3-D TV - My 1975 Invention

Imagine a cubic box, around two feet in each dimension, with at least two of the walls being glass. It would contain either extremely fine smoke particles (such as the microscopic particles created by smoking cigarettes) or fine dust particles or the particles of fog generated by fog-making machines, but in small quantity where the chamber appears to be empty.

Then above the chamber is a laser (or possibly three different lasers) which is (are) pointed sideways into an angled mirror, which can then direct the laser beam downward into any X-Y location inside the chamber. It must be an ULTRAVIOLET laser, where the beam is invisible. In the rear wall is another such laser and mirror assembly, directing a second ULTRAVIOLET laser beam into any Y-Z location in the chamber.

The beams from these lasers are ultraviolet and therefore all invisible to the human eye.

This invention is based on the Physics phenomenon of interference patterns of waves. When two waves of different frequencies (colors) interact (collide) they generally create two NEW wave frequencies. These frequencies are at the sum and the difference of the frequencies of the two original waves.

This was first invented around 1975. This presentation was first placed on the Internet in December 2009. I do NOT give any manufacturer any authorization to use this invention unless I have given written authorization, as related to a contractual arrangement.

In this case, if the mirrors are rapidly moved so that the two (invisible) laser beams intersect at some specific X-Y-Z location inside the chamber, those two new frequencies/colors would be created at only that single point. The new SUM frequency is even higher than the initial ultraviolet of the original laser beams, so it would be even farther in the ultraviolet and therefore also invisible. But the new DIFFERENCE frequency would be LESS than that of the ultraviolet original laser beams. If the DIFFERENCE of the two ultraviolet laser frequencies were, for example, the frequency of the color yellow, then a tiny yellow (visible) dot would appear inside the chamber at only that single location where the two laser beams intersected.

The premise here is that the mirrors associated with each laser can be rapidly deflected to direct the laser beams to any X-Y-Z location inside the chamber. Since no part of any laser beam can be visible UNLESS the two beams intersect, only a single dot (3-d pixel) could be visible at any instant.

The arrangement just described is for a black-and-white, or actually black-and-yellow (if the two laser beams have different frequencies that correspond to yellow light) three dimensional image. All the technology to create this already existed in 1975 when I invented this, although the precision of moving the mirrors was then not yet very well refined, and computer controls virtually did not yet exist. With modern advanced electronics and computer controls, this device should be easy and inexpensive to create.

I had mentioned that possibly three lasers might be installed above the chamber rather than one. They would be selected for the ultraviolet color/frequency they each had. One would be selected so that if it intersected with the laser beam from the rear wall, the difference frequency would be that of RED light. The second would be selected to create a difference frequency of GREEN light. And the third would create a difference frequency of BLUE light. This would then provide the capability of duplicating the RGB arrangement of color television screens. Depending on which of the three was used and to what brightness, any possible color could then be created at any specific location inside the chamber. This would result in a true three-dimensional, full-color image. This would be the ultimate in a 3D television set!

There are some matters of making sure that the ultraviolet laser beams did not penetrate the glass walls and exit out into the room to cause any danger to anyone, but that should not be too difficult to arrange. Most glass already absorbs most ultraviolet light (the reason you cannot get a suntan inside of a house window) and special glass that is even more absorbent of ultraviolet could be used. If any glass wall was broken, all the lasers could be automatically disabled.

There is really only one other detail to work out, the type of microscopic particles to fill the chamber with, whether smoke or fog-mist or dust or some other type of very fine particles. There is a benefit of having the particles have PERSISTENCE of maybe 1/30 of a second of glow after the particle was energised. TV screens do this by using phosphors which have a natural persistence to keep the image from ever flickering. Maybe phosphor can be ground to microscopic size to be able to float around inside the chamber, or maybe some other material might be found to avoid any flickering of the 3-D image in the box.

You might have noted that this concept is NOT limited to a 15 inch television screen! In fact, the lasers and nearly everything else would be nearly identical even if the viewing chamber was an eight-foot-cube, where life-sized people might seem to be inside it! The cost of such a giant 3-D TV should not be materially different than for the smaller box described above.

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