The Coretec Group Inc. provided an update on its partnership with The University of Adelaid, to develop a glass display to be used in Coretec's CSpace, an eyeglass-free, 3D static volumetric display technology that produces high-quality 3D images with applications in medical imaging, automotive and aerospace design, defense space visualization, air traffic control, and more. For background, Coretec's CSpace technology controls two invisible infrared lasers to generate visible, 3D image pixels in an imaging chamber. The imaging chamber relies on rare earth ions that are dispersed within the chamber material to create visible pixels at the locations where the two lasers intersect.

3D images are created by scanning the two lasers across the imaging chamber material. Currently, the University is examining four types of alternative low-phonon energy glasses that hold potential for large-scale manufacturing with high optical quality. As a first proof-of-concept step, they have fabricated four small-scale (1-inch) glasses, doped with the same amount of the rare earth ion Er3+ which can generate green image pixels using a dual-infrared laser system.

According to preliminary results, a specific type of heavy metal oxide glass is brighter than the reference ZBLAN fluoride glass under the pulsed dual-infrared laser system at Adelaide, while the other types of glasses are considerably dimmer. The University's next steps, led by Professor Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, will be to examine the brightness of the fabricated four small-scale glasses under Coretec's dual-infrared laser system and then begin fabricating a medium-scale (2-inch) heavy metal oxide glass image chamber. Developments even further beyond those could include a 10-inch glass chamber, along with multi-color imaging chambers.