Digital displays dominate our lives, from our small digital devices to large television screens. While not a problem with large displays, as they are hardly moved around, glare can be rather disadvantageous for our handheld devices.
To solve this problem of glare, Nippon Electric Glass Co Ltd has developed an “invisible glass” that exhibited last month at the FPD International 2011.
Most users of digital handheld devices, such as smartphones, surely have experienced glare on their phones, especially when using these devices under strong light. With the “invisible glass” the company has been able to reduce the reflection of light, so much so that light can hardly be seen on the glass substrate.
About 92% of light passes right through normal glass, which means that a good 8% of light is reflected. The “invisible glass” substrate is able to allow for 99.5% of light to pass through, making only about 0.5% of light reflect off of it. That is a significant drop, so much so that the glass looks nonexistent.
Normal glass substrate to the left, “Invisible glass” on the right
To reduce the reflection of light, the company formed an anti-reflection film on both the front and back sides of the glass substrate. A total of 30 or more layers of anti-reflection film was layered in increments of nanometers on the pane of glass.
People who saw the “invisible glass” at the exhibit expressed surprise at the seemingly non-existent piece of glass.
This is some really interesting technology, especially for handheld electronic devices. Then I don’t have to worry about angling my smartphone just right so I don’t catch any glares, especially walking under sunlight, or bright lights. I just hope that they won’t start putting this “invisible glass” on doors, or I’ll definitely end up walking right into one of them!