Nvidia stacks LCD screens to quadruple resolution

Researchers at Nvidia have found a way to quadruple the resolution of a display and double the refresh rate. To do this, they stack several screens on top of each other, the American company announced on Monday.

The researchers first applied the technique, which they call cascaded displays, to two 7″ LCD screens with a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. They removed the housings from both panels and placed them on top of each other. removed from one screen, which was placed on top.

Due to a polarization difference, a quarter pixel distance was used between the two screens. As a result, each pixel of the top LCD screen, which served as the ‘shutter’, occupied four pixel pixels of the bottom one. Early results showed the concept produced sharper images than regular LCD screens, especially when zoomed in.

In a second experiment, the researchers successfully mimicked the effect in another application. For this they used the lenses of two LCoS projectors and placed them on a breadboard, whereby the image of the first projector became visible simultaneously with the image of the second by means of a so-called relay lens. By means of a radiation divider and a projection lens, the combined image could then be displayed more sharply.

According to Nvidia, the technology would be particularly useful for VR glasses, such as the Oculus Rift. With those glasses, a low resolution is more noticeable, because the eyes are close to the screen. Nevertheless, Nvidia does not release anything about any products that are actually equipped with the technology.