Performance of Polarization-based Stereoscopy Screens

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the polarization preservation and light scattering of various stereoscopic screens, analyzing how surface texture impacts their optical performance for improved 3D display quality.

Contribution

It provides experimental measurements of crosstalk and scattering rates for different screens and links surface roughness to optical performance, highlighting areas for further microscopic modeling.

Findings

Silver screens show different polarization crosstalk levels.

Surface roughness influences scattering and polarization preservation.

Further microscopic analysis is needed to fully understand optical properties.

Abstract

The screen is a key part of stereoscopic display systems using polarization to separate the different channels for each eye. The system crosstalk, characterizing the imperfection of the screen in terms of preserving the polarization of the incoming signal, and the scattering rate, characterizing the ability of the screen to deliver the incoming light to the viewers, determine the image quality of the system. Both values will depend on the viewing angle. In this work we measure the performance of three silver screens and three rear-projection screens. Additionally, we measure the surface texture of the screens using white-light interferometry. While part of our optical results can be explained by the surface roughness, more work is needed to understand the optical properties of the screens from a microscopic model.