????隨著智能眼鏡市場(chǎng)逐步升溫,，谷歌公司（Google）開(kāi)始面臨一個(gè)棘手難題——如何在指紋大小的屏幕上顯示高品質(zhì)的圖像,。

????現(xiàn)在，由英國(guó)牛津大學(xué)（University of Oxford）科學(xué)家領(lǐng)頭的研究者們相信,，他們已經(jīng)找到了解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題的辦法,。

????上周四《自然》雜志（Nature）發(fā)表了一篇論文。哈利什?巴斯卡仁,、培曼?侯賽尼和C.大衛(wèi)?賴特在文中稱,，他們已經(jīng)找到一種方法，可以制造出只有幾百納米的單個(gè)像素點(diǎn),，今后就能制造高分辨率,、低能耗且可折疊的顯示器。這種顯示器可以用于制造智能眼鏡,、人工視網(wǎng)膜,、智能隱形眼鏡和可折疊屏幕。

????作者在這篇論文中稱：“由于市場(chǎng)對(duì)可穿戴技術(shù)的興趣日益濃厚,，目前基于液晶,、微機(jī)電機(jī)械系統(tǒng)和有機(jī)發(fā)光二極管的微顯示技術(shù)正備受關(guān)注?！?/p>

????“這類應(yīng)用的關(guān)鍵要求是高分辨率,、高速度和低能耗，這些都能通過(guò)本文闡述的技術(shù)獲得解決,?！?/p>

????實(shí)際上，這些研究者所開(kāi)發(fā)的是對(duì)相變材料的全新運(yùn)用方法,。這種材料問(wèn)世幾十年了,，長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)一直用于存儲(chǔ)數(shù)據(jù)，主要用于制造可擦寫CD和DVD,。不過(guò)迄今為止還沒(méi)人想出如何開(kāi)發(fā)這種材料潛在的顯示性能,。

????巴斯卡仁稱，最初之所以被這種材料吸引是因?yàn)?，它的光電特性都很活躍,。而直到他和同事開(kāi)始在實(shí)驗(yàn)室對(duì)它開(kāi)展研究時(shí)才發(fā)現(xiàn),，它的光學(xué)性能遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)如今市場(chǎng)上的各種材料——分辨率要高50倍。

????巴斯卡仁說(shuō)：“我們首先發(fā)現(xiàn),，能獲得超高的分辨率像素點(diǎn),。在我們的研究中，最小的像素點(diǎn)只有100納米,，甚至更小,。這樣，每幅圖像就只有70微米寬,，大概相當(dāng)于頭發(fā)絲的直徑,。”

????巴斯卡仁稱,，他們已為自己的產(chǎn)品申請(qǐng)了專利,，正在與一家專業(yè)生產(chǎn)液晶顯示設(shè)備、不便透露名字的公司洽談合作,。他們還從Isis Innovation（牛津大學(xué)的技術(shù)商業(yè)化公司——譯注）獲得了24萬(wàn)美元用于開(kāi)發(fā)原型產(chǎn)品,。后者致力于幫助牛津大學(xué)的科研人員將研究成果商業(yè)化。

????Isis公司的技術(shù)轉(zhuǎn)移團(tuán)隊(duì)主管理查德?霍利迪表示,，如果這些研究人員能為自己的產(chǎn)品找到合適的用途,，這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)將催生非常“具有顛覆性的顯示技術(shù)”,。其中一個(gè)很值得探索的領(lǐng)域就是虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)游戲,。

????他說(shuō)：“顯示市場(chǎng)規(guī)模巨大。據(jù)估計(jì),，到2017年這個(gè)市場(chǎng)的規(guī)模將達(dá)1650億美元,。目前，我們正在研究其中哪個(gè)細(xì)分市場(chǎng)能最大程度地從這項(xiàng)技術(shù)的特性中獲益,。最激動(dòng)人心的一個(gè)領(lǐng)域就是投影類顯示設(shè)備,，這種設(shè)備可將尺寸較小的畫面投射到更大面積的區(qū)域上。因此,，必須要有極高的分辨率才行,，否則只會(huì)得到嚴(yán)重失真的投影圖像?！?/p>

