Boffins build a better pixel capable of emitting and receiving light
Tastes great. Less filling. It's a floor wax. It's a dessert topping. Light shaping. Light sending. Why not both?
Researchers affiliated with ETH Zurich have devised a multifunction picture element, or pixel, that can both emit and measure light.
Traditional pixels generally do one or the other – illuminating a display screen or capturing light in a camera sensor.
A team led by David Norris, professor at ETH Zurich's Optical Materials Engineering Laboratory, has found a way to combine the two functions.
The research raises the possibility of two-way screens that take and present pictures, holographic displays, optical communication systems, and quantum information processing.
As described in the Nature article "Fourier pixels for bidirectional light control," the ETH Zurich boffins developed a technique that involves measuring light wave interference patterns over a metallic surface.
By doing so, they're able to generate "Fourier pixels" that can create and detect...
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