A Novel Waveguide Based Flat-Panel Display

This proposal describes a novel flat-panel display using light-emitting-diodes (LEDs) as light sources. A side-lighting scheme is proposed to significantly reduce the number of LEDs from that required in a conventional LED matrix display. Channel waveguides and specially designed light switches will be used to produce spatial modulation of lights for the purpose of generating video images. This display device has a simple structure that can be fabricated by using readily available materials and processes, therefore it has the potential to become low cost. By using commercially available high-brightness LEDs, the display device has the potential to produce high quality images of high brightness and high contrast which are suitable for a broad range of applications. Phase I effort of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed display device and to determine suitable fabrication processes. In Phase II effort, we will produce a prototype of the proposed display device. The new display is expected to be of high energy efficiency, low cost, high brightness, and high contrast. Potential applications include work stations, portable electronics, military, scientific and medical instrument panels, and indoor/outdoor TV displays.