The display of three-dimensional video images

Three-dimensional images can be pixellated in three distinct ways: volumetric, holographic, and autostereoscopic. The latter excels if images of opaque objects are to be displayed with wide fields of view, and the quality of view-sequential displays with 1° per view now appears adequate for general applications. Although in principle autostereoscopic pixellation gives a true three-dimensional image, 1/10° per view is needed to avoid flaws in a typical display. This approximately equals the diffraction limit, and the information content is no less than that of a hologram. A hybrid of holographic views and view-sequential multiplexing promises images with the field of view of autostereoscopic images but the significantly greater resolution and depth of holograms. Light valves and high-frame-rate arrays already have the space-bandwidth product needed to display such images, and further advances in photonic switches and gigahertz telecommunications look set to promote the display of such high-quality three-dimensional video images