanks to the new technology (Pixabay).
New advantages and promising applications
This new architecture makes it easy to create screens with very high pixel density (greater than 10,000 pixels per inch) required in emerging display applications, such as augmented or virtual reality.
In addition to having a standard pixel density, the new "metaphor" OLED screens will also be brighter, provide better color accuracy than current screens, and their production will be much easier and cost-effective.
According to the researchers, the first tests conducted in the laboratory are promising.
The new screens have much higher color purity compared to traditional OLED screens and are twice as efficient as their luminosity.
The researchers also believe that this technology, which already appears very attractive for designing new, more efficient televisions and smartphones, could revolutionize the field of virtual reality by providing virtual environments that are more accurate and pure and thus closer to reality.
But the new "Meta OLED" technology will not be available for use in electronic devices available in the market soon, as it is still in the research and testing stage, so it is necessary to be a little patient before being able to benefit from it.