Acquisition Method of Three Dimensional Images Based on Liquid Crystal Micro Lens Array

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method for acquiring three-dimensional (3D) images based on an electrically controlled liquid crystal (LC) micro lens array (MLA). The proposed method is extremely different from existing 3D imaging methods, because adapting the proposed LC-MLA as a key element for a 3D imaging system eliminates the conventional need for mechanical movements. The LC-MLA has 50 μm hole-pattern electrodes, with an operating voltage as low as 0.2 Vrms, a focal length range of 50-400 μm, millisecond response time, and optical consistency between neighboring elements of 9%. In order to demonstrate its 3D imaging capability, this paper decribes an imaging experiment in which two-dimensional (2D) images with different perspectives and magnifications are obtained by tuning the external applied voltage from 0.2 to 5.0 Vrms at 0.5 Vrms/step; then, a ray back projection algorithm is applied to process the 2D images in order to reconstruct the 3D image of the target object. This 3D imaging system is innovative, compact, and simple, making it very attractive for compact 3D imaging camera systems. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.23.4.16677