High resolution integral imaging display by using a microstructure array

A novel integral imaging method that can be used to display three-dimensional (3D) images with high resolution is proposed. The integral imaging system consists of a delicate microstructure array and microlens array. The microstructure array displays the information of the microimage array. Due to the application of the delicate microstructure array, a large number of efficiency pixels in the microimage array are regularly imaged through the microlens array, which will result in the 3D images with high resolution. In this paper, the relationships among the resolution of the 3D images, the focal length of the microlens, microstructure array/microlens array distance, and the feature size of the microstructure array are analyzed theoretically based on optical design theories. Related experiments are performed. The microstructure array with 1 μm feature size is fabricated by the lithographic method and applied on the integral imaging system, which forms the 3D images with the resolution of 10 lines/mm. Compared with a traditional integral imaging system, the resolution of the 3D images generated by the method is effectively enhanced. It is inferred that the method has great potential for static 3D displays such as 3D photographs, 3D advertisements, and so on.