Vuduri Hi-def Screens

(This is part of the continuing series about the design of Skyler Base)

In the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, Rei spent a lot of time wandering around the starbase at Dara. I was trying for a "you are there" experience but that got edited out when I had to introduce action, action, action. Rei spent a lot of time in his apartment just trying to get a feel for the Vuduri life-style. He sat down at their computer workstation, not unlike ours, and use his engineering skills to try and figure out how the viewscreen worked.

     On a whim, Rei spoke out loud. “What are all of these screens for?” he asked, pointing to the various virtual instruments.
     “The view screens are multi-purpose,” replied OMCOM. “Any workstation can be tied in to the central storage facilities, database, sensors and more.”
     “How do they work? The view screens, I mean.” Rei pointed at the flat panel in front of him.
     “You just issue orders. I will produce the desired images or data.”
     “I don’t mean commands,” Rei said. “I mean the electronics.” He bent over and looked underneath the desk but saw nothing.
     “They have emitters along the frame that project an ultrahigh frequency array of electromagnetic radiation through the panel.”
     “What is the panel made of?” Rei asked, rising up again.
     “It is a borosilicate matrix doped with gallium arsenide, germanium oxide and other rare earth elements.”
     “Hey!” Rei said. “I actually understand something you just said. It’s glass, isn’t it?”
     “Yes, but it has a variety of compounds within it that emit photons when excited by the proper resonant frequency.”
     “How do you get that?” Rei asked. He touched the screen lightly. “Is it like an LCD? I mean a liquid crystal display or is it an electron beam like a CRT?”
     “It is like neither. The X and the Y grids have differing frequencies which are adjustable. When a certain element, you would call it a pixel, is to be excited, the frequencies of the two beams are adjusted so that where they intersect, the difference is the resonant frequency of the active element.”
     “A beat phenomenon?” Rei asked.
     “High frequency, but yes. The beat phenomenon excites the desired element into a higher energy state and when the excitation stops, it drops back to its resting state and emits a photon of certain color.”
     “So, I get it,” Rei said excitedly. “It’s like an LED except you don’t need to actually build the electronics into the panel. By god, I actually understand something! This is so sleek that I even get it. Maybe the drugs are finally wearing off. I thought maybe being asleep so long made me stupid or something. ”
     “Certain physical principles are true regardless of the date on the calendar. Much of our underlying technology is based upon laws of nature that were well known in your time.”
     “What kind of resolution can they generate?” Rei asked, waggling a finger at the screen.
     “What you would refer to as pitch is the size of one molecule so they are capable of extremely high resolution.”