Developing Three-Dimensional Display Technologies

Stereo, multi-perspective, and volumetric display technologies have made several recent gains. We are seeing increased availability of such systems for entertainment, both in theaters and for the home. The concurrent advent of medical imaging modalities that deliver very large data sets such as, spiral CT, high-field MRI, and 3-D ultrasound, makes renewed assessment of 3-D display of inedical images attractive. We concentrate on autostereographic displays, those that are viewed without viewing aids such as special eye-glasses or goggles. We begin with a very brief review of a few stereo-display, multi-perspective, and volumetric display technologies. We focus our attention primarily on the integral display (ID) and the computer-generated hologram (CGH). We will examine the boost that ID has gotten from the availability of flat-panel displays with very high pixel counts. We also discuss some recent advances in CGH's included the emergence of rewritable holographic materials. We also look at one, undeveloped 3-D display technology: the Correlelogram.