Projection-type dual-view holographic three-dimensional display and its augmented reality applications

Abstract In this paper, a projection-type dual-view holographic three-dimensional (3D) display consisting of a single spatial light modulator (SLM) and a grating light-guide plate is proposed and implemented. A synthetic phase-only hologram of two different 3D objects is calculated by the layer-based Fresnel diffraction method and uploaded onto the SLM for 3D reconstruction. A grating with special design and fabrication is used as the light-guide plate to re-direct the two reconstructed 3D images into the two separated viewing zones simultaneously. Optical experiments demonstrate that the proposed system can realize the function of dual-view holographic 3D display, and it can present 3D images to the human eye with sufficient depth cues, which enables the observers free of the accommodation-vergence conflict and visual fatigue problem. Furthermore, the proposed dual-view holographic 3D display system is applied to the see-through display for augmented reality (AR) applications, and the performance of this system is also tested in the experiments and the results show that the system can provide the dual-view AR 3D sensation successfully.