Holograms display a 3D image in high resolution and allow viewers to focus freely as if looking through a virtual window, yet computer generated holography (CGH) hasn't delivered the same visual quality under plane wave illumination and due to heavy computational cost. Light field displays have been popular due to their capability to provide continuous focus cues. However, light field displays must trade off between spatial and angular resolution, and do not model diffraction. We present a light field-based CGH rendering pipeline allowing for reproduction of high-definition 3D scenes with continuous depth and support of intra-pupil view-dependent occlusion. Our rendering accurately accounts for diffraction and supports various types of reference illuminations for hologram. We avoid under- and over-sampling and geometric clipping effects seen in previous work. We also demonstrate an implementation of light field rendering plus the Fresnel diffraction integral based CGH calculation which is orders of magnitude faster than the state of the art [Zhang et al. 2015], achieving interactive volumetric 3D graphics. To verify our computational results, we build a see-through, near-eye, color CGH display prototype which enables co-modulation of both amplitude and phase. We show that our rendering accurately models the spherical illumination introduced by the eye piece and produces the desired 3D imagery at the designated depth. We also analyze aliasing, theoretical resolution limits, depth of field, and other design trade-offs for near-eye CGH.

Figure 1: The light field stereoscope is a near-eye display (top left) that facilitates immersive computer graphics via stereoscopic image synthesis with correct or nearly correct focus cues. As opposed to presenting conventional 2D images, the display shows a 4D light field to each eye, allowing the observer to focus within the scene (center and right). The display comprises two stacked liquid crystal displays (LCDs) driven by nonnegative light field factorization. We implement these factorizations in real-time on the GPU; resulting patterns for front and rear LCDs, including the views for both eyes and inverse lens distortion, are shown (bottom left). AbstractOver the last few years, virtual reality (VR) has re-emerged as a technology that is now feasible at low cost via inexpensive cellphone components. In particular, advances of high-resolution micro displays, low-latency orientation trackers, and modern GPUs facilitate immersive experiences at low cost. One of the remaining challenges to further improve visual comfort in VR experiences is the vergence-accommodation conflict inherent to all stereoscopic displays. Accurate reproduction of all depth cues is crucial for visual comfort. By combining well-known stereoscopic display principles with emerging factored light field technology, we present the first wearable VR display supporting high image resolution as well as focus cues. A light field is presented to each eye, which provides more natural viewing experiences than conventional near-eye displays. Since the eye box is just slightly larger than the pupil size, rank-1 light field factorizations are sufficient to produce correct or nearly-correct focus cues; no time-multiplexed image display or gaze tracking is required. We analyze lens distortions in 4D light field space and correct them using the afforded high-dimensional image formation. We also demonstrate significant improvements in resolution and retinal blur quality over related near-eye displays. Finally, we analyze diffraction limits of these types of displays.

A variety of applications such as virtual reality and immersive cinema require high image quality, low rendering latency, and consistent depth cues. 4D light field displays support focus accommodation, but are more costly to render than 2D images, resulting in higher latency. The human visual system can resolve higher spatial frequencies in the fovea than in the periphery. This property has been harnessed by recent 2D foveated rendering methods to reduce computation cost while maintaining perceptual quality. Inspired by this, we present foveated 4D light fields by investigating their effects on 3D depth perception. Based on our psychophysical experiments and theoretical analysis on visual and display bandwidths, we formulate a content-adaptive importance model in the 4D ray space. We verify our method by building a prototype light field display that can render only 16% -- 30% rays without compromising perceptual quality.

f r o n t l a y e r r e a r l a y e r wa t c h f a c e c o r r e c t e d f o r p r e s b y o p i a c o n v e n t i o n a l d i s p l a y s i n g l e -l a y e r p r e -f i l t e r i n g t wo -l a y e r p r e -f i l t e r i n g p e r c e i v e d i ma g e s d i s p l a y e d i ma g e sFigure 1: Correcting presbyopia using multilayer displays. A presbyopic individual observes a watch at a distance of 45 cm. The watch appears out of focus due to the limited range of accommodation. To read the watch, corrective eyewear (e.g., bifocals) must be worn with a +2.50 diopter spherical lens. (Left) As a substitute for eyewear, the watch can be modified to use a multilayer display containing two semi-transparent, light-emitting panels. The images displayed on these layers are pre-filtered such that the watch face appears in focus when viewed by the defocused eye. (Right) From left to right along the bottom row: the perceived image using a conventional display (e.g., an unmodified LCD), using prior single-layer pre-filtering methods, and using the proposed multilayer pre-filtering method. Corresponding images of the watch face are shown along the top row. Two-layer pre-filtering, while increasing the watch thickness by 6 mm, enhances contrast and eliminates ringing artifacts, as compared to prior single-layer pre-filtering methods. (Watch image c Timex Group USA, Inc.) AbstractOptical aberrations of the human eye are currently corrected using eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery. We describe a fourth option: modifying the composition of displayed content such that the perceived image appears in focus, after passing through an eye with known optical defects. Prior approaches synthesize pre-filtered images by deconvolving the content by the point spread function of the aberrated eye. Such methods have not led to practical applications, due to severely reduced contrast and ringing artifacts. We address these limitations by introducing multilayer pre-filtering, implemented using stacks of semi-transparent, light-emitting layers. By optimizing the layer positions and the partition of spatial frequencies between layers, contrast is improved and ringing artifacts are eliminated. We assess design constraints for multilayer displays; autostereoscopic light field displays are identified as a preferred, thin form factor architecture, allowing synthetic layers to be displaced in response to viewer movement and refractive errors. We assess the benefits of multilayer pre-filtering versus prior light field pre-distortion methods, showing pre-filtering works within the constraints of current display resolutions. We conclude by analyzing benefits and limitations using a prototype multilayer LCD.