Three-dimensional light field displays are not yet widely adopted due to the bulky form-factor and limited image quality caused by optical aberrations of microlens arrays (MLAs). Conventional optimization techniques cannot approach the maximal displayed image quality as they rely on intermediary metrics such as focal spot size. In order to optimize for the full-color wide field-of-view image quality, the point spread function of the MLA should be modeled to provide more flexibility. We developed a modeling approach for both refractive and metasurface MLAs and assessed the accuracy by judicious comparisons between the numerical simulations and experimental characterization.

We investigated the optical performance of a specific 3D light field display implementation using Zemax software in terms of wavefront error and imaging parameters including spot size, lateral color, Strehl ratio, and point spread function.

We developed a versatile experimental setup able to characterize the optical performance of different 3D display designs based on far-field (spot size, lateral color) and near-field (contrast, spatial resolution, MTF) measurements.