Design of light field head-mounted display

Abstract

A light field head-mounted display (LF-HMD) using a micro structure array (MSA, lens array or pinhole array) is proposed to realize true three dimensional (3D) display. Dense light field of 3D scene is generated inside the exit pupil of HMD and the viewer can obtain correct depth. This method not only solves the huge data problem in true 3D displays, but also alleviates the visual fatigue in traditional HMDs. Design considerations of LF-HMD system have been analyzed in detail and an optical see-through LF-HMD has been designed using a wedge-shaped freeform prism cemented with a freeform lens and a pinhole array. The experimental result shows that the proposed method is capable of generating a dense light field to obtain a corrected perception of depth.

Semi-reflective visor-based compact head-worn light field display

“…We first measure the FOV by displaying and capturing the image of concentric rings (figure 13), each of which represents a unique angle subtended from the camera. 4)- (8). FOV measurements are also shown in figure 13.…”

“…Figure 2 shows the LFA and the ray propagation through it in closer detail. The LFA is in a Galilean configuration [8,24], which forms a virtual image on the opposite side of the MLA, rather than a real image between the reflector and the LFA. The virtual image plane of the LFA is placed at the focal plane of the reflector such that it introduces telecentricity.…”

“…These designs are sometimes referred to as the bug-eye system, due to the resemblance of the globular combiner shape to insect eyes. Despite the advances in the design of HWDs that use diffractive, holographic, microstructured, and/or freeform optics [4][5][6][7][8][9], the reflector-based designs have proliferated thanks in part to the relative simplicity in constructing a combiner out of a semi-reflective surface. This approach also allows for a large field of view (FOV) and a large eyebox, while accommodating glasses-wearers.…”

Slim near-eye display using pinhole aperture arrays

“…Sprague et al embed a single pinhole inside a contact lens to avoid bulky imaging optics in HMD design [6]. Song et al propose a lightfield HMD [7] using free-form optics combined with a pinhole aperture array. However, to the best of our knowledge, ours is the first system to use pinhole aperture arrays as a stand-alone image relay layer in an HMD configuration.…”