Optical Shutter Technology

Citala’s optical shutters can be described as privacy windows. In an “off” state, they diffuse light, appearing nearly completely dark. In an “on” state, they’re transparent. These optical phenomena are made possible by Onyx^TM, Citala’s proprietary active material.
 
Onyx^TM is at the core of Citala’s flexible display technology. It consists of microencapsulated active material in a rugged flexible matrix that is sandwiched between two sheets of ITO/PET substrate to form an APD^TM panel. When an electrical field is applied to this panel, the Onyx ^TM particles align and allow the efficient passage of light. The panel turns transparent. Turn off the electrical field, and the panel turns dark again, hiding whatever is behind it. (The darkness and color of the panel can be customized.)

Optical shutters -- which come in several coating formulations, colors, and sizes -- can instantly switch from nearly opaque to highly transparent, allowing a clear, uninterrupted field of view.

Citala’s optical shutters have been used by top-tier manufacturers across a wide range of markets.

Citala’s Onyx^TM Optical Shutter can be switched from dark to transparent in milliseconds.

Fly your cursor over the picture to see the effect

Click here to download Citala's Optical Shutter specifications.

Wow!
Citala’s optical shutters elicit a “wow!” from everyone who witnesses their now-you-see-it/now-you-don't effect. They are used in amusement parks for special effects. They also are effective switchable front and rear screens for projecting images.  Future uses in high-content, high-resolution displays promise to change the world of computers, mobile phones, and hand-held devices. Indeed, Citala’s optical shutter technology, combined with our flexible and reflective know-how, offers many new and potential uses, limited only by the imagination.

For a video clip of Citala's optical shutters applied to architecture, please click on the link: Optical Shutter Window Video