Japan Display Inc (JDI) has developed a transparent display with a very high transmittance of 80%, which could be used to AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality) applications.

When the screen is off, it is a transparent panel. When it is turned on, an image is displayed on the screen.

The transmittance of the transparent display is more than 50% higher than that of JDI's previous see-through display. This allows viewing the background of the screen clearly. In addition, the high transmittance allows the screen to look completely transparent, when it is not powered.

The high transmittance was achieved mainly by employing a display structure that does not use a polarizing plate or color filter, which prevents light transmission. Though JDI currently does not confirm it, the display seems to be an LCD display. The prototype's size, pixel count and resolution are 4 inches, 300 x 300 and 117ppi, respectively.

Using an LCD in transparent displays has an advantage over OLEDs, according to JDI. OLED displays do not use a polarizing plate or a color filter, but their transmittance is 45% or lower and their aperture ratio is lower than that of an LCD display.