Deep Surface Liquid Crystal Displays for Extended Reality Applications

Abstract

Representing depth on a surface has been a design concern since at least the Renaissance. And yet, despite this long history, 3D displays have not become widely adopted. However, with the emergence of mixed reality applications, the development of new modalities for providing depth to displays has become even more relevant. We present a novel design that addresses these challenges by employing layered transparent LCD screens in configuration, which we call Deep Surface Liquid Crystal Displays (DS-LCD). DS-LCDs require no additional artifacts such as anaglyph glasses. Drawing on both stereoscopic and volumetric approaches, we present the DS-LCD prototype and discuss the visual elements that create the “deep surface” effect. We then describe the initial software applications that were developed to validate the prototype, as well as our initial user studies. We conclude with speculation about future work and applications.

Keywords: extended Reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, 3D display, stereoscopic display, volumetric display, liquid crystal display

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005515