Switchable 2D/3D display based on a liquid crystal lens array and the rotating specimen shooting method.

A liquid crystal (LC) lenticular lens array with auxiliary electrodes is proposed. The introduction of the auxiliary electrodes helps to obtain an LC lens array (LCLA) with relatively large aperture without complex structures. When the LCLA is in the focusing state, the voltage of auxiliary electrodes is less than that of edge electrodes, and the generated electric field in the LCLA can penetrate into the LC layer. Therefore, the ideal phase profile is obtained with a relatively thin LC layer thickness. Experimental results show that the LCLA has the characteristics of high optical power and low operation voltage. Based on the proposed LCLA, a multi-view 2D/3D switchable display is realized. In the experiment, a series of parallax images is obtained by rotating the sample to replace the convergence shooting method for 3D imaging. Compared with other 2D/3D switchable display devices, the multi-view 2D/3D switchable display based on the LCLA is characterized by being thin and compact, and displaying no moiré pattern.

Fast responsive 2D/3D switchable display using a liquid crystal microlens array.

A fast responsive two-dimensional/three-dimensional (2D/3D) switchable display is demonstrated based on an active liquid crystal (LC) microlens array and a twisted nematic (TN) cell. Compared with the traditional LC microlens array, the fabricated LC microlens array has more ideal phase profile and better focusing effect. The TN cell can switch the polarization direction of the incident light with a very short switching time (4.3 ms) and a small driving voltage (5Vrms). By introducing the tilted elemental image arrays and tilted LC lens array, the moiré patterns are eliminated. The fast switching of the 2D/3D display can be realized by applying or removing voltage to the TN cell. The fast responsive 2D/3D switchable display with the LC microlens array and the TN cell is thin and compact without moiré pattern compared with other 2D/3D switchable display devices.

Autostereoscopic 3D display with high brightness and low crosstalk.

An autostereoscopic 3D display with high brightness and low crosstalk is proposed. This display consists of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, a reflective light source (RLS), and a parallax barrier or lenticular lens. The RLS behind the LCD panel consists of a light source, a light guide plate, and a reflection cavity. The RLS can make light reflect continuously in the reflection cavity and exit from the slits on the cavity surface. The widths of these slits are narrower than those of the subpixels, so they can provide a low aperture ratio, which is helpful in obtaining low crosstalk. Because of the reflection cavity, the optical efficiency is higher than that using a single barrier. The parallax barrier or lenticular lens can project parallax images on the LCD panel into different directions. Then 3D images are formed. A prototype of the proposed 3D display having high brightness 3D images and low crosstalk is developed. The experimental results agree well with the theory.

Reflected-light-source-based three-dimensional display with high brightness.

A reflected-light-source (RLS)-based 3D display is proposed. This display consists of an RLS and a 2D display panel. The 2D display panel is located in front of the RLS. The RLS consists of a light source, a light guide plate (LGP), and a reflection cavity. The light source and the LGP are located in the reflection cavity. Light from the light source can enter into the LGP and reflect continuously in the reflection cavity. The reflection cavity has a series of slits, and light can exit only from these slits. These slits can work as a postpositional parallax barrier, so when they modulate the parallax images on the 2D display, 3D images are formed. Different from the conventional 3D display based on a parallax barrier, this RLS has less optical loss, so it can provide higher brightness. A prototype of this display is developed. Experimental results show that this RLS-based 3D display can provide higher brightness than the conventional one.

Orthogonal-polarized directional backlight-based three-dimensional display with high horizontal resolution and low crosstalk.

An orthogonal-polarized directional backlight-based three-dimensional (3D) display is proposed. This backlight consists of an orthogonal-polarized backlight and a parallax barrier, so it can project light with different polarized directions to different spatial directions. The backlight can project the pixels with different polarized directions on the two-dimensional display in different directions and form 3D images. With this backlight, the proposed display can provide double horizontal resolution. A prototype of this display is developed. Experiment results show that this display with double horizontal resolution can provide a better display effect than the conventional one, and it can decrease crosstalk to a low level.

Special subpixel arrangement-based 3D display with high horizontal resolution.

A special subpixel arrangement-based 3D display is proposed. This display consists of a 2D display panel and a parallax barrier. On the 2D display panel, subpixels have a special arrangement, so they can redefine the formation of color pixels. This subpixel arrangement can bring about triple horizontal resolution for a conventional 2D display panel. Therefore, when these pixels are modulated by the parallax barrier, the 3D images formed also have triple horizontal resolution. A prototype of this display is developed. Experimental results show that this display with triple horizontal resolution can produce a better display effect than the conventional one.

