dryriver [soylentnews.org] writes:
The BBC reports (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28231084):'Scientists have patented a new way to make ultra high-res displays that can bend and are thousandths of a mm thick. They used a miniscule layer of a phase-change material, that flips between two chemical states when hit with current. By sandwiching it between transparent electrodes, they made pixels just 300 nanometres across and produced images smaller than the width of human hair. The design, published in Nature, could be useful in wearable technology, smart contact lenses or foldable screens. According to Prof Harish Bhaskaran, who led the research at Oxford University, it will be "at least five years" before any applications appear. But as far as Prof Bhaskaran is aware, the resolution of the images his team produced is among the highest ever achieved. "I haven't seen any other technology that approaches 100 or 200 nanometre resolution," he told the BBC. Phase-change materials are commonly used in heat management, because they absorb or release heat in switching between an orderly, crystalline state and a more chaotic "amorphous" state. Because their optical properties change with these states as well, they have also proved useful in data storage, such as rewritable DVDs.'
Original Submission
