Display systems have definitely advanced much over the years, and we seem to get more and more sophisticated by the day. Consumer level displays include those that are curved by the likes of Samsung and Sony, but how about a new kind of display that floats? This is what Mitsubishi has embarked upon, and while it is far from being a regular 3D hologram, Star Wars style, at least this system will project video in mid-air, with the hopes of actually commercializing it in time for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
In order to get the job done, Mistubishi will use a couple of optical technology, where one of them is a beam splitter that divides incoming photons into reflected and transmitted light, while a retro-reflective sheet will bounce the light back in the same direction where it hailed from. Arranging them in a manner with a display will see the light reconverge in order to form an image which more or less looks as though it floats in thin air..
The folks over at Mitsubishi have developed worked out an optical simulation program that can figure out the way to arrange the elements so that a 56” diagonal image that resides a meter from the beam splitter in distance. Challenges are still there, as those who are not used to focusing their eyes on open space would find it difficult to understand just where the aerial images are shown. Hence, you have guide images being projected on walls located on either side so that one can figure out where to look. [Press Release]
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