An integral-imaging three-dimensional display with wide viewing angle

The viewing angle and flipping areas of a conventional integral-imaging three-dimensional (3-D) display were analyzed. The pitches of the elemental image and micro-lens are identical. The more micro-lenses used, the smaller the viewing angle becomes and the wider the flipping areas become. In this paper, an improved integral-imaging 3-D display is presented. The pitch of the elemental image is larger than that of the micro-lens. The single-viewing angles of all micro-lenses converge and there are no flipping areas at the optimal viewing distance. Computational reconstructions of improved and conventional integral imaging were carried out, and experimental results demonstrate that improved integral-imaging 3-D displays have a wider viewing angle than the conventional ones and do not have flipping areas at the optimal viewing distance.