A multi-plane optical see-through holographic three-dimensional display for augmented reality applications

In this paper, a multi-plane optical see-through holographic three-dimensional (3D) display system for augmented reality (AR) applications is proposed and implemented. This system is composed of a holographic projection module and an optical see-through display module. The holographic projection module manages to reconstruct the multi-plane 3D scene by using a spatial light modulator (SLM), and the correct depth information can be expressed by programmable zoom lenses encoded on the SLM. The reconstructed 3D scene and the real physical world will fuse together through the optical see-through display module. An experimental verification system for the proposed multi-plane optical see-through holographic 3D display is demonstrated. The experimental results prove that the proposed system can achieve the multi-plane AR holographic 3D display effect without any image bearing structure, and can solve the accommodation-vergence conflict problem effectively. This system has the advantages of large depth range, continuous expression capacity of depth information and no visual fatigue.