3D display widens view

Researchers from Seoul National University in Korea have fashioned a three-dimensional display that has a wider viewing angle then existing 3D screens.

Three-dimensional displays draw on the same working principle as dragonflies eyes. Dragonflies see three-dimensional images with each eye because each is made up of many lenses that view an image from slightly different angles.

The tricky part of displaying three-dimensional images is keeping the separate views from interfering with each other on their way to the screen. This is generally achieved by putting an array of barriers between the display panel and the lenses that project the image. This limits the viewing angle of the display, however.

The Seoul researchers have fashioned a dynamic shutter array that rapidly tilts from side to side to allow observers viewing the screen from different angles to see the three-dimensional images from the proper perspective.

Applications like three-dimensional billboards are possible in a few years; three-dimensional television systems are a decade or more away according to the researchers. The work appeared in the April 21, 2003 issue of Optics Express.