Flexible displays created by stretching crystals
By Darren Murph 
posted August 24th 2007 6:18PM
posted August 24th 2007 6:18PM
As researchers continue to forge ahead in their quest to create commercially viable flexible displays, a new team from Canada has apparently unearthed a breakthrough of sorts. Reportedly, the crew has been able to conjure up a full-color display which boasts pixels made from photonic crystals, and by "bonding them to an electroactive polymer that expands when a voltage is applied to it," the colors of the pixels change. According to André Arsenault of the University of Toronto, the newfangled devices "can be viewed just as well in bright sunlight as in indoor light," and if all goes as planned, we could be seeing a whole lot more of these promising units "in as little as two years" when the startup Opalux looks to fit these bendable creations into billboards, handheld gadgetry, and anything else it deems fit.[Image courtesy of MSNBC, thanks Alan]
This is the future of technology - it's inventions like these that will launch us into another stratosphere of advancement.
Not to mention it looks absolutely bad-ass...
I wonder if it looks bad-ass?
Does it have a backlight i'll buy one when they add one.
A backlight would be totally bad ass
Who needs backlighting when your wallpaper (in your house!) can be whatever design you want? DVD and game and book covers will be able to move. It'd be great to see this integrated into a paint.. electrify the canvas and the art changes color.
i think the japanese had a paint similar to that a few years ago. i remember seeing it on a car.
How is this any different from OLED technology?
Well, OLED stands for Organic Light EMITTING Diode. Photonic crystals are used to control and manipulate the flow of light.
So, to sum up: Photonic crystals - need light, OLED - have light
i do believe it said it didn't need backlight either,unless i read wrong?
You're right xc7x. I belive photonic crystals can reflect or allow light thru depending on how they are used. Sort of like reflective and traditional LCDs.
In before "But will it play Doom?" and "Will it blend?"
Seriously though, I agree with everyone else — in a word, this is awesome. :D
No. It's fricken bad-ass!
Component number one for my invisibility cloak.
Any technology that allows me to bend kids' faces without going to jail is awesome in my book!
your book is badass!!!!
All of these comments are bad-ass!