Optical Addressing of Multi-Colour Photochromic Material Mixture for Volumetric Display.

Ryuji Hirayama,Atsushi Shiraki,Tomoyoshi Ito,Shinichiro Nakamura,Tomoyoshi Shimobaba,Hirotaka Nakayama,Takashi Kakue,Makoto Naruse

doi:10.1038/srep31543

Abstract

This is the first study to demonstrate that colour transformations in the volume of a photochromic material (PM) are induced at the intersections of two control light channels, one controlling PM colouration and the other controlling decolouration. Thus, PM colouration is induced by position selectivity, and therefore, a dynamic volumetric display may be realised using these two control lights. Moreover, a mixture of multiple PM types with different absorption properties exhibits different colours depending on the control light spectrum. Particularly, the spectrum management of the control light allows colour-selective colouration besides position selectivity. Therefore, a PM-based, full-colour volumetric display is realised. We experimentally construct a mixture of two PM types and validate the operating principles of such a volumetric display system. Our system is constructed simply by mixing multiple PM types; therefore, the display hardware structure is extremely simple, and the minimum size of a volume element can be as small as the size of a molecule. Volumetric displays can provide natural three-dimensional (3D) perception; therefore, the potential uses of our system include high-definition 3D visualisation for medical applications, architectural design, human–computer interactions, advertising, and entertainment.

Highlights

Volumetric displays render three-dimensional (3D) images directly onto a physical volumetric space[1,2,3], enabling observers to view 3D images from any direction without the need to wear devices such as special glasses
We experimentally demonstrate the principle of position selectivity using single-colour photochromic material (PM)
The transparent PM is coloured red by ultraviolet light (UV) irradiation and the red PM is decoloured to transparency by Vis irradiation

Summary

Introduction

Volumetric displays render three-dimensional (3D) images directly onto a physical volumetric space[1,2,3], enabling observers to view 3D images from any direction without the need to wear devices such as special glasses. This has motivated significant research efforts for the development and use of volumetric displays as a 3D visualisation technique. Volumetric displays composed of fluorescent materials based on two-photon absorption have been proposed[8,9] These materials are excited at a focal point of an irradiated laser beam, and light emission is subsequently observed. We exploit the intrinsic physical properties of P-type PMs with colour states that depend on both UV and Vis irradiations and develop novel design principles for 3D display applications

Methods

Results

Conclusion