Super-Snell scanning light-field display for ultrawide-angle high-resolution glasses-free three-dimensional displays

Abstract

Glasses-free three-dimensional (3D) display techniques provide immersive experiences for human–computer interaction, enabling broad applications including digital twin ecosystems, remote education and virtual socialization. However, their widespread adoption is limited by the fundamental bandwidth trade-off between viewing angle, spatial resolution and angular resolution in light-field projection. Here we propose a super-Snell scanning light-field display (SSS-LiD) for high-resolution glasses-free 3D display across an ultrawide viewing angle. Inspired by Snell’s window effect, we designed a low-aberration, compact super-Snell lenticular lens array that enables a 150° viewing angle. By integrating this optics with a synchronous holistic mechanical scanning method that exploits the persistence of vision, we achieve an 8.0-fold and 3.2-fold enhancement in horizontal and vertical spatial resolution, respectively. Compared with leading commercial solutions, SSS-LiD demonstrates nearly three times the viewing angle and increases the resolution by up to 2.5 times. These results establish SSS-LiD as a feasible pathway towards the practical application of high-fidelity, ultraimmersive glasses-free 3D displays. Inspired by Snell’s window effect, a new scanning light-field architecture enables glasses-free 3D display with a 150° viewing angle and nearly 480-pixel resolution.