Three-dimensional display technologies

The physical world around us is three-dimensional (3D), yet traditional display devices can show only two-dimensional (2D) flat images that lack depth (i.e., the third dimension) information. This fundamental restriction greatly limits our ability to perceive and to understand the complexity of real-world objects. Nearly 50% of the capability of the human brain is devoted to processing visual information [Human Anatomy & Physiology (Pearson, 2012)]. Flat images and 2D displays do not harness the brain's power effectively. With rapid advances in the electronics, optics, laser, and photonics fields, true 3D display technologies are making their way into the marketplace. 3D movies, 3D TV, 3D mobile devices, and 3D games have increasingly demanded true 3D display with no eyeglasses (autostereoscopic). Therefore, it would be very beneficial to readers of this journal to have a systematic review of state-of-the-art 3D display technologies. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America