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The new display is actually a photorefractive polymer film capable of having images written to it in minutes. The film differs from current technologies in that it's not restricted to displaying static images due to its ability to be constantly written on and wiped using lasers, allowing the image displayed to be constantly refreshed.

Nasser Peyghambarian, one of the scientists at the

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University of Arizona who developed the technology, claims this ability broadens its applications immeasurably and envisages a time when the screens will be used to display products in shop windows, or even bring sport to life in the living room.

"The applications are in many areas, for example in the areas of medical and surgery," says Peyghambarian. "The surgeon could have a 3D image of the area they want to do the surgery on. You could train pilots must better this way."

The research has been funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, which is looking at the military applications of the technology, including providing its generals with a 3D display of the battlefield.

According to a report in Nature, the largest display created by the researchers thus far is 10cm by 10cm, however, they claim "there is no technological limit to the achievable display size, because large thin-film devices can be fabricated and even tiled together."