Surface excitations of gold for low-cost displays

The flat-panel display market is increasingly cut-throat, from smartphones to big screen TVs. These applications demand thin, efficient, and low-cost display technologies. Recently, an A*STAR research team in Signapore demonstrated a new type of light emitting device that could be promising for these display applications. The technology relies on surface excitations on patterned gold film. These excitations are the collective motion of electrons on the surface of the gold, which impact the way that photons interact with the surface. By changing the detailed patterned onto the surface of the gold film, the researchers change the way that this collective electron motion is organized on that surface, in turn modifying the way light interacts with it. This way, they can produce the different colors required for display. Slap on a liquid crystal switch for each display pixels, and you're all set. The process is far from widespread adoption, but the researchers are "quite optimistic."