MIT researchers develop glasses-free 3D

Expert Reviews reports.

According to a paper presented at the Siggraph computer graphics conference, a technology dubbed Tensor Display could prove the key to accurate, high-quality glasses-free 3D displays. The result, the team claims, is a 3D, full-colour, moving hologram.

Instead of the complex hardware required to produce holograms, the Media Lab system uses several layers of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), the technology currently found in most flat-panel TVs, Science Daily writes.

To produce a convincing 3D illusion, the LCDs would need to refresh at a rate of about 360 times a second, or 360 hertz. Such displays may not be far off: LCD TVs that boast 240-hertz refresh rates have already appeared on the market, just a few years after 120-hertz TVs made their debut.

According to Tom's Guide, the base technology of MIT's Media Lab system is also used in current glasses-free gadgets including the Nintendo 3DS: layered screens with the bottom screen displaying alternating dark and light bands.

Two slightly offset images, which represent the different perspectives of the viewer's two eyes, are sliced up and interleaved on the top screen. The dark bands on the bottom screen block the light coming from the display's backlight in such a way that each eye sees only the image intended for it.