Design of elemental-image-predistortion and splicing seamless integral near-eye display based on aspherical microlens arrays

Abstract

The near-eye display (NED) has long been a challenging and intriguing research focus in the fields of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). In this paper, we propose a design method of elemental-image (EI) predistortion and splicing seamless integral NED based on microlens arrays (MLAs), which combines rigorous optical design with image preprocessing. The construction of MLA is based on sub-channel optimization and splicing, enabling the realization of both VR-NED and AR-NED. The calibration of each sub-channel in NED is conducted using a perfect lens that possesses an effective focal length equivalent to that of the human eye. To achieve a high-precision seamless integral NED, the precise location and acquisition of initial EIs are accomplished through chief ray tracing and image clipping. The predistortion EI array (EIA) is further obtained by combining chief ray tracing and radial basis function (RBF) image warping techniques. A seamless MLA-based integral AR-NED with a full field of view (FOV) of 60° is realized and verified. A prototype of a seamless MLA-based integral VR-NED is further implemented by integrating multiple discrete single-focal predistortion EIAs. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been validated through illumination and luminance simulations as well as experiments.