It’s innovative work from the same group that received recognition in 2018. They develop screenless free-floating art that appears like objects in space. The latest developments are optical trap displays.
It works like “a 3D printer for light” says Smalley.
No screens required
The research group’s optical trap project funds through a National Science Foundation CAREER grant. And the next-level work creates an immersive experience where people interact with holographic objects that co-exist in their space.
“Most 3D displays require you to look at a screen, but our technology allows us to create images floating in space — and they’re physical; not some mirage,” Smalley reports. “This technology can make it possible to create vibrant animated content that orbits around or crawls on or explodes out of everyday physical objects.”
“What you’re seeing in the scenes we create is real; there is nothing computer-generated about them,” Smalley explains. “This is not like the movies, where the lightsabers or the photon torpedoes never really existed in physical space. These are real, and if you look at them from any angle, you will see them existing in that space.”
