Optimizing image quality for holographic near-eye displays with Michelson Holography

Suyeon Choi,Jonghyun Kim,Gordon Wetzstein,Yifan Peng

doi:10.1364/optica.410622

Abstract

We introduce Michelson holography (MH), a holographic display technology that optimizes image quality for emerging holographic near-eye displays. Using two spatial light modulators (SLMs), MH is capable of leveraging destructive interference to optically cancel out undiffracted light corrupting the observed image. We calibrate this system using emerging camera-in-the-loop holography techniques and demonstrate state-of-the-art 2D and multi-plane holographic image quality.

Highlights

A fundamental challenge of phase-only SLMs used for holography is their low diffraction efficiency
On-axis filtering physically blocks the undiffracted beam at the Fourier plane, which inevitably blocks some amount of the diffracted light that contributes to the low-frequency content
Camera-in-the-loop (CITL) holography techniques have been described that can partially compensate the undiffracted light of an SLM using its diffracted component without having to explicitly model all of these terms [18, 19]

Summary

Introduction

A fundamental challenge of phase-only SLMs used for holography is their low diffraction efficiency. Camera-in-the-loop (CITL) holography techniques have been described that can partially compensate the undiffracted light of an SLM using its diffracted component without having to explicitly model all of these terms [18, 19]. Our custom CITL optimization procedure captures the coherent superposition of all diffracted and undiffracted light of the display and backpropagates the error w.r.t. a target image into both SLM patterns simultaneously.

Results

Conclusion