In recent years, there has been a shift in offices from paper documents to electronic documents.
Until now, technologies for displaying and using such electronic documents has focused on the use of various types of displays, such as liquid-crystal and plasma screens. However, from the point of view of portability, viewability, ability to be stacked and sorted, etc., they do not live up to the qualities that paper-based documents offer, and there is much room for improvement.

Against this backdrop, Fuji Xerox has been conducting research and development on electronic paper as a new medium for presenting documents. While maintaining the desirable qualities of normal paper, electronic paper does not require space for storage, can be accessed instantly from anywhere, offers superior search qualities and, can be accessed restrictedly as the need arises.

The electronic paper introduced here is a Photo-Addressable Electronic Paper incorporating copy machine technology.

Photo-Addressable Electronic Paper

This product is a new image-display device, consisting of an organic photoconductor and microcapsulated cholesteric liquid crystal (Fig. 1). It instantly converts optical signals into image signals, and can be held in the user’s hand. Although it requires electric power during the writing process, it can retain the image after writing without electric power.


Fig. 1: Cross-sectional drawing of a Photo-Addressable Electronic Paper

The Photo-Addressable Electronic Paper has the following features:

· Electronically Rewritable
· Reflective like paper and easily viewable
· Does not require energy to retain the displayed image
· Thin, lightweight, and flexible