Towards Multifocal Displays with Dense Focal Stacks
This addresses a critical problem in VR technology by enabling more realistic visual experiences, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing multifocal display concepts.
The researchers tackled the vergence-accommodation conflict in virtual reality displays by developing a multifocal display that generates 1600 focal planes per second using a focus-tunable lens and precise tracking.
We present a virtual reality display that is capable of generating a dense collection of depth/focal planes. This is achieved by driving a focus-tunable lens to sweep a range of focal lengths at a high frequency and, subsequently, tracking the focal length precisely at microsecond time resolutions using an optical module. Precise tracking of the focal length, coupled with a high-speed display, enables our lab prototype to generate 1600 focal planes per second. This enables a novel first-of-its-kind virtual reality multifocal display that is capable of resolving the vergence-accommodation conflict endemic to today's displays.