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The New Journal of Physics, reports that screen researchers from Sony and the Max Planck Institute have demonstrated the possibility of creating bendable optically assessed organic light emitting displays for the first time.

Technology described in the paper, 'Annihilation Assisted Upconversion: All-Organic, Flexible and Transparent Multicolour Display', could be used to create computers that can be folded up and pocketed.

It could also pave the way for the mass-production of moving image posters for display advertising which featured in the movie

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Minority Report.

Other possible applications include televisions which can be bent and digital newspapers that can be scrunched up for easy storage.

The organic, upconversion (UC) multicolour displays have significant advantages when compared to the traditional technology used for projection displays and televisions, according to the researchers. These advantages include flexibility, ultra fast response times an order of magnitude faster than conventional LCDs, almost unlimited viewing angles and a size limited only by the size of the substrates

Sony announced the development of flexible OLED display screens in 2006 but glitches such as size and resolution limitations, and the difficulty of structuring the organic compounds so as not to be distorted when bent, have stopped designs coming to market.

"This new technology for optically excited organic emissive displays hasn't got this problem and gives further opportunities for new applications," the researchers stated.

"To the best of our knowledge we demonstrate for the first time a versatile colour all-organic and transparent UC-display. The reported displays are also flexible and have excellent brightness."