ElectronicPaper

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HP Labs Bristol

Digital paper, active displays on billboard sized posters, and digital
photographs that can switch from scene to scene are all promised
by a new HP technology

Researchers from HP's Bristol labs have unveiled prototypes of a new
display technology today that they claim can lead to very large high
resolution colour displays printed on plastic. "We feel this is a
substantial advance in the development of the thin, flexible displays
we're all looking for," Huw Robson, manager of the Digital Media
Department of HP Labs Bristol, told ZDNet UK.

• http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39170581,00.htm

electronic paper displays from e-ink

In recent years, a number of different technologies have been proposed
for use in reflective displays. One of the most appealing applications of
a reflective display is electronic paper, which combines the desirable
viewing characteristics of conventional printed paper with the ability
to manipulate the displayed information electronically. Electronic paper
based on the electrophoretic motion of particles inside small capsules
has been demonstrated and commercialized; but the response speed
of such a system is rather slow, limited by the velocity of the particles.
Recently, we have demonstrated that electrowetting is an attractive
technology for the rapid manipulation of liquids on a micrometre scale.
Here we show that electrowetting can also be used to form the basis
of a reflective display that is significantly faster than electrophoretic
displays, so that video content can be displayed. Our display principle
utilizes the voltage-controlled movement of a coloured oil film
adjacent to a white substrate. The reflectivity and contrast of our system
approach those of paper. In addition, we demonstrate a colour concept,
which is intrinsically four times brighter than reflective liquid-crystal
displays and twice as bright as other emerging technologies. The
principle of microfluidic motion at low voltages is applicable in a
wide range of electro-optic devices.

• http://www.eink.com/

ElectroWetting

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links

• http://physicsweb.org/article/news/6/5/2

-- RachelWingfield - 03 Feb 2004
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