3-D IMAGING: Thin integral display switches from 2-D to 3-D

摘要

Would a computer monitor or cellphone display that instantly switches from ordinary 2-D to true 3-D attract the eye of the average consumer? Researchers at Seoul National University, with financial support from Samsung (both in Seoul, Korea), are betting this will be the case. They have developed a type of flat-panel display that can switch from high-resolution 2-D to low-resolution 3-D without requiring the use of viewing glasses or a particular vantage point. The backlit display relies on integral imaging to create 3-D images and optoelectronically switches to conventional 2-D. While the term "integral imaging" is not familiar to most people, rudimentary integral displays have been found in breakfast cereal boxes for decades. Those little cardboard squares covered with transparent ribs (actually cylindrical-lens arrays) that display shifting views of scenes work via integral imaging, in which each optical element in an array is associated with a tiny but complete image, the sum of which allows changes in perspective.