Three-dimensional display of objects using spherical wave field synthesis

We present an innovative concept for the display of three-dimensional moving scenes based on spherical wave field synthesis (SWaSy). The benefit of spherical waves is, that they allow for modelling the wave field curvature, which is essential to human accommodation. Yet, they are comparably easy to be generated. The setup consists of an active matrix display (e.g. LCD) with a lens array positioned in front of it. Each of the LCD pixels generates a spherical wave segment through one of the lenses. During the display process, the wave front curvature is dynamically controlled by either changing the focal length or the distance between the LCD and the lenses. We will highlight the technical requirements and limitations of SWaSy, and provide a comparison with well-established methods, such as light field displays and holographic techniques. The analysis is performed in Wigner space (phase space), where it can be shown that in terms of wave field synthesis SWaSy is clearly superior to light field approaches. Finally, we will show experimental results to demonstrate the great potential of SWaSy towards next level 3D display technology.