OPTICAL DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES FOR 3D LIGHT FIELD DISPLAYS

Methods and frameworks for designing and optimizing of high-performance light field displays, such as integral imaging head-mounted displays, are disclosed. The disclosed techniques enable user-defined metrics for characterizing the performance and optimization of such systems. One design method relates to an integral-imaging based three-dimensional (3D) display system that includes an arrayed optics, an arrayed display device to produce a plurality of elemental images, a first reference plane representing a virtual central depth plane (CDP), a second reference plane representing a viewing window for viewing a reconstructed 3D scene, and an optical subsection representing a model of a human eye. The method includes tracing rays starting at the arrayed display device, through the arrayed optics, and to the optical subsection for each element of the arrayed display device and arrayed optics, and adjusting one or more parameters to obtain at least a first metric value within a predetermined value.