The cinema has already perfected the three-dimensional systems. You can watch characters conversing with holograms without requiring any kind of glasses or devices. However, the reality outside of Hollywood is different. Or is it? A team of researchers that is being led by Ryuji Hirayama, Diego Martinez Plasencia, Nobuyuki Masuda, and Sriram Subramanian from the University of Sussex, has developed the Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display.
The Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display is capable of producing visual, auditory, and tactile content all at the same time. BY making use of the acoustic tweezers premise wherein small objects can be moved around by making use of sound waves, the team of researchers was able to create a systems that can trap a particle acoustically and then illuminate It using red, green, and blue light for controlling its color while it scans the display volume. Furthermore, by making use of time multiplexing, the Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display can deliver auditive and tactile content at the same time!
The researchers wrote, ‘The system demonstrates particle speeds of up to 8.75 meters per second and 3.75 meters per second in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively, offering particle manipulation capabilities superior to those of other optical or acoustic approaches demonstrated until now. In addition, our technique offers opportunities for non-contact, high-speed manipulation of matter, with applications in computational fabrication and biomedicine.’
To demonstrate the Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display, the team produced 3D images of a pyramid, a torus knot, and even a globe. These images could be observed from any point around the display irrespective of the viewing angle. Since the team is using acoustic files for the creation of the image, it can also create sound and tactile feedback to the content that is being displayed. In a demonstration, the team created an audio-visual countdown timer that users were able to start and stop simply by tapping the display.
The authors said, ‘The prototype demonstrated in work brings us closer to displays that could provide a fully sensorial reproduction of virtual content.’ The report on the Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display has been published in the journal Nature.