Time-dependent vector information display on gas-discharge display panels

The motion of an image over a gas-discharge display panel occurs when cells at the leading edge begin to fire as cells are extinguished at the trailing edge. The visible light emitted by the discharge has a rise time which is instantaneous from the point of view of an observer. The combination of this light with light emitted by a photoluminescent phosphor excited by a component of the emission of the discharge can cause a moving image to exhibit a leading edge of the color of the gas discharge, a body of the color produced by the combination of gas-discharge light and phosphor fluorescence, and a tail of the color of the phosphor emission. The phenomenon is due to the relatively long rise time of the fluorescence of the phosphor. This effect can improve the ability of a viewer to distinguish moving from stationary images and from noise; it can indicate direction of motion and speed by means of the order of the three colors and the relative sizes of the three regions. The incorporation of phosphors into DIGIVUE^(R)Display/ Memory panels will be described. Photoluminescent properties of various compatible phosphors will be given and some phenomena related to the human observer will be discussed. Preliminary results with panels containing combinations of phosphors of different time constants will be presented. These do not require any visible emission from the gas discharge.