A new type of light fiehl display is proposed using a head-mounted display (HMD) and a micro structure array (MSA, lens array or pinhole array). Each rendering point emits abundant rays from different directions into the viewer's pupil, and at one time the dense light field is generated inside the exit pupil of the HMD through the eyepiece. Therefore, the proposed method not only solves the problem of accommodation and convergence conflict in a traditional HMD, but also drastically reduces the huge data in real three-dimensional (3D) display. To demonstrate the proposed method, a prototype is developed, which is capable of giving the observer a real perception of depth.
Accommodation and convergence play critical roles in the natural viewing of three-dimensional (3D) scenes, and these must be accurately matched to avoid visual fatigue. However, conventional stereoscopic head- mounted displays lack the ability to adjust accommodation cues. This is because they only have a single, fixed image plane, but the 3D virtual objects generated by a pair of stereoscopic images are displayed at different depths, either in front or behind the focal plane. Therefore, in order to view objects clearly, the eyes are forced to converge on those objects while maintaining accommodation fixed on the image plane. By employing freeform optical surfaces, we design a lightweight and wearable spatial-multiplexed dual focal-plane head-mounted display. This display can adjust the accommodation cue in accordance with the convergence cue as well as generate the retinal blur cue. The system has great potential applications in both scientific research and commercial market.