3D display based on parallax barrier with multiview zones.

A 3D display based on a parallax barrier with multiview zones is proposed. This display consists of a 2D display panel and a parallax barrier. The basic element of the parallax barrier has three narrow slits. They can show three columns of subpixels on the 2D display panel and form 3D pixels. The parallax barrier can provide multiview zones. In these multiview zones, the proposed 3D display can use a small number of views to achieve a high density of views. Therefore, the distance between views is the same as the conventional ones with more views. Considering the proposed display has fewer views, which bring more 3D pixels in the 3D images, the resolution and brightness will be higher than the conventional ones. A 12-view prototype of the proposed 3D display is developed, and it provides the same density of views as a conventional one with 28 views. Experimental results show the proposed display has higher resolution and brightness than the conventional one. The cross talk is also limited at a low level.

Three-dimensional display based on dual parallax barriers with uniform resolution.

The 3D display based on a parallax barrier is a low-cost autostereoscopic display. However, the vertical and horizontal resolution of the 3D images displayed on it will be seriously nonuniform as this display has a large number of views. It will worsen the display quality; therefore, a 3D display that consists of a 2D display panel and dual parallax barriers is proposed. With a 2D display panel, the proposed 3D display provides the synthetic images with square pixel units in which the arrangement of pixels can make the 3D image have uniform resolution. With the dual parallax barriers, the proposed 3D display shows the pixels in square pixel units for different horizontal views. Therefore, this display has uniform resolution of 3D images. A four-view prototype of the proposed 3D display is developed, and it provides uniform 3D resolution in the vertical and horizontal directions.

Autostereoscopic three-dimensional display based on two parallax barriers.

An autostereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) display composed of a flat-panel display, two parallax barriers, and a backlight panel is proposed. Parallax barrier 1, located between the backlight panel and the flat-panel display, divides the lights to create the perception of stereoscopic images. Parallax barrier 2, located between the flat-panel display and the viewers, acts as the function of decreasing the cross talk of the stereoscopic images. The operation principle of the display and the calculation equations for the parallax barriers are described in detail. An autostereoscopic 3D display prototype is developed. The prototype presents high-quality stereoscopic images. At the optimal viewing distance, it presents stereoscopic images without cross talk. At other viewing distances, it has less cross talk than a conventional autostereoscopic 3D display based on one parallax.

Autostereoscopic display based on two-layer lenticular lenses.

An autostereoscopic display based on two-layer lenticular lenses is proposed. The two-layer lenticular lenses include one-layer conventional lenticular lenses and additional one-layer concentrating-light lenticular lenses. Two prototypes of the proposed and conventional autostereoscopic displays are developed. At the optimum three-dimensional view distance, the luminance distribution of the prototypes along the horizontal direction is measured. By calculating the luminance distribution, the crosstalk of the prototypes is obtained. Compared with the conventional autostereoscopic display, the proposed autostereoscopic display has less crosstalk, a wider view angle, and higher efficiency of light utilization.

Real-time and ultrahigh accuracy image synthesis algorithm for full field of view imaging system.

In this paper, we propose a real time, ultrahigh accuracy and full-field-of-view (RUF) algorithm for full field of view (FOV) imaging system. The proposed algorithm combines rough matching and precise matching method to stitch multiple images with the whole FOV in short time and high imaging quality. In order to verify real-time imaging effect of RUF algorithm, we also fabricate a multi-camera imaging system which includes 19 independent cameras. And the experiment result practically illustrates that full-FOV system can achieve good performances under a near-limiting FOV of 360° × 240° with low distortion, meanwhile, optical resolution reaches up to 95 megapixels. 100% registration-accuracy RUF algorithm for imaging in one second can be widely applied to any optical imaging engineering field with large FOV, such as remote sensing imaging, microscopy imaging, monitoring system engineering fields and so on.

Autostereoscopic three-dimensional projector based on two parallax barriers.

An autostereoscopic 3D projector using several 2D projectors, a projection screen, and two parallax barriers is proposed. Parallax barrier 1 facing the 2D projectors collimates the images that have aberrations on the edge of the projection screen. Parallax barrier 2 facing viewers acts as the parallax barrier in ordinary autostereoscopic 3D displays. The operation principle of the system, the calculation equations for the parallax barriers, and the capture and correction of parallax images are described in detail. A 60-inch autostereoscopic 3D projector prototype having four 2D projectors was developed. The presentation of 3D static, animation, and video images is realized by the prototype. The prototype's stereoscopic images without aberrations and with a little cross talk are sharp. Especially, its 3D resolution is the same as its 2D resolution.