Large depth of range Maxwellian-viewing SMV near-eye display based on a Pancharatnam-Berry optical element

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel near-eye display system that uses a Pancharatnam-Berry optical element to create a 3D light field with a large depth of field, reducing visual fatigue in AR applications.

Contribution

It presents a new Maxwellian-viewing-super-multi-view display based on PBOE, enabling correct accommodation cues and large depth of field in AR near-eye displays.

Findings

Achieved a 4.37 diopters depth of field experimentally.

Demonstrated multi-viewpoint display with 3x1 and 3x2 configurations.

Reduced visual fatigue by addressing A-C conflict in AR displays.

Abstract

In order to overcome the accommodation and convergence (A-C) conflict that commonly causes visual fatigue in AR display, we propose a Maxwellian-viewing-super-multi-view (MV-SMV) near-eye display system based on a Pancharatnam-Berry optical element (PBOE). The PBOE, which is constituted with an array of high-efficiency polarization gratings, is implemented to direct different views to different directions simultaneously, constructing the 3D light field. Meanwhile, each view is like a Maxwellian view display that possesses a small viewpoint and a large depth of field (DOF). Hence, the MV-SMV display can display virtual images with correct accommodation depth cue within a large DOF. We implement a proof-of-concept MV-SMV display prototype with 3 x 1 and 3 x 2 viewpoints using a 1D PBOE and a 2D PBOE, respectively, and achieve a DOF of 4.37 diopters experimentally.