Planar SD2020 - Manual (Page 7)

SD2020 | 2 | User's Guide
StereoMirror™ Technology
A StereoMirror ™ monitor consists of two AMLCD (Active Matrix Liquid Crystal
Display) units, oriented at a 110º angle and mounted on a specially designed
stand. A passive beamsplitter mirror bisects the angle formed between the
two monitors, and there is a fine mechanical adjustment for the mirror angle
between the two displays. One side of the glass mirror has a reflective
coating, and the other side has an anti-reflective coating to minimize
secondary reflections. The mirror has been treated with a hard top
coating to accommodate cleaning.
In general, the objective of a stereoscopic display is to efficiently present
a left eye image solely to the left eye while the right eye image is directed to
the right eye. This allows the human visual system to merge the two images
and results in the
perception of depth,
or stereopsis. In the
StereoMirror
™ design
this stereo separation
is achieved using the
principle of conservation
of polarization.
Liquid crystal displays
operate based on the
ability of liquid crystal
material to modulate
plane-polarized light.
The two AMLCDs in the
SD2020 model have been
manufactured so that the
polarized light emitted from the top monitor is 90° rotated from that of the
bottom monitor. The image from the lower monitor is seen through the
mirror, as shown in the illustration above. When stereo pair images from the
two monitors are viewed through crossed-polarizing glasses (glasses with
polarizing films mounted on the eyepieces with their planes of polarization
at a right angle to one another), the user only sees the left eye image with
the eyepiece having the 0°-oriented polarizer and the right eye image with
the eyepiece having the 90° polarizer. Light with a perpendicular polarization
is not transmitted. The result is a single, fused stereoscopic image.
Bottom
Monitor
with Left
Eye Image
Top
M
on
itor
wi
th
Rig
ht
Eye
Im
ag
e
Beamsplitter
Mirror
Left Eye
Right Eye
Bottom
Monitor
with Left
Eye Image
Top
M
on
itor
wi
th
Rig
ht
Eye
Im
ag
e
Beamsplitter
Mirror
Left Eye
Right Eye
Operating principle of the StereoMirror monitor.