We've built a transparent thin-film scanning optical filter, which can be attached to displays to show 3D-images. The scanning motion provides more quality images depending on the viewpoints. Water droplets are put in the filter as microlenses which are driven electrostatically. All the structures of the filter, including conductive elements, are made of transparent polymer films. The electrodes used to drive the microlenses are conductive polymer Baytron PR patterned with a new technique using selectivity of hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions on the surface. Since the scanning filter consists of several layers, new functions can be easily added by attaching another layer on top or bottom of the filter. In this research, an LCD (liquid crystal display) was attached to the bottom as a light source layer.

References :
Kazunori Hoshino, Akihito Nakai, Isao Shimoyama, “An All-Polymer Thin-Film Scanning Optical Filter for 3D-Image Displays,” 15th IEEE International Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS '02), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, Jan. 20-24, 2002. [Proceedings]