Photo credit: Jeremy Little | Michigan Engineering
University of Michigan researchers have developed an innovative screen that uses magnetic fields to display images, similar to a squid’s color-changing skin. Since this screen doesn’t require additional electronics, the possibilities are endless, including for use on clothing, stickers, identification badges, barcodes, e-book readers, and more.
Simply put, one screen can reveal an image for everyone to see when placed near a standard magnet, while a private, encrypted image can be seen when placed over a complex array of magnets that acts like an encryption key. Just like an Etch-A-Sketch, shaking the screen erases the display, as the image is encoded in the magnetic properties of beads inside the screen. The beads function similar to pixels by flipping between orange and white hemispheres. By placing the pixels to a magnet, the beads can be programmed to show either white or orange in either a pulling or pushing magnetic field, also known as polarization.
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This device can be programmed to show specific information only when the right keys are provided. And there is no code or electronics to be hacked. This could also be used for color-changing surfaces, for example on camouflaged robots,” said Abdon Pena-Francesch, an assistant professor and co-corresponding author.
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