High-resolution augmented reality 3D display with use of a lenticular lens array holographic optical element

An augmented reality (AR) three-dimensional (3D) display based on one-dimensional integral imaging (1DII), by using a lenticular lens array holographic optical element (LLA-HOE), is proposed. The 3D image of the 1DII has higher vertical resolution compared with the image of conventional integral imaging whose resolution is sharply reduced for providing quasi-continuous viewpoints in both the horizontal and vertical directions. The proposed 3D display consists of a projector and an LLA-HOE and is compact. As an image combiner, the LLA-HOE can diffract Bragg-matched light rays that have the same wavelength and incident angle as the original reference wave; it can also function as a lenticular lens array to reconstruct a 3D image but transmit other light rays emitted from the surroundings. In the experiment, an LLA-HOE of 80 mm × 80 mm size is recorded, and a combination of a high-resolution 3D virtual image and a real 3D object is presented by the proposed AR 3D display.