I was thinking maybe it sets up a layer of chilled air adjacent to a layer of warmed air…
This article has a little more information on it.
Clearly (if the thing is even real) they have changed the optical propeties of the air, but the odd thing is that the stream on which the ‘dark’ parts of the image is (actually isn’t) projected appears almost entirely transparent.
The image is projected from behind, as far as I can tell and I’m skeptical of their claim that they are projecting it with lasers - it looks more like a conventional video projection to me (albeit on a rather unconventional screen).
Okay, how about this: it ionises the air, and then raster-shines a laser on the ionised part to kick the ions up an enegy level or two, then when they come back down, they give off light? The laser might not be visible for this. The metal plates could make a nice laminar flow pattern above the machine.
The question is, if you ionise unmodified air, what are the energy states of the resulting ions? And are any of them amenable to being kicked up some more by a laser, then bouncing back down with a nice healthy glow?
I think it most unlikely they would get a decent colour display that way.
Women nuttin… If that thing was 17,956 dollars cheaper I’d never thing about a man again.
That thing is way too cool.
Hmmmm… they are also selling it, even though it is apparently not yet in production - they have a number of working prototypes.
I’m being too cautious, I know.
I thought this was a variation of FogScreen, but the more I read about it, the higher my BS detector goes.
I’ll believe it when I see it, up close and personal, in a store. Until then, with absolutely NO real information about how it’s supposed to work, I don’t buy it.
From your link:
Chad Dyner does have two patent applications involving this sort of image display technology. One is available online, go to the USPTO website and enter 20040001182.
Looks like he’s not ionising anything.
My guess now is that, if it works, he’s chilling the incoming air past the dew point and using the resulting suspended water droplets. This implies a certain required humidity for the thing to work. Would it be possible to get droplets that can’t be seen, yet can reflect/refract light like a rainbow?
If he ever gives a demo here, I’m gonna ask whether the thing would work in a desert. 
Poor quality image that has lines in it. The american public will never settle for that.