Oleksii O. Chernyshov

Holographic display based on a spatial DMD array.

The image space of the reconstructed image from the hologram displayed on a digital micromirror device (DMD) is defined by the diffraction pattern induced by the 2D pixel pattern of the DMD, which works as a 2D blazed grating. Within this space, a reconstructed image of 100 mm × 20 mm is spatially multiplexed by a 2 × 5 DMD array that is aligned on a board, without using any extra optics. Each DMD chip reconstructs an image piece of the size 20 mm (width) × 10 mm (height). The reconstructed image looks somewhat noisy but regenerates the original object image faithfully.

A floating type holographic display

A floating image type holographic display which projects an electronically generated holographic image together with a background image displayed on a monitor/TV to enhance the visual effects of the former image is introduced. This display can display a holographic image with a spatial volume floating in the front space of the display with use of PDLC sheets as the focused plane of the image. This display can preserve and enhance the main property of holographic image from a display chip, i.e., a spatial image with a volume. This property had not been appealed by the previous holographic displays due to the much brighter active surface image accompanied with the reconstructed image and the diffuser used for viewing the image.

Properties of DMDs for holographic displays

Digital micromirror device’s (DMD) properties as being a display device for holographic displays are investigated. High speed, a large separation between reconstructed image and reconstruction beam, two symmetric diffraction patterns, and low intensity (0,0)th-order beam at a blazed grating condition are the desired properties for the displays. The blazed grating condition of a DMD can reconstruct images with higher diffraction efficiency than the line grating condition. DMD’s high speed enables to present colors and gray levels to the reconstructed image. However, reconstructed images from a gray-level computer-generated hologram (CGH) and its binary form hologram reveal no noticeable difference between them, except the background noise in the image from the CGH.

Color moiré simulations in contact-type 3-D displays.

A new method of color moiré fringe simulation in the contact-type 3-D displays is introduced. The method allows simulating color moirés appearing in the displays, which cannot be approximated by conventional cosine approximation of a line grating. The color moirés are mainly introduced by the line width of the boundary lines between the elemental optics in and plate thickness of viewing zone forming optics. This is because the lines are hiding some parts of pixels under the viewing zone forming optics, and the plate thickness induces a virtual contraction of the pixels. The simulated color moiré fringes are closely matched with those appearing at the displays.

A holographic display based on spatial multiplexing

A DMD chip is capable of displaying holographic images with a gray level and of reconstructing its image only in the space defined by the diffraction pattern induced from its pixel arrangement structure. 2 X 5 DMD chips are combined on a board to generate a spatially multiplexed reconstructed image of 10cmX2cm. Each DMD chip generates an image piece with the size of 2cm (Horizontal) X 1cm (vertical). The reconstructed image reveals the features of original object image including the gray level but noises from several sources are also laden with it.

Depth resolution in three-dimensional images

The depth of field of a camera defines the depth range to be covered by the camera. In 3D images, the resolvable depth range is also determined by the depth of field (DOF). Hence the depth resolution and resolvable number of depth layers obtainable with a given 3D display will be defined within the DOF when the display has the same resolution as the total camera resolution of the array in the horizontal direction. The depth resolution and resolvable number of depth layers are mathematically derived in terms of the circle of confusion. The resolvable number of depth layers is approximately linearly proportional to the camera distance and inversely proportional to the aperture diameter of the camera objective. The accuracies of the derivations are examined experimentally. The results show that the DOF extends slightly and the depth resolution improves up to 20% more than that predicted by theory for the given experimental condition. This means that the depth resolution derived has more than 80% accuracy.

Resolution of electro-holographic image

The resolution of the reconstructed image from a hologram displayed on a DMD is measured with the light field images along the propagation direction of the reconstructed image. The light field images reveal that a point and line image suffers a strong astigmatism but the line focusing distance differences for lines with different directions. This will be astigmatism too. The focusing distance of the reconstructed image is shorter than that of the object. The two lines in transverse direction are resolved when the gap between them is around 16 pixels of the DMD’s in use. However, the depth direction is difficult to estimate due to the depth of focus of each line. Due to the astigmatism, the reconstructed image of a square appears as a rectangle or a rhombus.

Fringe periods of color moirés in contact-type 3-D displays

A mathematical formula of calculating the fringe periods of the color moirés appearing at the contact-type 3-D displays is derived. It is typical that the color moirés are chirped and the period of the line pattern in viewing zone forming optics is more than two times of that of the pixel pattern in the display panel. These make impossible to calculate the fringe periods of the color moirés with the conventional beat frequency formula. The derived formula work very well for any combination of two line patterns having either a same line period or different line periods. This is experimentally proved. Furthermore, it is also shown that the fringe period can be expressed in terms of the viewing distance and focal length of the viewing zone forming optics.

Color moirés in 3-D displays and their applications

The line thickness of lines consisting of the line pattern of VZFO in contact-type 3-D displays is a major clue of simulating the color moirés in the displays. The thicknesses of the lines and the period of the line pattern are virtually chirped due to refraction caused by the VZFO thickness. This chirping and the line thickness are the main source of the color moirés. This color moirés can be used to hide and enhance certain feature of images.

Interactive holographic display

A holographic display which is capable of displaying floating holographic images is introduced. The display is for user interaction with the image on the display. It consists of two parts; multiplexed holographic image generation and a spherical mirror. The time multiplexed image from 2 X 10 DMD frames appeared on PDLC screen is imaged by the spherical mirror and becomes a floating image. This image is combined spatially with two layered TV images appearing behind. Since the floating holographic image has a real spatial position and depth, it allows a user to interact with the image.