Bionic-compound-eye structure for realizing a compact integral imaging 3D display in a cell phone with enhanced performance

Abstract

A bionic-compound-eye structure (BCES), which is a substitute of a microlens array, is proposed to enhance the performance of integral imaging (II) 3D display systems. Hexagonal ocelli without gaps and barriers are predesigned to obtain a continuous image, high-resolution, and uniform parallax. A curved substrate is designed to enhance the viewing angle. In addition, ocelli are fused with the substrate to form a relief structure, BCES. When they are placed above a normal display, continuous and full-parallax 3D images with 150 µm effective resolution and a 28° horizontal, 22° vertical viewing angle could be achieved, about twice as much as that of normal systems. The weight of the BCES is 31 g, and the thickness of the whole system is 22 mm; thus, the BCES-based II (BCES-II) is very compact. In addition, this structure can be easily integrated into a cell phone or iPad for compact quasi-2D and 3D adjustable display.