Researchers are working with liquid crystals reacting to light to create a modern blackboard.
In a bid to save paper and reduce e-waste, scientists in Bengaluru and now working on a way which would enable one to write with light. Liquid crystals developed at the Raman Research Institute, founded by Nobel laureate CV Raman, are being used with the final aim of designing a display device that would record writing with light - and erase it just as easily. The device could be used many times over.
In collaboration with the University of Malaysia, institute researchers are working with liquid crystals which react to light with the aim of creating a very modern blackboard.
Dr AR Yuvaraj, who has done his PhD on the subject, told NDTV "One can write by using UV light. No need to use markers in future days. We can just use the light pen, we can write the information or text, whatever we want on the board. And we can erase the board by using a light of higher wavelength. It stores the information by using the light energy. When light energy is supplied to the system, the configuration of the molecules changes to another configuration. One state to another state."
The challenge right now is to make the altered state - and the image - last for a sufficient time. Right now the molecules revert to their original condition within minutes, so the writing would disappear too soon.
Dr Sandeep Kumar, Professor at the Soft Condensed Matter Group at the Institute said, "As of now it stays only for a few minutes and we are interested to extend this stability for a few hours. One of the main advantage - we can get rid of the old system of chalks - this is a green slate or blackboards - environmentally friendly. A modern way of writing and erasing information."
The displays would not be expensive to make - and can be used over and over again. So imagine a world with less paper being used and blackboards without chalk or markers.