This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project focuses on the development of a new type of head set display technology for advanced applications in immersive virtual reality and 3-D imaging. The technology combines efficient up-conversion materials with densely-integrated semiconductor devices. The dense integration of high-speed semiconductors combined with efficient up-converters solves one of the important problems in implementing virtual reality hardware and 3-D imaging to provide very small, high resolution, high brightness micro-display chips that can be incorporated into new head set display designs. The small, high resolution, high brightness chips are a critical step in developing new types of compact, high performance virtual reality headsets, including eyeglass displays.
The outcomes of this research project can be applied to head-mounted displays enabling users to experience high definition, high brightness, and rich color, 3-D stereo images. This could be a disruptive technology that impacts education, science, medicine, training, and entertainment world-wide. The use of virtual reality with 3-D imaging would facilitate new learning experiences for K-12 students, new employee and military training, and information gathering in new or unfamiliar environments. For medical applications, high resolution headset displays will enable graphic and realistic experiences based on virtual reality for doctors, nurses, and emergency medical providers. A high performance, low cost 3-D imaging headset display would likely dominate the world's entertainment industry with the ability to bring a real life visual experience to the wearer. The U.S. is the major consumer of displays, and with no manufacturing capabilities in current display technologies, this research could facilitate the recapturing of the high-performance display manufacturing industry, thus enabling new products for the education, medicine, government, and entertainment industries.
