Carbon nanotubes for tiny laser-driven screens?

According to Cornell Nano Techwire Shahyaan Desai, a Cornell graduate student has developed a method of making the core technology for a small laser-driven hand-held projector.

Desai built an optical scanner consisting of a tiny rectangular mirror measuring 400 by 500 microns, supported by two carbon-fiber hinges about 55 microns across. Made to oscillate at 2.5 kHz, the tiny mirror caused a laser beam to scan across a range of up to 180 degrees, corresponding to a 90-degree bend by the carbon fibers.

An oscillating mirror could be used to scan a laser beam across a screen, and an array of mirrors, one for each horizontal line, could produce an image in the same way that a moving electron beam creates an image on a television screen. "It would be an incredibly cheap display," Desai said. And the entire device would be small enough to build into a cell phone to project an image on a wall.

Add color and I might finally be able to have that wall-sized computer display I’ve wanted for so long.

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Michael Harrison

Husband, Programmer, Irish dancer, tinkerer, astronomer, layabout (as much as possible)

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