Foveated high-resolution light-field system based on integral imaging for near-eye displays

Abstract

The visual discomfort caused by vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) and low angular resolution has been one of the main issues for near eye display devices. Although numerous researches on light-field displays have been presented as possible solutions to reduce the discomfort by reproducing depth cues, the resolution degradation of the system is still a challenging problem. In this paper, we demonstrate a high-resolution light-field near-eye display based on integral imaging using foveated imaging system with two display panels and an optical combiner. The concept of foveated imaging system is based on the fact that human eyes perceives images with the highest sensitivity only in the central vision which covers about 5° of the visual field, and not in the peripheral vision. The first display panel, which is coupled with a lens array, is optically minified to provide resolution-enhanced light-field 3D images with relatively high pixel density for the central foveal area, and the second one offers background images with wide field-of-view (FOV) for the surrounding area. By combining these two images with an optical combiner, it is possible to achieve foveated light-field 3D images concentrated on the central foveal area with highly enhanced resolution while providing wide FOV for the peripheral area. The proposed near eye display effectively reduces VAC for the eye-gazing area.