Resolution improvement in aerial imaging by a retroreflector using micro aperture arrays.

For a floating display system using a prism- or bead-type retroreflector, non-retroreflected light is the key cause of the deterioration in image resolution. In the present study, a micro aperture array was used to enhance the image resolution of aerial imaging displays based on prism and bead retroreflectors. The effects of different micro aperture parameters on the divergence angle of the retroreflector were experimentally studied, and the modulation of the point spread function of different retroreflectors was also explored in detail. The experimental results showed that by properly arranging the micro aperture array, the divergence angle of the retroreflective light could be effectively reduced. Moreover, the full width at half maximum of the point spread function of the retroreflector was effectively narrowed. Finally, after the modulation of the micro aperture array, the imaging resolution was increased by 115%-150% compared to the original resolution. The proposed micro array is low cost, easy to process, and flexible and can be applied to a retroreflector-based aerial imaging system to provide high image quality.

Vortex Solitons in Quasi-Phase-Matched Photonic Crystals.

We report solutions for stable compound solitons in a three-dimensional quasi-phase-matched photonic crystal with the quadratic (χ^{(2)}) nonlinearity. The photonic crystal is introduced with a checkerboard structure, which can be realized by means of the available technology. The solitons are built as four-peak vortex modes of two types, rhombuses and squares (intersite- and onsite-centered self-trapped states, respectively). Their stability areas are identified in the system's parametric space (rhombuses occupy an essentially broader stability domain), while all bright vortex solitons are subject to strong azimuthal instability in uniform χ^{(2)} media. Possibilities for experimental realization of the solitons are outlined.

Geometric phase with full-wedge and half-wedge rotation in nonlinear frequency conversion.

When the quasi-phase matching (QPM) parameters of the χ(2) nonlinear crystal rotate along a closed path, geometric phase will be generated in the signal and idler waves that participate in the nonlinear frequency conversion. In this paper, we study two rotation schemes, full-wedge rotation and half-wedge rotation, of the QPM parameters in the process of fully nonlinear three-wave mixing. These two schemes can effectively suppress the uncertainty in creating the geometric phase in the nonlinear frequency conversion process when the intensity of the pump is depleted. The finding of this paper provides an avenue toward constant control of the geometric phase in nonlinear optics applications and quantum information processing.

Freeform construction method for illumination design by using two orthogonal tangent vectors based on ray mapping.

An illumination design problem can be transformed into an optimal mass transport problem based on ray mapping. To construct a freeform surface that best fits the normal field, an efficient numerical method is put forward in this paper. In this method, the normal vectors are constructed by two adjacent orthogonal tangent vectors at each point, and then the normal vectors are substituted into Snell's law to obtain nonlinear equations describing the surface coordinates. Finally, the continuous and accurate freeform surface can be obtained by solving these nonlinear equations. The simulation results show that the proposed method not only provides lower relative standard deviation, but also significantly reduces the normal deviation more than the traditional one. It can be seen from the comparison results that different numerical integrations of a non-integrable normal field calculated by optimal mass transport can lead to different results, and the proposed method is more feasible than the traditional one, especially in the off-axis case. The simulation results of the illumination effect of some complex patterns also show that the freeform surface constructed by this method can restore the target pattern efficiently and control the normal vector error in a low range.

Visual effect of a linear Fresnel lens illuminated with a directional backlight.

A linear Fresnel lens illuminated by a directional backlight is studied. The light distribution on the lens surface visualized by a retina is simulated with a Monte Carlo ray-tracing technique, and the visualized display uniformity on the lens surface is found to depend critically on the lens quality as well as on the viewing position away from the light propagation axis. The effect of the light source configuration as well as the deviation of the microstructures of the Fresnel lens from ideal structure are studied. The simulation is verified with an experimental study, and good agreement between numerical and experimental results is obtained. Design guidelines are presented for a backlight-illuminated system to achieve high-quality uniform flat-panel two-dimensional and autostereoscopic displays.

Pseudo-random arranged color filter array for controlling moiré patterns in display.

Optical display quality can be degraded by the appearance of moiré pattern occurring in a display system consisting of a basic matrix superimposed with a functional structured optical layer. We propose in this paper a novel pseudo-random arranged color filter array with the table number arranged with an optimal design scenario. We show that the moiré pattern can be significantly reduced with the introduction of the special color filter array. The idea is tested with an experiment that gives rise to a substantially reduced moiré pattern in a display system. It is believed that the novel functional optical structures have significant impact to complex structured display system in general and to the autostereoscopic and integrated display systems in particular.

Quantitative measurement and control of optical Moiré pattern in an autostereoscopic liquid crystal display system.

A quantitative description of an optical moiré pattern produced in an autostereoscopic liquid crystal display system is proposed using a contrast sensitivity function. The numerical simulation, carried out in the spatial frequency domain, is applied to a directional backlit, spatially and temporally hybrid controlled display system. The moiré pattern produced from the superimposed binary optical components is examined systematically, and the results show that the visibility of the moiré pattern can be manipulated with proper grating settings. Good agreement between experiment and simulation demonstrates that the proposed theory can be applied as a design guideline to remove the moiré patterns occurring in an autostereoscopic display system.

High-quality autostereoscopic display with spatial and sequential hybrid control.

A novel design of an autostereoscopic display system with full resolution, low crosstalk, and weak Moiré pattern is presented. The system involves the usage of an LED backlight array and a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, in conjunction with a Fresnel lens array, to form a 3D optical image system. The finer temporal synchronization is made possible with a dynamic synchronized backlight, so that the scanning of the LCD is in phase with the backlight array. The systematic optimization presents a full HD, or even an ultra HD, display for a single left or right channel. The achieved minimum systematic crosstalk is 2.64%, a sufficiently low value reported so far with an autostereoscopic system.