Artificial muscles–plastics that expand and relax when exposed to electric fields–could help produce truly lifelike colors in future television and computer screens. Tiny “tunable prisms” based on these materials could form the pixels of improved video displays within a decade.
Existing screens, such as those based on TV tubes, flat-screen LCDs or plasma displays, cannot faithfully reproduce the full range of colors that humans can see. Each pixel in those technologies consists of three light-emitting elements, one for each of the fundamental colors: red, green and blue. The displays combine the colors at various brightness levels to generate other colors but can achieve only a limited range.
Existing screens, such as those based on TV tubes, flat-screen LCDs or plasma displays, cannot faithfully reproduce the full range of colors that humans can see. Each pixel in those technologies consists of three light-emitting elements, one for each of the fundamental colors: red, green and blue. The displays combine the colors at various brightness levels to generate other colors but can achieve only a limited range.
