Forth Dimension Displays Develops 2560 x 1440 FLCOS Microdisplay for Rugged Applications

Posted on by Henning Molsen

Forth Dimension Displays Develops 2560 x 1440 FLCOS Microdisplay for Rugged Applications

Breakthrough 0.95-Inch Display using Wide-Temperature Range Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal

Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ: KOPN), a leading provider of innovative wearable computing technologies and solutions, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Forth Dimension Displays (ForthDD) has developed a new WQHD (2560 x 1440 resolution) full-color Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal on Silicon (FLCOS) microdisplay for use in extreme temperature and shock environments. The new display incorporates ForthDD’s proprietary Wide Temperature Range Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (WTR FLC) material to operate over extended temperature ranges, which enables it to be used in a variety of previously unsupported rugged applications such as automotive, defense and avionics.

“FLCOS displays provide superior fill factor, color purity, and fast switching speeds which produces very high quality imagery, but historically ferroelectric liquid crystals have been restricted to limited temperature range applications,” said Greg Truman, Forth Dimension Displays’ Managing Director. “The breakthrough provided by our WTR FLC performance together with the very high resolution of the our WQHD display allows us to support resolutions that exceed the limits of our Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays (AMLCD) and brightness levels that exceed the capability of Organic Light Emitting Diode displays (OLEDs). The innovation provided by our WTR FLC, which has passed environmental and reliability tests, opens up many new applications and markets including high volume US defense product applications.”

The WQHD display with 8.2-micron pixels utilizes ForthDD’s patented Time Domain Imaging (TDI™) technique to produce superior full color imagery and no perceptible motion artifacts. The specialized ultra-fast ForthDD FLCOS overcomes the motion artifacts of standard Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) displays. The display is generally available as a Board Level Product with fully integrated driver and optional illumination subsystem later in 2020. WQHD displays have now been fully tested and are undergoing system qualification with the first defense customer as a part of fully integrated Kopin display systems, which incorporate the display with Kopin electronics, optics and system packaging elements.

“The availability of the new WQHD display gives us another microdisplay technology in our defense and enterprise product offerings and is ideal for use in systems needing cutting-edge high resolution and bright full color video images without color breakup,” said Bill Maffucci, Kopin’s Vice President/General Manager of Government and Professional Products. “The unique WQHD display is an excellent complement to our AMLCD displays which are primarily for soldier centric systems. As a result, it provides Kopin with the opportunity to open up new markets such as ground vehicle platforms. These market segments have been largely supported by CRT technology and represent a significant potential growth area facilitated by the new WQHD display.”

Forth Dimension Displays at SPIE DCS 2019 in Baltimore

Posted on by Henning Molsen
Visit Forth Dimension Displays / Kopin at SPIE DCS 2019!

Kopin, a provider of high performance display components, subsystems and systems for the military, industrial, professional, medical and training markets, will be exhibiting at SPIE DCS 2019 from April 16-18th at the Baltimore Convention Center. Stop by booth #553 to see our latest high performance ruggedized microdisplay solutions.

Kopin’s offerings include LCD, FLCOS and OLED displays designed for high performance, long life and high reliability in demanding environments. Kopin’s display products are ideally suited for use in high brightness AR products, such as pilots’ helmets, rifle scopes, soldier visualization systems, image guided surgery and synthetic/embedded training.

Forth Dimension Displays’ specific products on the booth are the new 2k x 2k FLCOS, the RGB LED illuminator and a 3D demonstrator of the QXGA 2048 x 1536 pixel microdisplay.

Forth Dimension Displays and VividQ Collaborate on Holographic 3D Mixed Reality Headset

Posted on by Henning Molsen

Forth Dimension Displays and VividQ Collaborate on Holographic 3D Mixed Reality Headset

Forth Dimension Displays Limited, (ForthDD), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kopin Corporation, is collaborating with VividQ on holographic 3D in mixed reality headsets that provide real depth perception. VividQ, based in London and Cambridge, England offers algorithms to generate full colour 3D holographic images in real time using phase modulation technology. ForthDD is a manufacturer of fast high-resolution Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs) based on ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon designed to offer phase modulation at speeds well below 1 ms.

Augmented Reality (AR) and the related areas of Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) are widely seen as the next step in interaction with digital information. However, there are still several challenging issues, especially the representation of true 3D imagery. AR headsets today are largely unable to display images across more than two distinct focal planes. This causes virtual objects to jump in the viewer’s perception when they move across varying depths. It also triggers nausea due to the lack of correct eye convergence, as there is a gap between the position of an object expected by the human visual system and the actual position in the virtual image. Computer-generated holography (CGH) with true 3D imagery will eliminate the nausea caused by this accommodation-vergence conflict.

Darran Milne, CEO of VividQ said, “VividQ’s engine for real-time 3D hologram generation finally allows CGH to break out of the lab to be used in consumer devices like mixed reality headsets or head-up displays. We are committed to becoming the software foundation that powers the first generation of true holographic 3D display devices. To demonstrate the huge potential of this technology, we have recently created the world’s first fully holographic MR headset, which we showcased at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, 5-7 February 2019.”

“The key differentiator in these headsets is that ForthDD’s SLMs are used as phase modulators, not amplitude modulators,” said Greg Truman, CEO of ForthDD. “CGH relies on the SLM modulating the phase of incoming laser light and projecting diffracted light into the user’s eye. Unlike microdisplays using amplitude modulation, CGH shows true 3D natural vision-like overlay of imagery in AR headsets. Our 2048 x 1536 pixel QXGA SLM is a fast switching, all digital, high performance reflective SLM product designed for binary phase modulation. In real-time holography applications, ForthDD’s Time Domain Imaging™ technology and CGH-specific image generation are successfully combined and delivered.”

About VividQ

VividQ is a UK-based software company with world-leading expertise in 3D holography: the next generation display technology. VividQ offers the complete platform to power full 3D holographic display in AR headsets, Head-Up Displays and beyond. The company’s proprietary software engine Core makes holography a viable commercial display solution for the first time. Since its inception in February 2017, VividQ has worked with largest consumer electronics and embedded systems manufacturers around the world. Learn more at www.vivid-q.com