Design of ghost-free aerial display by using prism and dihedral corner reflector array

Abstract

In a dihedral corner reflector array (DCRA) used as an aerial display, the observer can directly touch aerial images. However, in this optical element, the visibility of the aerial image is reduced by stray light, called a ghost. Although ghost formation can be suppressed using a louver, the viewing angle and brightness of the aerial image also decrease. This paper proposes the design of a ghost-free aerial display using a prism and DCRA. Based on experimental results, the ghost brightness with the proposed method was only about 14% of the DCRA at front. In addition, the aerial image produced by the proposed device was the brightest for 0–20°.