360-degree screen-free floating 3D image in a crystal ball using a spatially imaged iris and rotational multiview DFD technologies.

A rotational multiview depth-fused 3D (DFD) display and 360-deg displaying optics using a spatially imaged iris method are proposed to realize a 360-deg 3D image. This method enables displaying clear floating images in a crystal ball. Its symmetric optics provide clear and natural 360-deg images with smooth motion parallax in horizontal and vertical directions using the directional selectivity of a spatially imaged iris method and natural 3D images of a rotational multiview DFD display.

Luminance addition of a stack of multidomain liquid-crystal displays and capability for depth-fused three-dimensional display application.

A stack of liquid-crystal displays is expected to reduce visual fatigue caused by a flat-panel three-dimensional (3D) display. We previously developed a compact depth-fused 3D (DFD) display by using a stack of two twisted-nematic (liquid-crystal) LC panels, but its viewing-angle characteristics and color reproducibility were not so good. Therefore recent wide-view LC panels should be used. We report calculated and measured luminance addition characteristics, which are essential for evaluating 3D display characteristics, of a stack of two multidomain LC panels. We found that LC panels with super in-plane switching, patterned vertical alignment, multiple vertical alignment, and continuous pinwheel alignment modes are suitable for DFD display application.