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Light Field Displays

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Handbook of Visual Display Technology

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Abstract

Light field displays (LFDs) provide natural and comfortable viewing of 3D content. The generalized light field can be described by a 7D plenoptic function. This can be simplified into a 4D light field that can be decomposed into 2D resolution sample and view sample planes. Different architectures, known as light field 1.0 and light field 2.0, that respectively prioritize depth or resolution can be created based on the relative order of the two planes. Different trade-offs are made to implement light field displays depending on whether they are meant for direct viewing (multiuser) or personal viewing (near-eye). Direct-view displays can be based on scanning, array of projectors, or multilayer optical stack. The two main multilayer approaches are the traditional integral imaging stack with a 2D matrix display and 2D optics array, using micro-lenses or apertures, and a compressive display with a directional backlight and a stack of liquid crystal panels. Head-mounted LFDs can be multifocal plane, integral imaging-based, or computational multilayer. These can be immersive displays for virtual reality applications or optical see-through for augmented reality. A generalized end-to-end system model for LFDs can be used to guide the design based on the requirements.

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Abbreviations

AR:

Augmented reality

CDP:

Central depth plane

DFD:

Depth-fused 3D

DMD:

Digital micromirror device

DOF:

Depth of field

FOV:

Field of view

FP:

Focal plane

HMD:

Head-mounted display

HVS:

Human visual system

InI:

Integral imaging

LF:

Light field

LF-3D:

Light field 3D

LFD:

Light field displays

LF-HMD:

Light field head-mounted display

MFP:

Multifocal plane

micro-InI:

Microscopic INI

MLA:

Micro-lens array

OST:

Optical see-through

S3D:

Stereoscopic three-dimensional

SLM:

Spatial light modulator

VAC:

Vergence-accommodation conflict

VFE:

Varifocal element

VR:

Virtual reality

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Hong Hua

  2. College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Nikhil Balram

Authors
  1. Hong Hua
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  2. Nikhil Balram
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hong Hua .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FH für Gestaltung, Technik, Hochschule Pforzheim, Pforzheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Karlheinz Blankenbach

  2. Fuzhou University, Fuzhou City, Fujian, China

    Qun Yan

  3. DSCC, Austin, TX, USA

    Robert J. O'Brien

Section Editor information

  1. Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY, USA

    Casey Kang

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Hua, H., Balram, N. (2023). Light Field Displays. In: Blankenbach, K., Yan, Q., O'Brien, R.J. (eds) Handbook of Visual Display Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35947-7_218-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35947-7_218-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35947-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35947-7

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