Static Volumetric Three-Dimensional Display

Abstract

We present here the development of a volumetric display based on the two-frequency, two-step upconversion technique using novel techniques for addressing the imaging volume. Two 1024 times 768 digital micromirror displays, driven by 30-W lasers at 1532 and 850 nm are utilized to generate fast scanning of the image volume in a 17 mm times 17 mm times 60 mm 2% erbium-doped lithium yttrium fluoride (YLF) crystal. Experimentally, images at 532 nm were created at 30 (frames) times 1024 times 768 resolution, resulting in almost 23 million voxels, at 500 frames/s, significantly higher than that obtained with three-dimensional (3D) raster scanning (frame is 2D cross-sectional plane of the 3D image). Imaging optics modified from projector systems and fiber-optically coupled to the source, combined with custom designed software for converting two-dimensional (2D) rendering of volumetric images into control signals for the digital micromirror displays allow single-color image generation with no flicker and natural depth cues. Improvements in optical power efficiency and the speed of digital micromirror display controller boards are needed for the system to reach its full potential. The resulting system has the potential to increase resolution to nearly 800 million voxels without viewpoint obstruction and expand to three-color imagery.