Imagine if an app in your phone or tablet could take your pulse or measure your blood sugar just when you touch the screen, without any added hardware. New developments in the construction of screen glass might mean such technologies are on the way.
Scientists at Corning, makers of the popular Gorilla Glass found in millions of handheld devices, and Canada’s Polytechnique Montreal, have released a study about building light-based sensors into the physical structure of glass used for device screens. The sensors are placed in stackable layers using finer detail than ever before.
The technology means apps can get more accurate readings from far more sensors than just those already placed under screens to detect a touch or swipe. It uses laser to inscribe wave-guides into the glass that use photons of light to describe the transmission of information.
“[It] can be used to transmit information encoded on to the light, in other words, sense its environment to ascertain the properties of a material placed near that surface,” said Dr Alan F Evans, Corning’s research director.
Click here to read the rest of this story.