Research

Nanofluidic Fluorescent Display (NFD)

Based on Daniel Kleppner's "Inhibited spontaneous emission" paper in 1981, we propose a new type of fluorescent flat panel display technique, which has the advantages of no limit of the screen size, fast response, energy economy and low cost. This display technique is based on controlling the fluorescent emission of charged fluorophores in nano metal fluidic channels by a bias voltage.

The spontaneous emission of an atom in an infinitely long waveguide below cutoff frequency can be completely inhibited. For a finite waveguide, the amount of fluorescence can be emitted by the fluorophores is determined by how far the fluorophores are from the end of the waveguide. In our case, we use the bias between the transparent electrode and the metal film to control the number of charged fluorophores close to the end of the waveguide and the distance of these fluorophores to the end of the waveguide. We are then able to control the fluorescent emission from single pixel continuously by adjusting the bias. The bias on each pixel can be controlled individually by the addressable electrodes. The fluorophores can be any type of fluorescent molecules or quantum dots.