High-resistance liquid-crystal lens array for rotatable 2D/3D autostereoscopic display

Abstract

A 2D/3D switchable and rotatable autostereoscopic display using a high-resistance liquid-crystal (Hi-R LC) lens array is investigated in this paper. Using high-resistance layers in an LC cell, a gradient electric-field distribution can be formed, which can provide a better lens-like shape of the refractive-index distribution. The advantages of the Hi-R LC lens array are its 2D/3D switchability, rotatability (in the horizontal and vertical directions), low driving voltage (~2 volts) and fast response (~0.6 second). In addition, the Hi-R LC lens array requires only a very simple fabrication process.

Liquid Crystal Microlenses for Autostereoscopic Displays

“…In [81,82], a system that enables rotation of the 3D image is demonstrated using this approach (Hi-R LC). Despite this, the resistivity is not high enough to create a voltage gradient when all electrodes are at the same voltage.…”

Electrically Controllable Liquid Crystal Component for Efficient Light Steering

“…As a result, the effective refractive index of the material is electrically tunable for the incoming light, making liquid crystal a good material for dynamic optical components and imaging devices. Beam steering devices based on the gradient refractive index (GRIN) effect have attracted intensive interest; most of them are based on nonuniform electric field, inhomogeneously distributed polymer networks or special surface alignment to induce the gradient refractive index inside the LC layers in order to realize the beam steering [9]- [13]. These devices either need complex driving circuits or sophisticated and unmanageable fabricating techniques.…”

Liquid crystal-based lenticular lens array with laterally shifting capability of the focusing effect for autostereoscopic displays

“…Among several types of lenticular lenses, the most promising one is based on a liquid crystal (LC) owing to the simplicity in fabrication, the compactness, and the tuning capability at low voltages resulting from the large electro-optical anisotropy [11,12]. Since conventional lenticular lens arrays based on the LC yield the tunable focusing effect along the direction perpendicular to the substrate, i.e., out-of-plane of the substrate [13][14][15][16], the viewing zones for focusing and defocusing remain unchanged irrespective of an applied voltage [17][18][19][20][21][22]. For more sophisticated applications, however, it is desirable to have another degree of freedom allowing the lateral shift of the focusing effect of the lenticular lens.…”