Dual Liquid Crystal Flat Panel Display

There are a growing number of scenarios where remote equipment and vehicles must be operated in environments unsafe for human presence. Ideally the remote vision system should mimic physical presence as much as possible. Steadily, the demand for stereoscopic (3D) viewing increases, in order to preserve depth of field information and to `immerse' the operator as much as possible in the scenario. The objective of this Phase I effort is to develop an approach to optimize a stereoscopic display based on stacked liquid crystal displays. This display architecture is ideal for remote applications due to its inherent high resolution, compact size, ruggedness, simple passive eyewear (polarized glasses), and its potential for high quality stereoscopic effect. The approach to optimize this display will minimize the effects inherent due to finite separation between the pixel planes, such that Moire effects and light leakage into adjacent pixels to optimize its overall visual quality. Alignment methods capable of sub-pixel alignment tolerances will also be developed. One novel approach that will be investigated is to use a microlens array to re-image the pixels from the first display onto the second display. A test article microlens will be fabricated and tested during the Phase I contract.