Electrically high-resistance liquid crystal micro-lens arrays with high performances for integral imaging 3D display

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a high-resistance (Hi-R) liquid crystal (LC) micro-lens arrays (MLAs) with a low operating voltage and a controllable focal length for integral imaging (II) 3D display. The focal lengths of the Hi-R LC MLAs can be effectively controlled by applying different operating voltages and driving frequencies. The experimental results indicate that the focal lengths can be adjusted from 4.27 mm to 2.88 mm when the operating voltage applied to the Hi-R LC MLAs increases from 1.8 Vrms to 2.8 Vrms at the driving frequency of 130 kHz. Compared with the II 3D display by using ITO circular-hole electrodes-based or Al circular-hole electrodes-based LC MLAs without Hi-R layer, the II 3D display based on the Hi-R LC MLAs with Al circular-hole electrodes can reveal clear 3D scenes at the corresponding center depth plane (CDP) when a low operating voltage is applied to the Hi-R LC MLAs. Furthermore, the generated elemental images with different depths can be reconstructed at different CDPs by electrically controllable focal lengths of the Hi-R LC MLAs, and these 3D scenes can be realized the switchable display in the same II 3D display system, which can effectively present the optical performance of the II 3D display.