????除了高分辨率之外，侯賽尼表示這項(xiàng)技術(shù)另一個(gè)極富吸引力的特性就是能耗極低,。

????他說(shuō)：“我們這個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)方案的一個(gè)優(yōu)勢(shì)在于,，和大多數(shù)傳統(tǒng)液晶屏幕不同，它不需要不斷刷新所有像素點(diǎn),。只需要刷新那些確實(shí)發(fā)生變化（靜止像素則保留原樣）的像素就可以了,。它意味著,，基于這一技術(shù)的所有顯示器的能耗都會(huì)極低?！?/p>

????當(dāng)被問(wèn)及這項(xiàng)新技術(shù)的商業(yè)優(yōu)勢(shì)時(shí),，谷歌公司表示“沒(méi)有什么可補(bǔ)充的”。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：清遠(yuǎn)

????As the market for smart glasses heats up, Google faces the difficult challenge of displaying top-quality visual images on a screen the size of a fingerprint.

????Now researchers led by scientists at the University of Oxford in the UK believe they may have made a discovery that solves that problem.

????Writing in the journal Nature Thursday, Harish Bhaskaran, Peiman Hosseini and C. David Wright say they have found a way to create pixels just a few hundred nanometers across that could one day lead to high-resolution, low-energy and flexible displays. They could be used in smart glasses as well as synthetic retinas, smart contact lenses and foldable screens.

????“Current microdisplay technologies based on liquid crystals, microelectromechanical systems and organic light-emitting diodes are attracting considerable attention because of a growing interest in wearable technology,” the authors wrote in the paper published Thursday.

????“Key requirements for such applications are high resolutions, high speed and low power consumption, all of which are met by the technology described here.”

????Essentially, the researchers have come up with a novel use for phase-change materials, which has been around for decades. They have long been used to store data, especially on rewriteable CDs and DVDs. But until now no one had figured out how to tap into their display potential.

????Bhaskaran said he was initially attracted to the material because it was active both optically and electronically. But it wasn’t until he and his colleagues started working with it in the lab that they realized that its optical properties far outperformed what is available on the market today — a resolution that is 50 times better.

????“The first thing we demonstrated is you can actually get extremely high resolution pixels,” Bhaskaran said. “In our case, the smallest pixels we’ve shown are 100 nanometers or less. Each of those images are 70 microns across, which is roughly the diameter of a human hair.”

????The researchers have filed a patent on their product and are in discussions with an unnamed firm that specializes liquid crystal display applications, Bhaskaran said. They also have received a grant of $240,000 to develop a prototype from Isis Innovation, which helps Oxford researchers commercialize their discoveries.

????Richard Holliday, a technology transfer team leader at Isis, said that the discovery could lead to very “disruptive display technology” if the researchers can find the right use for it. One area worth exploring, he said, is virtual reality gaming.

????“The display market is huge. It’s predicted to be $165 billion in 2017,” Holliday said. “At the moment, we are looking at which segments of that market would benefit most from the unique characteristics this technology has got. One of the most exciting is projection-based displays where you project a small display up into a larger area. Therefore, you need high resolution otherwise you end up with a highly pixilated-type display.”

????Along with its high resolution, Hosseini said another attractive aspect of the technology is that uses much less energy.

????“One of the advantages of our design is that, unlike most conventional LCD screens, there would be no need to constantly refresh all pixels,” he said. You would only have to refresh those pixels that actually change (static pixels remain as they were). This means that any display based on this technology would have extremely low energy consumption.”

????When asked about the new technology’s commercial merits, Google GOOG -0.86% said they had “nothing to add here.”