360-degree tabletop 3D light-field display with ring-shaped viewing range based on aspheric conical lens array

When employing the light field method with standard lens array and the holographic functional screen (HFS) to realize the tabletop three-dimensional (3D) display, the viewing area of the reconstructed 3D images is right above the screen. As the observers sit around the table, the generated viewpoints in the middle of the viewing area are wasteful. Here, a 360-degree viewable light-field display system is demonstrated, which can present 3D images to multiple viewers in ring-shaped viewing range. The proposed display system consists of the HFS, the aspheric conical lens array, a 27-inch LCD with the resolution of 3840x2160, the LEDs array and the Fresnel lens array. By designing the aspheric conical lens, the light rays emitting from the elemental images forms the viewpoints in a ring-type arrangement. And the corresponding coding method is given. Compared with the light field display with standard lens array, the viewpoint density is increased and the aliasing phenomenon is reduced. In the experiment, the tabletop light-field display based on aspheric conical lens array can present high quality 360-degree viewable 3D image with the right perception and occlusion. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement