Bayfol HX used to create Sony 360° display concept for floating holographic augmented reality images

The R&D Team of Sony Corporation in Tokyo is looking into new concept displays to contribute to Sony’s strong innovation pipeline and create the next-gen image experience for consumers. One of the ideas they wanted to realize was a new display that can project floating images within a 360-degree direction while at the same time being transparent. Sony chose Covestro’s photopolymer film Bayfol® HX to overcome challenges on the trade-off between image brightness and transparency in order to realize a breakthrough augmented reality (AR) display device.

We have been searching for a long time for the right material to realize our idea. This project has shown that Covestro’s Bayfol® HX film has excellent performance for AR applications.
Why Bayfol® HX was the right solution for Sony
- High transparency Volume holograms recorded into Bayfol® HX respond to, and redirect only, the light coming from the projector whilst being completely transparent
- High Δn High Δn allows high diffraction efficiency for the redirected light from the projector, thereby enabling high image brightness.
- Easy processing No chemical pre-treatment or post-processing necessary for the recoding process
- Laminate recorded film on a cylindrical surface While enabling simple recording in a plane configuration, the flexible plastic substrate and the inherent stickiness of the functional layer of Bayfol® HX allow easy lamination on cylindrical curved surfaces, enabling a 360° field of view