There is a great need for improved displays to deal with massive amounts of data from complex experiments. Even with a great deal of computer manipulation, the results must be presented to the experimenter in comprehensible form. This is best done using high-resolution color graphics. The display should be large enough so that a group of experimenters can work with it and interact with each other, and it should be bright enough so that they can do this in a reasonably well-lit room, enabling them to consult notes and other material. Work is planned to improve the resolution of SuperSize flat, thin, bright, full-color FLATSCREEN Gas-Electron-Phosphor (GEP) display panels. They will be window-glass-flat, real-time video displays, 4 ft2 or larger, and only 3-in thick. Such devices also can be used in other applications: powerplant and process control, teleconferencing, command and control, computer-aided design and manufacturing, training, and education, among others. Compared with projection systems, FLATSCREEN panels will be less bulky and therefore more portable; they will be brighter, clearer, have wider viewing angles, and will not require focus or convergence adjustments. They can be far larger and much lighter than direct-view CRTs, and they have no geometrical distortion due to deflection nonlinearity or faceplate curvature. FLATSCREEN panels are effectively flat, matrix-addressed, multiple-beam CRTs, with all the flexibility in application of the CRT but in a larger and more convenient package.Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications as described by the awardee:This work will provide the foundation for improving the resolution of FLATSCREEN displays to 30 pels/in or better. Window-glass-flat displays of this resolution in sizes of 4 ft2 and larger will have applications wherever computer or TV data must be used by groups of people. They will compete effectively with projectors and large CRTs, and be far more convenient to use than either. It is anticipated that this could lead to a substantial U.S. manufacturing business within 6 years, with further rapid growth thereafter.
